tmobile roaming - new problems!
 

Having used tmo for years and used roaming a lot I am having problems I've never encountered before

1) Extreme problems roaming in Thailand - same phone, same place I've been before. No data or extremely slow, try to connect manually and told "cannot login to desired provider" next day that provider is automatically chosen and works well, following day again cannot access it

2) Called multiple times about same issue and get clueless help even when asking for level 2 or 3 tech (one of whom told me that I had to short code roaming in every country! definitely NOT true) Supervisor is even more clueless

3) Called at least 5 times in 3 weeks for tech issue - which was apparently never reported to tech - when i spoke to them they said "were doing a lot of updates"

Well I am beyond frustration - tmo used to have really good customer support, now it seems (overseas?) support is useless so

Has anyone used sprint roaming and if so how are your experiences esp. in Thailand and Malaysia?
Considering a much lower cost US service and just buying local sims since tmo seems to no longer work for me!

Indeed I’ve given up on Thailand and resorted to using a local SIM card there. Problems like but not limited to the ones you describe have been going on for years.

Sorry I don’t have any additional insight beyond “yeah it really just doesn’t work in Thailand.”

Thanks - thought I was going crazy since I didn't have these problems last time I was here (or at least to such an extent) or in any other country! Really annoying - having to restart phone (which works sometime), not being able to connect to network which was well connected 5 minutes before while sitting in the same location, etc.
Guess it's time to switch to a really cheap carrier once I get home and just buy a local sim when I come back in 2 weeks since Thailand is one of my major uses.
What really struck me though, was how much customer service had degraded :(

Give their Business support # a call. I have a business plan with T-Mobile and have found that business support on all of the carriers is superior to what the average consumer gets.

Agreed. There are some new issues with T-Mobile in Thailand that didn't exist 6 months ago. I'm there 5-6 times a year and have definitely seen a decline in service. I think next time will have to go the SIM route, which is very annoying.

If you call up T-Mobile during US business hours, ask the Filipino rep who neither knows what's going nor cares to transfer you to US-based support. I had a problem with an iPhone unlock issue from an Apple warranty replacement, and what took a week with no resolution with the former was done in an hour with the latter when I called back. It's like night and day.

Then again, is outsourced support being terrible even news at this point? This has been going on for years...

If there was ever a case to have a Twitter account, being able to tweet to T-Mobile for help is that reason.

T-Mobile's Simple Global used to be fine for maps and light web browsing, but not now. It's become unusable. Pages and maps take forever or fail to load, and email apps often don't work.

I wasn't sure why the service seems so much slower than it used to be, but I just learned that T-Mobile has two levels of service for Simple Global. If you are on or upgrade to the newer T-Mobile ONE Plus or T-Mobile ONE Plus International plans, you get "2x faster Simple Global international data roaming–up to 256kbps".

If you are like me and are not on one of these plans (I'm on an older Simple Choice plan) you are probably throttled at 128kbps. I'm pretty sure I used to get 256kbps or better (my usage has been primarily in Japan and Thailand), but I'm guessing they are now being strict about throttling at 128kbps in order to differentiate the service levels.

The low cost of my current Simple Choice plan and added promos make a change to the newer plans unattractive and extremely costly in comparison, so I'm going back to using local SIMs when traveling internationally.

FYI twitter is useless for these type of technical problems!

After a couple of unsatisfying hours on the phone now that I'm back in the US per tmo reps and the final answer from a supervisor

1) tmo doesn't GUARANTEE roaming
2) they don't seem to care much about this issue
3) they don't understand that some of us use them b/c of roaming
so.......
For me I have to evaluate whether the service I get from them is worth paying about 2x what it would cost from another provider for use in the US and just buy local sims or........

Very sad but that seems to be the way things are - not like it used to be when they actually tried to help and seemed to care :(

Well I could get cc for $20/mo plus $5 if I want limited data and text. When I'm home I hardly use data - just use wifi When I need data is when I'm out of the country, so ... even tho I have the 55+ (which is $50/mo for one line) I can get what I need at home for 20/25 month. Then it will cost me less and buying a local sim will bring it almost up to tmo cost
Yes tmo offers more and there is a convenience factor but since Thailand is my frequent need and spending hours on the phone getting incorrect answers, no help, connecting to network one day and the next told I cannot register on that network........
What is NOT clear to me is if I use CC and keep phone on airplane mode if I will be charged for wifi calls to the US - but skype solve this.
If I was on the 2 person plan it wouldn't be an issue but .......... Google fi doesn't fit my needs,

right Fi doesn't work best for iPhone users. It works but not ideally. I'm guessing you have an iPhone? I do too.

Otherwise I probably would have been on Fi also. (I did have a data SIM but never used it. I just swapped SIMs when I was there in July/Aug.

What is CC?

Did you try adding the one plus to your line when you were there for the $10 a month?

Some friends tell me they just carry a mifi with them in Thailand and use it with a local SIM. I guess that way you keep your number on your phone but have more reliable data via the wifi connection to the mifi all the time. Downside is it's an extra thing to carry around, keep charged, etc.

-David

Sorry CC= Consumer Cellular. Hi speed doesn't help when the network refuses to allow you to register at all! The frustrating thing is the inconsistency - basically one day useless, next day works fine, even sitting by the pool it works for a while then goes to "edge (eg no) speed and won't connect back at decent speed or connect to a different partner. This is all a major departure from my last 3 times with the same phone, same location - just somehow tmo isn't allowing roaming as promised in Bangkok (but works fine in other countries).

I hate to break the news to you - There are many things that can impact roaming. But in most of the case - T-Mobile has no control on the roaming network. T-Mobile simply contracts with the local carrier for the roaming service.