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Hi all. I have a Verizon Storm 9530 with BIS. I'll be traveling to Italy in April and have a few questions- I'd call Verizon but I suspect I'll get more accurate and knowledgeable advice here.
1)When I'm in Italy, will I be able to send/receive emails on my phone without incurring additional costs?
2)Is there some type of week long plan I can buy so that I can make phone calls?
Any help or advice is appreciated.
Im pretty sure where the service works its included in your normal bill. They advertise that in the commercials, and that is why it is one of the only VZW phones with a SIM card.
Two options that I know of:
1) call VzW and have them unlock SIM card for int'l roaming.
2) (possibly cheaper) call VzW and have them unlock the SIM slot. Then you can just use a prepaid sim card from a carrier.
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Many Storm users have successfully used their phones overseas, including myself. In order to get e-mail/data, here's what you need to do:
1) Call Verizon and have them activate your SIM card.
2) Sign up for the International Data Plan. This costs $60/month, but they remove BES or BIS (whichever data plan you have).
3) When you return, call Verizon back and tell them to change your plan back to BES/BIS. They will prorate the charges.
When you're over there, make sure to go to Options -> Mobile Network and change Network Technology to GSM/UMTS. This will keep your phone from looking for the CDMA network.
Things to note about doing this:
- Phone calls still count as roaming. Check with Verizon about the rates where you're travelling.
- SMS/MMS have a cost associated with them as well, including incoming.
- Not sure about this, but I was told AIM and other included chat software would cost me like a text message. In order to not take a chance, I used Instango and I did not receive any additional charges.
- I don't believe tethering is included in this, even if you have tethering on your plan.
Hope this helps!
zoomzoom9 has it pretty spot on. I'll be in UK, Germany, Spain & France in early March and what I understand is:
The international data plan is a steal it's $65-70 per month but they will pro-rate for the time for while you are gone - just call a day or two in advance to start and turn off on return. It is unlimited so that's a great deal but no tethering and calls are extra.
For voice, it depends in usage. If it's just a little (or you're in and out of a country, just turn on the intl phone plan and it gets the per minute rates down to $1 (I think it's $2 otherwise). If you're in a country for a bit and expect to make a lot of phone calls, take a GSM phone and buy a local SIM or buy a cheap handset there.
Finally, remember that checking voice mail is call time so that can rack up. there are some services out there that will check your v-mail boxes and forward v-mail as mp3 to your e-mail - with unlimited data, that's free. the services cost but I think there are one or two that will do a 30 day trial.