[sycotic15]

Hey guys. I am new to this site. I have used it before and found it pretty helpful, so I am oging to give this a shot. Unfortunately, I need a quick answer, as I am leaving town tomorrow. I am going to the Baja 500 in Mexico and have a blackberry storm. I have beendown there twice so far with the phone, both times having Verizon tell me it will work. It has not worked either time. The first time I did not have the sim card active, they told me I didn't need it. The second time, I did and it still didn't work. However, a guy I was with had AT&T and it worked just fine. I have done a little research on getting it unlocked and purchasing a sim card in Mexico. Can someone give me some first hand advice on that??? Is that my only option??? How much??? And what will it allow me to do??? Email? Text? Incoming/outgoing call? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!!!

[arcanexvi]

call vzw global services, tell them you're going to japan for business and need to unlock your phone so that you can purchase a sim card to use there. they'll walk you through the unlock procedure and give you your unlock code for free. once you get to mexico, just toss in a SIM card from a local provider that has GSM coverage on one of the storm's GSM bands. You'll probably only be able to use voice and texting FYI. That is unless you can get the VZW/Vodaphone roaming working (CDMA VZW coverage in mexico is spotty and Voda doesn't operate down there so I'm fairly certain you'll have to get a local SIM or pay heavy roaming fees). Also make sure you've got the mobile network set to GSM while you're down there.

[mowad1981]

If you do a little search on here there are a lot of post on this subject. To give you a short answear. If you want to be able to use data on your bb you need to call verizon global team and have them activate global plan. I am not sure exactly how much is it but I know it's pro rated. You can also unlock your BB and just buy a starter kit with sim in mexico but this will only work for phone calls, and it will probably cost you over $1.00 a min to call US. Unless you plan on calling a lot of local numbers in mexico just get the global plan. It will give you the data and calls are .99 cents I belive. You also get to keep your number so people from states can reach you.

[arcanexvi]

I don't think you can global service in mexico with VZW. Looks like you'll have to get a local SIM and just use voice while you're there. Otherwise you'll be Roaming on the CDMA networks down there it looks like.

Global Travel Program

Calling From Mexico

Phone for VZW Global services is: (800)711-8300 if you wanna talk to them about it.

But hey... Afghanistan has coverage so.... wtf?

[dionsb]

Hey guys. I am new to this site. I have used it before and found it pretty helpful, so I am oging to give this a shot. Unfortunately, I need a quick answer, as I am leaving town tomorrow. I am going to the Baja 500 in Mexico and have a blackberry storm. I have beendown there twice so far with the phone, both times having Verizon tell me it will work. It has not worked either time. The first time I did not have the sim card active, they told me I didn't need it. The second time, I did and it still didn't work. However, a guy I was with had AT&T and it worked just fine. I have done a little research on getting it unlocked and purchasing a sim card in Mexico. Can someone give me some first hand advice on that??? Is that my only option??? How much??? And what will it allow me to do??? Email? Text? Incoming/outgoing call? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!!!

You do not need to activate your sim...You can use your storm in mexico without an active sim and without speaking with global services...the two most important things you have to do before leaving the US is adding the international dialing allowed feature which is free and most important, updating your roaming capabilities on your storm by dialing *228 press send and using option 2...Make sure these things are done before you leave the US...
If you would like use your data services (email and web)while in mexico, then you call global support to get the unlimited global data plan added to your storm at $64.99\mnth...which is prorated for your trip...
SMS test will be charged 50 cent to send and 5 cent to receive...

[sycotic15]

Wow guys!!! I really appreciate the help. Thanks for the quick responses. So when I get down there, can I get the sim cards anywhere, or can I get them at a gas station, or do I have to go to the TelCel places down there? And so I don't get ripped off, do I pay for prepaid time when I get the sim card or do I have to buy a calling card???

[arcanexvi]

You do not need to activate your sim...You can use your storm in mexico without an active sim and without speaking with global services...the two most important things you have to do before leaving the US is adding the international dialing allowed feature which is free and most important, updating your roaming capabilities on your storm by dialing *228 press send and using option 2...Make sure these things are done before you leave the US...
If you would like use your data services (email and web)while in mexico, then you call global support to get the unlimited global data plan added to your storm at $64.99\mnth...which is prorated for your trip...
SMS test will be charged 50 cent to send and 5 cent to receive...

Doubt a *228 will work since he said he's been there twice before and has no service. My guess is that Baja has very limited coverage (probably CDMA only) and will only be available through a local provider. I could be wrong but want to give him options before he goes there assuming that will work then he's up a creek. Give yourself multiple options.

[dionsb]

Doubt a *228 will work since he said he's been there twice before and has no service. My guess is that Baja has very limited coverage (probably CDMA only) and will only be available through a local provider. I could be wrong but want to give him options before he goes there assuming that will work then he's up a creek. Give yourself multiple options.

If he has been there twice and has yet to do the *228 before each trip...he will not be able to use his phone once in Mexico...*228 before the trip and make sure idial has been added via customer service will get him up and running for his trip...

[Sosai X]

Wow - I'm surprised you've had problems! My wife and I took our VZW Storms to Cancun last month and upon landing, we received text messages from VZW saying, "Welcome to Mexico! Here's how you can use your phones here.." and explaining how we could dial local numbers, long distance, etc.

