My BB pre paid sim card adventure in Austria, Hungary, and Europe

So I fired over to Austria for a week, then down to Hungary for 2 weeks to visit with family. I had no need for a sim card in Austria so I just used the BB network whenever I found wifi. Let me tell you, I found a lot of Wifi there. Every gas station, restaurants, pubs, hotels. Even the Christmas markets had it. The smaller hotels and simmers all free. Stayed at the Hilton, and Marriot. 18 Euros for 24hrs of use! Not a chance!

Once in Budapest, I decided to grab a sim card so I could make plans with family. Went to Vodaphone, and was told there are no pre-paid BB sim cards. I would need to sign up for an account for BB services. She also mentioned a lot of tourists come looking for pre-paid BB cards but they don�t exist there yet. (I�ve heard rumors that England has them. Is that true?)

I thought no big deal as I can use my services anytime I find Wifi. So I picked up a regular phone sim card and away I went.

This is when I learned that once I placed in the Vodaphone sim card, I was kicked off the BB services!!!! WHAT!!! FML!!!

Then I started to think and devised a plan. With my Hungarian card in, I turned OFF mobile services, but kept Wifi ON. I removed my Hungarian card, and put in my Telus one. Once phone was up and running and hour or two later, I made sure I was connected to Wifi. I then turned my mobile services on for just a couple of seconds, until I saw the email icon and quickly turned it off. The email icon was my phone registering on the BB Network. I turned off mobile Service before all my emails came through. I did this 3 or 4 times with great success, and my data bill was about .22 cents. However, my text messages came through at $1.60 each once in a while 

So, until we get dual sim card BB 10 phones, I recommend taking 2 phones. One to buy a sim card and just call from. The other your Beloved BB, and just keep mobile services off for the trip, and use Wifi like everywhere. Didn�t need my phone on. Anyone wanting to get a hold of me used BB, FB, WhatsApp, or email.

All my cousins are using an app called Viber. You can make cross platform calls over Wifi just like BB Messenger. Except on BB�..(FML). There is a beta version, but no voice. So I had them using WhatsApp with me for now.

Hope this helps anyone thinking of going to Europe.

I got a prepaid Vodafone SIM for my 9900 in Germany for 5 euros. Worked great lol...

with BB services?

Originally Posted by csubi

with BB services?

Yes I had full BIS.

Originally Posted by csubi

with BB services?

All UK carriers have them too, �5 a month for 500mb usually, full BIS.

nothing like that where i was.

Originally Posted by belfastdispatcher

All UK carriers have them too, �5 a month for 500mb usually, full BIS.

think they come as an add on rather then prebundled, but you can totally use your air time to buy them.
I'm considering going payg once contract ends cos its a lit cheaper

Sent from my BlackBerry 9810 using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by darkehawke

think they come as an add on rather then prebundled, but you can totally use your air time to buy them.
I'm considering going payg once contract ends cos its a lit cheaper

Sent from my BlackBerry 9810 using Tapatalk

No, not an add on, buy the sim card, put some credit on it, call customer services and ask them to activate BIS. �5 will promptly disappear from your credit.

Well, that's awesome for the U.K. and Germany. Sadly this does not exist where I travel. In fact it's very hard to even find BB products in Eastern European countries.

Originally Posted by csubi

Well, that's awesome for the U.K. and Germany. Sadly this does not exist where I travel. In fact it's very hard to even find BB products in Eastern European countries.

I also got it on MY maxis in malaysia and SIMpati in indonesia

This is all very interesting and informative.

I will be heading to Germany for 2 weeks this upcoming Sunday. I want to be able to use my BB mainly for BBM with people back at home (a friend in Germany is giving me one of her "cheap" phones with a pre-paid card for use if I need to call her in an emergency).

I will be flying into Bremen. I've never used my cell phone in Europe before so I'm sorry if I come off as very naive but I am trying to avoid crazy charges. I am with Virgin mobile at home. My phone is unlocked. My plan is to turn off the data service, roaming, email, and the FB app as soon as I get on the plane in Toronto. Then when I eventually get to Bremen I can go to Vodaphone, buy a prepaid data SIM, put it in my phone, turn on the mobile network/data service (keep roaming off) and that will work fine for BBM. I am filtering out emails and turning off FB so that they don't use up my German data plan. I also have a Playbook so I was planning to use that whenever I find free wifi if I need to send off an email or check FB.

I have a layover in Amsterdam, and I was told by some people that a SIM card purchased there should work in Germany - but from reading this thread I see there may be issues using SIM cards from different countries?

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Sabina82

This is all very interesting and informative.

I will be heading to Germany for 2 weeks this upcoming Sunday. I want to be able to use my BB mainly for BBM with people back at home (a friend in Germany is giving me one of her "cheap" phones with a pre-paid card for use if I need to call her in an emergency).

I will be flying into Bremen. I've never used my cell phone in Europe before so I'm sorry if I come off as very naive but I am trying to avoid crazy charges. I am with Virgin mobile at home. My phone is unlocked. My plan is to turn off the data service, roaming, email, and the FB app as soon as I get on the plane in Toronto. Then when I eventually get to Bremen I can go to Vodaphone, buy a prepaid data SIM, put it in my phone, turn on the mobile network/data service (keep roaming off) and that will work fine for BBM. I am filtering out emails and turning off FB so that they don't use up my German data plan. I also have a Playbook so I was planning to use that whenever I find free wifi if I need to send off an email or check FB.

I have a layover in Amsterdam, and I was told by some people that a SIM card purchased there should work in Germany - but from reading this thread I see there may be issues using SIM cards from different countries?

Thanks!

Make sure to do a river cruise. Be sure to see Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten statue. It is said if you rub the toe of the statue you will have good luck (seems to have worked for me).

You will be able to find SIM cards in a PLETHORA of stores. Do NOT get a SIM card for Germany in Amsterdam. Vodafone is separate for each country. Just grab one at any of the local Vodafone stores in Bremen, they seem to be at every corner. You can get them for 10 euros and it comes with 10 euros of credit on it LOL. Incoming calls are FREE in Europe, yes even from back home in Ontario. Yes bridge will work great. You don't have to buy a separate SIM card for tablet, and wifi hotspot is disabled on prepaid anyway (so would not work on samsung, etc).

Christmas market is over now but it was very nice in Bremen this year Attachment 132292