Canada to USA BBM

[1488]

My rents are snowbirds and they go down to Arizona for the winter. The are on BELL. I keep in touch with them via bbm and we want to avoid any huge roaming charges. Is it possible to turn voice off and just use data for bbm? What is the best thing to do to avoid costs and allow them to have bbm.

Pardon my ignorance on this, when I go anywhere I just pay whatever the roaming charges are. My parents are from that different generation where cost matters even when you have money.

[Deathcommand]

If they turn off mobile networks altogether and use wifi, it will make them pay nothing extra.


And i dont think there is a way to just turn off voice.

[umbrau44]

On my 8530, there is a setting to turn off data while roaming.

It can be found under Options -> Mobile Network -> Data Services While Roaming.

[blackberry-unlocking710]

BBM is used over the BIS, simply - if you have 2 Blackberry devices with data services enabled then you can use BBM for communication.

If they don't want to pay much while visiting the USA for data services and all of that...
Well, unlocking a Blackberry will make the device SIM free and if they unlock their mobile phones they can use it with local SIM cards in the USA.

If someone has a BELL Blackberry and he gets it unlocked for a vacation he can use a prepaid SIM card with a Blackberry data services... only thing he needs to do is to reinstall the service books so the data services will work... by doing this the BBM will stay same as it goes with the PIN number which is unique for each device.. the phone number will be changed to the local number of the prepaid sim card and you will have the option to use BBM and save much money.

it's very easy to travel and save money when you are using unlocked blackberry device with prepaid sim cards both for calls and also for data.

[freethisberrydotcom]

Simplemobile is probably your best bet but will need to switch to 2G in mobile network options

[1488]

Originally Posted by umbrau44

On my 8530, there is a setting to turn off data while roaming.

It can be found under Options -> Mobile Network -> Data Services While Roaming.

If I disable data, doesn't that stop my bbm from working?

[1488]

Originally Posted by blackberry-unlocking710

BBM is used over the BIS, simply - if you have 2 Blackberry devices with data services enabled then you can use BBM for communication.

If they don't want to pay much while visiting the USA for data services and all of that...
Well, unlocking a Blackberry will make the device SIM free and if they unlock their mobile phones they can use it with local SIM cards in the USA.

If someone has a BELL Blackberry and he gets it unlocked for a vacation he can use a prepaid SIM card with a Blackberry data services... only thing he needs to do is to reinstall the service books so the data services will work... by doing this the BBM will stay same as it goes with the PIN number which is unique for each device.. the phone number will be changed to the local number of the prepaid sim card and you will have the option to use BBM and save much money.

it's very easy to travel and save money when you are using unlocked blackberry device with prepaid sim cards both for calls and also for data.

That seems like the best option. Wish i had looked into this before they headed South. They aren't exactly the techy types.