T-Mobile Service in Canada
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T-Mobile has no coverage anywhere around here, and the one area you can get it it's just EDGE. Every other carrier is LTE around here. T-Mobile is also a "non-standard" GSM because the bands they use aren't in many phones so you have to get a special model to use them.
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@Jason said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
T-Mobile has no coverage anywhere around here, and the one area you can get it it's just EDGE. Every other carrier is LTE around here. T-Mobile is also a "non-standard" GSM because the bands they use aren't in many phones so you have to get a special model to use them.
No special models needed here.
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@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@BBigford said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
What does your friend use currently? A semi-local Canadian carrier and multiple SIMs with various extra charges?
Yeah. Has to get local SIMs in every country that he visits. Which is doable, but a pain.
So T-mobile is great for the traveler, but not for the person trying to reach them if they don't originate from the same country where the traveler originated from. It will likely be long distance if not international long distance to call the traveler for everywhere but the travelers country of purchase origin.
Who calls travellers with numbers from the country that they are in? Basically no one. I've never had that need before. When do you picture that happening? You need calls from people who know your number, not from people whom you have never met.
And if you get a SIM card in a new country you get a new, random number and people never know when you are on which number... which means you have no reliable means to be reached by anyone unless they try several numbers.
You've missed what I was saying.
Say I have a T-Mobile USA number and travel to Germany, hanging out with German friends. When those friends, in Germany want to call me, they now have to call an international long distance number.
You're absolutely right that there is not global solution to this short of ditching phone numbers (more specifically - locality) all together, which of course we already have with the likes of Skype (most mobile platforms) and Facetime (limited to iDevices).
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@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@BBigford said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
What does your friend use currently? A semi-local Canadian carrier and multiple SIMs with various extra charges?
Yeah. Has to get local SIMs in every country that he visits. Which is doable, but a pain.
So T-mobile is great for the traveler, but not for the person trying to reach them if they don't originate from the same country where the traveler originated from. It will likely be long distance if not international long distance to call the traveler for everywhere but the travelers country of purchase origin.
Who calls travellers with numbers from the country that they are in? Basically no one. I've never had that need before. When do you picture that happening? You need calls from people who know your number, not from people whom you have never met.
And if you get a SIM card in a new country you get a new, random number and people never know when you are on which number... which means you have no reliable means to be reached by anyone unless they try several numbers.
You've missed what I was saying.
Say I have a T-Mobile USA number and travel to Germany, hanging out with German friends. When those friends, in Germany want to call me, they now have to call an international long distance number.
You're absolutely right that there is not global solution to this short of ditching phone numbers (more specifically - locality) all together, which of course we already have with the likes of Skype (most mobile platforms) and Facetime (limited to iDevices).
I didn't miss it at all. Just pointed out why there isn't an alternative. If you look at what I said, it was in direct response to that. I also pointed out that people you meet in other countries don't call you, that's just not a normal thing. One that people in other countries don't speak your language and phones calls are the most problematic form of communications, two because travellers have time zone issues so phone calling gets reduced for that reason, three because they never know if you are on their SIM or another one so their local number is unreliable as a means of communications and four because you simply rarely need to get calls from people where you are local. I live in places I travel to and this never comes up, for people travelling to a place for a few days it is so much more rare.
People outside of the US have to deal with these issues constantly and use tools like WhatsApp and Telegram to ensure that things are always free.
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@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@BBigford said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
What does your friend use currently? A semi-local Canadian carrier and multiple SIMs with various extra charges?
Yeah. Has to get local SIMs in every country that he visits. Which is doable, but a pain.
So T-mobile is great for the traveler, but not for the person trying to reach them if they don't originate from the same country where the traveler originated from. It will likely be long distance if not international long distance to call the traveler for everywhere but the travelers country of purchase origin.
Who calls travellers with numbers from the country that they are in? Basically no one. I've never had that need before. When do you picture that happening? You need calls from people who know your number, not from people whom you have never met.
And if you get a SIM card in a new country you get a new, random number and people never know when you are on which number... which means you have no reliable means to be reached by anyone unless they try several numbers.
You've missed what I was saying.
