Best Blackberry tariffs for worldwide use?

[Cameronian]

My daughter is going off around the world and wants to keep in touch with everybody both by voice and message. She thinks that a Blackberry is likely to work out best because it's pretty portable and allows e-mails which will be cheapest for most of her communication. Is there a "best buy" in tariff for this or should she get a local sim card as she moves from country to country (Japan, Singapore, Australia, NZ, Fiji and USA - for example)? This must be an issue for globetrotting aircrew!

[airborne_artist]

Far cheaper is to buy local pre-paid phone cards (the sort you get in a UK newsagents) and to use local internet shops for email/web-browsing. The cost of receiving and making intl calls is high in most if not all the countries you mention, and even a Blackberry may not work in all of them. Take a near-disposable phone with £25 credit on it for emergencies. Sign up with one of the blogging sites to save sending the same info to 101 different people.

That's what AA junior did this time last year, and it worked fine for her (itinerary was Beijing, HK, Singapore, Borneo, Sydney, Cairns, NZ, Fiji, SF and then home)

[Cameronian]

Thanks for that, airborne_artist. It's a very complicated situation and I can't claim to know very much at all about it. I imagined that aircrew must find themselves having to deal with this all of the time. My older daughter went on a working trip round the world only a few years ago but the communication facilities, and expectations (!), have changed totally since then so I'm really keen to get up to date advice.

[airborne_artist]

You can also buy GSM SIMs that are pre-paid, and generally have much lower/free incoming call rates, and cheaper out going call rates. Google for "international sim" or the like. That said, if your daughter is travelling for fun, she's unlikely to want to have the phone on all the time, I think.