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drnewcomb
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Joined 5 years ago
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Re: I miss Sprint!! Sprint should've bought T-Mobile out!
Wasn't going to happen (Sprint buying T-Mobile). Sprint had been slowly circling the drain since 2010, losing money on every customer. When Softbank realized the sort of capital outlay it would require to make Sprint a viable network, they grabbed their proverbial hat and headed for the exit.3Visto4likes0ComentariosRe: T-Mobile Data Breech Announced August 15 2021
Well, they have made a public announcement. However, this seems to be a very serious security SNAFU. The customers' names, SSNs, DL#s, phone numbers and IMEI numbers were compromised. T-Mobile needs to slow down and get their house in order.4Visto4likes0ComentariosRe: If I'm out of the US traveling and someone calls me and I don't answer the call will I be charged? If that person leaves a voicemail and I don't call to check my voicemail would I be charged?
If you don't answer (as opposed to rejecting the call) you should not be charged. If you call to check your voicemail, you will be charged for the call. This is why you should check your messages via the Visual Voicemail app. Here are some international roaming hints.27Visto4likes0ComentariosRe: I am going on cruise to the carribean on norwegian gem- what should I do to be ale to get data for emails and text?
Hints for cost-effective international roaming with T-Mobile 1. I've heard mixed reports regarding if T-Mobile charges for unanswered incoming calls which roll over to voicemail while roaming. Some say that you will not be charged; others say that they were charged. Before the age of unrelenting spam calls, this was not a big deal but paying to forward spam calls to voicemail would just be rubbing salt in the wound. This is why, whenever I'm abroad, I forward all incoming calls to voicemail. This is done by setting unconditional forwarding to +18056377243. You might want to change your voicemail greeting telling callers to use text to reach you quickly. That's your choice. 2. So, you just saved a ton on incoming calls. You don't want to turn around and spend it by calling voicemail to check messages. Calling voicemail is a voice call and charged like any other. Instead, get in the habit of using Visual Voicemail to check messages. Visual Voicemail uses data, which is free. 3. WiFi Calling is a potential problem. It use to be that WiFi Calls were always charged as if you were in the US. This meant that calls to US (plus Canadian & Mexican) numbers were free but calls to most overseas destinations had a rack rate of $3/min or more. This was the source of many complaints from people who thought they were making a 25¢ call but ended being charged 12X that. T-Mobile claims to have fixed this so that when you are overseas, WiFi Calls to non-North-American numbers are charged the same as cellular calls (25¢/min). I've heard mixed reports on this feature. The problem is that it relies on T-Mobile's ability to determine where the WiFi signal is hosted. This can be confused by network numbering and VPNs. Because of this, it's a good idea to make calls home to the US on WiFi but you run a risk calling a local (non-North-American) number this way. It might be 25¢/min or you might get charged much more. I prefer to act such that I'll never have cause to argue with T-Mobile over a roaming bill. The problem is that you don't always know in advance which mode your phone will pick and, when left to their own devices, phones seem to have a perverse way of picking the most expensive method. For this reason I suggest if you want to make a cellular call, then turn off your phone's WiFi first. If you want to make a WiFi Call, then turn off the cellular radio. This is done by putting the phone in airplane mode then turning the WiFi back on. It may take a minute or two for the phone to reconnect to T-Mobile via WiFi and be ready to call after you do this. WiFi Calls made from ships, airplanes or through VPNs will be charged as if you are in the USA. 4. Cruise ships are expensive. ($6/min & 50¢/text sent) Forward incoming calls as per #1. Avoid making outgoing calls or texts. Incoming texts are free. Ships are not supposed to run their cellular systems in port but they sometimes do. Cellular data is generally not available but if it is, you should turn off data roaming. Cruise ships have WiFi, for which they like to charge a young fortune. Kids' cell phones should be confiscated for the duration of the cruise. If the kids have to have the COVID pass app and there's no alternative, put the phone in airplane mode or pull the SIM. Ignore this warning at your peril. 