Highly suggest since data is free to have other party in other country you are in to use Whatsapp (or iMessage if both on iOS devices). Avoid messaging charges for not just TMO side but other party texting you. (other options of course with LINE and WeChat)

Thanks for the info - I guess it was what I thought. I'll have to check with my friends that travel to Thailand and buy short term tourist sims if they include any free texting to international numbers.
Tmo is really making my traveling life so much easier!

When you land at Bkk airport, next to doors 5-8, there are 3-4 kiosks that sell prepaid sim cards. The most popular include AIS and TruCall. For one week service, including 1 or 2 gb data, text/voice, it's about B$300 [less than $10].

Then you'll have data to access google voice, skype, whatsapp, line, wechat and other social media texting apps.

There's more info here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thail...-card-buy.html

Yes, I know, but my question is if I have tmo and text them does their card allow them to text me back (to a USA number) without extra charge.
Also does anyone know how much a Thai person (who has one of the regular services) would be charged to text to a US number?

Yes, the person would be charged to text to a US number even if the T-Mobile US subscriber were in Thailand. The amount depends on what the Thai mobile provider charges for the particular plan the Thai subscriber is using.

Right on! And most locals use Line or WeChat and less/less now use regular text. My wife is in regular contact with local friends - via Line, Facebook messenger and iMessage.

One more data point..

I've previously used the free international data feature in Taiwan and Europe with good (albeit slow) results. This past week I went to Vancouver, BC with two devices:

Nexus 5 (from Google Play store, not T-mobile) : Business version of Simple Choice plan + Data w/ Hotspot (BIZ Classic UNL T&T + BIZ Unl & 3GB SMHS). Connected up to the network very quickly on Rogers. EDGE-like data speeds but sufficient for mapping and browsing. Tethering did not work.

Nexus 7 2013 (from Google Play store, not T-mobile) : Business version of Simple Choice data-only plan (BIZ CLS MI 1GB). Took nearly an hour to initially register to a network and when it did it chose Wind. Device data worked at about EDGE speeds. Tethering did work but was too slow to use VPN+RDP in any meaningful way.

Not sure why a T-mo Voice + Data SIM would connect to Rogers but a Data only sim would connect to Wind.

I needed to get some work done so I ended up purchasing a prepaid Telus SIM w/ 1Gb data for the tablet and for tethering, for about $50. Had to go to a corporate store to get it. The Nexus 7 2013 LTE connected to the Telus LTE network (as reported by the tablet) without issue. I did not have a chance to benchmark it but it was fast.

Not SIM specific but device RADIO specific... Different network search parameters on different devices if different device radio. Doing a manual search and picking a specific network can address this.

There are at times problems where you choose an allowed network and it won't fail but it won't connect either. Normally these are issues in moving data from the roaming network's authentication back to TMO to verify the device is a valid roaming device. Nothing you can do but keep trying. This plagues all networks at times even on non TMO accounts.

Yeah I realize now it had more to do with the devices than the SIMs. After all, even though they are marketed as Google Nexus devices, N5 and N7 are designed and built by two different companies, probably supporting slightly different networks. The thing is that I needed something that tethered, and when the tablet worked I didn't care how it happened. Once I tested it and found it useless to me, I went and got a local SIM. Didn't really have time or the desire to investigate further. :)

I've been really happy overall with this whole free-roaming thing.

For people looking for a cheap way to get this plan (eg as a second phone), checkout harbormobile.com which has a version of the plan for $30 a month.

Seems like you have to open a business account with them?

Is it month to month or a contract?

This T-mobile global data coverage sounds great. Does this feature come with T-mobile's no contract (or month-to-month) plan?

Also, when I am oversea and I want to call a local number, how does that work and what does it charge? Would this answer be different if I manage to sync my google voice number to the phone so that all calls are through the google voice number?

I am going overseas in 10 days. I am thinking about getting a T-mobile smartphone and use it while I am away. My current carrier (Virgin Mobile USA) does not have international roaming at all...

Thanks.,

I contacted harbor mobile and it sounds like the international data roaming is on the same terms as the Simple Choice customers, same countries, same carriers and probably the same reduced data speeds, around 100 kbps up and down.

These were the speeds I got in Amsterdam and Italy last month. Good enough for Google Maps and email and browsing but it is slow if you're used to LTE in the US.

Has anyone tried the Moto G 4G LTE with the global data. I'm not concerned with getting high speed data overseas (I live in the USA), I just want to make sure that I'll get the data at all. Thanks in advance.

If you are in one of the 100+ countries that are part of the new roaming plan, then voice calls are $0.20/minute, inbound or outbound, local or international.

I'm not sure how Google Voice works. If it has an installed app and uses VOIP, then it would just use the free data, which is fast enough BTW for voice calls (at least it works fine for Skype). If it just forwards the call to your regular cellular number, then there is no savings - it will cost $0.20 for all calls.