2024 is Tmobile still good?

I live in Europe and still have my US T-Mobile because it still makes sense to keep (a lot of websites i need to access that I can only access from a US ip addresss. Most of the time it stays on AirPlane Mode and I use a TMobile local phone. When I travel outside the EU, the the US phone is easier and cheaper.

It has worked fine for me in: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Rep, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Malta, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, England, Iceland, Kosovo, Montenegro, Scottland, Serbia, Turkey.

There are great number of international calling plans and work arounds and private esim/sim providers. What I havent seen discussed much is the TMobile Wi-Fi calling. I think it’s part of every TMobile plan. But check me on that.

What does it mean? It means if you have Wi-Fi, which is dang near every place these days if you ask for the password, you can make and receive calls and text messages through TMobile, on your TMobile phone number. This works in dang near any location in the world with absolutely no additional charge or special apps or programs. Without the Wi-Fi you will pay $0.25 a minute, so if my phone rings when I am out and about, you may hear me say, “let me log into the restaurant Wi-Fi and I will call you right back” = 25 cents.

Roaming data for google maps? What comes with most plans will be adequate for google maps for the duration of most stays. But if it comes up short or you want to use WhatsApp or send a lot of pictures, wait till the connection seems very, very slow (means you used up your free high speed data), then sign up for an international pass. Also pay attention to your billing cycle, because you might get a boost in data half way through your trip if the billing cycle ends and starts over.

One day pass = 512mb for $5 (sort of expensive)
10 day pass = 5GB for $35 (if the standard high speed data holds up for 4 days, then add and a 2 week trip is a bit more than $2 a day)
30 day pass = 15GB for $50 (on a 3 week trip that’s a bit more than $2 a day)

From the TMobile website. But despite the instructions, I did nothing, and it has always worked for me.

To use T-Mobile Wi-Fi Calling, you need:
E911 address: Before you can use Wi-Fi Calling, you need to set up an e911 address on your account in case your location doesn't show up automatically to a 911 dispatcher. Learn how to set up your E911 address.
Active account: The service connects through T-Mobile service and uses your phone number, so your account must be active.
Device that supports T-Mobile Wi-Fi Calling:
Wi-Fi Calling is included on most T-Mobile devices. Check the tutorials page to check your phone's capabilities.
Some manufacturers state their devices have T-Mobile Wi-Fi Calling. Most of these devices work without any problems, but T-Mobile cannot guarantee their service unless you bought the device from us.
Wi-Fi Internet access: You must be able to use the internet on a Wi-Fi network.
Requires a minimum of 2 Mbps for upload and download speeds.
Satellite Internet and cell phone hotspot are not supported.
For detailed requirements, review: Wi-Fi Calling on a corporate network.
To set up T-Mobile Wi-Fi Calling, follow these steps on your iOS or Android device:

I used it in Switzerland in January. Worked great.

I just got back from using my phone with TMobile in London, and it worked well in Romania earlier this year. It's nice not having extra costs like I used to get with Verizon. I use the wifi calling feature when I want to talk to someone back in the US. I've got an Android phone as well and on the rare occasion where it glitches while trying to access data overseas, I just restart the phone and it works fine, including using Google Maps to navigate around the city.

I did separate trips to Switzerland and Italy this year and T-Mobile worked as well as it has for the last few years that I have used it.

Mr. E summarized it well. I switched from AT&T to Tmobile mainly because of the free international roaming. In 11 countries you get 5 GB of high speed data included, per month. In another 203 countries you still get free texting and calling, but the data is lower speed, 2 mbps or so. Early this year, we went to Ireland. My wife paid Tmobile $35 to have the high speed data for 14 days. I didn't pay extra and the slower speed worked fine for me. We really appreciate that we have our "normal" phone number and don't have to juggle with any other numbers our friends wouldn't recognize.

As for wifi calling, Tmobile has it, but it is a bit complicated. In some cases there is a small charge for calling the USA from other countries, even though you may be using wifi.

travelerguy, i am not doubting you but ive used the wi-fi calling in at least 20 countries and never been charged a cent. Use it here daily.

Which plans are some of you on? I'm willing to pay more than I do now however for 3 months some of the passes really add up. Magenta has been mentioned. I believe the 5G plans are being promoted more.... thanks again

I have 5G Magenta for $50 a month. If you purchase a month of international high speed data, that's another $50. Compared to the rest of the cost of the trip, not much.

