International Travel with Verizon Wireless

I recently bought a Blackberry Tour and wanted to use it in the UK and Belgium. I had heard so many horror stories about incredibly large bills arriving after using one's phone overseas that I was very nervous. Well, it turned out that I didn't have to be nervous.

I used Verizon Wireless' global plan, and for a pro-rated cost of about $70/month I received unlimited international data (email and web surfing) and phone calls for .99/minute. I was away for about a week, so that cost me a bit over $16.00 plus a few bucks for some phone calls.

To avoid big phone call charges, I used skype a lot, both from my netbook and from my daughter's new ipod touch.

All in all, this potentially scary adventure resulted in fairly modest charges for everything I needed. I recommend the Tour and Verizon Wireless' global plan for your international travels.

Some footnotes:

1. You have to set up the global plan in advance of your trip. It just takes a phone call to Verizon's customer service center.
2. The global plan didn't work when I arrived in the UK. I had to call Verizon from my netbook to have them fix it. A minor "pain".
3. As I changed countries, I would often lose access to my wireless plan. By removing the battery and restarting the Blackberry, I was able to make things work again.