Forum Discussion

John619's avatar
John619
Newbie Caller
Hace 3 años

Tmobile to Tmobile in UK- France- Italy

Hola,

Have 4 lines with Tmobile for 18 years ( I know - I won't get squat free lol) and 2 of those lines are with my kids. They are heading to London, the Paris, then Rome. We can't seem to find a good answer, but here goes...😁

 

1. Can the 2 phones overseas call each other? 

2. Is Texting free between all 4 lines, even if 2 are overseas?

3. Can I call those 2 phones from the US without taking a 2nd mortgage on my home?

4. Is there a better option when they get over to the UK, France and Paris like getting a Trac phone or other, so calls won't be $ 3.00 a minute?

 

Any help would be appreciated. 

 

Have a good one....😁😁

 

John in 619

  • John619 wrote:

    Hola,

    Have 4 lines with Tmobile for 18 years ( I know - I won't get squat free lol) and 2 of those lines are with my kids. They are heading to London, the Paris, then Rome. We can't seem to find a good answer, but here goes...😁

    Assuming you’re on a recent postpaid plan.

    John619 wrote:

    1. Can the 2 phones overseas call each other? 

    Yes; 25¢/min but they can also use a VoIP app like Skype, Viber or Facetime and it will be free.

    John619 wrote:

    2. Is Texting free between all 4 lines, even if 2 are overseas?

    Sí.

    John619 wrote:

    3. Can I call those 2 phones from the US without taking a 2nd mortgage on my home?

    Again 25¢/min. Again VoIP will be free. Calls to the USA will be free if WiFi Calling is used but phones have a pernicious way of picking the wrong mode whenever possible. Sort of a corollary to Murphy's Law.

    John619 wrote:

    4. Is there a better option when they get over to the UK, France and Paris like getting a Trac phone or other, so calls won't be $ 3.00 a minute

     

    The best option would be to use a VoIP app to make calls and use text a lot. If your kids normally receive a lot of incoming calls from random folks, if might be best to have them just set all incoming calls to unconditionally forward to voicemail. Use Visual Voicemail app to retrieve messages. And call back when the phone is locked onto WiFi Calling  The biggest thing is understanding how roaming is billed and exercising self discipline. I don't know what you mean by "Kids" but that term is not generally synonymous with "self discipline".  

    I'm told that T-Mobile fixed the issue with unanswered calls being charged when roaming but I still don't trust it. One big issue is that if you are making a call to a non-US number while abroad, you nunca want to use WiFi Calling, unless you have the Stateside-International option. WiFi Calling is billed as though you are in the USA and T-Mobile's rack international rates are outrageous.

  • formercanuck's avatar
    formercanuck
    Spectrum Specialist

    First… what plan are the lines on?

    Second..  are they compatible with overseas networks/frequencies?

    https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/roaming

     

    Text should be fine.  data may be slow (unless you purchase day pass).  Calling.  see above link

    I used text/data in Germany, Italy, Greece and Malta (128kbps) in the past..

    If you want cheap phone service,  use WiFi.   it will be as if you were in the US.

  • John619 wrote:

    Hola,

    Have 4 lines with Tmobile for 18 years ( I know - I won't get squat free lol) and 2 of those lines are with my kids. They are heading to London, the Paris, then Rome. We can't seem to find a good answer, but here goes...😁

    Assuming you’re on a recent postpaid plan.

    John619 wrote:

    1. Can the 2 phones overseas call each other? 

    Yes; 25¢/min but they can also use a VoIP app like Skype, Viber or Facetime and it will be free.

    John619 wrote:

    2. Is Texting free between all 4 lines, even if 2 are overseas?

    Sí.

    John619 wrote:

    3. Can I call those 2 phones from the US without taking a 2nd mortgage on my home?

    Again 25¢/min. Again VoIP will be free. Calls to the USA will be free if WiFi Calling is used but phones have a pernicious way of picking the wrong mode whenever possible. Sort of a corollary to Murphy's Law.

    John619 wrote:

    4. Is there a better option when they get over to the UK, France and Paris like getting a Trac phone or other, so calls won't be $ 3.00 a minute

     

    The best option would be to use a VoIP app to make calls and use text a lot. If your kids normally receive a lot of incoming calls from random folks, if might be best to have them just set all incoming calls to unconditionally forward to voicemail. Use Visual Voicemail app to retrieve messages. And call back when the phone is locked onto WiFi Calling  The biggest thing is understanding how roaming is billed and exercising self discipline. I don't know what you mean by "Kids" but that term is not generally synonymous with "self discipline".  

    I'm told that T-Mobile fixed the issue with unanswered calls being charged when roaming but I still don't trust it. One big issue is that if you are making a call to a non-US number while abroad, you nunca want to use WiFi Calling, unless you have the Stateside-International option. WiFi Calling is billed as though you are in the USA and T-Mobile's rack international rates are outrageous.

  • John619's avatar
    John619
    Newbie Caller
    formercanuck wrote:

    First… what plan are the lines on?

    Second..  are they compatible with overseas networks/frequencies?

    https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/roaming

     

    Text should be fine.  data may be slow (unless you purchase day pass).  Calling.  see above link

    I used text/data in Germany, Italy, Greece and Malta (128kbps) in the past..

    If you want cheap phone service,  use WiFi.   it will be as if you were in the US.

    Thank you for the help. We are on the Simple Plan. 4 lines $ 100.00, lol. Can't beat it.😁😁

  • John619's avatar
    John619
    Newbie Caller
    formercanuck wrote:

    First… what plan are the lines on?

    Second..  are they compatible with overseas networks/frequencies?

    https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/roaming

     

    Text should be fine.  data may be slow (unless you purchase day pass).  Calling.  see above link

    I used text/data in Germany, Italy, Greece and Malta (128kbps) in the past..

    If you want cheap phone service,  use WiFi.   it will be as if you were in the US.

    Thank you for the great answers....!!!

  • John619's avatar
    John619
    Newbie Caller

    We are on the 'Simple Plan".

    They should be compatible.  1 is a iPhone 13 max pro, and a iPhone 11.

  • John619 wrote:

    We are on the 'Simple Plan".

    They should be compatible.  1 is a iPhone 13 max pro, and a iPhone 11.

     

    "Simple Choice"? An older plan but I believe it still gets free-but-slow data and free texting while international roaming. They call it "Simple Choice" roaming, after all.  I was going to post these links yesterday but for some reason they didn't work at that time:

    https://www.t-mobile.com/support/coverage/international-roaming-checklist

    https://www.t-mobile.com/support/coverage/international-roaming-services

    At the bottom of the first link they give the international roaming support number (+1-505-998-3793). This number is always free if called from a T-Mobile phone anywhere in the world. When roaming, all numbers should be entered in "plus format" like the one shown above. A UK number would be entered like "+442076298860" (Claridge's Hotel, London), with the plus followed by the country code and the full number. This avoids mistakes and "can't connect" messages.