Say I have a T-Mobile USA number and travel to Germany, hanging out with German friends. When those friends, in Germany want to call me, they now have to call an international long distance number.
You're absolutely right that there is not global solution to this short of ditching phone numbers (more specifically - locality) all together, which of course we already have with the likes of Skype (most mobile platforms) and Facetime (limited to iDevices).
I didn't miss it at all. Just pointed out why there isn't an alternative. If you look at what I said, it was in direct response to that. I also pointed out that people you meet in other countries don't call you, that's just not a normal thing. One that people in other countries don't speak your language and phones calls are the most problematic form of communications, two because travellers have time zone issues so phone calling gets reduced for that reason, three because they never know if you are on their SIM or another one so their local number is unreliable as a means of communications and four because you simply rarely need to get calls from people where you are local. I live in places I travel to and this never comes up, for people travelling to a place for a few days it is so much more rare.
People outside of the US have to deal with these issues constantly and use tools like WhatsApp and Telegram to ensure that things are always free.
I'll give you that voice communication is probably rare, but for me personally, most everyone I deal with, and certainly those who I want/need to stay in communications with while I'm the traveler, speak the same language as me. So while we might not use voice, we'll use texting - but that's solvable with any number of instant messaging apps out there, assuming you use one in common.
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@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@BBigford said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
What does your friend use currently? A semi-local Canadian carrier and multiple SIMs with various extra charges?
Yeah. Has to get local SIMs in every country that he visits. Which is doable, but a pain.
So T-mobile is great for the traveler, but not for the person trying to reach them if they don't originate from the same country where the traveler originated from. It will likely be long distance if not international long distance to call the traveler for everywhere but the travelers country of purchase origin.
Who calls travellers with numbers from the country that they are in? Basically no one. I've never had that need before. When do you picture that happening? You need calls from people who know your number, not from people whom you have never met.
And if you get a SIM card in a new country you get a new, random number and people never know when you are on which number... which means you have no reliable means to be reached by anyone unless they try several numbers.
You've missed what I was saying.
Say I have a T-Mobile USA number and travel to Germany, hanging out with German friends. When those friends, in Germany want to call me, they now have to call an international long distance number.
You're absolutely right that there is not global solution to this short of ditching phone numbers (more specifically - locality) all together, which of course we already have with the likes of Skype (most mobile platforms) and Facetime (limited to iDevices).
I didn't miss it at all. Just pointed out why there isn't an alternative. If you look at what I said, it was in direct response to that. I also pointed out that people you meet in other countries don't call you, that's just not a normal thing. One that people in other countries don't speak your language and phones calls are the most problematic form of communications, two because travellers have time zone issues so phone calling gets reduced for that reason, three because they never know if you are on their SIM or another one so their local number is unreliable as a means of communications and four because you simply rarely need to get calls from people where you are local. I live in places I travel to and this never comes up, for people travelling to a place for a few days it is so much more rare.
People outside of the US have to deal with these issues constantly and use tools like WhatsApp and Telegram to ensure that things are always free.
I'll give you that voice communication is probably rare, but for me personally, most everyone I deal with, and certainly those who I want/need to stay in communications with while I'm the traveler, speak the same language as me. So while we might not use voice, we'll use texting - but that's solvable with any number of instant messaging apps out there, assuming you use one in common.
Texting is free with T-Mobile, though. So as long as you don't want to do voice, you are covered with them.
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@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@BBigford said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
What does your friend use currently? A semi-local Canadian carrier and multiple SIMs with various extra charges?
Yeah. Has to get local SIMs in every country that he visits. Which is doable, but a pain.
So T-mobile is great for the traveler, but not for the person trying to reach them if they don't originate from the same country where the traveler originated from. It will likely be long distance if not international long distance to call the traveler for everywhere but the travelers country of purchase origin.
Who calls travellers with numbers from the country that they are in? Basically no one. I've never had that need before. When do you picture that happening? You need calls from people who know your number, not from people whom you have never met.
And if you get a SIM card in a new country you get a new, random number and people never know when you are on which number... which means you have no reliable means to be reached by anyone unless they try several numbers.
