BlackBerry

[Skents]

Help! Just visiting UK to do boring admin after cruising down to Algarve over Summer (Planning Atlantic Circuit from October to August next year). Several people have recommended the BlackBerry as a good way to send/receive e-mail saying they simply pay £20 ish a month and that covers cost. All the companies I speak to are suggesting that my monthly fee will not cover international usage but our cruising contacts suggested it would. Anyone had any experience or can suggest a line of enquiry? Thanks

 

[Swagman]

Think the majority view you've already had is more likely to be correct.
You can source services in the UK for fixed monthly charge with xx time or xxx volume of data allowed - but only for time in the UK. Once overseas - added local rates (and they vary) will apply.
Sorry to pass over bad news and enjoy your trip.
JOHN

 

[TigaWave]

If your doing it on a budget, we found that writing e-mails on board on a laptop then just taking them to internet cafe was possibly cheaper, we would take them back to the boat to read and just copy and paste large mails out from a disc. There were plenty of internet places in some places they were free (the azores/portugal post offices), and they were also sometimes airconditioned (Prickly bay if its still there) rooms that were quite a social meeting point to discuss the weather.

I use my mobile now for e-mail around Europe and its a bit of an unknown quantity each time I get a bill, I'd check that one carefully with those that have them down there.

Have a great trip...


And in kind of answer to your other post we left from Canaries (Gomera) in January and there were loads of families with kids there over Christmas and New year.

 

[jerryat]

Yep, got to agree with Tigawave. We used our laptop on board to prepare all emails then nipped ashore (virtually anywhere in the Algarve, Med. or Caribbean) to an Internet cafe. Saves a lot of hassle and eliminates the risk, taken by other cruisers we've seen, of hauling the laptop ashore with the associated risks of a soaking, loss, theft etc.

Incredibly cheap everywhere compared to the UK, and free in quite a few, even in normally hideously expensive places like Bermuda.

Re mobile phones, we bought 'local' Simm cards for the several of the countries we visited in/around the Med. as this usually offers big savings compared with sustaining the UK based contracts. There are sometimes special 'deals' for ex-pats in Spain e.g. that allow cheaper rates for calling the UK, so it's worth checking this aspect out with boats already cruising there.

Cheers Jerry

 

[Skents]

Thank you very much for your advice. We have been using the internet cafe in Olhao recently...totally free as long as you sign up. I thought the BlackBerry thing sounded a bit too good to be true. Will tell my son that he likely to find kids to play with before too long. Mind you, we've been telling him that so long that I think he is starting to think we are telling him porkies.

 

[Spicemariner]

If you are heading for the Caribbean you will really need SSB radio, there are kids nets and cruisers nets and it is just incredibly useful for keeping in touch long distance. We use ours for email, costs 200$ a year, or if you have a Ham licence it is free. If you don't have SSB and really want one by the time you get to Caribbean, you can have one installed in St Martin, a cruising friend of ours set up business there and does a roaring trade from all the boats who thought they wouldn't need one. You will also need a pactor modem, you can't browse the net but it is great for email.

 

[PeterStone]

I bought a blackberry a year or so ago so that I could send and receive emails when in France. However I have found the costs to be far higher than anticipated. I found it impossible to get a clear answer from Vodafone staff about costs when I bought the phone but I asumed that the odd email here and there wouldn't amount to much...but I was wrong.

I've tried a couple of different price plans but I have found none that makes it economically viable - at least for use abroad.

Before I dump the phone, I will check to see if pricing is more transparent now because there has been much criticism of Vodafone. My bills are itemised and you wouldn't believe how many pages the entries for each month extend to...far more entries than calls or emails but many of the entries have a nil figure against them so I think that the phone polls at intervals to check emails but I can't be sure. If anyone knows the answer I'd be interested.

A shame really because it is an excellent phone otherwise and the querty keyboard makes sending emails and texts very easy once you get the hang of it.

 

[jeanne]

Have you considered Pocketmail? The machine costs 99$US and the annual charge is around 150$US. You write e mails and use any landline phone or some moblies to send/receive mail via audio coupler. It is cheap and efficient. The only downside is that you are restricted to one page E4, or have to split longer mails. Other than that, I agree with the other posts who use floppies to download/upload mail, cheap and easy, although some internet places won´t let you use your own discs.

 

[andy_wilson]

Fairly straight forward

Whatever Blackberry service (provider) you go for, it includes 5 Mb / 15 Mb / unlimited e-mails when connected to the networks' own Blackberry server. If you are in the UK and download attachments they cost extra, typically £2.00 /Mb.

If you connect via another data connection point (ie from a foreign networks access point), you will pay the roaming data rate, typically £10.00 / Mb for Blackberry e-mails and attachments.