Changing Service Provider for unlocked Blackberry Smartphone

[Phalconphixer]

Hi guys; I'm totally out of my depth here so if anyone has any experience of doing this then a response would be appreciated.
During her last visit to the UK OH bought an unlocked Blackberry Curve 9300 from the Carphone Warehouse and took on a contract with Orange UK. She pays a monthly supplement to access Blackberry services.
She has now returned home to Spain and in order to avoid roaming charges (she cant actually do the roaming bit anyway) she wants to use a Spanish provider such as Movistar or Orange or Vodafone. The guys at the Carphone Warehouse UK told her it was simply a case of changing the SIM to that of the selected Spanish provider and once again paying for the Blackberry services bolt-on.
Question... what happens to her existing Blackberry ID if she does this?
Question... is it really that simple?
She spends about half her life in the UK and we spend a small fortune on text messages back and forth and rely a lot on our Spain based ADSL service and MSN Messenger, but our ADSL can be a bit ropey at times. So I was thinking about getting a Blackberry Smartphone for my own use so we can converse using the Blackberry messenger service if and when our ADSL goes down.

Suggestions? Observations?

Thanks

[hellsbrink]

I would hazard a guess that her Blackberry ID will not be affected as that is a separate service to the cellphone network. Logins should be exactly the same, access shouldn't be changed in any way.

[mixture]

From this page (http://btsc.webapps.blackberry.com/btsc/viewdocument.do;jsessionid=9DBEC776404E2DE47D4F46EA5DA0C7D3? externalId=KB28543&sliceId=1&cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&noCount=true&ViewedDocsListHelper=com.kanisa.apps.common.BaseViewedDocsLi stHelperImpl) :

The BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) account is linked to the carrier billing identifier (SIM, ICCID, IMSI and MSISDN are common billing identifiers). Therefore if a different billing identifier (SIM) and different smartphone is used a new BIS account will be created and each smartphone will manage their own email addresses associated to each smartphone. This means that if you are using 2 smartphones and 2 billing Identifiers (SIMs) you will have 2 separate BIS accounts and will have to integrate your email addresses separately.

[Efe Cem Elci]

She will need to get Blackberry services from her new carrier in Spain but it shouldn't change her Blackberry ID and BBM account. Same phone, same software, same ID. Since that runs off of the data line...

The BIS ordeal is different as far as I know, it is how you receive email and that might be affected.

To check it out, I switched sim cards between my two BB phones (same carrier, personal line and company line) and had a go. I can use my e-mails as well as BBM and my Blackberry data services but keep in mind this is the same carrier.

[Just an other number]

I too think you will have no problem.
My recent experience was flying to Hong Kong for the Sevens. Bought a data SIM pay as you go at the airport on arrival; put it in my Blackberry, waited about 3 minutes for the system to connect and I was as connected as at home - emails and BBM no problem. And very useful!
So I would say go ahead - what do you have to lose - a prepay data SIM to experiment should not be too expensive.

[Phalconphixer]

Thanks guys for all your input.

OH and I visited our local Telefonica outlet earlier today, bought a payg SIM (9€) and a subscription to a tariff that gives access to the internet via 3G or our wifi router and unlimited Blackberry access. One free phone call to get the Blackberry Services activated, quick reboot and away she goes!
One minor snag is that with this tariff, emails are always routed from the Blackberry servers via Telefonicas 3G / 2G / EDGE network, but web access at home can be via our ADSL wifi router. Seems this is a little gotcha courtesy of Telefonica! (And various other service providers it seems). In the UK with Orange, the default was wifi for everything.
Our location in Spain only provides EDGE but it's better than nothing. Other service providers in our area require their customers to leave their homes and walk to the end of the road to get any kind of mobile reception!
Thanks again guys, your suggestions are most appreciated.

pp

[sled dog]

Have you tried "WhatsApp" for messages ? I have this on my BB, stepsons have iPhones, no problems. I think it is still a free download.