No special assistance was needed - it just WORKED!

[wmscottmc]

Wow - I'm surprised you've had problems! My wife and I took our VZW Storms to Cancun last month and upon landing, we received text messages from VZW saying, "Welcome to Mexico! Here's how you can use your phones here.." and explaining how we could dial local numbers, long distance, etc.

No special assistance was needed - it just WORKED!

We are going to mexico soon also...........

So you didnt get the intl global data plan for your trip? Did you come back with a huge data charge on your phone?

Could you call each other by just using your contacts list, or did you have to add a special prefix before each call?

I dont plan on using the internet much, and just checking an occasional email, I wonder if its worth the price to get the $64 global data plan before I leave? (I know they will prorate it, so it would only cost me about $20).

Thanks !

[sycotic15]

When I cross the bodrer, I get that same message. I was told by VZW that I would have to dial the 001 in order to get out. I did not sign up for the global plan, as I only really wanted it to keep in contact with the states in case of an emergency. I turn off my email and everything, seeing as I am on vacation, I want to have nothing to do with work. The phone calls are more expensive than signing up for the plan, but like I said, I really don't plan on using it a whole lot. I have done the *228 thing and has not worked. I guess I will be trying to find a SIM card to buy down there. I dont go real remote. We start in San Felipe (Never works), travel to the mountains (where I assume there is no service) and then to Ensenada (where I have not been with this phone yet, but someone told me VZW may work there). So we will see. I appreciate everyones help in this matter. THANK YOU!!!

[carlos31820]

When I cross the bodrer, I get that same message. I was told by VZW that I would have to dial the 001 in order to get out. I did not sign up for the global plan, as I only really wanted it to keep in contact with the states in case of an emergency. I turn off my email and everything, seeing as I am on vacation, I want to have nothing to do with work. The phone calls are more expensive than signing up for the plan, but like I said, I really don't plan on using it a whole lot. I have done the *228 thing and has not worked. I guess I will be trying to find a SIM card to buy down there. I dont go real remote. We start in San Felipe (Never works), travel to the mountains (where I assume there is no service) and then to Ensenada (where I have not been with this phone yet, but someone told me VZW may work there). So we will see. I appreciate everyones help in this matter. THANK YOU!!!

If you plan on using a non-Verizon SIM card, you will need to unlock your Storm first, otherwise, it won't work with a different SIM card. In other words, out of the box, the Verizon Storms are locked to only use Verizon SIM cards.

There are lots of threads explaining how you go about unlocking the Storm.

[Mountain]

I am going to the Baja 500 in Mexico and have a blackberry storm. I have beendown there twice so far with the phone, both times having Verizon tell me it will work.

I wonder..... did you get any dust in the phone down there in that dusty place???

[brsmith01]

So I just got back from Cabo San Lucas and here is what I have learned and what I need to know.

1. Phone calls it works great. My Storm was easy for calling and had no problems connecting.
2. I decided to opt out of the prorated 65/month data plan and turned my phone to "Off when Roaming" Data.
3. I assume I will have no data charges as i got bombarded with emails when I got back home to LA.
4. I was not able to send any text messages at all.

After talking to VZW today I found out that Blackberrys send texts through the data network, causing me to not be able to send out texts because i had my data off when roaming. So I guess I have to turn data on to send and receive text messages (which pisses me off because my brothers enV2 worked just fine because apparently they use the voice network to send texts).

First, can someone else confirm that what the VZW rep. said is true? Furthermore, how is the best way to minimize my data charges while keeping data on? (ie: shutting off email and everything else that uses data in the background).

[wmscottmc]

So I just got back from Cabo San Lucas and here is what I have learned and what I need to know.

1. Phone calls it works great. My Storm was easy for calling and had no problems connecting.
2. I decided to opt out of the prorated 65/month data plan and turned my phone to "Off when Roaming" Data.
3. I assume I will have no data charges as i got bombarded with emails when I got back home to LA.
4. I was not able to send any text messages at all.

After talking to VZW today I found out that Blackberrys send texts through the data network, causing me to not be able to send out texts because i had my data off when roaming. So I guess I have to turn data on to send and receive text messages (which pisses me off because my brothers enV2 worked just fine because apparently they use the voice network to send texts).

First, can someone else confirm that what the VZW rep. said is true? Furthermore, how is the best way to minimize my data charges while keeping data on? (ie: shutting off email and everything else that uses data in the background).

I just got back from Cabo also, we were probably down there at the same time. I called VW before I left and asked them to put me on the global data plan while I was down there, its about $1.50/day. (then when i got back they claim that there was never a request for this...... but thats another story).

I was able to browse the internet, and get my emails while I was down there. I could text but didnt because its kind of expensive. I was going to do what you did and turn of data services while I was down there, that should have worked for you. I needed access to my emails so I did the global data plan, prorated to about $15 for 8 days.

Bottom line, everything worked well (except for VW customer service), somehow an email acct was added to my phone which messed up my calendar and I couldnt sync when I got back, but I was able to fix with some help from this forum. And Cabo was fun.