Travel Technology - t mobile europe roaming

will be in europe for 2 weeks...ams,norway,sweden,germany
email plan costs $20/month from usa,BUT all calls received even if not answered are billed dollar a call.

any way to buy a europe sim card on arrival in AMS??
goal is to carry a phone for emergency calls to USA

Can you set your phone to forward all calls to voice mail, or will that still cause you to pay $1 for every call? I would check with T-Mobile on that, as that would be a simple solution.

You also should check if there is a cap on the data for the $20. It could be very low and the overage might be significantly more.

I've got a Blackberry with WiFi, and when out of the country I turn off the mobile network and when I am in WiFi range I have full data and phone (via UMA) with no roaming charge. If there is an emergency and I am not in a WiFi area, I turn on the phone and roam, as if it is an emergency who cares about the roaming charges.

Wirelessly posted (goingaway's phone: BlackBerry8900/4.6.1.114 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

As mentioned above, you should forward all calls to voice mail, pref before you leave the country. Your phone will still receive message waiting signals so you can call for those at will. Be careful-the plan is free email, not data. If you do use internet or have apps that go out to the internet automatically as the costs can add up quickly

Ok... few things...

1) You have to actually disable forwarding. If the phone is on and forwards, it's a minute of roaming (that's just how GSM works).
2) You can unlock the phone (call T-Mobile for that) and put in a local sim... but then you won't have the email service you're paying $20 for.
3) Do you have a UMA-capable phone? If you're paying the international email $20 I assume it's a bb - most of TMO's BB's have UMA. If you find a hotspot and connect via UMA it's as if you're home (no roaming).

You can always buy a prepaid SIM card. Make sure your phone is a tri-band or quad-band phone and has no simlock.

If you want to use your US t-mobile sim for emergencies make sure international roaming is activated.

About the 1$ per nor answered phonecall. I think this only happens if your voicemail settings are to forward unanswered phone calls. If you turn off the forwarding or set the voicemail to intercept all calls they shouldn't be charged. In case you set up your voicemal to intercept all calls you won't receive any calls on your phone.

You can always buy a prepaid SIM card. Make sure your phone is a tri-band or quad-band phone and has no simlock.

If you want to use your US t-mobile sim for emergencies make sure international roaming is activated.

About the 1$ per nor answered phonecall. I think this only happens if your voicemail settings are to forward unanswered phone calls. If you turn off the forwarding or set the voicemail to intercept all calls they shouldn't be charged. In case you set up your voicemal to intercept all calls you want receive any calls on your phone.

Note: depends on HOW you forward. You have to enter the correct codes into the phone such that the network doesn't attempt to find the phone before forwarding. I believe you have to set unconditional - but that means your phone will in fact be unreachable. You can also disable forwarding - the phone will ring, but no charge unless you answer. If you have google voice, you can have google voice do the forwarding and voicemail, and email you your voicemails.

I believe you have to set unconditional - but that means your phone will in fact be unreachable. You can also disable forwarding - the phone will ring, but no charge unless you answer.

That's what I wanted to explain but didn't find the right words.

Vodafone UK is running a summer promotion which gives you no roaming throughout all of Europe. You can receive calls for free on your UK number.

By a US number from onesuite for one month and forward it to your UK number and you have incoming calls from the US anywhere in Europe at $0.19 a minute (a little high) and use their dial through service to call the US at $.09 through their UK dial-in port. I pay $0.08 a minute to a UK mobile through voicetrading but they require a $500 buy in. Some people have had good like with siptraffic or voipivy if you want to build your own solution.

Alternatively, by eKit prepaid US passport SIM (which can be had cheaper on E-bay) with US $0.19 incoming on your US number, free on your UK number, and $0.50 a minute back to the states.

Ok... few things...

1) You have to actually disable forwarding. If the phone is on and forwards, it's a minute of roaming (that's just how GSM works).
2) You can unlock the phone (call T-Mobile for that) and put in a local sim... but then you won't have the email service you're paying $20 for.
3) Do you have a UMA-capable phone? If you're paying the international email $20 I assume it's a bb - most of TMO's BB's have UMA. If you find a hotspot and connect via UMA it's as if you're home (no roaming).

1.

Only true for conditional forwards. Unconditional forwards don't charge.

3.

That's a great suggestion - but UMA takes a fair amount of effort to get to know how to use it properly.