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T-Mobile to offer free unlimited international data, texts

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Re: T-Mobile to offer free unlimited international data, texts

#121

Post by rs »

corin_ wrote: post #118
jasonkester wrote: post #111

Good to hear. US carriers do a terrible job of dealing with anything international. It's as though they're honestly surprised that anybody would ever want to leave the USA or make a phone call to anybody in another country. An example: I flew to the 'states this weekend. Once on the ground, I topped up my American (T-Mobile) sim with a month's worth of credit. (There was no way to do this from abroad since their sims…

Vodafone (UK) are awesome within Europe - when I am abroad I pay £2.50/day to use my normal price plan abroad (so I still get unlimited minutes/texts, and 6GB data, for no cost other than that daily fee). For calling European numbers they aren't quite as good, but for £5/month the prices drop from £1/min to between 5p and 20p/min depending on the type of number I'm calling. Outside Europe they're still awful though,…

Think the trick to overseas is to get a local pre-paid SIM card, and use that number locally. As pre-paid SIM cards are getting more pervasive around the world, normally this works out as the cheapest option. Naturally, there are some countries where purchasing a pre-paid SIM is near impossible, or costly enough that sticking to roaming with your current provider works out cheaper.

Re: T-Mobile to offer free unlimited international data, texts

#122

Post by corin_ »

rs wrote: post #121
corin_ wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vodafone (UK) are awesome within Europe - when I am abroad I pay £2.50/day to use my normal price plan abroad (so I still get unlimited minutes/texts, and 6GB data, for no cost other than that daily fee). For calling European numbers they aren't quite as good, but for £5/month the prices drop from £1/min to between 5p and 20p/min depending on the type of number I'm calling. Outside Europe they're still awful though,…

Think the trick to overseas is to get a local pre-paid SIM card, and use that number locally. As pre-paid SIM cards are getting more pervasive around the world, normally this works out as the cheapest option. Naturally, there are some countries where purchasing a pre-paid SIM is near impossible, or costly enough that sticking to roaming with your current provider works out cheaper.

Agreed, that's essentially what I was doing in the US, I just got it with a cheap phone too so I could keep my normal blackberry up and running with my UK number.

But stuff like the Vodafone deal within Europe are awesome, as it saves the hassle of needing either two phones or sim swapping.

Re: T-Mobile to offer free unlimited international data, texts

#123

Post by batuhanicoz »

corin_ wrote: post #118
jasonkester wrote: post #111

Good to hear. US carriers do a terrible job of dealing with anything international. It's as though they're honestly surprised that anybody would ever want to leave the USA or make a phone call to anybody in another country. An example: I flew to the 'states this weekend. Once on the ground, I topped up my American (T-Mobile) sim with a month's worth of credit. (There was no way to do this from abroad since their sims…

Vodafone (UK) are awesome within Europe - when I am abroad I pay £2.50/day to use my normal price plan abroad (so I still get unlimited minutes/texts, and 6GB data, for no cost other than that daily fee). For calling European numbers they aren't quite as good, but for £5/month the prices drop from £1/min to between 5p and 20p/min depending on the type of number I'm calling. Outside Europe they're still awful though,…

Vodafone Turkey is also really good. I can use my plan in any country that either have Vodafone or a company they have an agreement with.

And also I can call everyone from Europe with my plans as well. Unlimited land-line calls to nearly every country.

Re: T-Mobile to offer free unlimited international data, texts

#124

Post by klausjensen »

brendanf wrote: post #46
SeoxyS wrote: post #39

This is huge. I recently spent ~$200 on AT&T's $30/120MB bundles on a two-week trip to Europe. I thought I was getting a good deal, too. It's fantastic to see the market shifting slightly in favor of the customers.

You can get unlimited data plans in Europe for 10-40 euro per month.

That work in all of Europe? Or in individual markets?

Re: T-Mobile to offer free unlimited international data, texts

#125

Post by bnastic »

corin_ wrote: post #118
jasonkester wrote: post #111

Good to hear. US carriers do a terrible job of dealing with anything international. It's as though they're honestly surprised that anybody would ever want to leave the USA or make a phone call to anybody in another country. An example: I flew to the 'states this weekend. Once on the ground, I topped up my American (T-Mobile) sim with a month's worth of credit. (There was no way to do this from abroad since their sims…

Vodafone (UK) are awesome within Europe - when I am abroad I pay £2.50/day to use my normal price plan abroad (so I still get unlimited minutes/texts, and 6GB data, for no cost other than that daily fee). For calling European numbers they aren't quite as good, but for £5/month the prices drop from £1/min to between 5p and 20p/min depending on the type of number I'm calling. Outside Europe they're still awful though,…

Three got a little bit better - no roaming charges whatsoever in a number of European countries (i.e. no data cap on my plan). It was really handy to not have to worry about loading google maps and local websites while out and about in Italy this summer. Hopefully the list of countries will keep increasing.

