Dad buying BB ang gonna use it international overseas

[ace587]

so my dad is going overseas on a business trip and i need to keep in touch with him via email in real time. Hes going to be like 3 months there and 3 months here alternating. Now ive been reading a lot about international BB use and hes going to just use email to keep in touch with me and my mom (especially for business info).

Unlocking a BB and using a local sim with BIS isnt an option, because the highest data plan is 10MB and almost cost the same as the Tmobile Internationa unlimited email option

Heres my dads plan
1. Sign up for a Tmobile plan (as a new customer)
2. Get a UMA Blackberry (BB 8320)
3. Get the 300 min plan for $30, the $5 300 sms plan, and $24 bb unlimited data plan.
4. Change the $24 plan to the $20 unlimited international email plan
5. Set call forwarding to his voicemail
6. Go overseas

So here are my questions. Reps please chime in as im sure you guys know this
1. Since he is a new customer can he immediately roam internationally and for like 3 months? alternating
2. Whats the maximum time a Tmobile user can be overseas? without getting dropped for roaming
3. Would it hurt if most of calls would be UMA calls?
4. How long can you have the Unlimited international email plan?
5. Will at some point will unconditional forwarding stop? somehow my dad after 3 months overseas his calls got through his AT&T sim after call forwarding the calls to his voicemail.

I think thats that for now. Please chime in roaming gurus

[CueyN]

1) I believe there is a policy of no int'l access for the first 90 days that the account is active. However, in my case, that was waived. I think it depends on the results of your credit check.
2) You won't be dropped from TMo for int'l roaming. You would possibly be dropped if you were roaming in the USA, as that would cause TMo to lose money. Int'l roaming earns TMo money.
3) There's no problem with all of your calls being UMA. The phone will behave as if it is in the USA. Texts, minutes, etc will all come out of your plans allotment.
4) You can have the unlimited int'l email plan forever. Note that that plan goes on top of your Blackberry data plan, and isn't in place of it. That is, you'll need a Blackberry plan PLUS the int'l email.
5) Unconditional call forwarding shouldn't stop.

Worth noting is that TMo unlimited int'l email covers email only. Lately, they've been very strict about that. To the point that HTML email with images embedded have generated charges since TMo considers that web access (since http is used to get the images).

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[ace587]

Originally Posted by CueyN

1) I believe there is a policy of no int'l access for the first 90 days that the account is active. However, in my case, that was waived. I think it depends on the results of your credit check.
2) You won't be dropped from TMo for int'l roaming. You would possibly be dropped if you were roaming in the USA, as that would cause TMo to lose money. Int'l roaming earns TMo money.
3) There's no problem with all of your calls being UMA. The phone will behave as if it is in the USA. Texts, minutes, etc will all come out of your plans allotment.
4) You can have the unlimited int'l email plan forever. Note that that plan goes on top of your Blackberry data plan, and isn't in place of it. That is, you'll need a Blackberry plan PLUS the int'l email.
5) Unconditional call forwarding shouldn't stop.

Worth noting is that TMo unlimited int'l email covers email only. Lately, they've been very strict about that. To the point that HTML email with images embedded have generated charges since TMo considers that web access (since http is used to get the images).

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

oh wow, so html emails cost data. ill customize his email settings then not to download imagines

thanks for the thorough response

[norbi99]

Originally Posted by ace587

4. Change the $24 plan to the $20 unlimited international email plan

As far as I understand the $20 unlimited international plan is an addition to the data plan, it does not replace it. You still need to have the $24 bb data plan to get the data access.

I am also in a somewhat similar situation but I plan to be on UMA most of the time while I am abroad so it should be no problem.

[mattglobal]

Originally Posted by CueyN

Worth noting is that TMo unlimited int'l email covers email only. Lately, they've been very strict about that. To the point that HTML email with images embedded have generated charges since TMo considers that web access (since http is used to get the images).

This is something new they've instituted that doesn't seem to apply to the old plan. I've had the International email/data plan since 2007, and wasn't charged anything for all the PINs, BBMs and web browsing I did while I was in Europe last month.

[ace587]

Originally Posted by mattglobal

This is something new they've instituted that doesn't seem to apply to the old plan. I've had the International email/data plan since 2007, and wasn't charged anything for all the PINs, BBMs and web browsing I did while I was in Europe last month.

you prob grandfathered that option

[blue_and_bold]

Try Verizon

Yap nothing like horrible customer service

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[ace587]

Originally Posted by blue_and_bold

Try Verizon

my problem is they charge incoming sms while abroad

Originally Posted by larrygump

Yap nothing like horrible customer service

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

which one are you referring to?

VZW of course.....lmao

[ace587]

Originally Posted by larrygump

VZW of course.....lmao

lol, ive never had verizon so i cant really say

[steventay]

can people from overseas apply this plan?

[Gawain]

I'm not knocking in T-Mobile. However VZW's Global BIS is quite a bit simpler. All BIS features work and data from/to the device (not tethering) is really unlimited.

For Texting, just change that to email while your dad is away, or if you have a BB of your own, BBM will work most of the time as will other IM clients. What country or countries is your dad going to?

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[dannyboy73]

I'm not a t mobile customer, but I've been doing some research into it these last few days.

If your dad can afford a BB with wifi option, could he just try to find some place that has unlimited wifi and then just use that to make calls over to the US free of charge using the Unlimited Hot Spot option for $9.99? It might be even worth it for him to get one of those EM or EM+ plans if he's going to be here for 3 then there for 3.

I'm not sure how the email option works with wifi, but I'd assume it would allow him to download his email at a wifi hotspot, right?

I'm assuming that if he were going somewhere for work, he should have access to wifi in his office or hotel?

So with these options, would he still need an international BB plan?

[CarrierUnlock]

We can unlock it here for you. There are many prepaid bb sim card options abroad. Just do your research.