Upgrade T-Mobile Magenta?

I also have that plan. I add the 30 day (15GB) international pass for $50. It provides high-speed data and I haven't had any problems with navigation or internet access.

We were in Europe last summer for six weeks with a car the whole time and GPS every day plus texts email and sending pictures home and never did I ask why didn’t we upgrade.

I have used my Magenta plan in both France and Italy without paying to upgrade. Never had any problems using internet or maps or any other apps. I do not stream video or play games that might need greater data speed.

I’ve never had an issue using the free data for navigation. There have been times when I forgot I wasn’t using the offline maps and didn’t even notice. Offline maps help if you’re in remote locations where there is no cell service. Using it for Internet research takes longer, but works in a pinch.

For as little as I use it, it wouldn’t be worth it to pay for additional speed. I’m sure others will disagree.

We have been in The Netherlands and Belgium for almost 3 weeks. We have T mobile and the new iPhone 15 and upgraded to the newer plan to get a free phone upgrade . We had magenta before. Not sure what the new plan is called now. We have had 5g coverage pretty much consistently through our trip. Worst coverage has been here in Bruges and we always download maps in case we need them. Except here I have not had any issues with email websites apps etc. fortunately most museums and restaurants here have free wifi so I have used that to catch up if my coverage is weak

If you decide it is too slow after you get there, you can pay for high-speed data. It is $35 for a ten day pass and $50 for a one month pass. T-Mobile will send you a link for this by text along with the welcome message.

https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/international-roaming-plans/unlimited-calling-data-pass

I have a T-Mobile plan with slow international data. For years, I just used the slow data. On my last two month-long trips, I paid the additional $50. It was still cheaper than paying the additional monthly charge to have a higher speed plan.

My wife and I were just in Ireland, and we have the Magenta 55+ plan. We pay $70/ month for two lines. We paid the $50 for 15 gb. for 30 days for my wife's phone. She was happy with it. I did not pay for that, and I had no trouble at all. But I don't stream videos or do a lot of internet except for at our hotel with wifi. I was happy to see I could text photos to friends back home with the slow data. And when I uploaded photos to an on-line account, I did it in the hotel with wifi, or sometimes on the bus with wifi.

Note: We both have older phones that do not do 5G, so I don't know if that would have changed anything.

Also note: We used maps a lot on our trip, but we use Organic Maps (Android or IOS). It is free, and excellent. Before leaving home, we downloaded the maps for all of Ireland, took about 1 minute. It works great, but you can't search for a street address as you can w/ G**gle Maps.

I'd say just install the Tmobile app, learn how it works, and then enjoy France. If you need to, you can buy the higher speed add-on very easily with the app.

Thanks, everyone, for this very helpful advice!

I don´t think there are many data networks limited to 256 kbps. I generally use FREE mobile service but I also have a T-Mobile account I sometimes use in France and have found the speeds offered by the normal magenta service to be very adequate, even for VoIP calls. I would not pay more for perceived better speeds.

We're grandfathered on a T-Mobile family plan sold it dates back to VoiceStream. Because we're planning two weeks in France this September, I called T-Mobile to ask about my options. I was told we have what's called a Simple Choice Legacy plan. Cutting to the chase, I was told we'll have unlimited high speed data, just like in the United States, along with free texts and calls, made or received, at 25 cents/minute. I asked specifically about the 256kbps data speed, which I recall as having been annoyingly slow on a pre-COVID trip to Tuscany. I was told the data would be high speed. We'll see.

@RebDovid

I have SimpleChoice and have been using it for 10 years when I travel. I have unlimited international data, but it is NOT high speed. I suspect the rep was mistaken.

See what T-Mobile says here:
https://www.t-mobile.com/support/coverage/international-roaming-services

I have unlimited international data, but it is NOT high speed. I suspect the rep was mistaken.

What speed did you get and how do you define "high speed"? There are no 256kbps networks in France. 4G networks offer speeds of around 1Mbps to 12Mbp, 5G even more. While in France, you might not get the potential 84Mbp that 5G is slated to deliver but even if you can connect at 512 kbps, you can still download maps, watch movies, and even use VoIP.

The basic T-Mobile service should be fine and free Wifi is available all over Paris.

There are no 256kbps networks in France.

That doesn't matter. Tmobile throttles data speeds no matter what kind of tower your phone is connected to. Even on a 5G tower, speed will be throttled down to 256kbps.

What speed did you get and how do you define "high speed"?

Tocard, I never measure actual speed and define ”high speed” based only on the absence of noticeable lag time. What I observed with my slow T-Mobile service is it is generally fine for email and googlemap navigation but annoying when you are waiting for certain websites to load. When I was in France last fall, I paid the additional $50 to upgrade and there was a noticeable difference. I was in a rural location for a week with spotty wifi so resorted to using mobile data.