North America Plans?

[kanakagi]

Hey everyone!

So I do a lot of travelling btwn Canada (mainly Ontario) and the US (family lives in Ohio). Thus, I need a mobile plan that will work for both countries.

My thought is to go with a BlackBerry, mainly for BBM, as the overwhelming majority of my friends back home in Canada have bb's. However, my current phone (with Boost) barely works outside of Ohio yet I still need it for the PTT/Walkie-Talkie in order to keep in contact with the employees. Now, I have done a bit of research and know that the BB Curve 8350i has PTT capabilities, however I don't think I can switch it over to Boost with bbm/e-mail working properly. I have also come across information stating that you can get a PTT-like app that also works relatively well...

I know that Verizon and AT&T offer North America plans, but they also charge an insane amount for data in Canada. At basics, I would be overjoyed if I could only use PTT and BBM while in Canada (voice is not extremely necessary). Thus, a suggestion to have two phones was given to me by the Verizon rep, although I would rather not have this headache. I need some advice, help!

[californiablackberry]

I know my Bold 9650 has PTT, but I'm not sure how it works.
Verizon has Nationwide Plus Canada Plans, I would look into those.

[Motorcycle Mama]

The Verizon PTT only works when contacting other compatible Verizon devices, I believe.