I discovered airalo after the pandemic began so I've not been able to test it out (except domestically).

Noticed Interesting Discrepancy
 

I haven't been outside of the US much since early 2020, but I have taken two trips, one to Aruba in May 2021 and one to the UK in September 2021. I noticed that for the bill in May that there wasn't any indication of roaming even though I definitely did roam on local networks in Aruba. Mrs. Majuki's line does show the line items of Service: Web Access with Origin: San Francisco (Aruba) and Type: R. For the same dates mine shows "Mobile Internet" even though we roamed the same dates. I did not have a data pass, and any data pass will show something like Service: International Roaming Data Passes, Origin: San Francisco (China (China Mobile)), and Type: R. We both received the welcome text upon arrival.

I was in the UK by myself, and I got the expected line items showing roaming: Service: Web Access, Origin: United Kingdom, and Type: R.

Does anyone have an idea what caused the discrepancy?

How is the 256K roaming nowadays? My family are going to Italy this summer and was thinking we should just all upgrade to the 256K for the month since (from web searching), it is good enough for maps, texts, emails and basic non-bandwidth hogging activities. I think it'll largely be form maps and contacting each other via iMessage. 128K just sounds too slow (not that 256K is that much better). I wish T-Mo would up included to 256K and say 512K as the add on.

I used the highest roaming data plan before from T-Mobile and it worked quite well in the UK pre-pandemic.

5G appears to have improved T-Mobile. The mid-band signal can be quite fast but also can be like LTE speeds. Of course, I live in a dead spot for T-Mobile mid-band UC coverage. I have dreadful LTE service inside even with an iPhone 13 Pro.

Not sure what you mean by "upgrade" to 256K for a month - do you mean changing your plan? I have the 256K with my plan, it works for some things - e.g. WhatsApp calls, but still seems slow. You basically have to be a patient person.

Assuming you have an eSIM capable phone, I think it's just better to get a data eSIM. It would be data only, but there are lots of VOIP options for making or receiving calls. In fact, if you only make calls occasionally, you can make those for 25 cents per minute using your T-mobile line.

Everyone seems happy with Airalo as an eSIM provider, and they have some reasonable rates for Italy: https://www.airalo.com/italy-esim

Or you can move your T-Mo service to the eSIM and buy a local SIM, which I typically find easier, but that could be dated info since I haven't traveled internationally a lot recently.

I travel many parts of the world and I use the basic data plan that’s included which is 128K. I’ve never had an issue with Maps, WhatsApp, Skype, iMessages, email, texting etc. the only thing is loading webpages it takes a moment or two and if you have very wide band at your home office you’re gonna have to relax a little bit and wait a few seconds for the pages to load completely. Other than that I think you’re going to have the same issue with the pages loading at 256K. Just my experience. I’m not a big browser of webpages when I travel I typically do that when I’m on Wi-Fi. But in a pinch if you’re on the street and you’re looking for a restaurant or a museum or something the browsing will work just fine albeit with a little patience. I’ve used T-Mobile both in Rome and Naples and the cities in between and the service was very good

I agree that it's sufficient for lightweight use. If you're going to be relying on anything more substantial like heavy web browsing or uploading to social media then I'd echo the suggestions here to get a local SIM card or an Airalo eSIM.

Definitely would buy a local SIM if I need a lot more bandwidth. I think it might be good to just upgrade a few people in the group to the 256K and leave the rest at 128K. It is only $15 additional and we only pay a very low $20 month per line for unlimited Magenta 1.0 service.

Thank you for the feedback on Italy. We will be starting in Rome and headed into Tuscany and surrounding areas then ending up in the north. We are doing the well tread tourist route so I am sure the coverage will be good wherever we go.

Are you sure it's only $15 additional? Not sure how they compute it if your trip is in two different billing periods.

I originally put a lot of the content in the wiki here - though since the last 3 years I'm still on TMO but rely on the slower 128/256 speeds less. Was buying datapasses as needed but more recently just kept my physical sim on my device and add an esim with https://www.globalesim.app/ whenever on a longer trip.

Tend to use the https://globalesim.app/p/mostpopular - plan at 10GB which lasts a month - or the 5GB at $18 - In many other countries you can get an esim through a local provider at half to a quarter of those rates.

Suffice to say, the TMO Global roaming is great fallback and ready to use function on the start of a trip, just look for other options as well. For voice, I generally just have my TMO line forwarded to Google Voice and noticed less issues with a roaming eSIM for that - so this avoids ANY voice call charges in or out.

When I have a dual SIM, I keep the TMO SIM on Text and Calls (though use Google Voice for calls) and set the esim to data. In some rare cases I will remove the TMO Physical sim and just run with the esim only

Another tool in the tool chest is the T-Mobile DIGITS App. Even though I have the free 256 speed, with the advent of eSIMs I turn off my T-mobile SIM and use a data eSIM. I can then answer incoming calls and make outgoing calls to the US for free on the DIGITS app.

You can also use the DIGITS app with the free T-mobile data to make calls, but there is a bit of dysfunction as the incoming calls comes in on the phone as a call and on the DIGITS app at the same time.

I've been able to get away with T-Mobile's international data speeds for Google Maps, quick web browsing, and social media uploads just fine, when I'm out and about in town exploring. When I'm at a hotel, cafe, or restaurant, the wifi provides faster speeds anyway. So in my case, I never really needed a local SIM card in the last few years.

Yes, this works too, but I have been unable to maintain a call at 128 kbps. Also, T-Mobile lists in the T&Cs that they will charge the same $0.25/minute for voice calls made over DIGITS when roaming with the free data, but I haven't seen this in practice.

When I travel aboard, I set my phone for CFU (I have the short codes to an enable or disable already set up in my contacts) therefore you are not charged, even for incoming calls or voicemails . When I’m out and about I get transcribed voicemails so I call back via Skype (an unlimited monthly plan which I enable when traveling is quite an inexpensive $3.49USD/month or less for multiple months) therefore I’ve never paid any international fees with T-Mobile

Like I said I have heavy usage and never experienced an issue in Europe, South America, Asia with the basic 128K

I find Google Voice forwarding WAY WAY WAY more reliable than Digits. Used to use Digits everyday for work calls and just found the web app horrendous and the mobile app would miss inbound calls on wifi networks in other locations a lot. In concept great, but as usual with TMO, it's not all the way completed.

Side note: I'm on week 4 of still having TMO Engineering figure out why an LTE Cellspot at my house is not working - WEEK 4 - this worked fine for 3 years. This isn't the John Legere T-Mobile it's now akin to other carriers in everything they do.

Google Voice at 128Kb/sec has NOT been an issue btw- worthwhile on longer trips to just forward to Google Voice