I figured as much, that's why I never bothered to buy.

btw added MTS Global to the wiki which works in Russia. Same speed as everywhere else... slow... but good enough for Google Maps, WhatsApp, Viber, SMS and emails w/o attachments. Too slow for Facebook as usual.

I'm assuming this service uses a local carrier. What carriers do they use in France and Germany?

Has anyone tried using their iPhone/iPad to tether to a computer while traveling internationally on this plan? Does it work, or do you get redirected to some page to purchase a plan?

Has anyone tried using a MiFi instead? Does that work for free if the above does not?

Seems like it would be strange if the MiFi worked with free "tethering" but the iPhone/iPad did not. Might be worth buying a MiFi for $20 if this is true.

I'm just back from Liverpool and Dublin, and it worked for me in both cities. The only weird thing was my final night / early morning in Dublin, where I could not send GMail attachments as small as 30K.

iPhone and iPads lock down tethering through a system configuration file. The thing I've noticed and this might change is that many carriers don't know what type of equipment you have your SIM in when you are roaming. 128k however is pretty think for tethering. It is basically of the older speed ISDN modems.

I've tethered it from my iPad to my iPhones.

And actually, when it registers on the network, I've seen some foreign SIMs correctly identify the device they're in.

For instance, I've bought TIM SIMs and registered online and in the online account, it lists the iPad mini.

That is not what I meant to say. What I meant to say is that I can get away with sticking a SIM in an unauthorized device abroad and not get called about it. For example, someone I knew put an ATT International iPhone SIM in a third party hotspot in a third country (with the correct APN configured) with no problem. Try that in the US!

Added Venezuela (Movistar) to the Wiki.

Some data points.

Switched from Sprint to T-Mobile the day the Sony Z3 came out in late October 2014.

Left the US just hours later and traveled to Switzerland, Germany and Spain for 2 weeks. Worked great for the most part. Except for a couple hours while in Berlin.

It was the 3rd or 4th day of my trip, the connection dropped and never return. Went online and my account gave me error (like it was shut down) so I had to call the US to sort it out.

Took about one hour but I was back online soon.

After those two weeks went back to USA for a few days and then left for Venezuela for 6 weeks. Used it there daily. No issues. Returned back to the US in mid-January for 2 weeks before embarking in a 10 day trip through Madrid, London, Johannesburg and Doha.

Returned to the US for a week and then spent the next 2 months in Venezuela. Once again with daily use.

Safe to say over my first 6 months I spent less than 4-6 weeks connected to US towers.

Doesn't really make a difference. T-Mobile throttles the speed on their end artificially since all traffic goes back to them. That is why you will see high latency on speed tests.

Has anyone tried using the international data coverage with a MiFi or USB data card? These are classified as "mobile broadband" devices, just like tablets, which means they technically include the international coverage. However, the plan also claims that tethering isn't allowed (which is of course the point of the MiFi) so I'm curious whether these actually work or not.

I was able to tether from an iPad last summer in Italy... of course it was throttled.

This is helpful. Has anyone else had experience with this, preferably on a recent trip? Would be great to get more confirmation either way.

I tethered in April in Amsterdam and Paris.

Tethered in HK for a few minutes daily, painfully slow but for email it's fine as no large files to download.

We were in Amsterdam, Scotland, Ireland, and UK (London) 7/15 - 7/30. Tethering from iPhone to iPad was good or at least acceptable in Amsterdam and most of the ports our cruise visited (ie. Edinburgh, Dublin, etc.) However, when we were in London, LTE was terribly slow. We stayed at a hotel in South Kensington so I think it was not because of the location. Even if we used up 1GB 4G quota (which I didn't recall ever getting 4G), the speed should be 3G (I think.)

Anyone has the same experience in London tethering using TM Simple Choice?

Next trip is to Tokyo, Japan. I hope I would not run into the same problem.