How to pick the perfect travel smartphone

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KATE - Will you be charged over and above your monthly fees for phone calls and data usage on your new Verizon BlackBerry in Europe. Phone = Yes and Data = Probably. I went to Verizon's site and checked out what the pricing would be if you made calls in France(Plans | International Services | Traveling Outside of the U.S. | France). Calls while you are in France will cost you 99¢ per minute or $1.29 per minute. Data usage while in France will cost you 2¢ per KB unless you pay at least $129.99 per month for GlobalAccess, then data will be free up to 100 MB.

As Scott said above, just because a phone is International capable, doesn't mean you won't be charged extra for using your phone abroad. Regular plans that most of us sign up for do NOT include free calls while abroad.

And as an aside, Android Market has a great App (APNdroid) that turns of the data part of your phone so you do not incur data roaming charges while abroad (used this in Canada last month to great success). I'm also a HUGE fan of T-Mobile's UMA feature and plan to use it while in Italy next year.

What I really wish is that I could call T-Mobile and say: I'm going to be in Italy in January, is there a feature I can add to my phone that will allow unlimited calls and data for the 2 weeks I'm there? And have T-Mobile say: Why yes there is. We've got a monthly add-on feature available for your account. For $XXX.00 per month you will be able to roam internationally with both data and voice without incurring additional charges. I'd be willing to pay $100 - $200 for that option, depending on how long I plan to be abroad. This charge by mb/KB is too difficult to track. Having a set $ amount to pay and unlimited usage would be ideal.

Until that happens, I'm taking my UMA BlackBerry, an unlocked Android phone with me and crossed fingers that I can get a pre-paid data SIM in Italy. I'm looking forward to reading the upcoming pre-paid article.

I think this article should be required reading for anyone when they purchase an airline ticket abroad. Very informative.

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