Does anyone know what is going on with TMobile's companion voice plan?

Iphones use a lot more data in the background than a Blackberry. There's also no way to limit the file size of e-mails being downloaded. The day after I got my iPhone 4 I went to Canada for a business trip. I kept mobile data roaming off for the trip which was kind of torture not being able to use my new toy (doing booth duty at a convention no less.)

It is too bad that you can't use TMobile's built in VOIP service (on many Android phones) to make calls over HSPA+ only when the phone is outside the US.

Do you have to have a business account for this plan? They keep on stressing "business customers" in all the promo material.

this could be a viable option for those travelling more then 1 to europe; considering a minimum (1 year?) contract would be needed i think;

Just what I suspected. You need to have a business account for this plan. It cannot be added to a personal/individual account. Very disappointing.

What about a small business account, e.g. Dubai Stu, LLC? It cost a $100 to file the paperwork, open up a business checking account with $50 and get a Taxpayer ID number online. TMobile will want your personal guarantee on your company but wouldn't it fly?

T-Mobile has become VERY disappointing lately. Very. Especially the international data issue. And domestic coverage. Look at the TMo forums on their own web site: Pages and pages of customer service complaints, with a dominant theme of TMo putting people on contracts/renewing contracts without folks requesting/agreeing, and then telling those folks there will be a termination charge.

Much as I despise AT&T and their customer service, I am about to move my primary cell number there from AT&T.

Here's my rationale:
I've had TMo for about 8 years as a "legacy" issue -they had the best international roaming (VZ was a non-player) and a very good Blackberry plan. It's time to dump the BB, and move a recently acquired Galaxy Nexus. I've got an ATT MiFi on an attractive FAN discount (The FAN required a 2 year contract, of which a year is left). I can put the GNexus on ATT, convert the contract over, and burn the last year off on a regular plan. With ATT, I can get an expensive, but much less expensive that TMo, international data as well as much better domestic 3+G coverage.

VZ has my secondary cell line, their customer service is FAR better than either ATT or TMo, and their new global phones meet most of my needs. AND I'm on the grandfathered unlimited data plan, which will transfer to a new phone (as long as I pay "full" price). They also have an international data plan similar to ATT.

Sad to say, the TMo policy on international data is the final straw. The Blackberry has to go.

I'm in a similar boat. About to jettison the tmo BB for a Galaxy Nexus I have been running as a trial on local SIMs in europe for the last three weeks. Not sure if I am going to move to Tmo prepaid or Straight Talk. Been with Tmo for 11 years and the service, though rarely needed, has got markedly worse lately.

I like the G Nexus. Especially since it doesn't have the bloatware that Verizon puts on their Android units. Since I've got an int'l trip coming up, I didn't want to dump the BB service until I'm back so I put it on a TMo prepay plan. Works as expected.

Most likely I'll move it (and my BB number) over to ATT to burn off the contract. ANd I'll pick up a VZ global-compatible phone since I can keep the grandfathered rate plan. I end up traveling to places domestically where one or the other doesn't work. Sprint and TMo are far inferior.

What I'd really like to do is move the TMo phone number to Verizon and move the Verizon number to ATT. After talking to Verizon today, it does not appear practical to do that (due to some complexities with the way porting works & the impact on my grandfathered plan). I probably could move the TMo number to GVoice, but I just plain don't trust Google & I'd need to spoof the outgoing number from whatever cellphone I use.

If you do the TMo prepay, the best deal out there is the $30/month 100 minutes/unl text/"unl" data plan. Use a VoIP app for your calls.

I am in the same boat that you are trying to divorce my phone number from my carrier and I have it working pretty well until someone tries to send me an SMS or something.

RingCentral and Line2 have pay alternatives to GoogleVoice. I've been using Line2 and generally like them but have actually been thinking of going to GoogleVoice and porting the number (via a prepaid SIM to them).

Yeah, SMS is the problem. I have an Ooma box at home that works great but is incapable of handling SMS. And their Android app just plain doesn't work.

Be careful on transferring via prepaid SIM - check it out ahead of time. Some carriers can't/won't transfer from a prepaid account, or requires that the prepaid account be active for a fairly long period of time.

My original plan with Verizon was to port the TMo number to the current account, then port the number on that line to a prepay, eventually moving it to Ooma or some other service (I have texting on that line turned off, so that's not an issue). The Verizon rep looked at it and said that it would be easy if the number on the VZ account were one of theirs originally, but since I had ported it in from the old ATT/Blue that they couldn't control it. Best she could suggest was adding a line to my current account, bringing the TMo number in, then eventually porting the current VZ number elsewhere... but if I did that, I'd lose the unlimited data plan on the account (forcing a move to tiered data) as you can't move the grandfathered data plan to another line even if it's on the same account.

Feh.

Maybe it's time to give up the old Verizon number, though I'd have to try and retrain some elderly family members that still call it.

This could be kind of cool if they open it up to personal travelers and don't require an on going contract.

I hope someone tries it and gets back to us. I'm mostly interested in data for travel. 500mb/Month doesn't seem that much they say after that it's just throttled though, wonder what amount? And at what point do they cut you off. I mean I'm not looking to use tons of space but 1GB a month maybe? Would the second 500mb be that slow? I think I'd pay $50 for the month if it covered my travel for a month and let me tether too.