T-Mobile?

[ggletsgoeat]

We're thinking about switching from AT&T to T-mobile but we don't know anyone who has or uses T-Mobile. We live in Roxborough, just past the Andorra shopping center. Does anybody know how the coverage is in that area, data and voice both?

[radiocolin]

I've heard T-Mobile coverage is pretty universally awful.

[taxgirl]

I have T-Mobile. When we started the firm, we toyed with a lot of carriers - Nextel, Sprint, AT&T, etc. At one point, we had separate carriers (my husband had Cingular which became AT&T and I had Voicestream which became T-Mobile). At any rate, we eventually both switched over to T-Mobile in, I think, 2004 or so. We've had them ever since.

I travel a bit for work - from Vegas to Seattle to New York - and my coverage is fine. I live in the Wissahickon area and - as is now well known - until recently, had my office in central Rox. We're now in Paoli and the coverage is still good. Additionally, my husband travels abroad for work - mostly western Europe like Germany, Italy, UK - and he has no problems.

The only places I've had issues with coverage are in rural Maine and at my parents' house (in the middle of nowhere NC). But then, my friends who did not have T-Mobile also had problems there.

I find their service to be absolutely terrific compared to other vendors.

[ggletsgoeat]

Thanks! That's really helpful.

[Scoats]

T-mob can give you coverage maps for any address. When we switched I got maps for our business, my partner's house, and my house. The coverage for all three looked great from the maps and it is really great at all three locations. Fast forward a few years later and we have a 2nd place. Coverage there is terrible.

Customer servicewise T-mob is no more or less bastards than Sprint. My phone goes into airplane mode all the time. T-mob doesn't give a **** that my phone partially works, claiming it is Google's problem and washing their hands of it. We will probably switch from these pricks once our contract is up.

Another major issue with T-mob is their support for when you leave country is non-existent, even in Europe. Which is really odd as they are German company. For your phone to work elsewhere, you need to buy a sim card and contract for service in whatever country you are going to.

[taxgirl]

Hey Scoats,

Chris (my husband) goes to Europe all of the time - esp Germany - and he doesn't have any problems at all.

RE the SIM card, what he does is carry two phones, not because of coverage but because of cost. He carries his "regular" phone for calls to/and from the States. He also carries a phone with a separate SIM card based in Germany so that our German clients can call him locally (no charge to them, as opposed to calling a US number) and so he can call locally, as well. But otherwise, no problems for me to call him or vice versa. Very reasonably priced, too.

[Scoats]

Hey Scoats,

Chris (my husband) goes to Europe all of the time - esp Germany - and he doesn't have any problems at all.

RE the SIM card, what he does is carry two phones, not because of coverage but because of cost. He carries his "regular" phone for calls to/and from the States. He also carries a phone with a separate SIM card based in Germany so that our German clients can call him locally (no charge to them, as opposed to calling a US number) and so he can call locally, as well. But otherwise, no problems for me to call him or vice versa. Very reasonably priced, too.

I realize that we are now going off topic, but I have to assume that having two phones must cost as much as having a company that gives you reasonably priced service overseas. I haven't looked at Tmob's Euro service in a few years, so maybe the experience is better these days.

On my last trip, I installed an android app that allowed voice over IP. I put my phone in airplane mode to prevent any data roaming charges. When I was in the hotel, my phone received and made calls as if it was on a cell phone network. That was free, but you had to be on a wifi network for it to work.

[billy ross]

My friend has tmobile and he gets free service overseas, even using his own New York phone number, via wifi, which is pretty easy to find most places these days.

Does that app you're talking about only work with Tmobile?

[taxgirl]

Sorry, to clarify, it isn't *his* cost that is the primary reason for the two phones, it's for clients. We have a US number, clearly. Overseas, on a calling plan, we can call out but if someone from overseas calls him on his phone, they pay for an international call even if he's in the same room. If he's coordinating meeting a client for dinner, for example, having a German number allows them to call him for free (and vice versa) as opposed to whatever the cost is for them to call internationally.

Are you saying that the app allows international folks to call you as if you were local? Because that would definitely be interesting!

[Scoats]

Billy, the app should work with all phone services.

Taxgirl, the app uses your cell or Google voice number. It allows US people to call your phone overseas and you to receive the call as if it was local to the USA. There are probably internet services with international voices that could forward the call to your US number but I am not I never looked into it.