T-Mobile Unlimited Data Plan Discussion

[Kenomac]

How long was she abroad? Did TM factor in the total usage by averaging US and foreign?

Did her data speed drop to as slow as mine has when off the TM grid?

Thanks for your input.

[rdthoms]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

How long was she abroad? Did TM factor in the total usage by averaging US and foreign?

Did her data speed drop to as slow as mine has when off the TM grid?

Thanks for your input.

She was in South Africa for about 3 months. No extra charge at all! I was worried and called T-mobile to make sure because they state something like "unlimited 2G data" and I could see data accumulating on the account. They assured me (several times - I had heard horror stories about unintended data roaming charges) that we would have no extra charge and that is what happened. I don't know about the coverage/speed. For sure she would use wifi when available and I don't think the 4G/LTE was as good as in the US.

Here is T-mobile's web page on the plan: https://www.t-mobile.com/customer/Op16063SG.html

[AmericanVagrant]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

That's what I'm waiting to find out. We are two in the US and one for six months in and around the EU.

I explained this to several of the T-Mobile reps who then recommended the International plan for an extra $25 per month in order to avoid being cancelled.

Nice, hopefully it turns out that I won't need it, but even if so $25/month ain't no thang.

[georgec]

I too have been talking to T-Mobile about the international part of their plan. I was told you can not exceed 50% of your data coming from international in any 3 month period. They said they will issue 3 warnings as you get close to the 50% and if you exceed 50% you get dropped. I asked if the $25 a month additional international plan would do anything for the 50% threshold and he said no.

[AmericanVagrant]

Originally Posted by georgec

I too have been talking to T-Mobile about the international part of their plan. I was told you can not exceed 50% of your data coming from international in any 3 month period. They said they will issue 3 warnings as you get close to the 50% and if you exceed 50% you get dropped. I asked if the $25 a month additional international plan would do anything for the 50% threshold and he said no.

Good to know, did he happen to specify whether this was per line or per plan?

[georgec]

Originally Posted by AmericanVagrant

Good to know, did he happen to specify whether this was per line or per plan?

Unfortunately, he said it is per line. I currently have 4 lines on Verizon and 2 would stay domestic and 2 would be used international. I was hoping it would be per plan also. Puerto Rico and the USVI would be considered domestic as long as you weren't roaming. I don't know how good TM coverage is there.

[liquidice]

I saw a google hangouts/voice move mentioned. Came off t mob and into sprint for a number of reasons, hard to be sure if truly it were network or device. Regardless my international posse all talks on whatsapp, on data, not minutes. Talk to my Hong Kong friends, no problem , no cost but needs internet. Best on a wifi and whats .10/minute right? But it should be known. Viber came and went, similar, but whatsapp is strong and popular. When you add it, it can go through your contacts and makes a note of who has whatsapp. All my international buddies from the engineering school were already on with profile pics and all. Great for a group text and encrypted as well. Free to start and then 1.99 a year.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by georgec

Unfortunately, he said it is per line. I currently have 4 lines on Verizon and 2 would stay domestic and 2 would be used international. I was hoping it would be per plan also. Puerto Rico and the USVI would be considered domestic as long as you weren't roaming. I don't know how good TM coverage is there.

That's the trouble with TM marketing, different stories/recommendations from marketing reps. I was very specific about my needs each time I spoke with someone from TM, stating right up front that I required six months of continuous internet and phone service abroad and had them look up specific countries.

[weavis]

I live in Spain for the moment, but used to do a lot of traveling prior to this.

Several years ago, I bought a SKYPE phone number. I can call and be called on it. I have the international plan which gives me access to 40 countries without further charges. I can use this number on my phone and any computer.

I have a dual sim phone. Here in Spain, I buy a Vodaphone 10€ card monthly which gives me the data that I need to run SKYPE on the phone. I rarely use the actual phone side at all. I usually make all the calls so is useful to me on a large scale. There are a lot of free WIFI in restaurants or Cafes here in Spain so I just connect via that when on Land.

Calls to the USA on SKYPE phone cover both land lines and cell phones. Total cost for this service is about £120 a year. I think I save several thousand dollars in call charges.

With dual sim phone, I have 3 numbers available. The SKYPE (on either sim) the English sim number (which asks them to call the SKYPE number) and the local Spanish number on the Sim.

[skipgundlach]

Real-life, real-time update from the Bahamas...

I just turned off (well, put in suspense) my T-M plan, as the throughput sucked badly.

Many tech chat sessions later, it was identified that international roaming is limited to 128k.

I'd verified that my BTC chip was as I'd previously experienced, which was gonzo - 20-30/12-20 GB down/up.

The T-M chip, despite having 4 bars, and even with the tech rep giving me some form of upgrade to a faster speed, was so slow that it wouldn't even load speedtest, either the app or the web page. Yet BTC was nearly instant and had the results above.

I'm typing on BTC as we speak.

They have data only plans (no phone, no text) which support the Google Voice and Hangouts apps; calls to a Bahamian number are about the same as if you had one of their prepaid cards, but you don't have to keep topping it up.

Data only plans are (don't recall cost and volume on the first, lowest, one) $40/mo and $70/mo for 5 and 15 GB respectively, postpaid.

Despite my phone showing hugely more usage than the 5G plan I signed up for, I've never been dinged for the $10/G, max 5 more before throttling, let alone throttled. That may be an anomaly, but it was that way the 3 previous times, and is, now. When we're not here, we suspend for $5/mo.

So...

I was very hopeful that T-M would be my solution. However, it clearly is not. If all you want out of it is email over a client, it will be fine. Otherwise, in a multi-gigabyte download and upload world, you'll grow moss waiting for it.

L8R

Skip, currently at Grand Cay (tinyurl.com/flyingpigspotwalla - and adjust via the drop-down menu next to our name, to see previous days/months of travels)

[hellosailor]

"not what I was promised." Which is the reason why I tried them, and went back to my previous carrier a month later.

FWIW I was just told this week that Tracfone has a "one minute is one minute" policy and that includes global calling. Some of their special offers (on the web) include "triple air time for life" so you can buy a phone (their phone for their network for their minutes, even if it is GSM with roaming) for $75-100 with 1300 minutes of airtime included. With a difference of 19c or more per minute...it might pay to have a second phone service.

[Auspicious]

Jeff Siegel did a bunch of testing of T-Mobile in the Bahamas when their roaming plan was updated last year or the year before and panned it.

[Sailmon]

Jeff is a pretty smart guy. Do you recall if he had a different recommendation - having panned TM?
Thanks,
Bob

[Auspicious]

Jeff went back to local BTC SIM cards. That is also what I use.

[hellosailor]

I can't say what is happening in the Carib, but do bear in mind that T-Mob's data network was largely 2G for compatibility reasons with phones coming from other carriers. All of them are data-compatible on the 2G networks, all are incompatible (a T-Mob phone vs everyone else) on 3G and 4G, and you don't get compatibility again until true 4G, which is called "LTE" in the US market. (In the US, plain 4G is just 3G with an enhanced backbone, it is not what the rest of the world uses.)

Go figure what is on which island.

But AT&T and other carriers are dropping their 2G support entirely and using the space in their tower racks for 4G-LTE equipment, and the 5G equipment that is supposed to deploy next year. With some islands following US standards and others not...the coming year may bring a number of transitions and changes, fwiw.