November 19th, 2008
Hands On: The BlackBerry Storm
Service plans
The bottom line is that plan pricing is about what you would expect.
There are a variety of options (quoting from Verizon’s press release below), but a couple of things to note. One, Verizon will let you use the Storm with a data-only plan, which is a nice touch. Two, once you’re a Verizon Wireless customer for at least 60 days, you can ask the company to unlock your phone for you if you’re traveling overseas to a country that uses GSM, allowing you to use local prepaid SIM cards, as opposed to paying exorbitant international roaming rates.
And yes, if you got it unlocked, hypothetically that means you could use it on a US GSM carrier, like AT&T or T-Mobile. Of course, you would still need to pay for your Verizon service, so it doesn’t make all that much sense, and a Verizon representative said she wasn’t sure that 3G speeds would be available in the US if you used the device on a network other than Verizon’s — I haven’t been able to check that out.
If you want VZ Navigator’s turn-by-turn functionality, you can add an additional $9.99 a month to the below figures.
Here are the plans:
Personal E-mail: Customers who purchase a Verizon Wireless Nationwide voice plan can also subscribe to the E-mail and Web for BlackBerry plan for an additional $29.99 per month.
Data Only: Customers who choose a data-only plan pay $49.99 per month for unlimited personal e-mail and access to the Internet. The plans may be used with any Verizon Wireless BlackBerry and allow customers to access up to 10 POP3 and IMAP e-mail accounts via BlackBerry Internet Service.
Nationwide Email: Offers customers a bundled plan with voice allowance and wireless data usage for quick and easy remote access to personal and corporate e-mail on BlackBerry devices. Monthly access starts at $79.99 beginning with 450 minutes per month for voice.
Nationwide Email & Messaging: Offers customers a bundled plan of voice allowance, unlimited text, picture and video messaging, Internet access and wireless data usage for quick and easy access to e-mail on BlackBerry devices. Monthly access starts at $99.99 beginning with 450 minutes per month for voice.
Corporate Email and Voice plans: Business customers who are using the BlackBerry Enterprise Server or using ActiveSync, Good Mobile Messaging or Wireless Sync may subscribe to this plan for $44.99 added to any Nationwide Voice plan. Customers who want the Storm as a data only device may subscribe to this plan for $49.99.
Global Data Plans for Storm travelers.
Verizon Wireless offers a range of plans to accommodate international travelers. Their subscription to any Global plan comes with a Global Support Card enabling them to call from nearly any wire line phone in the world and connect to our global help desk free of charge. This 24 hour help desk provides customers with technical support when they need it most.
Global Data plan: For $20 monthly access on top of a Nationwide Email Plan, customers can get email from over 150 different destinations.
Global Data Only Plan: Customers who want to add Global data to an existing voice plan, pay $64.99 and as a data only plan $69.99.
Pay-as-you-go data use: Customers who feel that their data usage is minimal may opt for a pay as you go option that charges $20.48 per megabyte ($0.02/KB)
Josh Taylor is director of CBS Interactive Business' technology sites – ZDNet and TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
