Forum Discussion
Overseas Travel: How can I avoid incoming call costs but still use free text/data roaming while abroad?
We're planning to travel to Europe later this year and would like to take advantage of T-Mobile's free international text/data roaming. However, I saw that incoming calls are charged at one minut...
Great question. The easiest way to do this is to enable unconditional call forwarding. This will tell the network to immediately forward the call to a selected number without trying to pin you first which is where the charge comes from.
To enable unconditional call forwarding, you will need to follow these steps https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-4041#secondheading
Dial **21*18056377249# from your phone to enable CFU and ##21# to turn it off when you are back in the states and want to resume being able to get calls.
The 18056377249 number is the same number that your calls are forwarded to when you do not answer the phone so that the people calling you can leave a VM. Since we are enabling unconditional call forwarding, the call will be automatically routed there instead of ringing your phone first.
Even if you use unconditional forwarding, you will be charged. I got charged even when not roaming. (celluar always in airplane mode) The only way to avoid charges is to call customer service and stop international calls.
Another advice: Place the phone in airplane mode when using WiFi calling. If your WiFi stops working, your phone will automatically switch to cellular without you noticing this fact. So I can see some users believing that they are using WiFi and getting a bill. Your ISP could go down and you won't notice that you are using celluar service while talking. If you are in airplane mode and your ISP goes down, your call will be interrupted but you won't be charged.
