chgoeditor

I'm currently on StraightTalk, which I love about 90% of the time and detest the other 10% of the time. (They are a mess when it comes to MMS.) That said, I haven't traveled much internationally since I got it, and realize -- with several international trips planned over the next year -- that I need to make a change.

I've done a lot of searching, but can only find pre-paid/no-contract plans that offer roaming in Canada, Mexico and a handful of Caribbean countries. Right now I'm expecting to be in Canada, Spain, Morocco and England in the next 6-9 months, so that presents a few problems. Anyone have any no-contract companies that fit the bill?

Unfortunately, I cannot use T-Mobile because there's no coverage in my condo building. Everything else is fair game.

Jethro95

Could you use T-Mobile's wifi calling from your building?

chgoeditor

Good question. One of my best friends has T-Mobile and as much as he's tried, he hasn't been able to get his iPhone to work for wifi calling from my house. (He's able to connect to the wifi, but calling doesn't work.) So theoretically I could, but my small sample size shows that it's not a perfect fix.

That said, my building has a lot of spots beyond the boundaries of my wifi connection where I'd like to be able to use my phone (workout room, garage, etc.). So T-Mobile is less than ideal across the board.

paperwastage

do you know if T-mobile has band 12 LTE in your area?

band 12 allows for better building penetration (and resolves some of the issues people have with T-mobile)...

http://www.spectrumgateway.com/t-mobile-700a-spectrum

(T-mobile does offer a free 7-day test run, but using an iPhone 5S that doesn't have band 12... if you see that T-mobile has band 12 in your area, get a band 12 phone and test?)

chgoeditor

I'm assuming band 12 LTE corresponds to the 700 mHz that's shown in the map on the link you provided, right? (The page mentions band 12 but doesn't really explain it.) If that's the case, I don't think Chicago has it.

paperwastage

yes, band 12 LTE is 700mhz blocks A+B+C

T-mobile only had mid/high frequency bands (until last year), and mid/high bands are lousy for building penetration/long distance for rural areas. They bought 700mhz block A last year from Verizon in certain areas of the country, but not everywhere

AT&T and US Cellular owns all the 700mhz blocks A+B+C in the Chicago region, so no go.....


also, T-mobile has an unofficial continuous international roaming limit of 4-6 weeks... If you plan to be out of country for more than 1 month at a time, no use switching

Dubai Stu

Not prepaid, but Google,s project phone sounds like a possibility.

chgoeditor

I signed up for an invite when it was first announced, but haven't gotten one yet.

Kagehitokiri

i spent a bit of time on this recently, and seems like a tougher one

i feel like the only one who doesnt have a smart phone that they travel overseas with, whether roaming or sim cards

chgoeditor

My Mom is in that same club!

Dubai Stu

Why not use Google Voice as your mobile number and a separate and domestic SIM? Look at Piranha Mobile for foreign roaming. If you don't want TMobile, use Straight Talk with ATT for the U.S.

chgoeditor

I already used ST with ATT in the US. Problem with Google Voice is that a) I don't want to port my mobile number to GV because I already have a GV number I use for other purposes, b) to the best of my knowledge, GV still doesn't support MMS for most carriers and c) I used SmartThings for my home automation and GV doesn't get along well with ST mobile notifications.

Dubai Stu

Do any of the virtual mobile numbers support short codes or MMS? I think Google will get better as it transitions into being a mobile carrier.

jason8612

I can (somewhat) get MMS on my google voice number (it comes in as a email). Havent tried sending out a MMS.

paperwastage

it's supposed to work for

verizon: http://www.greenbot.com/article/2846...s-support.html

Sprint/tmobile/att/...: http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/06/goo...ther-carriers/

whether it works properly, dunno?