[anon(3749235)]

Hey there,

I'm traveling to the Philippines for a couple weeks and as I've never been abroad with a BlackBerry before so I'd like to know what options i have. Usually i just put a local Sim card into my phone, but the guy from my carrier (o2 Germany) told me, it might cause problems, or i'll be blocked/banned by Rim due to suspicious behavior.

It would be cool if there was a way to access my mails, even if it was just via Wifi and use a simple prepaid card for calls and messages.

I also heard that outside Germany carriers offer prepaid BIS options.

Thanks in advance,

Andy

[Fubaz]

to keep it simple, I would leave your normal sim in and use WiFi for emailing and bbm.

If you wanted to you, could unlock it and use it for local calls and get a new #.

One of the issues you might face is the BIS association as you are on o2's BIS and then would be on the local BIS.

RIM wont ban the PIN for suspicious activity (LOL)

but the issue would arise when trying to get it back on o2 if you dont properly disassociate it with the BIS in the Philippines.

[anon(3749235)]

how about switching between sims?
Use my current to check mails via Wifi and throughout the day i could use a simple prepaid without BIS by a local carrier?

That'd be fine for me. Can anybody confirm that?

[fabfreddie]

That representative is talking crazy talk.

I'm from Kanada, I travel often, I call Rogers, my home carrier, and the week before I tell them where I'm going and take out a voice and data plan for that region just for the month, I use my SIM, nothing else. Just remember to be on WIFI when you do most of your stuff.

It will save you mucho Euros. When you are on their network, they will simply bill your home network, you will never see it. Life is easy.

[Culex316]

Hey there,

I'm traveling to the Philippines for a couple weeks and as I've never been abroad with a BlackBerry before so I'd like to know what options i have. Usually i just put a local Sim card into my phone, but the guy from my carrier (o2 Germany) told me, it might cause problems, or i'll be blocked/banned by Rim due to suspicious behavior.

It would be cool if there was a way to access my mails, even if it was just via Wifi and use a simple prepaid card for calls and messages.

I also heard that outside Germany carriers offer prepaid BIS options.

Thanks in advance,

Andy

That O2 representative is mistaken, you won't get banned/blocked by RIM due to "suspicious behavior", I've used my Bold without any problems on trips in Central America, Germany, Austria, and Italy and haven't gotten banned or anything.

You can probably purchase a prepaid SIM with prepaid BIS service in the Philippines, and everything would continue to work fine just like on your home carrier with the exception of push e-mail (you'd have to re-register your e-mail accounts on the Filipino carrier which I don't recommend doing because then your PIN would get stuck with them)

[T�nis]

... you'd have to re-register your e-mail accounts on the Filipino carrier which I don't recommend doing because then your PIN would get stuck with them) ...

Why does everyone say this? Do some of these foreign carriers refuse to release pins, hold them hostage, so to speak?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Culex316]

Why does everyone say this? Do some of these foreign carriers refuse to release pins, hold them hostage, so to speak?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

That's just how the current BIS system works..it's happened to me personally multiple times...

I have a Sprint Bold 9650, and when I travel to Central America and use a prepaid BIS SIM and activate service, everything works fine.....even push e-mail...however...I have to re-register them with the Central American carrier since the Sprint BIS e-mails do not carry over.

Now, upon returning to the U.S., I can connect with Sprint again and web browsing, BBM, apps etc work no problem, but if I register push e-mail with the foreign carrier, then I cannot add my Blackberry PIN to Sprint's BIS again and in order to fix this I've had to call Sprint customer service and have it elevated to RIM, who then (after like a half hour of explaining what happened) releases my PIN, it's a huge hassle/pain in the ***.


Edit: Supposedly the new BIS upgrades should rectify this by linking e-mail accounts to Blackberry IDs and not the carrier

[anon(3749235)]

Thanks for your suggestions and ideas. Still undecided, but i guess i'll just leave my original Sim in and buy a cheap curve 8520 from a local carrier or a 9900! if they release it by mid sept

[Branta]

Why does everyone say this? Do some of these foreign carriers refuse to release pins, hold them hostage, so to speak?

The problem is a little more fundamental.

It is very difficult for the user to simply remove a PIN on BIS without substituting a new device. The easy way is to have the carrier cancel the whole BIS account, but for a traveller there are obvious time constraints and often language difficulties. Then when you get home and find there's a problem you have to try to contact someone thousands of miles away.

[blackberry-unlocking710]

No problems to use other sim cards with your Blackberry...
When you travel you can use a local sim card with unlocked Blackberry...
And it's also super easy to unlock blackberry of any model that works on GSM.

[T�nis]

The problem is a little more fundamental.

It is very difficult for the user to simply remove a PIN on BIS without substituting a new device. The easy way is to have the carrier cancel the whole BIS account, but for a traveller there are obvious time constraints and often language difficulties. Then when you get home and find there's a problem you have to try to contact someone thousands of miles away.

I was going to say that it seems like something that should be handled before one leaves the country he's traveling in ...

[Duo#CB]

I travel all the time with a Blackberry and I just buy local SIMs and swap them with my normal SIM.

Sometimes I get prepaid SIMs and sometimes I get contract, for example I had contracts in both the USA and Canada last year as well as retaining my UK contract. I also swap SIMs with other UK providers whenever I feel like it and since I also use an Android phone I often swap SIMs to keep my main SIM in whichever phone I want to use that day or that evening.

There are no PINs to delete or anything like that you just have to set yourself up on the new BIS server.

If you stick your old SIM back in the phone your email from that account should come through although you may have to sign in and re-enter your email passwords if you have left it for a while.

The person that said he had problems seems to be on a CDMA network and carriers have more control over a CDMA phone than a GSM phone (even if the CDMA phone has a SIM slot) so things may be different for him.

Just make sure that your phone is unlocked.

I was in the Philippines three months ago and I got a Smart SIM card. The other option was Globe but I decided on Smart for a number of reasons.

I know that Smart do PAYG Blackberry plans and I believe that Globe do as well. You can pick up the cards at a 7-11 or go to the network shops at one of the shopping centres and ask them just to be sure.

Hey there,

I'm traveling to the Philippines for a couple weeks and as I've never been abroad with a BlackBerry before so I'd like to know what options i have. Usually i just put a local Sim card into my phone, but the guy from my carrier (o2 Germany) told me, it might cause problems, or i'll be blocked/banned by Rim due to suspicious behavior.

It would be cool if there was a way to access my mails, even if it was just via Wifi and use a simple prepaid card for calls and messages.

I also heard that outside Germany carriers offer prepaid BIS options.

Thanks in advance,

Andy