I live here in the Philippines, but my mom will be going to the states. I really want a BlackBerry, so would it work here? She's probably going to buy it from T-Mobile. Also, my sim is Smart, is that compatible with BB? Also, is there any chance I would be able to use BBM? Since all my friends are using that, and they're from the US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.
PDAs & Handhelds - 2 Answers
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1 :
Any T-Mobile phone she buys off contract* should work anywhere there is GSM coverage as well as it does on T-Mobile, provided you buy service from a local network and put in the SIM. If you buy it from AT&T, it will most likely work, but the data network won't be nearly as fast, due to using a slightly different 3G standard. There's next to no chance it will work if bought from Verizon or Sprint, though. I don't know about the Blackberry features, though. I think BBM should work. * The off-contract thing means that in the States, they often discount phones steeply if you buy it and promise to use it on that network for two years. It would work on any GSM network still, but you would be stuck buying service from a network you can't use where you live. My understanding is that they do this nearly nowhere else in the world, so pardon me if you already knew this.
2 :
Actually it will not work. If you buy any blackberry on T-Mobile or A T&T network, their cell phone are locked to use their own sim cards only and will not work with any other sim cards like Smart. So if you purchase a blackberry and took it back to the phillipines, the cell phone will not accept your country sim card. The reason is all cell phones here in the United States are locked to use their network sim card. The only way you would be able to purchase a blackberry and use a sim card Smart or any other philippine sim card is to purchase a Blackberry that is unlock. Meaning the software on the blackberry has been change so that you can use any sim card that operates on GSM network. Then you can insert your smart sim card and it will work on the Blackberry. Try checking on ebay website for unlock Blackberry cell phones that work on GSM network. I don't know about BBM. You would have to research more on that. T-Mobile cell phones let you travel from the United States to any international country but you are required to use a T-Mobile sim card to receive and make calls.
