T-Mobile, with the recent un-carrier initiative you’re probably attracting two type of customers. 1) Folks who are “lured” by the “no-contract” service and 2) customer who sees a potential in savings and convenience with the simple choice global roaming plan.
I was from the second camp of folks who wanted to explore switching to T-Mobile despite the $200 ETF from AT&T. I don't mind paying a little extra for more convenience. But after a week of researching I just couldn’t get all the info I needed. The marketing and sales pages has bold catch phrase such as “unlimited web and text in other countries” but when I try to dig up details I almost always hit a dead-end. See examples below. I’ve temporarily abandoned my transition to T-Mobile. It’s a shame since I haven’t even considered leaving AT&T in the past couple years. (I know it’s not the best carrier but it’s also not the worst either with my corporate discount and such).
Here’s the list of questions I’d like T-Mobile to address with their “simple choice global roaming plan”:
- I should be able to pick the countries I want to use the phone in and have T-Mobile recommend the right phone for me. Right now, it just gives you a generic list of intl capable phone. I spent hours reading up on carrier bands used in different countries, what the band acronyms map to in T-Mobile friendly lingo, etc. Cross-referencing this with supported capabilities of the phone, etc. It was a big hassle I don’t wish to go through again in the future.
- You mention “unlimited web and text in other countries”. Does “web” include all apps that use the internet or strictly the web browser? Are the data packets restricted to what routes to port 80/443 on the web server? My guess is no, but your site doesn’t clarify anything.
- You mention “20 cents to make a call while roaming internationally”. Is this 20 cents on top of what I normally would pay to call the number? Or is it just 20cents? I heard several support folks tell me its 20cents flat. But what if I call the “cook island” where the discounted call rate is $4.95? Is it still 20 cents? If so, it would seem like a huge loop hole. I would guess 20 cents a minute isn’t the whole picture here.
- You have at least 5 links to international roaming page from your marketing page which results in a 404 response from your server. It’s a page not found error.
- How much does it cost to listen to voice mail while I’m roaming internationally? Your site says 49cents a minute. So does this mean it’s cheaper for me to call the person back at 20 cents a minute rather than to listen to voice mail? This doesn’t seem to make much sense either. Probably outdated info.
- How does this impact the above question for visual voicemail where voicemail is transmitted over the internet? Do I get charged when I open the voice mail or when it’s transmitted to my phone?
- How does one temporarily upgrade the internet speed when they’re roaming internationally? Which countries and carriers support this? You say you can but.. Again no details.
- How much does it cost to receive phone calls while I’m roaming internationally? Does it matter where the call is from or is it flat rate?
- How much will it cost for a person to call my number while I’m roaming internationally? Are they charged normally as if I’m in the US?
- I read there are countries where carrier agreement only permits receiving calls. But there is no specific countries listed.
- There are so many ways this can go wrong. A mistake here can run the bill up to tens of thousands. Can I put a cap on my bill while I’m roaming internationally? Not that I could tell on T-Mobile site.
So I’m back to square one. Getting a SIM or renting a phone at each country and sticking with ATT. There are too many gaping holes in the T-Mobile documentation for anyone to make a confident and comfortable decision.
Hopefully the new un-carrier initiative is all its hyped up to be. I’ll check back in a year.