5. Rather than making regular voice calls, use a VoIP app such as Google Voice, Skype, FaceTime, Viber, etc. These work in voice mode over the default (free) roaming data connection. Coordinate with your friends and family as to which VoIP app you will use and test it before your trip. Regarding Google Voice (GV); I had to divorce GV from my cellular phone number. GV's default behavior is to forward incoming calls to your mobile number. This is clearly not desired while roaming. Most VoIP apps have a prepay system for outbound calling. The most they can charge you is what you've prepaid. There's no chance of finding a $1000 roaming bill waiting for when you return home. n.b. There have been complaints about being charged for calls made using WhatsApp. I don't know if these complaints are real or illusory but they have been made. 6. You can probably get by with T-Mobile's slow roaming data (~256 kbps) as long as you aren't addicted to video or megapixel photos. Set your phone to do updates, backups and syncs only on WiFi. Preload Google Maps offline data for areas you plan to visit. BTW, it's not "2G data" or "3G data", it's whatever data is available throttled by T-Mobile to 256 kbps. Get an app that reduces the size of your photos. You don't need to send megapixel photos to your friends. 100 kB is more resolution than most people can see. Set your e-mail client to not automatically download large attachments. 7. Data Passes: T-Mobile will be happy to sell you one, ten or thirty-day high-speed data passes. I bought one of these on a vacation to Greece and was able to join a Jitsi video conference (like Zoom) while riding a ferry boat between islands. Everyone thought it was cool. Was it necessary? Not really. You can buy the pass from your account or the T-Mobile app. Data Passes also include "unlimited calling" but T-Mobile is vague about what calling is included. Calling on cruise ships is not. I doubt if calls to satellite phones is included. 8. Depending on how mission-critical communications are, you may want to consider backup plans. This is your call. It can be anything from bringing a satellite phone to, "I'm on vacation. I don't need no stinkin' phone." but you should at least consider your options. On past business trips I've carried a sat-phone. These days I bring along a spare unlocked phone and a unactivated T-Mobile SIM. In theory, if my phone is lost or stolen I can do a SIM swap and activate the spare phone. I have not been forced to put my theory to the test. An unlocked phone is also handy for local prepaid service. 9. On the plane. If your flight has GoGo WiFi I get an hour of free WiFi per flight. Some plans get WiFi for the whole flight. You now have to be able to receive a 2FA text to validate your connection. I find that some phones have no problems receiving this text in airplane mode while others won't and have to be put in regular mode for a few moments to receive the text. I have no idea why this is. When I travel with my wife, we share the WiF connection on long flights via BlueTooth. Twice as much free network time. 9. Be aware of the details. They will bite you in the wallet. If you assume something is true, it's probably not. Use both a SIM PIN and a phone PIN. If your phone is eligible for unlocking, get it unlocked. That way you can fall back to using a local prepaid SIM if you need to. You can call T-Mobile's international roaming support line for free from any T-Mobile phone (+1-505-998-3793). Read T-Mobile's International Roaming Checklist. Be aware that some countries just have problems with roaming. Oman and India come to mind as the subject of recent complaints.5Visto4likes0ComentariosRe: Verizon charge me $800 because T-mobile didn't pay
I hate it when I hear stories like these because people should never be allowed to leave the store without understanding the exact sequence of events that need to happen, in what order and who's responsible for doing what. The customer pays of the balance on their phones. The customer requests any devices that are SIM-locked be unlocked. The customer verifies the unlocked status of their phones. The customer contacts T-Mobile (in store or by phone) and initiates the porting process. The customer obtains their final invoice from the old carrier and submits a copy of it to T-Mobile online. T-Mobile verifies the invoice and that the phones in question are now used on new T-Mobile service. T-Mobile sends the customer a prepaid (virtual?) MasterCard for the program amount. The customer uses the prepaid card any way they like. I'm sorry I can't do anything about the situation, I'm just a customer, not an employee.19Visto3likes0ComentariosRe: T-Mobile Data Breech Announced August 15 2021
ilndhpr wrote: That's great, I'm still using the OPM Breach protection from a few years ago. Me too. I don't need more free credit monitoring. I need this nonsense to get fixed. IMHO, T-Mobile has been too focused on growth and not well focused on "what if".4Visto3likes0ComentariosRe: Spam Caller: +1 805 637 7243
I find it hard to believe this thread has gone on for so long and no one has mentioned that +1-805-637-7243 (805-MESSAGE) is T-Mobile's voicemail access line. You call that number to access your voicemail from a non-T-Mobile phone. You can also leave messages for T-Mobile customers.282Visto3likes0ComentariosRe: international data roaming
There are three classes of service: Text, Voice and Data. When international roaming, Voice will generally cost extra. Texts are generally free but may be charged in some countries (e.g.Cuba, Sao Tome & Principe) In the vast majority of countries data is free but may be throttled. The exceptions are pretty much the same places where texts cost extra. I can't name any European countries where data and texts cost extra but onboard cruise ships and long-distant ferries all bets are off.30Visto3likes0Comentarios