WiFi calling in the US using T-Mobile

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lchiu7

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#205082 29-Oct-2016 04:30

On a US trip and using a TMO SIM card which I still think is better than roaming on Vodafone. The card plan is $30(US) which provides a month of unlilmited data (well they say up to 5GB afer which you drop to 2G), 100 minutes of calls and unlimited texts. That compares well with $5/day Vodafone roaming which would cost me for $75 for 15 days.

And I don't care if people cannot reach my NZ number since those whom I care to know how to reach me can call my Google Voice number or use one of the many message apps I have and others can leave a VM.

Anyway I digress. I notice that TMO (as well as ATT Verizon and Sprint) offer WiFi calling. I turned it on on my Nexus 6 but for me it's not particularly useful since even with WiFi calling it still uses your plan minutes and I only have 100 which get used for both inbound and outbound US calls. So i make all my calls using Hangouts and provide only my GV number for people to reach me in the US rather than the carrier SIM number.

I can see if the carriers didn't deduct minutes from your plan to use WiFi calling but there is really no commercial inventive to do that.

Could be useful if you live in an area of poor cellular coverage but had good home WiFi so you could still make calls readily.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

MickeyD

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#1660195 29-Oct-2016 07:52

Interesting. Just got back from the states after making a similar decision. The spark roaming of 100 mins 100texts 750 min for $50 is a good deal but not enough for my data habit.

Couldn't work out how to use wifi calling and t-mobile want extra for intl calling and text, but allow tethering as standard. I ended up using my 2talk VoIP line over their 4g network. Worked surprisingly well, but perhaps that wasn't a fair test as I was only in mgr cities with good 4g coverage. T-mobile apparently don't have the same network coverage as at&t or Verizon so perhaps this is why their wifi calling would be of benefit?

Linux

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#1660200 29-Oct-2016 07:58

@lchiu7 VodafoneNZ $5 daily roaming is more than just incoming calls to your mobile number, It's all outgoing calls to numbers of the country you are in mobile / fixed line and back to NZ and the same for SMS

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lchiu7

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#1660426 29-Oct-2016 14:25

@mickeyd The WiFi calling was an option in the dialer. Perhaps your phone is not supported by TMO?

@linux I have used 1.2GB of data so far so I have no idea how that would be charged on mt VF plan. I have probably made an hour's worth of calls to US numbers using Hangouts and received similar amounts,

I have had no need to call NZ at all (I am using Internet messaging app to call home) so $30 is still a great deal.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

sbiddle

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#1660429 29-Oct-2016 14:32

WiFi calling only exists because the US networks suck so badly.

lchiu7

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#1660434 29-Oct-2016 14:44

And because of the large rural areas

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

Linux

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#1660480 29-Oct-2016 15:57

lchiu7:

@linux I have used 1.2GB of data so far so I have no idea how that would be charged on mt VF plan. I have probably made an hour's worth of calls to US numbers using Hangouts and received similar amounts,

I have had no need to call NZ at all (I am using Internet messaging app to call home) so $30 is still a great deal.

@lchiu7 1.5GGB used in 10 minutes and 3 hours of calls around US and back to NZ on the same day would cost $5 NZ

Even if I used 5GB over 2 hours and got 50 incoming calls and made 40 calls back to NZ mobiles and 70 calls to NZ landlines then the cost is $5 NZ

Even if I run out of data from my plan and need to buy more data I just purchase more data via flexi data same as in NZ and that data is then valid in a $5 daily roaming county

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lchiu7

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#1660486 29-Oct-2016 16:05

I didn't know the roaming data was pretty much unlimited. If that's the case then I might use my VF sim when travelling to Canada next week since my tmo sim won't work.

Plus my plan does not have that much data I can use

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

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sbiddle

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#1660511 29-Oct-2016 16:09

lchiu7: I didn't know the roaming data was pretty much unlimited. If that's the case then I might use my VF sim when travelling to Canada next week since my tmo sim won't work.

Plus my plan does not have that much data I can use

Canada doesn't have $5 Daily Roaming

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#1660512 29-Oct-2016 16:10

lchiu7: I didn't know the roaming data was pretty much unlimited. If that's the case then I might use my VF sim when travelling to Canada next week since my tmo sim won't work.

Canada is not a $5 roaming country and my data plan is not unlimited, It has a cap and my point was my NZ data bundle is valid when roaming in the $5 countries

http://www.vodafone.co.nz/daily-roaming/

lchiu7

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#1661025 30-Oct-2016 18:19

My Vodafone SIM is on a corporate plan so I really don't know what the data allowances are. I guess it's reasonable usage, eiher at home or in a roaming country.

Not having roaming in Canada is going to be a challenge since I can't use my TMO SIM either. I might be resigned to trying to find a prepaid option there. I got my wife a TMO SIM that has Canada roaming but mine doesn't . Last time I was there I used a Fido card which I might use again if I can find a store handy to the hotel.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

lchiu7

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#1662693 2-Nov-2016 13:51

Well I solved my problm. TMobile also has a prepaid $40/month plan with 3G of LTE data and unlimited minutes/text. But you can add Canada roaming for $5/month which uses your US data allowance. So I was able to call TMO, change my plan to this $40 one/ add $15 more to change the $30 I had paid to this $40 plan and they kindly pro-rated my plan to give me a full month on this new plan and my roaming got turned on. So I have 3G data for $15 which beats all the local prepaid SIM deals or roaming on VF.

There are plenty of free WiFi spots in the city (Vancouver) but having 3G is useful.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.