No network on International roaming in India

sndixit wrote:

 

BoulderColorado wrote:

I traveled to India for 4 weeks in September and October 2022, after reading this forum. Given the mixed comments so far, I wondered "will the cellular data with T-Mobile work or not in India, and will there be surprise charges"? I am back and here is my review. Well, it worked almost everywhere during my 4000+ kilometer zig-zag drive journey in India, as I visited various historic sites and infrastructure projects to review in the field. T-Mobile free data service driven Messages, WhatsApp etc apps worked in Delhi including Delhi airport, and numerous small towns of Chhattisgarh, towns and cities of Madhya Pradesh including Bhopal airport, of Uttar Pradesh, small towns and cities of Odisha including Bhubaneswar airport, and most of West Bengal including Kolkata airport. Only exception were isolated parts of Raipur city and parts of Asansol city (may be one or two tower issues?). No bill surprise afterwards too, now that I have received and paid the monthly bill that covers the period of my travel. Slow speed data is indeed included free by T Mobile in India, and for me, it worked nicely in the states mentioned above. I was traveling with the recently released iPhone 14 Pro. I have the Magenta Unlimited plan. These were my phone options → Settings : Cellular → then Cellular Data : On (Green); Cellular Data Options : Roaming On; Personal Hotspot : Off. T-Mobile Turn On This Line : On (Green); Scrolled down and confirmed that all the desired Data-driven Apps were On (green).

Thanks for the detail info! its working now!

I traveled to India for 4 weeks in September and October 2022, after reading this forum. Given the mixed comments so far, I wondered "will the cellular data with T-Mobile work or not in India, and will there be surprise charges"? I am back and here is my review. Well, it worked almost everywhere during my 4000+ kilometer zig-zag drive journey in India, as I visited various historic sites and infrastructure projects to review in the field. T-Mobile free data service driven Messages, WhatsApp etc apps worked in Delhi including Delhi airport, and numerous small towns of Chhattisgarh, towns and cities of Madhya Pradesh including Bhopal airport, of Uttar Pradesh, small towns and cities of Odisha including Bhubaneswar airport, and most of West Bengal including Kolkata airport. Only exception were isolated parts of Raipur city and parts of Asansol city (may be one or two tower issues?). No bill surprise afterwards too, now that I have received and paid the monthly bill that covers the period of my travel. Slow speed data is indeed included free by T Mobile in India, and for me, it worked nicely in the states mentioned above. I was traveling with the recently released iPhone 14 Pro. I have the Magenta Unlimited plan. These were my phone options → Settings : Cellular → then Cellular Data : On (Green); Cellular Data Options : Roaming On; Personal Hotspot : Off. T-Mobile Turn On This Line : On (Green); Scrolled down and confirmed that all the desired Data-driven Apps were On (green).

International roaming works in Delhi but not in Patna. I called support and online chat and still no luck in resolving the issue. Does not look like International roaming agreement is everywhere. I tried rebooting /refreshing multimple time and no luck. I get 5 bars for AirTel and Geo at my place on other devices.

I received message on arrival that my T-Mobile plan gives data at up to 256 Kbps.. however this is false. I was never able to get Internet during the 2 weeks stay in Pune.  

T-Mobile's international roaming page shows service in all the places you've mentioned. Have you called CS and filed a trouble ticket? (n.b. Complaining here does little because the thread's already marked "resolved".)

of course. Desperation makes you try all kind of things

Did you also try connecting to networks other than 2G?

Just came back from India after a 2 week trip. I can confirm once again that TMobile roaming service in India is bad, real bad.... really really bad.

First of all the data is 2G speed - even in cities like Mumbai and Delhi. Nagpur was ok - was able to connect to Vodafone. The smaller towns like Ranchi and Rourkela - got absolutely zero service. Spent hours trying to get something. It did show 3 networks in the search - Airtel, cellOne and IDEA, but will not register or connect to any. So manually forced it select 2G network - got off and on connection with IDEA. but it was so horribly slow and unreliable, it was not worth it.

So the bottomline - TMobile claims of free data connectivity in India is a joke. Do NOT rely on it. Could not even connect to this website to vent out.

you are better off getting a local SIM from airtel.

Well, that's something I'd file a complaint ticket about, but it's just typical of the issues found roaming in India. Some day I'd like to sit down with T-Mobile's international roaming manager, over a bottle of an adult beverage, and discuss the issues with India. All I can tell is that it seems to go on a state-by-state basis. I think it has something to do with the development of cellular services in India. Years ago Indians in one state would pay extra for roaming when they went to a different state. This is similar to the way it was in the US. The international roaming may still have to be worked out on a state-by-state basis. I know there's a problem roaming in J&K. I understand that the MNC for each network in India changes from state to state. For instance, Vodafone and AirTel both have 22 separate networks in India. What a mess.