Blackberry with international SIM card

Is there such a thing?

[henry0]

HI, I Am trying to figure it there is on the market something like a blackberry (or similar)
That allows changing a chip like SIM (or other) for international communications
I am based in the USA and frequently travel in EU

I Am not interested in international roaming which is a true ‘Highway Robbery”!

[jtara]

These closest thing you are going to get to an "international phone" is a "quad band" GSM phone. Quad band is important, as the frequencies used are different in most of the world outside of the USA.

Not sure which GSM PDA phones are quad-band.

Very few GSM devices (the iPhone is the only one I know of) have a fixed (non-interchangable) SIM card.

You may have to have your device "unlocked". A GSM phone can be "locked" to a particular carrier. It's cheap and easy to unlock them, though. (Do a search.)

Verizon has a bizarre Blackberry that allows you to have your cake and eat it to. It's a CDMA/GSM device. When in the U.S., it works on the Verizon CDMA network. Elsewhere, it works on GSM networks and accepts a SIM card. I think it ONLY supports the "international" GSM frequencies, so that it can't be used on U.S. GSM networks.

[henry0]

Thanks jtara, I will look in that direction

[jtara]

Depending on where you are traveling to, you might want to avail yourself of companies that will deliver a SIM card to you in the U.S., or you might obtain one at your destination.

You will pay a hefty one-time premium to have one delivered to you in the U.S. via a third party, but you will avoid problems with language and possible problems with showing that you qualify to obtain service. (May require citizenship, proof of local address, etc.)

In most places outside of the U.S. nearly all service is pre-paid. You get a SIM chip from the carrier, and then can buy "recharges" nearly anywhere - shops, kiosks, etc.

But you can't necessarily get a SIM chip "anywhere". In many cases, you will have to go to a carrier's store, stand in line, fill out a bunch of forms, etc.