Those of you who follow me on Twitter are most likely aware of my recent move from Verizon Wireless to T-Mobile. While I’d been very satisfied with Verizon’s coverage the last couple years, their egregious recurring $2.99 fee for visual voicemail (on Android) stuck in my craw every month… and basically pushed me into the arms of T-Mobile with, what I like to call, more “humane” pricing. Having said that, I wasn’t motivated to actually pull the trigger (and incur a substantial early termination fee) until T-Mobile introduced possibly insane International perks: Unlimited and free texts and EDGE data while overseas, paired with 20 cents/minute calls.
I only make it overseas about once a year. But being able to retain my personal number, and without having to track down a compatible SIM or unlocking a phone, adds a level of convenience that’s hard to beat. And, in practice, using T-Mobile internationally the last week was as simple as advertised.
Upon landing in Tel Aviv, T-Mobile fired off three text messages welcoming me to Israel and laying out the plan’s details. 128Kbps may seem rather slow these days, but it was entirely suitable as a lifeline for Gmail, Twitter, and Waze (when driving up the coast) while away from WiFi. I did become frustrated a few times when Twitter failed to post higher res photos but, all in all, I was quite satisfied with the experience… and theoretically had the option to upgrade to higher speed data (although the page/tool didn’t seem active yet and, thus, I can’t report on the rates or implementation). Texting and voice also worked as advertised, with no special considerations to report.
Simple, convenient, and more than fairly priced. Thanks for enhancing our trip, T-Mo!
Some technical notes… I moved my *global* Galaxy Note 2 from VZW to T-Mo, hence the Verizon mention in the pic up top. (In the US, I don’t have all the fast frequencies I need, but it’s been sufficient until I come up with my next plan.) My wife has a T-Mobile iPhone 5s. And both our phones immediately linked onto Orange’s network in Israel (and others while connecting through Zurich outbound and Vienna inbound).
The “free” data overseas is limited to 128k? Is that in every country or are those speeds different in different countries?
I have no basis for comparison, but Verizon’s global plan pretty much works the same – $29.99 for 250mb, $25 for every additional 250. Same trio of text messages upon landing. I guess the differentiator is which local carrier they hook up with.
Alan, you inadvertently hit the nail on the head. There is no T-Mobile “global plan” — all accounts get these International perks without requiring an add-on or fee.
Joseph, the “free” data in the 100+ countries is limited to slower speeds. They offer day passes and the like for higher speed data. As to how they throttle you, I’m not quite sure and didn’t look too hard.
FWIW my ATT phone is also rate limited when I visit Israel.
I just got a T-Mobile account for my travels to Asia and this has worked great on my nexus 5! This is a real game changer for T-Mobile.
>> They offer day passes and the like for higher speed data <<
any details (cost) for this?
BTW just switched to T-Mobile from AT&T for this International txt data plan. I was getting AT&T bills varying from $170 to $270 month, one in Jan was $600 (reduced from $900 when i complained).
Jim, the URL they texted me, as displayed in the lower left of the photo up top, resulted in an error page – so I don’t know for certain. The service has only been active a few weeks and it seems they still have some kinks to work out. I assume it’s similar to < href="http://business.t-mobile.com/corporate/international-phone-plans">rates on T-Mo’s business page…
Hi Dave, I am a T-Mobile customer and I love them! I was just wondering when you say “free and unlimited text messages” if that means free inside the country you are in and back to the U.S or ONLY free to the U.S..
Free to anywhere I guess when traveling to one of the 100+ authorized roaming countries… so we texted at no additional charge to/from folks in the US, a company rep I was working with in Israel, and my mother-in-law who had a loaner phone while visiting France. Unfortunately, when home in the US we cannot text overseas for free as far as I know…
I switched to T-Mobile because my AT&T Bill seemed to go up every month until I reached $280 for a family plan without any roaming. The reason was that AT&T charges for data if you exceed your plan. You can’t limit it for your children. Therefore, I got dinged every month and ATT couldn’t do anything to stop it. Now I pay $160 a month with T-Mobile with unlimited data and I’m very satisfied with the coverage and service. It is spotty in some rural areas but that’s fine. Two weeks ago we also went to Israel as well as Germany, Lithuania and Netherlands and made the same experience. It worked in all four countries. Speed was faster than I expected. Uploading pics to Facebook failed once or twice but this isn’t a deal breaker as you can always wait until you have wifi coverage. However, I also used it for Skype and hangout calls and it worked fine as long as I kept video turned off and didn’t walk around.
Hey Dave, how is the US roaming? I have Solavei now, and I can see the other networks, but can’t use data. Had any success roaming in rural America?
I haven’t ventured beyond my metro area, other than the International trip, so I can’t speak to rural roaming. I have heard T-Mobile isn’t the greatest outside of cities and I swapped my Galaxy Note 2 for a Moto X – I read the Moto X has T-Mo’s LTE frequencies but not HSPA+ so, if true, that could impact data in areas with lesser coverage. Hm.
Thanks! Good to know it worked internationally though. It looks like if you got the Tmobile version of the MotoX it has 1900 and 1700 for HSPA+, so it should work all over.
Hi,
Do you know, or could you guess, what your data speed would have been had you gotten a local Israeli SIM card? From what I’ve seen online, Israel uses different LTE bands then the US, but I wonder if HSPA+ would work. That’s really my question. Does a T-Mobile phone’s HSPA+ work in Israel with an Israeli SIM card?
-Adam
Officially, 4G data is not included for free and speeds are supposedly throttled to 3G. If you look at the pics above, the H refers to the various HSPA networks I linked up to. Specific to your question related to putting an Israeli SIM into a T-Mobile phone for better speeds, the results may depend upon which of the carriers you choose and which bands your specific phone model supports.
My sister just came in from USA to tel Aviv and has the same plan but we don’t know which carrier to connect too! Do you recall? Thanks