You've missed what I was saying.
Say I have a T-Mobile USA number and travel to Germany, hanging out with German friends. When those friends, in Germany want to call me, they now have to call an international long distance number.
You're absolutely right that there is not global solution to this short of ditching phone numbers (more specifically - locality) all together, which of course we already have with the likes of Skype (most mobile platforms) and Facetime (limited to iDevices).
I didn't miss it at all. Just pointed out why there isn't an alternative. If you look at what I said, it was in direct response to that. I also pointed out that people you meet in other countries don't call you, that's just not a normal thing. One that people in other countries don't speak your language and phones calls are the most problematic form of communications, two because travellers have time zone issues so phone calling gets reduced for that reason, three because they never know if you are on their SIM or another one so their local number is unreliable as a means of communications and four because you simply rarely need to get calls from people where you are local. I live in places I travel to and this never comes up, for people travelling to a place for a few days it is so much more rare.
People outside of the US have to deal with these issues constantly and use tools like WhatsApp and Telegram to ensure that things are always free.
I'll give you that voice communication is probably rare, but for me personally, most everyone I deal with, and certainly those who I want/need to stay in communications with while I'm the traveler, speak the same language as me. So while we might not use voice, we'll use texting - but that's solvable with any number of instant messaging apps out there, assuming you use one in common.
Texting is free with T-Mobile, though. So as long as you don't want to do voice, you are covered with them.
LOL, the whole point was that it's not free for non T-Mobile users.
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@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@BBigford said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
What does your friend use currently? A semi-local Canadian carrier and multiple SIMs with various extra charges?
Yeah. Has to get local SIMs in every country that he visits. Which is doable, but a pain.
So T-mobile is great for the traveler, but not for the person trying to reach them if they don't originate from the same country where the traveler originated from. It will likely be long distance if not international long distance to call the traveler for everywhere but the travelers country of purchase origin.
Who calls travellers with numbers from the country that they are in? Basically no one. I've never had that need before. When do you picture that happening? You need calls from people who know your number, not from people whom you have never met.
And if you get a SIM card in a new country you get a new, random number and people never know when you are on which number... which means you have no reliable means to be reached by anyone unless they try several numbers.
You've missed what I was saying.
Say I have a T-Mobile USA number and travel to Germany, hanging out with German friends. When those friends, in Germany want to call me, they now have to call an international long distance number.
You're absolutely right that there is not global solution to this short of ditching phone numbers (more specifically - locality) all together, which of course we already have with the likes of Skype (most mobile platforms) and Facetime (limited to iDevices).
I didn't miss it at all. Just pointed out why there isn't an alternative. If you look at what I said, it was in direct response to that. I also pointed out that people you meet in other countries don't call you, that's just not a normal thing. One that people in other countries don't speak your language and phones calls are the most problematic form of communications, two because travellers have time zone issues so phone calling gets reduced for that reason, three because they never know if you are on their SIM or another one so their local number is unreliable as a means of communications and four because you simply rarely need to get calls from people where you are local. I live in places I travel to and this never comes up, for people travelling to a place for a few days it is so much more rare.
People outside of the US have to deal with these issues constantly and use tools like WhatsApp and Telegram to ensure that things are always free.
I'll give you that voice communication is probably rare, but for me personally, most everyone I deal with, and certainly those who I want/need to stay in communications with while I'm the traveler, speak the same language as me. So while we might not use voice, we'll use texting - but that's solvable with any number of instant messaging apps out there, assuming you use one in common.
Texting is free with T-Mobile, though. So as long as you don't want to do voice, you are covered with them.
LOL, the whole point was that it's not free for non T-Mobile users.
But people OUTSIDE of the US already use free text alternatives because they have this problem with everyone. Using actual texting is really just a US (and sub saharan Africa) thing.
So it only applies to situations where it is free for T-Mobile users.
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Your point was that you felt that the T-Mobile solution was not great for people trying to reach them from non-T-Mobile countries. And my point is that it is, as the things you are thinking of do not apply. people in those countries generally deal with this every day, even as non-travellers, and have it solved. It's only communications "back home" that the phone number components are useful and they work great.
