Originally Posted by
mbreuer
Not quite... unlimited UMA minutes is a separate plan option ... I got it when it was $10/mo for the entire family plan (up to 5 phones). If you have TMO and a UMA phone, and don't sign up, then it uses your home plan bucket. But NOTE that the time of day used to pick the bucket likely follows the time zone of the UMA server, not the time zone where you are located. Thus, if you're in the UK and make a call at 4AM GMT on a Monday, for example, You'll use up your normal minutes, not night+weekend.
Also note that per the TMO website, roaming off of UMA onto a local cell does not continue as a UMA call. If you're in home territory, a call started on UMA is a UMA call regardless of where it roams to. If you're overseas, you'll get hit with normal roaming. As current production BB software (pre 4.5) is a bit flaky, I'd turn off the mobile radio while on UMA overseas before relying on it. Otherwise, if the call flips to GSM as you're dialing, for example, you'll get whacked at $.99/min.
I didn't realize you could have the benefit of UMA without the UMA plan. If I'm understanding this correctly, without paying the 10/month, I could still make a call to the US from overseas and be charged local UA rates that go against my plan based on the US timezone whereever the server is located. That is still a deal IMO.