Live from Azamara Quest: Blackberries in Europe

This trip, I decided to try an experiment: Can I keep in contact, blog, tweet and do email, without my laptop?

So many times onboard a ship, I feel that all my spare time is spent checking and responding to email, blogging and otherwise taking care of business, rather than enjoying the ship and relaxing. Having recently upgraded to a prosumer level Blackberry (Curve 8900), figured this was the perfect cruise to try it out.

Through my regular cellular provider in the US, T-Mobile, I could purchase an unlimited email plan for $19.95/month. That would take care of emails, which is the majority of what I'm doing (I am even submitting these blog posts via email), but what about things like GPS, tweets, etc? Those things take data, and the cost for that through TMo is a jaw-dropping $15/mb. At that rate, a couple week's worth of even moderate data use could cost several hundred dollars.

So I set out to find a prepaid Italian SIM card with data and Blackberry plan I could use. By researching on www.prepaidgsm.net's web site and forum, it seemed that Wind was the stronger of the two major carriers in Italy (the other being TIM) for affordable options in data plans. I further was directed to the marvelous Blochin at www.saveonroaming.net who walked me through the options, helped me get set up, and sent me a card which is working beautifully.

While I could have waited until I arrived in Rome to go to a Wind store, and purchase a card there, saving a bit (and indeed had mapped out the nearest outlets to my hotel), I wanted to have my number before I left so I could leave it with friends and local vendors here, plus ensure everything was working properly.

Now, the card I got is only for Italy. Other companies have cards with competitive rates which are good throughout Europe. But this made the most sense for here. All my data and emails are included, and even my calls back to the US are less than with my TMo card. I am carrying both, but this Wind card is what I'll use most of the time.

In addition, I made one other purchase to make this all easier: a folding bluetooth keyboard. If I'm going to be writing blog entries such as this, and responding to emails, it will speed my time considerably. While I can use the keyboard on the Blackberry for emails while I'm out and about and have down time (driving from here to there, etc.), for dedicated typing, this is perfect.

So I've eliminated a ton of weight and space for my laptop, freed me up for working anywhere anytime, and hopefully given myself more time to just sit and enjoy. Hopefully. I'll report back at the end to let you know if that's actually the case.

Oh yes, and even after purchasing the card AND the keyboard, I should still have spent less than I would have using the ship's internet. Major win-win!