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Yeah - I hadn't considered that most users in Europe would have already solved this problem because as you mention the likeliness of needing international contact is so much higher there.
That also explains why What's App adoption is SOO much higher in Europe than the US.
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@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
Yeah - I hadn't considered that most users in Europe would have already solved this problem because as you mention the likeliness of needing international contact is so much higher there.
That also explains why What's App adoption is SOO much higher in Europe than the US.
It's not just the international connections, it's the constant changing of SIMs so that no one has a steady phone number. Anyone who travels without T-Mobile, more or less, either goes without service or has to get a temporary number when travelling which breaks nearly everything. It's common in much of the world to flip SIMs constantly to get the best rates or coverage. In the Philippines they do this even on the islands all just to get better deals for different usage.
The SIM changing thing has effectively destroyed the usefulness of the traditional phone number and with it, phone calls and texting for regular contact in these areas.
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@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
Yeah - I hadn't considered that most users in Europe would have already solved this problem because as you mention the likeliness of needing international contact is so much higher there.
That also explains why What's App adoption is SOO much higher in Europe than the US.
It's not just the international connections, it's the constant changing of SIMs so that no one has a steady phone number. Anyone who travels without T-Mobile, more or less, either goes without service or has to get a temporary number when travelling which breaks nearly everything. It's common in much of the world to flip SIMs constantly to get the best rates or coverage. In the Philippines they do this even on the islands all just to get better deals for different usage.
The SIM changing thing has effectively destroyed the usefulness of the traditional phone number and with it, phone calls and texting for regular contact in these areas.
Hasn't this been a problem for cell phones in Europe and places where people have to move between vendors/countries since the beginning? So really the nice thing now, you can easily move away from this problem with data and a hosted PBX solution (assuming you need voice), otherwise messaging through any number of apps solves that problem.
Sure you still have to deal with the hassle of the changing SIMs to get data at a good price, but the number part can go away.
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Yes, for those who have struggled to have access to a common, portable number, that is true. Although really I think phone number alternatives, like Skype, are the big winners here.
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@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
Yeah - I hadn't considered that most users in Europe would have already solved this problem because as you mention the likeliness of needing international contact is so much higher there.
That also explains why What's App adoption is SOO much higher in Europe than the US.
It's not just the international connections, it's the constant changing of SIMs so that no one has a steady phone number. Anyone who travels without T-Mobile, more or less, either goes without service or has to get a temporary number when travelling which breaks nearly everything. It's common in much of the world to flip SIMs constantly to get the best rates or coverage. In the Philippines they do this even on the islands all just to get better deals for different usage.
The SIM changing thing has effectively destroyed the usefulness of the traditional phone number and with it, phone calls and texting for regular contact in these areas.
Hasn't this been a problem for cell phones in Europe and places where people have to move between vendors/countries since the beginning? So really the nice thing now, you can easily move away from this problem with data and a hosted PBX solution (assuming you need voice), otherwise messaging through any number of apps solves that problem.
Sure you still have to deal with the hassle of the changing SIMs to get data at a good price, but the number part can go away.
It's not that much of a problem in the EU (remember: EU != Europe) anymore because we finally got free roaming within all member states.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_roaming_regulations
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/oct/27/europe-abolishes-mobile-phone-roaming-charges -
@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@BBigford said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
What does your friend use currently? A semi-local Canadian carrier and multiple SIMs with various extra charges?
Yeah. Has to get local SIMs in every country that he visits. Which is doable, but a pain.
Yup I deal with this every day. Canadians who travel internationally often get their phone unlocked and get sims strategically to cover the trip. Many of our plans include 2500 forwarding minutes and that's a common way to make sure you stay connected.
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@thwr said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
Yeah - I hadn't considered that most users in Europe would have already solved this problem because as you mention the likeliness of needing international contact is so much higher there.
That also explains why What's App adoption is SOO much higher in Europe than the US.
It's not just the international connections, it's the constant changing of SIMs so that no one has a steady phone number. Anyone who travels without T-Mobile, more or less, either goes without service or has to get a temporary number when travelling which breaks nearly everything. It's common in much of the world to flip SIMs constantly to get the best rates or coverage. In the Philippines they do this even on the islands all just to get better deals for different usage.
