T-Mobile Unlimited Data Plan Discussion

[Marrowstone]

Hi,
T-mobile worked great for us in west coast Mexico....for about nine months. Great customer service during the time we had it, BUT Check the fine print in your contract. At some point T-mobile decided we were using too much free data internationally (Mexico), so they cancelled our lines (2x). Other cruisers have had this happen too. T-Mobile contends that in the contract the international data use is just for "occasional trips/vacations". We were moving on to El Salvador, so I called to ask them what I needed to do (if anything). The very nice phone rep said 'Nothing, except calls to US would be 20cents/minute (calls had been free on the US/Canada/Mexico plan.) Oddly (or perhaps not so..), we received a notice that our phones would be cancelled shortly after making the call to them.

When we asked if we could change to another plan (we were willing to pay more), T-mobile rep said NO, we are cancelled. We were surprised. Also, T-mobile did not unlock our iPhones (as they said they would), so we had to figure out how to do that on our own. We no longer have t-mobile, but for the time being are using local SIM cards.

PS. We spent 3 months last summer at our home in WA State and could not use T-mobile phones - no service coverage in Jefferson County, WA.

You're probably OK for a few months, but if most of your data is via an international carrier that has an agreement with T-mobile (with Telcel in Mexico), you're likely to get dropped.

[ccannan]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

For us, I was able to keep my US phone number so folks back in the states can still call me for free, although... it costs me 20 cents per minute (not what I was promised) on the international plan. It also costs me 20 cents per minute to make calls to the US, again... not what I was promised.

Typically mobile phone companies (including TM) include terms and conditions. Most people fail to read and/or understand then whine about it.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by ccannan

Typically mobile phone companies (including TM) include terms and conditions. Most people fail to read and/or understand then whine about it.

No definitely not the case. I spoke on the phone more than ten times with T-Mobile reps that assured me that calls to and from the US would be free. The store reps indicated there would be a charge, then the national 1-888 phone reps stated that they could offer a plan which the store reps could not offer.

It was very confusing, but I did my homework. Others have had a similar experience. Here's a picture of the add which indicates unlimited international calls are included. When I checked again, I was assured US to Italy and Italy to US were unlimited free. It's only after I arrived in Italy, that I found out the cost was 20 cents per minute. I have the International plan.

We work around the 20 cents per minute charge by using Whatsapp and Facetime to make calls. We also get a much better connection this way.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Please tell about your experiences, has everything worked out? So far, so good for us.

Cheers

Ken

I have an unlimited plan from Sprint. It includes unlimited data and text internationally and 20 gigs of hot spots, 10 cents/min voice internationally.

[Cayuse51]

We are trying out Google's new Project Fi phone service this summer. https://fi.google.com Same data rate of $10/GB in more than 135 countries. No swapping SIM cards. They also provide multiple free SIM cards with the plan, which you can use in your iPads and other devices for the same data rate. So far we have only been to France, where it worked great as soon as we landed. I have heard good reports from users in the Caribbean too.

The only down side is you are limited to a choice of 3 phones, 2 Nexus phones and the Google Pixel.

[Captain Parry]

I'm in eastern NC and TM only works near towns. Poor up and down the ICW.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Cayuse51

We are trying out Google's new Project Fi phone service this summer. https://fi.google.com Same data rate of $10/GB in more than 135 countries. No swapping SIM cards. They also provide multiple free SIM cards with the plan, which you can use in your iPads and other devices for the same data rate. So far we have only been to France, where it worked great as soon as we landed. I have heard good reports from users in the Caribbean too.

The only down side is you are limited to a choice of 3 phones, 2 Nexus phones and the Google Pixel.

$10 per GB seems incredibly high priced. We're used to paying $10.80 for 10GB here in Italy 1/10th the price.

[Oldlaxer1]

Daughter just spent a semester in Barcelona with travels all over Europe and the T-mobile unlimited was awesome. We too use facetime video or facetime audio for all our calls. Works beautifully. Here in the Baltimore area there are some holes in the coverage but we had them with AT&T as well. Overall we're pretty happy.