I have the Magenta Max Military plan. Make sure you know which plans come with the free international data plan because not all do. Having said that, i really like TMobile, especially for international travel. As others have mentioned, you may need to supplement the plan if you run out of data, but it's relatively cheap and easy.

ETA: I think they call the Magenta plans something else now, though. Maybe Go5g?

I’ve traveled with T-Mobile on my phone for many years. It’s very easy & these are free: free data & texts whenever needed. I use FaceTime at my hotels or B&B’s after connecting to their WiFi to have free video calls with family back home. Most lodging texts in Europe have wanted me to use WhatsApp for communication ahead of time.

The only time I had to pay extra was for an emergency call last May when I wasn’t at my B&B.

Mr. E, maybe it was a non- "unlimited" account that had some charges for sending/receiving calls... Or maybe I was thinking of some Verizon policies. I sit corrected... (I'm not standing here).

On my Android phone, I long-pressed the "wifi-calling" icon, to get the page of wifi-calling settings. There was a link to Tmobile pricing for wifi-calling. It was too much detail to put here, but it seemed to distinguish between the "better" plans and the cheaper plans.

As for plans, yes there were a few levels of "Magenta" plans which had the international roaming. The Magenta plans are no longer available, unfortunately. I was lucky to be grandfathered into Magenta 55 plans for my wife and I, at $35/month per line. Now, it's "Go5G" plans, and they cost more, but still not bad. There are discounts for over 55 years old, or military. And multiline discounts, and $5/month less for autopay. As Mr. E said, make sure your plan has the International roaming and notice how much data of International Roaming per month each plan has. Ours has 5 Gb., some plans have more.

Geek, that I am, I made a big spreadsheet, comparing the Tmobile plans with AT&T, with the various International supplements, for various numbers of international trips per year. Tmobile won. I didn't even bother putting Verizon into my spreadsheet, too expensive.

I just evaluated whether to switch to my brother's inexpensive TMobile (military) plan or stick with Google Fi, which I've used on half a dozen trips, and been very happy with the performance and the ease of use.

I decided against the TMobile 256Mbps data speed (for all but the 11 countries listed in a post above) after researching the performance of Google Maps - my primary data usage - at the lower speed.

For those who use Google Maps with TMobile at the 256Mbps data speed, I'm interested in your perception of the performance.

CW I found using google maps on T-Mobile had a bit of a lag time sometimes . I’d be ten steps this way when I should have been ten steps the other direction. I somehow made it back to my hotel.

Thanks, Diane, that's exactly what I was worried about.

I switched from T-Mobile to Google Fi a few years ago. It was primarily a financial decision, though I think my data speed has been better with Fi. For my plan Fi charges a modest amount for domestic phone service and free international texting in most countries I think it's about $25 per month. The rub is that you pay $10 per GB of data, even at home, though there's a monthly cap on the data charge, I think about $60. Since I use extremely little data when I'm at home (about 7 months per year), I come out considerably ahead despite the $10-per-GB charge when I'm traveling. International phone calls are about 25 cents per minute, which is no problem for me since I do virtually no calling when I'm outside the US.

Fi cuts off my data service after I've been overseas for about 85 days; few travelers take individual trips long enough to run into that policy. At that point I have to depend on an eSIM for cellular data, but I continue to get free texting and 25-cents-per-minute calling from Fi. I have to do a bit of fiddling each time I start using a new eSIM so I can send outbound texts from my Fi SIM; I believe that process may be a bit easier with non-Samsung phones.

The typical eSIM costs about $3 per GB or data--substantially cheaper than Fi's $10 rate, so I often go ahead and buy an eSIM early in my trip. I use Google's MyMaps rather than regular Google Maps, and MyMaps is a terrible data hog, there being no way to download a map and use it offline. I think I average about 2 GB of data usage per week.

We made two overseas trips in 2024. In London I had some trouble with getting good connectivity for calls. I had to make several calls and kept getting dropped.

In Portugal we ran through our 5G data pretty quickly (first time having it as we had upgraded between trips) and was really worried about using goggle maps. But it was flawless. We did not need to make any call so don’t have a comparison on that dimension.

