Woes of the Z10, and now i want to use it as a backup phone for my contacts and data. Can I?

Question

Ok, this has been a real nightmare. I am an extensive user of BB since OS4. Wanted to try the new Z10, so I got myself a spanking new one. With my prior experience in switching devices, it would be a cinch. Transfer device over via blackberry desktop software, change the emails via BIS, and I'm all sorted out. 
OMG dear blackberry. You made me jump through so many hoops I felt like a circus dog.
Blacberry desktop doesn't work with the Z10. No one told me. I had to find out the hard way after not being able to detect the phone. wasted half an hour of my life. Downloaded Blackberry link. Transferred my contacts and everything over, couldn't be happier.
Hurrah, thought the nightmare was done. It was just starting.
Micro sim. Not everyone has a microsim cutter lying around. Great. Troop off to the shop. Figured after I get the sim cut, I could also transfer the emails via BIS server. So that's what I did. (oh by the way, having to buy a micro SD card was also a pain in the A but still acceptable). The BIS server detected the change in device so it disabled my emails. No problem. Until the technician told me at the store-sorry-BIS DOESNT WORK WITH Z10. Whaaaaat? Come on blackberry! Now its just normal emails, similar to that of iphone and samsung. Emails were your best feature. Ok, this I can stomach. What I cannot stomach is...blackberrry, you just killed your frequent traveller who needs international roaming. BIS emails and BBM was wonderful. I could get by travelling from country to country on 50mb a month unlimited. Apparently not anymore. I need a full fledged international roaming plan that will cost me an arm and a leg. This is insane. 
Finally I had the Z10 working. I manually entered all my emails. ( i have 9 emails. Thank god they are all gmail based, especially for work, if not I would have ripped all my hair out). For the whole 2 hours, I looked at it and hated it. It was hard to use, I had to keep swiping up and to the right, sometimes it wouldn't swipe well, sometimes I couldn't tell if it was swiping or not. Neither did it help that Whatsapp hasn't even been sorted out on the Z10. Whatsapp is my life. My family's on it. My friends are on it. My suppliers and my customers are on it. Oh wait. Z10-well, you can download it from the appworld, but it doesn't install. Thinking it was a problem with the downloads, I kept at it..only to have the technician tell me, "sorry, Whatsapp not working on Z10, too bad"...anyway I made up my mind to go back to the Torch. So thinking it would be as simple as changing the hub ID on the Z10 and then reactivating the Torch. All will be well. Wrong. 
I had to run to another tel shop to beg for a spare sim shell so I could stick the micro sim into it and have it back as a normal sim. Another 2 hours of my life later, I realise-changing the hub ID on the Z10 doesn't change anything. It doesn't mean you can just use the original hub Id and all systems are go on the first phone. Changing the hub ID means changing the original one. Argh. This was so frustrating especially when the BIS server refused to switch back to the old device. Ever clicked on detect device 200 times? Well that would be me. Eventually I figured it out. Change back to the old hub ID, security wipe the horrible thing, log in with the original hub ID and reset the device via BIS server. Finally, order is restored.
Which leads me to my question. I am thinking of porting over my contact list and data to the Z10, and using it as another phone in another country. However I want to use a different Id from my Torch since it is considered a different device but with the same data. Will blackberry link allow me to do this, or will it only switch the data provided the hub ID is the same?
Blackberry, hand over heart, I'll use the Torch till it dies ( I just changed out the nav pad cause it was completely worn out and would act wonky in sunlight- I call it the blackberry vampire version) and after that I'm off to another smart phone platform. You've made my life miserable. It was great while it lasted, but I'm going to be migrating to another platform eventually. Thanks for the memories.

Answer 1

Hello,
BlackBerry 10 has always been advertised as a revolutionary change from prior...not an evolution. And you have both now learned the hard way just how detailed that change is. As with so many things, the assumptions made from past experience with BB are not useful for this very significant change. Rather, research done prior to purchase is the most useful activity one can undertake.
For BB10, BIS is not required. Indeed, on some carriers, having BIS on the account actually impedes some services for BB10. BB10 uses a full on-device ActiveSync client for email now. BIS-handled email is gone...as are "hosted" email accounts (though you can get 1-year of forwarding).
Migrating of data from old to new involves many choices before beginning. For example, if you are not afraid of placing your Calendar and Contact data "into the cloud", the Z10 can excellently synchronize that against many different providers (many more than BIS ever could). Done correctly, one can attain full end-to-end OTA synchronization of Calendar/Contact data between Outlook desktop client (and perhaps others, though I've not tested), a Z10, a PlayBook, and more (for me, I've got 2 Outlook client instances, one Z10, one PB, and one Droid...all working beautifully OTA).
Traveling is no more challenging than in the past...your specific device must be able to function on the networks upon which you wish to roam...this is no different from before (e.g., a GSM-only device simply cannot roam on a CDMA network). To compare specifics, I've found this useful:
http://www.bbin.in/en/2013/03/03/4-types-blackberry-z10-models-fits-better/?utm_campaign=4-types-of-...
There are many other differences...but please try to let go of what was before, for pretty much none of it applies anymore. BB10 is revolutionarily different from before.
Good luck!
Occam's Razor nearly always applies when troubleshooting technology issues!
If anyone has been helpful to you, please show your appreciation by clicking the button inside of their post. Please click here and read, along with the threads to which it links, for helpful information to guide you as you proceed. I always recommend that you treat your BlackBerry like any other computing device, including using a regular backup schedule...click here for an article with instructions.
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