[seanoj]

I am headed to Greece for a two week vacation. I have a 9650 and my wife has a 9630 (both Sprint).

I have poked around this forum and others looking for advice on getting a prepaid SIM for the trip. Most of what I have read is too old to be useful.

Couple of questons:

1) What provider/plan SIM should I buy?

2) Will we be able to hook up to our BIS and BES with a prepaid SIM service?Vodafone has a unlimited internet plan for 1 euro per day. Would this work? I know my wife's BIS use is minimal, but my BES is a monster. Hundereds of emails per day, Boomberg data service, etc.

3) Do I need to get Sprint involved in unlocking the phones? I tried someone else's TMobile SIM on my 9650 and it appeared to work. Have not tried the 9630?

4) Funky charger needed. Source & type suggestions?

I would love to ditch the whole BB for the trip and totally decompress, but we have a few important (and fun) projects at work that are nearing critical stages and I need to stay in touch.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[blackberry-unlocking710]

I'm not sure but i think that Vodafone offer a pre-paid service that includes data in Greece.

Any way, you can find alternative ways to read emails - such as laptop - with a prepaid internet.

about unlocking, well - maybe your blackberry is already unlocked..
any way you can find instructions for unlocking any blackberry here: Blackberry unlocking instructions

unlocking is easy, you need to have unlock code, you can get one online.

About the charger, just get one when you get there.

Good luck and have a nice vacation.

[freethisberrydotcom]

If Orange is available in Greece, they support BIS for cheap. ..

[seanoj]

Thanks! Will chceck out Vodafone and Orange prepaid when I get there.

[ADFXPro777]

Sprint uses CDMA phones - I do not believe a SIM card would work on your phone. You may have to have it either unlocked by an overseas carrier or use Sprint's International Service.

[ADGrant]

Sprint uses CDMA phones - I do not believe a SIM card would work on your phone. You may have to have it either unlocked by an overseas carrier or use Sprint's International Service.

The 9650 is dual mode and will work with a SIM card.

[seanoj]

Update: Fail!

I got a Vodafone prepaid card at a Vodafone store in Athens. I bought a 10 euro "top up" card at a news stand. I was able to make calls and send/receive SMS but unable to get any data.

I actually subscribed to a 3 euro (200 MB) pay as you go plan twice. It did not work. After making a few calls to Vodafone I was able to find out that you can NOT use your Blackberry in Greece without a monthly plan. You can not use BES, BIS or the browser. Beware.

The phone was never locked by Sprint. The SIM worked for calls and SMS (as stated above). I was able to get WiFi to do some browsing and using the web based access to my email accounts, but it was a pain. Plan on some other way to access email and calendars while visiting Greece.

[ADGrant]

Update: Fail!

I got a Vodafone prepaid card at a Vodafone store in Athens. I bought a 10 euro "top up" card at a news stand. I was able to make calls and send/receive SMS but unable to get any data.

I actually subscribed to a 3 euro (200 MB) pay as you go plan twice. It did not work. After making a few calls to Vodafone I was able to find out that you can NOT use your Blackberry in Greece without a monthly plan. You can not use BES, BIS or the browser. Beware.

The phone was never locked by Sprint. The SIM worked for calls and SMS (as stated above). I was able to get WiFi to do some browsing and using the web based access to my email accounts, but it was a pain. Plan on some other way to access email and calendars while visiting Greece.

Perhaps a different smartphone. The BB is the only smartphone platform which has this issue.