The SIM changing thing has effectively destroyed the usefulness of the traditional phone number and with it, phone calls and texting for regular contact in these areas.
Hasn't this been a problem for cell phones in Europe and places where people have to move between vendors/countries since the beginning? So really the nice thing now, you can easily move away from this problem with data and a hosted PBX solution (assuming you need voice), otherwise messaging through any number of apps solves that problem.
Sure you still have to deal with the hassle of the changing SIMs to get data at a good price, but the number part can go away.
It's not that much of a problem in the EU (remember: EU != Europe) anymore because we finally got free roaming within all member states.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_roaming_regulations
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/oct/27/europe-abolishes-mobile-phone-roaming-chargesHuh - that didn't seem to be the case when I was there 3 years ago.. but Cool!
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@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@thwr said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
Yeah - I hadn't considered that most users in Europe would have already solved this problem because as you mention the likeliness of needing international contact is so much higher there.
That also explains why What's App adoption is SOO much higher in Europe than the US.
It's not just the international connections, it's the constant changing of SIMs so that no one has a steady phone number. Anyone who travels without T-Mobile, more or less, either goes without service or has to get a temporary number when travelling which breaks nearly everything. It's common in much of the world to flip SIMs constantly to get the best rates or coverage. In the Philippines they do this even on the islands all just to get better deals for different usage.
The SIM changing thing has effectively destroyed the usefulness of the traditional phone number and with it, phone calls and texting for regular contact in these areas.
Hasn't this been a problem for cell phones in Europe and places where people have to move between vendors/countries since the beginning? So really the nice thing now, you can easily move away from this problem with data and a hosted PBX solution (assuming you need voice), otherwise messaging through any number of apps solves that problem.
Sure you still have to deal with the hassle of the changing SIMs to get data at a good price, but the number part can go away.
It's not that much of a problem in the EU (remember: EU != Europe) anymore because we finally got free roaming within all member states.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_roaming_regulations
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/oct/27/europe-abolishes-mobile-phone-roaming-chargesHuh - that didn't seem to be the case when I was there 3 years ago.. but Cool!
How many countries did you go to?
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@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@thwr said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@scottalanmiller said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
@Dashrender said in T-Mobile Service in Canada:
Yeah - I hadn't considered that most users in Europe would have already solved this problem because as you mention the likeliness of needing international contact is so much higher there.
That also explains why What's App adoption is SOO much higher in Europe than the US.
It's not just the international connections, it's the constant changing of SIMs so that no one has a steady phone number. Anyone who travels without T-Mobile, more or less, either goes without service or has to get a temporary number when travelling which breaks nearly everything. It's common in much of the world to flip SIMs constantly to get the best rates or coverage. In the Philippines they do this even on the islands all just to get better deals for different usage.
The SIM changing thing has effectively destroyed the usefulness of the traditional phone number and with it, phone calls and texting for regular contact in these areas.
Hasn't this been a problem for cell phones in Europe and places where people have to move between vendors/countries since the beginning? So really the nice thing now, you can easily move away from this problem with data and a hosted PBX solution (assuming you need voice), otherwise messaging through any number of apps solves that problem.
Sure you still have to deal with the hassle of the changing SIMs to get data at a good price, but the number part can go away.
It's not that much of a problem in the EU (remember: EU != Europe) anymore because we finally got free roaming within all member states.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_roaming_regulations
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/oct/27/europe-abolishes-mobile-phone-roaming-chargesHuh - that didn't seem to be the case when I was there 3 years ago.. but Cool!
How many countries did you go to?
UK, France, Germany and Italy.
I only bought cards in Germany and Italy.
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@Dashrender That's quite new. They constantly reduced costs for roaming and eventually dropped them completely. EU would have forced that anyway by mid of 2017 AFAIK.
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That's cool! So I can buy a single SIM for voice and data for my upcoming trip?
UK/Ireland/Netherlands/Germany?
Do you have a company suggestion to buy the SIM from? I want data more than anything else.