I am always challenged by technology, so maybe there's an easy work around for this, but I haven't figured it out yet. I am happy with Tmobile overseas otherwise. My issue is that sometimes my data works and sometimes it doesn't the first day or so after I land in a new country. I turn my phone off on the airplane and turn it back on after landing. Maybe I shouldn't do that? It's nerve wracking when I'm trying to find my apartment or I have to hurry to get on a train and want to track that I'm where I think I'm supposed to be or even just want to follow along with the train via location on my map to see where we're at. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong, but I'm fairly certain it's me and not the phone service. Usually I eventually give up and turn the phone off for a while, then when I turn it back on it magically works.

KRS, regarding not connecting to a cell tower, I've seen this mentioned before, and either turning the phone off and on, or switching to airplane mode for a minute, seem to work for most folks. As a particular carrier's signal gets weaker and weaker, maybe some phones are too slow to switch to another tower with a stronger signal. I'm sure this would be more noticible on a train as the phone is constantly handing off to another tower. There is a setting on Android under Connections - Mobile Networks - Network Mode. You want it to be set to "auto-connect".

Regarding maps, I'd think the Tmobile 256 mbps would not work well with Google Maps. When I was in Ireland with Tmobile, I used a good alternative app, "Organic Maps". It needs no data at all to work, as long as I have previously downloaded the map data for the country I'm in. I just do that before the trip, or when on wifi somewhere.

I've had Tmobile Magneta for over a decade which I've used extensively in Europe, Asia, and Oceania - many different countries. I have not encountered any of the problems mentioned above regarding data speed.

I don't travel for 85 days at a time - perhaps I would need to watch the data usage if I did. I believe the Tmobile usage is calculated monthly? So, if you roll over to a new month, the clock starts again??

I have an iPhone - no idea if the Android access is different.

I like that my phone number remains the same as the US number. I have received emergency calls from relatives who didn't know I was out of the country. Good to be able to be in quick contact. I have also called the US from overseas and found the associated charges very reasonable. I also use Skype calling with hotel WIFI and FaceTime back to the States - the latter is no charge.

Here are the TMobile speeds for a US plan while traveling internationally. You can see that it varies by plan and the country where you travel.

https://www.t-mobile.com/customers/unlimited-roaming-sms-data#:~:text=When%20you%20travel%20to%2011,switch%20to%20Go5G%20Plus%E2%84%A2.

You’re connected around the globe.
• Up to 5 GB of high-speed data in 215+ countries & destinations if you have a Go5G Next, Go5G Plus, or Max plan.

• Up to 5GB of high-speed data in 11 European countries if you have a Go5G or Magenta plan

• UNLIMITED basic data in 215+ countries & destinations

(End TMobile language)

If your plan includes high speed data for the country you are visiting, your experience will be much the same as when you're in the US. If your plan has "basic data" (256 Mbps) your data speeds will be much slower than at home, with the possible exception of the 11 countries:

Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia

Some of the older plans are no longer offered. When we logged in to my brother's account, we were able to see that he had unlimited high speed data in the 11 countries and basic data (slower, 256 Mbps) in the other covered countries, such as England, Italy, France, Spain, Sweden, Scotland, Ireland, Slovenia, Portugal, Turkey, etc.

I’ve had T-Mobile for about 20years (even before the free data and text plans) and in general it has worked fine overseas. I’m still on one of the older plans (Simple Choice) which has slow data overseas. Now that I have been taking month-long trips, I upgrade to the 30 day high speed data pass which is $50 for 30 days when traveling. This is still cheaper for me than changing from my older, cheaper plan. One thing about T-Mobile is that they gave never increased the monthly price of my plan so I’d need to pay about $10 more a month for a newer plan. Even when I had slow data it worked fine for googlemaps and texting.

Do not change to T-Mobile immediately before traveling. Some people have reported issues when they buy the plan just before going overseas. You need to use it on the US network for a while before you travel. Some people have reported issues where T Mobile has flagged them for “excessive” international roaming. The issue seems to occur when there is significantly more data usage overseas than on the domestic network over a period of time. I have never encountered this issue but my longest trip to date was 5 weeks.

p.s. When I used the slow data, googlemaps worked fine, but the initial load of the map was sometimes very slow. Some websites were frustratingly slow to load.