Re: T-Mobile to offer free unlimited international data, texts

#127

Post by deskpro »

corin_ wrote: post #118
jasonkester wrote: post #111

Good to hear. US carriers do a terrible job of dealing with anything international. It's as though they're honestly surprised that anybody would ever want to leave the USA or make a phone call to anybody in another country. An example: I flew to the 'states this weekend. Once on the ground, I topped up my American (T-Mobile) sim with a month's worth of credit. (There was no way to do this from abroad since their sims…

Vodafone (UK) are awesome within Europe - when I am abroad I pay £2.50/day to use my normal price plan abroad (so I still get unlimited minutes/texts, and 6GB data, for no cost other than that daily fee). For calling European numbers they aren't quite as good, but for £5/month the prices drop from £1/min to between 5p and 20p/min depending on the type of number I'm calling. Outside Europe they're still awful though,…

Check out EE roaming; it's competitive with Vodafone (one of the reasons I moved to them). £5/month for unlimited roaming minutes/texts in EU, US and others. Data is reasonable value @ £25/GB and lasts a month. Importantly includes places like the US, Australia, Russia, China, India etc ....

Re: T-Mobile to offer free unlimited international data, texts

#128

Post by praxeologist »

masklinn wrote: post #116
praxeologist wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about no Ma Bell in the first place... Grampa Graham got his telephone patent in 1876 then in the next 18 years there were 600 lawsuits to defend over 900 patents (state grants of monopoly). When these patents expired, there were soon 80 competing companies which captured 5% of the market, rising to over 3,000 companies with over 50% of the market by 1900. AT&T then lobbied for its monopoly status back, saying th…

Great, more revisionism. > When these patents expired, there were soon 80 competing companies which captured 5% of the market, rising to over 3,000 companies with over 50% of the market by 1900. And starting in 1907 and the return of Vail, Bell started massively buying them out, attracting the attention of the Justice Department and leading to the Kingsbury Commitment. Kingsbury was essentially repealed 8 years later…

All you are doing is proving my point. Bell got big and stayed big because of gov't intervention.

Re: T-Mobile to offer free unlimited international data, texts

#129

Post by corin_ »

deskpro wrote: post #127
corin_ wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vodafone (UK) are awesome within Europe - when I am abroad I pay £2.50/day to use my normal price plan abroad (so I still get unlimited minutes/texts, and 6GB data, for no cost other than that daily fee). For calling European numbers they aren't quite as good, but for £5/month the prices drop from £1/min to between 5p and 20p/min depending on the type of number I'm calling. Outside Europe they're still awful though,…

Check out EE roaming; it's competitive with Vodafone (one of the reasons I moved to them). £5/month for unlimited roaming minutes/texts in EU, US and others. Data is reasonable value @ £25/GB and lasts a month. Importantly includes places like the US, Australia, Russia, China, India etc ....

Hah, just signed a new 2 year contract with Vodafone, but will keep in mind for the future, thanks :)

Re: T-Mobile to offer free unlimited international data, texts

#130

Post by Spearchucker »

corin_ wrote: post #122
rs wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think the trick to overseas is to get a local pre-paid SIM card, and use that number locally. As pre-paid SIM cards are getting more pervasive around the world, normally this works out as the cheapest option. Naturally, there are some countries where purchasing a pre-paid SIM is near impossible, or costly enough that sticking to roaming with your current provider works out cheaper.

Agreed, that's essentially what I was doing in the US, I just got it with a cheap phone too so I could keep my normal blackberry up and running with my UK number. But stuff like the Vodafone deal within Europe are awesome, as it saves the hassle of needing either two phones or sim swapping.

I do the same. Cheap phone for local calls, and my normal phone for calls to/from home. What frustrates me is that even though dual-SIM phones have been around for years, no Western service provider will sell them, so none of the more popular smart phones support it.
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