[tudorc]

I have a wonderful little 8310. All good. Works like a charm.
I just phoned my carrier to activate international roaming so I can use my BB in the UK and Spain on a 3-week business trip.
I should preface this with the fact that I'm in South Africa and my carrier is Vodacom (a Vodafone "partner" network), so the lunacy I am about to describe may not apply to all BB users/networks. I use BIS.
The lunacy: If I use my Blackberry in the UK or Spain on the Vodafone network (with whom my carrier, Vodacom, has the "best" flat rates), I am going to be charged R150/MB - or US$21.50/MB of data usage! $21.50/MB?!?!? And this insane rate applies to ALL data whether email, browsing or whatever.
Now, if I used an Nokia, HTC, iPhone, or any phone other than a Blackberry I'd be charged $2.50/MB for data.
What gives? Is Blackberry data roaming almost 9 times as expensive as other data roaming everywhere in the world, or is this rip-off exclusive to my carrier?
Poor old RIM. If the carriers continue to price Blackberry roaming at such a premium, they don't stand much of a chance against the iPhones, HTC etc. in the long-term. Really, "push" email is nice, but it ain't THAT nice. When the others figure out how to do it without the "Blackberry" logo on it using non-Blackberry 3G or GPRS, BB will be priced out of the market. Even now, I could afford to wait an extra 10-15 minutes for an email - time to allow an HTC or iPhone to schedule-check my POP3/IMAP accounts.
I want to send a very big letter of complaint to our telecommunications regulator here. Can anyone give me an idea of what your networks/carriers charge for Blackberry roaming?

[Duvi]

It's a BB thing in the UK. I noticed that we don't have an unlimited BB data plan that covers the UK. It's close to .02/kb for data if I travel to the UK from the U.S.

[HD123]

its the opposite for me. Our telco only provides data plans for blackberries and no other devices. If you have any other device its billed by the MB.
For my Blackberry I pay US$ 75 per month for unlimited local and worldwide roaming data.
It all depends on the deal your provider has with other providers.
Its actually the only reason I got a blackberry in the first place. I would have waited until there was a 3G model out otherwise.

[tudorc]

After much research on this, it appears that Vodafone is the villain (mostly) in my case. My carrier, Vodacom, provides an unlimited data plan for local use only - and then have "preferred" fixed rates with Vodafone for roaming in Europe. But "preferred" is still ludicrously expensive: the $21.50/MB.
It's a shame that the European carriers can't do better than this. It's going to be hard for Blackberries to compete with the iPhones and HTCs in the non mega-corporate market (i.e. average Joe consumers) if it isn't sorted.
I, for one, will definitely dump my Blackberry for something I can travel with cost-effectively when my contract is up.

[jenaywins]

hmm... you would think that, with all this in mind, *some* european based company would want to be the first to offer a truly unlimited data plan. i would assume that they would gain tons of business just from that alone....

[bennygoodx]

Mmmmm. Gotta love verizon. Unlimited data in spain! and many more...

[tudorc]

I'm finally getting to the bottom of all this with my carrier....
There are 2 data rates that apply to my Blackberry roaming on the Vodafone network: one for BB data ($21.50/MB) and the other for normal data ($2.50/MB).
I'm not yet entirely clear what the distinction is, but my guess is that pure Blackberry apps (at least BIS email, GPS) are charged at the more expensive BN data rate, and browser usage is at the less insanely expensive rate.
My carrier, so far, seems also fairly confused about which is which...
Does anyone know which apps use "Blackberry-specific" data services and which don't? Or is this a smokescreen?

[BB7290grl74]

Actually for less than what you are expected to pay per MB I get unlimited BIS, $19.99 total. As far as I know, roaming is not an issue with data with T-Mobile. I'm not sure about if I would leave the country though. That's a huge rip off and I would complain! Lots of luck on writing your letter.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Hazysky]

The problem is with your carrier & their agreement with Vodafone uk.

I am on o2 uk and my roaming charges abroad are the same as roaming charges for people with iphones or nokia's.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[CON-D]

I'm with Optus in Australia and I had a look at roaming fees and for data it's $0.02 per kb, $20 a mb. It's hefty and I'll most likely activate it when I go to the US and UK in 3 months time. I'll definitely keep my data usage as low as possible when I'm nowhere near my hotel or anywhere I can access the internet for free or cheaply.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Reed McLay]

High data rates discourage the use of data, that is a significant competitive disadvantage.