Help. I'm going to be travelling internationally for about 6 months and need a new smart phone to accompany me. I'll be using it primarily for e-mail and mobile browsing, but also want the ability to tether. (I'll be staying in some places that don't have wi-fi but do get cell service). I've done a fair amount of research and have been agonizing about whether a Bold with AT&T or a Tour with Sprint or Verizon best serves my needs. The Bold's a little bulky for me, and AT&T discontinued their unlimited international data plan. But the Tour lacks wi-fi, and I'm not sure how either Verizon or Sprint's coverage will hold up overseas. My main goals are reliable, easy connectivity and not incurring surprise charges that break my travel bank. I'd appreciate any practical input from crackberry enthusiasts who've used these devices in the real world.
I'll be visiting Mexico, Australia, and countries in South America and Asia, FWIW.
Bold. Or if you can wait a few weeks for the 9700 to drop, do that. Sexy like a Tour, kick-*** like a Bold.
No WiFi is no good if you might have flaky wireless coverage, so I say no to the Tour.
Ha, I like the sound of that 9700. Will T-mobile have viable plans? I ruled them out a while ago when a store rep told me that they had nothing that would be moderately affordable for my usage profile.
Unfortunately, as a Canadian I know next to nothing about the American pricing plans... I do know lots about Berries tho
I actually live only about 20 minutes from the RIM Campus...
I would go with a GSM phone (Bold/Curve 8900) with ATT to avoid unlocking the phone. Don't know what the data rates are, but it will avoid the hassle of unlocking. For voice, you can just buy a prepaid sim from a local wireless provider to avoid suprise call charges.
Which country are you going to?. Only sprint and verizon have true unlimited intl data plans. Check their roaming partners and see if data is available via roaming or not.
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the verizon tour works great in Asia, and it should be fine really everywhere.. make sure you get the unlimited international data plan, and have international roaming enabled on your account before you leave.
the 8900 doesn't work in Japan, which is a big minus.. and UMA is only available in the US on T-mobile. T-mobile's international data plan only covers email, which is a big minus if you use anything like BBM or browse the web.
The Bold would probably also work well in all those places, but the problem is ATT no longer has an unlimited intl data plan.. its very easy (at least for me) to rack up the MB's when using my blackberry to look up things on google maps, as well as sending pictures in email back home, etc.
