Worldphone meets world (Verizon 8830 CDMA/GSM)

[SteveW]

This story is a bit long, but I thought the tale of navigating Verizon's bizzare international plans and lack of knowledge among store employees would be amusing to some.

The Blackberry 8830 is one of 2 current Verizon phones that have both CDMA and GSM radios (the other is the Motorola Z6c). I have had this phone since late January, but this coming week will be the first time that I have taken it out of the US (going to the UK and France). I called Verizon to unlock my phone and the Tech Support person was efficient and to the point. There didn't seem to be any reluctance to give me the unlock code. She told me that I needed a Verizon GSM chip to unlock my phone, which I needed to get at a Verizon store, but that she would email me the unlock code and instructions.

By checking the website, I saw that there are several flavors of international plans, depending on whether you want to call internationally from the US, make calls while outside the US, use email/data services or all of the above. Verizon refers to plans in non-US CDMA areas as"International" while GSM areas/services are called "Global". There also seemed to be a "pay per use" option that charged by the Kbyte. So far, so good.

The store was another matter. On the advice of Verizon Tech Support, I called ahead to make sure that they had the SIM I needed to unlock my phone. Their immediate response was, "We don't unlock phones." I said that Verizon Tech support had directed me to the store and I would be there in a little while. When I got to the store, and told them I needed to borrow a SIM for a few minutes, to unlock my phone for a trip to Europe, I got blank stares. The only thing they seemed to know about was how to add Global roaming to my plan ($20/month extra on top of my current $85 business plan).

I asked about the pay as you go - they said they had never heard of it. I showed it to them on their own website. I showed them the email from Verizon with the unlock instructions and the unlock code. Then I was sent to see the resident tech wiz. Let's call him "Sean".

I said "Look Sean, I seem to have 3 options -
- unlock my phone here and use a local SIM in Europe. That's what I had planned to do and I came here to borrow a SIM so I could unlock the phone.

- sign up for the pay as you go plan, which make sense to me, as I will only be in Europe for 10 days

- add Global roaming to my phone, which I don't want to do, since I won't use it much."

Sean told me that he really didn't have any SIMs that he could let me use, even for a minute, but he could sell me one (I think it was $29.95). He claimed not to know anything about unlocking, but acknowledged my email from Verizon. He convinced me to add the plan known as "GlobalEmail" to my phone since:
- I can take the $20 charge off my plan as soon as I come back (he said they would even pro-rate it).
- It comes with the SIM that I would otherwise have to buy.
- I get unlimited email and browsing

I figured that this was a good deal, since (in addition to using the Internet and Google Maps as much as I want) I'm pretty sure my email access will be normal, and US callers can use my US number (something an international SIM obviously can't do). Voice calls are still charged international roaming, which Sean thought was around $1.50/min for UK and France, where I will be.

He activated the SIM and gave it to me. It has both Vodafone and Verizon logos, which makes sense, given Verizon's ownership. I followed the unlock instructions in the store and, after a few tries, was successful. Of course, I can still use a local SIM if I want to save money on local calls in my destination country.

I am looking forward to using my newly unlocked phone and Vodafone SIM while traveling.



SW

[Bugwart]

Great information!

[Bill Clinton]

Yea great story for sure. Why Verizon had the SIM slot was locked on the phone still has me very confused.

[SteveW]

Originally Posted by Bill Clinton Yea great story for sure. Why Verizon had the SIM slot was locked on the phone still has me very confused.

Even though this is sold as a "worldphone", they never said it was unlocked. Verizon obviously wants to know if you are going to use the SIM slot and they want the opportunity to sell you the international roaming plan from their partner/minority owner, Vodafone. This worked out OK for me, although if it had not been a business phone, I might have made different choices.

That being said, they didn't try to lock me into using Vodafone and gave me the unlock code and instructions when I asked for them. Corporate store employees were a bit clueless about this, but Verizon Tech Support was fine.


SW

[SteveW]

An update after returning from my brief European trip. I had posted some of this in the Wireless Posts Fun forum, but I thought I would put everything here for completeness.

The Vodaphone GSM SIM that I got from Verizon before leaving the US worked fine. Also, the phone has a mode where it will automatically switch between CDMA and GSM, depending on what it sees, so you can leave the SIM in permanently. As should be obvious, this phone only supports European GSM frequencies (900/1800), so there is no possibility of it picking up AT&T or T-Mobile in the US.

As expected, I got my email normally (via RIM's servers, in this case - no corporate BES) and I could use the Internet normally, although at EDGE speeds. I meant to do a download speed test, but never got around to it. EDGE was noticeably slower than EVDO/A on the Verizon network, but the Web (CNN, Wikipedia, etc) and Google Maps were usable.

I loved having Google Maps in my hand while on vacation, just as much as I love having it here. When we came out of Paddington Station in London and were unsure of which way to walk toward our hotel, Google Maps showed us. Even my wife was impressed .

