Just got new Blackberry Bold - tell me about using it in Disney

[Tiger926]

Hubby and I just got new Blackberry Bolds yesterday - love them so far!

We are trying to figure out for using at Disney. My cousin and students who have them, have told me that using BBM will cost International roaming/Internet costs, is this correct?

This is what we want to do:

- Hubby and I need to be able to text each other once in awhile when we separate with the kids

- Be able to communicate back home (not a necessity as we have Skype and call home from DVC resort or On Star in car)

- Use Internet sparingly while in the parks (can't really find any great Disney apps yet, so maybe not necessary?)

I am researching and learning about the phone, and there is so much to learn!

Hubby has a corporate plan with great rates and discounts, so I am still wrapping my head around the costs and such. I know there are extra US add-ons we can add to the phones for the time we are at Disney as well.

Any help would be appreciated. I tried to search for old threads, as I though I have read some, but search did not elicit any good results.

Thanks, Tiger

 

[ccudmore]

There's a sticky at the top of this forum that has a lot of detail on this exact topic. Bottom line - as soon as you cross the border to the U.S. you'll start using roaming rates for both voice and data which are huge - many times the rate you'll pay in Canada. This is for calls, texts, BBM, surfing, voice-mail, everything.

There are a few things you can do:
- Every carrier has a US roaming option where you can add a certain amount of usage to the phone for a week or every month for a discounted fee. It's still more expensive than your Canadian rates but it's cheaper then the basic rates. Budget an extra $100/device for U.S. data roaming add-ons. But that's better than the several hundred you'd get dinged if you use just normal roaming.
- Learn how to turn roaming off on your phones and/or how to put it in airplane mode. Every phone I've seen has a way to do it. Only enable it for the few minutes you'll need to use it, then turn it back off. Otherwise the phone will be constantly accessing the Internet to check for mail, etc and ringing up the usage.
- For back in your hotel room see if there's in room WiFi or wired Internet and if so if it's free (if you're staying on-site there's in-room wired Internet but you have to pay a daily rate for it). If you do have WiFi, use that instead of the cellular internet. If it's wired only buy an Apple AirPort Express. It's a cheap little device you plug into the internet jack in your room to create a WiFi hotspot that both of your blackberries can use. I'm actually writing this response from a hotel room in the US using a AirPort express to share WiFi with 4 devices.
- Contact your carriers to discuss options.

 

[MikeyNS]

Just got back in March with our Telus BB. Added the $10US Data Roaming plan (brought the data down to $1/Mb). Used touringplans mobile, did some emailing and some web browsing. BB's don't use much data at all.
You'd need to send/receive approximately 1,000,000 characters in BBM to hit 1Mb (and BB compresses the data, so I'm just approximating).
Much cheaper than the ~$1/text message. I was surprised how much data I *didn't* use. If I had just stuck to BBM I would never have come close to 1Mb.

 

[hockey mom]

I just paid my bill for April. I sent about 10 text messages and many BBM messages and my bill was about $18 higher than normal.

If you can stick with using the BBM you will not incur many charges.

 

[Tiger926]

Thanks all! Very long day at school today, so first time back...

I totally forgot about the sticky - oy! I knew I had read about this, but search didn't turn anything up. Thanks - I will start reading through that.

I guess we'll call Rogers and ask what the charges will be. Right now, I'd like to find out if it's cheaper to BBM my hubby or send a text while in Disney?

Thanks a bunch, Tiger

 

[MikeyNS]

Thanks all! Very long day at school today, so first time back...

I totally forgot about the sticky - oy! I knew I had read about this, but search didn't turn anything up. Thanks - I will start reading through that.

I guess we'll call Rogers and ask what the charges will be. Right now, I'd like to find out if it's cheaper to BBM my hubby or send a text while in Disney?

Thanks a bunch, Tiger

It should be cheaper to BBM. You should be able to send 1,000,000 characters for $3 with bum (very loose math) for the same money as 3 140 character txts.

 

[Tiger926]

It should be cheaper to BBM. You should be able to send 1,000,000 characters for $3 with bum (very loose math) for the same money as 3 140 character txts.

Thanks. I thought it would be cheaper to BBM, but then my cousin said it still costs money, so I am confused. Here it's free for us BBM, but it sounds like in Disney it will cost money - why is that? Is that roaming?

What about if I BBM people from Disney back home to Canada?

Thanks so much, Tiger

 

[MikeyNS]

Thanks. I thought it would be cheaper to BBM, but then my cousin said it still costs money, so I am confused. Here it's free for us BBM, but it sounds like in Disney it will cost money - why is that? Is that roaming?

What about if I BBM people from Disney back home to Canada?

Thanks so much, Tiger

I would suppose it depends on your plan. Some plans have unlimited BBMs, but it's still considered data. BBM uses so little data that it's an easy promo to give away in Canada, but it would still be considered data roaming in the states. Best to call just in case.

 

[Tiger926]

I would suppose it depends on your plan. Some plans have unlimited BBMs, but it's still considered data. BBM uses so little data that it's an easy promo to give away in Canada, but it would still be considered data roaming in the states. Best to call just in case.

Read through the entire sticky above, and there is conflicting info in there as well. Plus, it talks so much about using the actual phone for calling, and we won't be doing that.

Will call Rogers and get the scoop! Thanks, Tiger

 

[grantclaire]

I might be showing my age but we do not take any phones with us to WDW! .

 

[Louiepipbgeeco]

Careful calling Rogers...I called 3 times and visited a store and had conflicting info on the whole cost of the BBMing while in the US to a blackberry in Canada...I told them that too.... that each salesrep had different info. In the end I bought that 10 per month plan for US data and have to keep it 3months and cancel..Therefore it cost me $30 ...I still ended up paying roaming for the BBM even with this and the total for many, many BBM (teen sent BF) was about $7 so I would have been better off just to pay that...the plan was supposedly supposed to cover my need..which was just BBM roaming incurred..in the end very frustrated that Rogers could not give me the right advice etc. after so much research..cost was not big..principal was..

 

[corster]

BBM uses data, and by itself isn't expensive, but having Data enabled on your phone puts you in a position to have other applications using data, which (if it happens) will drive up your bill.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I also have a BlackBerry Bold 9780 and in the past when I have gone to WDW I purchased the American calling plan with Bell for 100 roaming free minutes and their American texting plan, so I am not charged any roaming fees when texting. I don't use my apps which is Maple Leafs Mobile, TSN Mobile, Score Mobile for BlackBerry and Windows Messenger, because the cost for using them in the United States is a lot of $ and my unlimited internet plan is not good over there. As for e-mails I don't turn them off because there is no cost when reading e-mails that I get. Now there is a roaming charge when sending e-mails, however when I am down there I need to e-mail one of my friends since they can't accept text messages from a Canadian number. Although there is no one else I need to e-mail unless it's very important, so the cost for that is not bad.