Help!!! Options for Canadian studying in US

Hoping to get some direction from those in the bb community, knowledgeable in using a smart phone in Canada and the US.

My son (Canadian) will be leaving shortly to attend school in the States. He is a bb Bold 9780 user, using BBM and texting to keep in touch with his friends. Over the next three years, he will be in the US, returning home for holidays and breaks, but spending approx 9 of the 12 months in the US.

Ideally, he�d like to use his own Bold in both the US and Canada, keeping his PIN and BBM as is. I�ve looked into Rodgers� �preferred rates� (Data - $10/month U.S Data Roaming Add-on and then pay $1/MB, Voice - $15/month U.S Voice Add-on and then pay .35/min). This option looks like it will become VERY expensive, especially if I add in texting.

Other options I�m considering are:

A separate US phone � probably the cheapest, but it would mean he has to keep track of two phones, each with a set of BBM contacts and conversations.

Or

Trying to unlock his present phone and use a US-based SIM card in it when he�s in the States and his Rogers SIM while in Canada. I�m not sure this is even a realistic option.

Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
kenzzie

I would advise the latter. Unlock the phone, and look into US plans. T-Mobile has prepaid plans with no contract, and you just add on BB data to whatever voice package fits his needs. This is the plan I use, we originally set it up when Bla1ze came to visit here for a month from Canada. Just pop in the Tmo SIM card, and you're basically good to go.

My friend is the opposite, he goes to school in Canada for the year, and then comes back in the summer. When he comes back here he uses A Blackberry but with the lowest data plan, its 15$ a month with att, you would just get a new sim card card, and pin...which isn't a big deal.

If voice and texting are significant, then the options given above sound the best.

If data useage is the more significant, then Rogers has US/CAN data plans -- where data used in the US is not considered to be roaming and all comes from the same bucket. This is not an add-on, it's an entirely different data plan.

Thanks to responders

Not sure what his US usage will be. Here, he uses BBM a lot, but texts as well, rarely actually calls. I imagine in US he'll be texting more, voice just for emergencies.

Klotar's option sounds interesting, I could add unlimited texting @ $50/month, but would be concerned about voice charges (long dist charges for callers AND receiving) for calls in the US to his Canadian #.

He'll be attending school in New Hampshire. Any thoughts on which US carrier we should be using?

Also, by swapping new SIM into an unlocked phone, I assume PIN (for BBM) will remain the same...

Kenzzie