Activating Verizon Storm in Europe

[Bibble]

I have been traveling/studying in Europe for about 2 months now and decided I wanted a Blackberry I could use over here for my birthday. My family is on Verizon, so I decided on the sexy 9530. I asked my mother to please pick one up from the local Verizon store and have them set it up for me so that it would work in Europe upon arrival. Unfortunately, she neglected to do this upon the reassurances of the retailer, who said that all she had to do was ship it and let him know when I had it in my hands here.

It arrived today in a pristine, unopened box. Much to my dismay, though not to my surprise, it the phone displayed only a red SOS where I assume the network is usually shown. I shot an e-mail to my mother to call the Verizon guy, which she did. He told her that he had activated it, and that now all I have to do is go to any wireless store like Orange or Vodafone and ask them to activate it in Europe.

Is this procedure going to work or is this Verizon dude full of shit? I called Verizon Wireless, and the dude there said there is nothing I can do except send it back to the US and have them activate it there, and then ship it back here. He also said that if I wanted to use it just for voice I look online for an unlock code and buy a SIM card here.

Please tell me what to believe.

Update: Just to provide an update, I called Verizon Global support with hopes of having my Storm unlocked. I'm not sure what the guy did, but he instructed me to do a battery pull and, viola, my baby came to life upon restarting. I'm now cruising on Orange's 3G network without issue. This is after going to 3 different wireless stores here in Switzerland and speaking to 3 Verizon people. Hooray for Thomas of Verizon Global support!

 

[2Xtreme21]

You're going to need to have Verizon give you an unlock code for it (or unlock it yourself... not familiar with the BB procedure). Then just go to Orange, etc. and get a SIM card.

 

[Bibble]

2Xtreme21, will this allow me to access the internet?

 

[2Xtreme21]

Sure, if you're willing to pay out the ass for data charges. That's all related to the plan you sign up for with Orange, etc. Most of the carriers will sell you a prepaid SIM since a lot of people come to Europe with similar situations as yours. A lot of them will allow you to call the US at anywhere between $.50 - $1.00 / min or give you a lump of something like 100 minutes for $20. They're not very cost-efficient and I would highly recommend only getting it just so your family can get ahold of you and vice versa.

Edit: What country are you in, btw?

 

[pm]

2Xtreme21 is right. Verizon needs to unlock it, and then go to a European cell phone store, buy a SIM and then insert it and the red symbol should go away. You can ask Verizon to get you the code, or if you are in a hurry and willing to take a risk, you can try buying one on Ebay. If Verizon doesn't know what they are talking about, make sure you ask for international customer service. Don't go to a US rep and ask them... they generally don't know much.

As far internet, when you get the SIM you need to get one that allows internet access... which is most of them, but a lot of them will charge a lot for it.

When I've been in Europe with my iPhone - which was about 6 months ago, and will be about 2.5 weeks from now - I used internet access on my iPhone in Germany, Czech Rep., and Poland. I found that pre-paid plans from providers came in two varieties: cheap voice and expensive internet, or cheap internet and expensive voice. So my wife chose cheap voice for her phone, and I got cheap internet for my iPhone, and then I sent a lot of SMS's.

The bit at the end where he says "use it just for voice, look online for an unlock code and buy a SIM card here" doesn't sound right to me. If it's unlocked for voice, it should be unlocked for data. Maybe he was referring to international blackberry data and not just generic UMTS 3G internet....

For calls internationally, one trick is to use SMS's (ie. text messages) which are cheap to send internationally and then have someone call your cell from a landline phone using a VOIP or calling card. So I'd do something like text my wife and tell her to call my cell using our Vonage phone - which was only like $0.12/min.

 

[Bibble]

I appreciate all of your help, but what you guys are telling me isn't really solving my original problem.

I have two verizon guys telling me to separate things: One says I can just walk into any wireless store and they will be willing and able to activate my phone in Europe such that it will work on the plan I am already paying verizon for. The second says that to accomplish this I will have to send it back to the US and have it activated there, then ship it back here. I know that the Storm can function on the Verizon SIM card as my friend just flew over with his and it works without issue.

2Xtreme21, I am based in Switzerland but I travel extensively.

 

[2Xtreme21]

Both are full of it. Seriously, all you need to do is exactly what pm is saying. Get a prepaid SIM from a Europen carrier. Call Verizon (1-888-844-0395) and tell them you got a Blackberry 9530 shipped to you in Europe and you'd like to use it while you're traveling in Europe. Ask them for the unlock code to it and the procedure for doing so. Usually when you put the foreign SIM in it'll ask you to input the code, but like I said, I'm not familiar with the BB procedure. Then you're golden!

 

[pm]

I think part of the confusion is "data". Data could mean surfing the internet, or it could mean sychronizing your Blackberry internationally using Blackberry's network. I think that when we are talking about "data" in this thread, we are all talking about surfing Google or soemthing, but I'm thinking that when Bibble talks to the Verizon guys, they are talking about the latter and how to get Bibble's Outlook mail into his Blackberry when he's roaming in Europe.

So maybe it's a matter of terminology and everyone is right? There aren't a lot of Verizon phones that take SIM's. This whole talk of "activation" sounds like Blackberry stuff to me - not that I'm really experienced in Blackberries. Where's Divide when you need him?

 

[Bibble]

Just to provide an update, I called Verizon Global support with hopes of having my Storm unlocked. I'm not sure what the guy did, but he instructed me to do a battery pull and, viola, my baby came to life upon restarting. I'm now cruising on Orange's 3G network without issue. This is after going to 3 different wireless stores here in Switzerland and speaking to 3 Verizon people. Hooray for Thomas of Verizon Global support!