[Alita49DS]

It might be helpful to point out that within the EU as from 17 June this year there are no roaming charges. Thus you can buy, say.a French SIM and use it in the whole of Europe as though you were in France. There are some limitations which should be read up about.

Personally, I have a SIM from three.co.uk which will work without roaming charges in 42 countries. I just bought a data SIM only as Skype and WhatsApp cover the rare need to actually make a phone call. My regular SIM then has the ability to show calls, which I do not answer but can respond by message to use another medium. It also shows SMS. I have a dual SIM phone.

My three SIM gives me 20GB of data per month at an offer price of £13. There is no way I get anywhere near using that much. So unlimited would be OTT for me. Those into video might have different needs.

[zboss]

Originally Posted by Rick Nordby

We went with T Mobile when we went to Mexico in the fall of 2013. They had just come up with the no international roaming charges plan. We told them we were headed into Mexico and that was the only reason we were going with T Mobile and and they said that would work fine. It worked great. For a while. Then at some point several months after getting it they cancelled us. The reason? We were spending too much time roaming on non T-Mobile towers! I called and talked to a rep and they confirmed that we were cancelled and there was nothing he or we could do about it. That was then, I hope it's better now.

That policy is still pretty well spelled out in their documents. Nothing has changed. You must spend the majority of your time on US towers.

[AmericanVagrant]

Regarding T-Mobile's policy about spending the majority of time stateside - does anyone know if this is based on the entire plan or each line? I will generally be using my line out of the country, but three of the four will remain (and be used daily) in the US. Will this situation cause problems?

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Alita49DS

It might be helpful to point out that within the EU as from 17 June this year there are no roaming charges. Thus you can buy, say.a French SIM and use it in the whole of Europe as though you were in France. There are some limitations which should be read up about.

Personally, I have a SIM from three.co.uk which will work without roaming charges in 42 countries. I just bought a data SIM only as Skype and WhatsApp cover the rare need to actually make a phone call. My regular SIM then has the ability to show calls, which I do not answer but can respond by message to use another medium. It also shows SMS. I have a dual SIM phone.

My three SIM gives me 20GB of data per month at an offer price of £13. There is no way I get anywhere near using that much. So unlimited would be OTT for me. Those into video might have different needs.

I'm glad you brought up video. My present roaming speed here in Italy, isn't fast enough for video. Although it's 3G service, I'm actually receiving much, much slower, as in it takes more than a few minutes to download a 1 minute video off youtube. If I had a local SIM card, one of the 10 euros for 10GB types, I'd be receiving true 3G service like last year.

Interesting to find out if the speed increases when I get near the T-Mobile towers in Croatia and Montenegro.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by AmericanVagrant

Regarding T-Mobile's policy about spending the majority of time stateside - does anyone know if this is based on the entire plan or each line? I will generally be using my line out of the country, but three of the four will remain (and be used daily) in the US. Will this situation cause problems?

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.

[kimwindjammin]

I switched to TM last fall since I was going to the Med and across to the Caribbean, Bahamas and up the US east coast. The data worked fine for my phone but often it was at 2G speed and wasn't strong enough to support a hotspot for our two laptops. We still had to buy SIM cards in places. Now back in the US, it's been better but still weak at times so I upgraded my plan to unlimited data which is 3G. However, I have always been able to text with my daughters which is what I really wanted, and was often able to talk using Facetime or Whatsapp. I quit Verizon long ago due to poor service, and then left ATT (when I could unlock my phone and be free!). I've heard ATT has gone to unlimited data now as well.

[rdthoms]

My daughter spent a semester abroad in South Africa this year and had 4G data with no roaming charges and free unlimited text. Only voice calls would result in a steep charge but between data and wifi and WhatsApp there was no increase in our T-Mobile bill. I was happy!