Wonder why they can't get Russia.

I got service in St. Petersburg for the two days our cruise ship docked

Mine has always worked in Moscow and St. Pete.

Yeah but not for 20¢/minute.

TMO noobie here.
While in HKG, received msg from TMO.
But no connection with standard data. I have to turn on international roaming, then connection is fine. Is this normal setup? Hope I won't get hit with roaming charges.

Yes according to this:
http://www.t-mobile.com/optional-ser...8J6LRGJILD2658

I had missed seeing Russia included for the 20¢/minute calls in an original list I had seen. Was Russia added later or has it always been a part of the list. The interesting thing about the first page about simple choice plans is it plays up the data and texting but no mention of the call rates (nowhere does it indicate the 20¢/minute thing. Wonder if the low rate calling has a finite life to live.

Mobile added twenty countries yesterday to their list. The most notable addition was the Bahamas. Sprint added a number of countries yesterday as well. Their big addition was France.

Apropos of this even though it might be a bit off topic, I was always under the impression Sprint would not work outside the USA (as well as Verizon) because they didn't use gsm. Has something changed with Sprint and/or their phones that allows use in Europe and the like?

The link shows box to type in specific country -- when one types in Russia, it clearly states $0.20/minute. During my two day visit, used text/data but made no calls. Whether it's new or old, fact remains calls are now charged at $0.20/min. :D

For sure Verizon works in gsm countries...most Vz phones also include a sim card for gsm roaming....albeit very very expensive. My nieces used their iphones in Belize and ran up a $1000 bill....needless to say mom/dad were not happy campers when the bill came!

Historically this was the case, but any LTE capable phone will have a SIM card and will also likely support the four GSM bands even if the primary voice network is CDMA2000 back home. This will cease to be an issue in time as networks will eventually all migrate to doing VoLTE. There might still be some issues if you travel to region using an uncommon LTE band, but that's about it.

Upon further inspection, it appears that T-Mobile will be charging $1/min for calls from the Bahamas as opposed to $0.20/min. Strange.

Yes, roaming should be enabled.

Not exactly, the Verizon 4s (which is 3g only) also came with sim card for gsm overseas networks.

How many people here are using T-Mobile for their primary phone in the US because of Simple Choice roaming?

Or are people using another carrier in the US and have T-Mobile as a secondary carrier for travel as well as backup in the US?