Triangle Trip

I have been asked by many of my associates (fellow Crackberry addicts) on how they can dial a phone number when the recipient company only gave you letters as their phone number, i.e., 1-800-FLOWERS or 1-800-GO-FEDEX. With a traditional mobile (or your home) phone, there are letters that correspond to a number, i.e.,  the letters A, B, C is represented by the number 2 on the phone. So 1-800-GO-FEDEX would mean Fedex’s phone number is:  1-800-463-3339.

The Blackberry does not have a conventional phone dial pad. So how do you dial letters this on the Blackberry?

The answer is simple. Your Blackberry is SMART!!! It knows what you are trying to do when it comes to dialing phone numbers.

If you have a full keyboard Blackberry like a Curve, just hold down the ALT key (bottome left) when you need to type a letter. For 1-800-FLOWERS, go to the phone screen and type 1800 then hold down the “ALT” key and type in “FLOWERS.” The result can be seen below:

If you have a Pearl or an older Blackberry without a full QWERTY keyboard, use the same approach as the Curve (as if you are typing an email). The “ALT” key is also located at the bottom left of the keyboard (next to the SYM key). SureType is also automatically disabled as each key on the Pearl represents two letters.

There’s a part two to this question as well…

How do you “dial by name” when you are routed to the a company directory?  For example, you called a hotel and it has an integrated phone system to allow you to dial by guest by last name. The answer is also simple. Use the same method. Your Blackberry is SMART!!!

If you’re a global traveler from the US and need to check emails and have Internet access when you’re abroad, get a BlackBerry if you don’t already own one. I have been abroad and used local carriers (3, Telus, Telstra, Vodafone, etc.) for voice and data then found out my weekly bill was over US$100. The reason for the high fee is due to my data usage. Most international phone companies charge data by the kilobytes or megabytes of upload/download on your device.

The frugal way to get on the Internet and check emails is to leverage the BlackBerry network. If you have a BlackBerry plan from the US, your data service such as email, browsing and BlackBerry Messenger will be traveling on the BlackBerry network. International carriers will allow BlackBerry traffic to go through free of charge (they actually charge BlackBerry but you as the consumer don’t have to worry about it).

I recommend you buy a BlackBerry and join a BlackBerry data plan which is available for T-Mobile for around $40 a month with international roaming – $20 per month for US only (for the record, I am not compensated by T-Mobile or RIM for this post). If you already own a BlackBerry from Sprint, Verizon, etc., get your carrier to enable international BlackBerry service which is around $20 more per month. For the extra $20 a month, you’ll buy the piece of mind of having Internet and email without losing your pants. I have tried this approach in Canada, France, Hong Kong, and the UK, and did not see additional charges on my bill.