T-Mobile Requires Advance Time -- Beware

On the other hand I once relied on my TMobile when traveling in South Africa only to receive a text message one day warning me that my bill was approaching 4 digits. I immediately called and was told that South Africa wasn't on their international calling plan. My bad. I'm screwed! TMobile simply tossed more than half the cost of the bill away and told me to be more careful.

Their is some vague language in their paperwork about TMobile having the right to cut you off if it appears you got the service contract for purposes other than what it was intended for; but the wording was not specific about time periods or have any other detail.

told that South Africa wasn't on their international calling plan

I just looked up South Africa on Tmobile's site and it states that Simple Choice and ONE plans include free text, data, and Talk at .20 per minute; like most other countries.

Maybe they've seen too many people sign up, use the service overseas and then come home and cancel service.

Interesting. That might explain why my T-Mobile service got cut off about a month into my first European trip with a pretty new phone. After a couple of days, I did look for and find a solution that had something to do with contacting them to confirm account settings. No extra charge incurred.

If not using T-Mobile, you shouldn't have to buy too many different SIMs. If you put a fair amount of money onto the first one, it usually continues to work through partnerships with neighboring countries. I think that this will be less expensive now that the EU has outlawed roaming charges within their borders, including with pre-paid SIMs from those countries. But when that time runs out, it may be easier to buy a new one than to top up in a foreign language and from a different country.

Many stores offering T-Mobile are privately owned. I would either call T-Mobile or make sure the store is company owned. With the elimination of roaming charges in the EU, it is more economical to purchase SIM cards in Europe. T-Mobile used to be a bargain but since they now charge about $70 a month + you have to by theSIM for $25 more, it's become expensive. Which countries are you visiting and which will be the first? The community might be able to give better advice if that's known.

Michael Schneider; SA wasn't on the program in 2010 (World Cup trip).

The fraudulent use issue came up a while back and since i use my phone a lot overseas i contacted a rep using their chat thing on the website. This person essentially said not to sweat it. But it didn't make me feel a lot better because I doubt those chat people have much to work with beyond a bunch of stock answers. I think the fraud has something to do with someone purchasing a plan in the US and then taking the phone to Europe with them, permanently.

I've been using the TMobile since before 2010 without any incident (that wasn't my fault). It has worked flawlessly in Istanbul, the interior of Bulgaria, Ukraine, UK, France, Croatia, Romania, etc, etc...... Only recently did i run into the data service coming to an absolute crawl because of over usage. I paid for the upgrade, but you can also just buy it by the chunk as you need it. The few interactions i have had with customer service have been pretty much okay.

I bought a new TMobile phone in April, 2017--2 weeks before getting on a Transatlantic Cruise. I signed up for their international service good in Europe. I talked very little those first 2 weeks.
We called home from the Azores and the two phone calls were fine. We called from Spain, and the call cut off halfway into our conversation. It wouldn't work otherwise.
I called customer no-service and got the runaround. I asked where she was--the Phillipines. I immediately told the young lady to flat cancel my TMobile service in full.
I never heard one word from them, and I never received a bill.
So now, I'm stuck with a locked GMT phone I paid for.
Like in previous trips, all of our communication was by EMail. I seldom talk on the phone to anyone anyway.

Thanks for posting this. I had no idea about this policy. I have been considering doing a switch but now won't wait until the last minute if I do so.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and suggestions. Not sure if the store was privately-owned, but if definitely was an official T-Mobile store. Family member is traveling to Poland, Germany, Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, and Czech Republic. We wanted a dedicated consistent phone number for him to use for the whole trip for a number of reasons including simplication. Also concerned about re-setting of phone apps like Facebook and Gmail each time you put in a new SIM card, apps that require two-factor authentication with a phone number. Also wanted to have a phone number to give to banks for debit and credit card contact. Concerned about the reports that Capital One will text or call to authenticate and prevent fraud.

I've seen advice on this forum and TA that you could sign up for T-Mobile and then cancel after your trip, since there's no contract. Maybe it was becoming a problem for the company. It seems reasonable on T-Mobile's part to rein that in.

Full disclosure- we've been their customers for years. I'm happy enough with them, although our coverage in the US has not always been the best.

My TMobile coverage has been flawless in Austria, Hungary, and Czech Republic these past ten years or so.

I've never had an issue with T Mobile coverage in Europe, either. Most recently, Berlin for 10 days in May. But then like some others posting, I've also been a customer for several years.

OP,

Since your family member has a gmail account, you should be able to keep in contact via google voice. As I understand it the person traveling gets a google voice number which is a US based XXX-XXX-XXXX number. This person would then need to download and login and maybe setup the google hangouts app. Calls to the google voice number will then ring on that phone via the app. This should work as long as the phone has a good wifi connection or thru cellular data.

I haven't done this myself so do check the details if you decide to go this route.

Twasbrillig,

So since you didn't get the T-Mobile Plan for your family member, what did he/she end up getting for their cell phone while on their trip?

Decided to leave US SIM card at home (to avoid risk of accidentally using it and incurring fees) and to use wi-fi and purchase local SIM cards when there. What's App so far works on wi-fi for him without SIM card in phone at all.

P.S.
Thanks again much for all the support and ideas on this

Thanks for the update!

Wishing your family member a wonderful & safe trip!

Thanks for the heads up about the T--Mobile lead time. We didn't know about this but thought to use our son's plan for the past 3 years. If a customer has an "old" plan (Simple Choice North America Plan) you can add a phone for $10 per month that has unlimited 2G data in Europe that works for us. We also had to swap in a SIM card for about $17. We had to go in to the T-Mobile store with the family member who had the plan. We usually have 1 spare old iPhone when one of us upgrades and this is the phone we use.

I switched to T-Mobile in May exactly for the reason stated by the OP two weeks before my five-week long trip. No complaints when I told them what I was planning to do, and no problems when I was in Europe. My reception varied from country to country, but never was my service cut off, and no one in the store said anything about having the service for a specific amount of time before I traveled overseas. Maybe this is a new policy??