We took the Eurostar train through the "Chunnel" to Paris and as soon as we got outside in France (rural French countryside, except for the train tracks and stations), the phone picked up SFR (owned by Vivendi and Vodafone). From the US perspective, this border crossing/carrier switch was a non-issue.

There were some glitches:

- GPS is, of course, disabled by Verizon, unless you use their service for an extra charge . Location via cell tower in Google Maps, which works in the US, did not work in Europe.

- A few times, when coming out of the London Underground, the phone locked onto O2 and wouldn't lock onto Vodaphone until I pulled the battery out and rebooted it. Interestingly, my phone worked in much of the Paris Metro. In Paris however, cell reception indoors is often problematic since many buildings have thick stone walls (including our little hotel in the Latin Quarter). I rebooted my phone lots of times to get it to see SFR, the preferred Verizon/Vodafone partner. It is a peculiarity of this phone that just turning it off and on again usually doesn't work. You actually have to take the battery out, and then the start-up is very time consuming.

- Auto time update didn't work in either the UK or France.

All of these are minor quibbles however. For $20, I had mobile email and Internet while outside the US. For the international roaming fee (I believe $1.29/min, where I was) my co-workers and customers could dial my normal US number and the voice connection was usually excellent. In one sense this is unremarkable, but compared to what was available just a few years ago, it's pretty amazing.

There is going to be a large voice bill, but I don't have to pay that. We made personal calls in the UK using a local (Virgin) SIM in my LG phone and used an international phone card to call the US cheaply. Of course this also implies that I spent a lot of time doing work phone calls and email while on "vacation". Annoying, but true. Luckily, my wife put up with it.



SW

[Mobile Mike]

Steve, you didn't get the Verizon/Vodafone SIM when you bought the phone? When I got the Samsung SCH-a790 in 2004, it came with the SIM. I guess they're not automatically providing them in their world phones anymore???

Also, my phone was locked, so as to use Vodafone only when traveling. I'm amazed they unlocked it for you. I didn't think Verizon would even think of doing it, knowing how tight-fisted they are.

Soon they'll have a few CDMA/Quad-band GSM phones available. Should be interesting...

[SteveW]

Originally Posted by Mobile Mike Steve, you didn't get the Verizon/Vodafone SIM when you bought the phone? When I got the Samsung SCH-a790 in 2004, it came with the SIM. I guess they're not automatically providing them in their world phones anymore??? Also, my phone was locked, so as to use Vodafone only when traveling. I'm amazed they unlocked it for you. I didn't think Verizon would even think of doing it, knowing how tight-fisted they are. Soon they'll have a few CDMA/Quad-band GSM phones available. Should be interesting...

No, it didn't have the SIM. I don't know if this is a general rule or not. This phone was bought for me through a business account and it did not have international roaming as part of its original service plan. That may have something to do with it. If you tell them up front it will be used for roaming, they may include the SIM.

Perhaps one reason that Verizon supplied the unlock code was because this is a business account with 25 or so lines. Maybe it's because of the way I asked for it - I played dumb and just asked like I assumed it was a normal thing to do. I don't know what policy boxes I checked to get that treatment.

Also, I didn't actually test the unlock, after the device reported it was unlocked. The Vodafone SIM worked so well that I never put the Virgin UK SIM I had into it (in retrospect I should have tried this). I used the Virgin SIM in my personal phone (unlocked quad band LG)



SW

[Mobile Mike]

Originally Posted by SteveW No, it didn't have the SIM. I don't know if this is a general rule or not. This phone was bought for me through a business account and it did not have international roaming as part of its original service plan. That may have something to do with it. If you tell them up front it will be used for roaming, they may include the SIM. Perhaps one reason that Verizon supplied the unlock code was because this is a business account with 25 or so lines. Maybe it's because of the way I asked for it - I played dumb and just asked like I assumed it was a normal thing to do. I don't know what policy boxes I checked to get that treatment. Also, I didn't actually test the unlock, after the device reported it was unlocked. The Vodafone SIM worked so well that I never put the Virgin UK SIM I had into it (in retrospect I should have tried this). I used the Virgin SIM in my personal phone (unlocked quad band LG) SW

Makes sense, Steve. It must be business accounts work differently than personal ones when it comes to the global phones.

In any case, I'm glad it worked out well for you AND that you got to test it out on your recent trip.

[larion88]

What I needed was a European cell phone I could use during my trips abroad.
And after doing some research I decide to stay with http://callineurope.com/; the rates they offer look more competitive compared to few sources I verified. And I won't have to pay any monthly fees and will be able to reroute my US number.

[SteveW]

Originally Posted by larion88 What I needed was a European cell phone I could use during my trips abroad. And after doing some research I decide to stay with Call in Europe; the rates they offer look more competitive compared to few sources I verified. And I won't have to pay any monthly fees and will be able to reroute my US number.

larion88 - Welcome to WA. I had not known about this service, so thanks for that. The link in your post wasn't quite right, and you won't be able to edit it at this point, so for the convenience of others I have fixed it in your quote above.

Your post sounded like you haven't tried this yet. Let us know whether they meet your expectations. Safe travels.

SW