A friend of mine is currently overseas for the next few days or so and has been communicating through BBM via Wi-Fi. The majority of people who travel for pleasure very rarely purchase an international sim or upgrade their plan accordingly if possible. Even if network coverage is available, most people don’t want to run the risk of incurring costly roaming charges. Using BlackBerry services over Wi-Fi can also be useful if you happen to be in a place that has poor data coverage but does have Wi-Fi available.

I did some further research to find out exactly which BlackBerry services can be used over a Wi-Fi connection. Now keep in mind, even though your cell coverage is turned off or unavailable, you must have a data plan in order to take advantage of most of these services, including BBM, BIS Email, Etc. To turn off your Mobile Network, click on the antenna icon and you will find the selection right above Wi-Fi. Please view RIM’s chart listed below for BlackBerry services that are available over Wi-Fi connections.

**Note: If your are viewing this on your BlackBerry device, make sure your browser is set to Page View in order for correct chart layout. You can hold ‘Z’ to toggle between Column & Page view in the BlackBerry browser.

BlackBerry services Service provider with GSM®/EDGE network or UMA network Wi-Fi network and service provider with GSM/EDGE network Wi-Fi network and no service provider with GSM/EDGE network or UMA, and no UMA available Enterprise Wi-Fi network and service provider with GSM/EDGE network, and no UMA, and no UMA available Enterprise Wi-Fi network and no service provider with GSM/EDGE network, and no UMA available
services from the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server (for example, messaging, organizer data synchronization) X X X X X
services from the BlackBerry® Internet Service (for example, messaging, browsing) X X X X X
services from the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service (for example, application push, application access, browsing) X X X X X
BlackBerry® Messenger X X X X X
PIN messaging X X X X X
instant messaging using a collaboration client (for example, Microsoft® Office Live Communications Server) X X X X X
instant messaging using a third-party instant messaging application (for example, Windows® Messenger) X X X X X
BlackBerry® Maps X X X X X
service provider messaging (for example, SMS) X X X
content downloading provided by a wireless service provider (for example, ring tones) X X X
web browsing provided by a wireless service provider (for example, WAP) X X X
voice plan provided by a wireless service provider X X X