About 3 years ago I switched from ATT to T-Mobile because I was tired of paying the ever increasing international fees when I travel. My iPhone on T-Mobile has now been used easily in France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and New Zealand. You will be amazed how easy it is with no extra fees. Do not hesitate to make the change.

I was in London, Zurich , the Berner Oberland,Laussane, Lyon France,northern Provence, and Venice this past October and November for 6 weeks.

My Mobile data worked fine everywhere including Google Maps everywhere and with driving directions in Provence. No issues. I didn't make many calls but those ai did,no issues. Texting, WhatsApp all OK on data when wifi not available. Each time I change countries I got a text welcoming me to TMobile International Data. My phone is 1.5 years old Samsung S24 Ultra.

I have used TMobile on various Samsung phones for at least 5 years with virtually no issues except on occasion in out of the way places like some back roads in rural areas.

Tmobile's 5G Plus plan seems to be the one that would cover the European countries I'll be in. It's more expensive, however, if it works AT ALL like my phone does here it would be worth it. Interestingly when I look at other review sources it looks overall like an erratic heartbeat -- terrible to fantastic. I appreciate all the info so far, and forthcoming!

Ive been using it for at least 15 years and its been dang near perfect from Albania to Ukraine to the UK to Australia and everything inbetween. To the point that its my travel phone when living in Europe. Better than my European TMoble service.

terrible to fantastic

Some travelers may have basic (low speed) data in the countries where they are traveling and they don't even realize it. Depending on the way they use their phones, that might feel terrible compared to what they get at home.

Technically Challenged Here: Has anyone used TMobile in Morocco? I'll be in Merrakech and desert camps for 10 days. I have a Magenta Plan that offers 5GB of High speed for free. Maybe I should get the 10 Day Pass High Speed plan? Technically challenged but I only want this for texting, What's app. and Maps. and maybe a phone call. I will be with a tour group so everything is planned except for some free time. Thanks

anne.c.oneill, specifically for Morocco you will want to check the list on the TMobile webpage. I am guessing yes, but only because I have never been to a country where my phone didn’t work. The 5GB might be enough for a week if you only use it for Google Maps and email without attachments. For photos and the like wait till you have Wi-Fi. If your phone does begin to slow down, then you go to your TMobile app and you add what you need. One day left? Buy a day. A week left in the trip buy 15 days....

I looked for you: https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/international-roaming-plans?icid=SGDTA-DataText-5GB-Go5GPl2Max2MagPl2OnePl2&country=Morocco

Do not change to T-Mobile immediately before traveling. Some people have reported issues when they buy the plan just before going overseas. You need to use it on the US network for a while before you travel. Some people have reported issues where T Mobile has flagged them for “excessive” international roaming. The issue seems to occur when there is significantly more data usage overseas than on the domestic network over a period of time.

Laura, you have solved what has been a mystery to me for a couple of years. Thank you!! One month after switching to T-Mobile in 2022, I traveled to Italy but had very slow speeds. I couldn’t get any attachments to download, etc. I ended up buying an Italian SIM card. Haven’t had a problem using T-Mobile internationally since then.

I have heard that if you stay out of the country too long they will turn off your data or all of your service. That never happened to me.

I have been in Europe two years now, phone and data still work fine. Most of the time I keep it on airplane mode but WiFi turned on. With the WiFi calling and text feature of TMobile i get and make US calls and texts with no problems and no costs.

When I travel outside my home country I take my US TMobile phone cause it works better than my local phone does. Cheaper outside of the EU as well. In the last two years, a couple of weeks in Australia, a few days in Kuala Lumpur, a few days in Istanbul, a week in Malta, a week in Bosnia x 2, a week in Ukraine, a week in Romania a week in Germany, a week in Austria, a week in some place else I am sure.... the point is in all of those trips I used TMobile data and phone service. And never once returned to the US and never got cut off. And I use it at least once a month here at home to access a website that is blocked to all but US IP addresses.

The only issue I have encountered so far, was nearly 3 years ago, after an extended period of time in Europe (it was about 3 months), when returning to the US. As soon as I logged on to the US network my data ceased to work. Wasnt slow, was gone. I had to go to a brick and mortar TMobile store, explain my lifestyle. They made a phone call and in a few minutes I was working again.