Forum Discussion
No roaming !!!!
I’m no rookie with international roaming. Bought 15 gb 30 day package. Will not work in Victoria Falls in either Zimbabwe or Zambia. T-mobile advanced support were no help and never bothered to call ...
T-Mobile's coverage maps show 3G/4G coverage but that's no guarantee. There are a million reasons why roaming might not work. If roaming worked before, I'd assume that there is some network glitch. This is why I advise always having a backup plan. Is your phone unlocked and eSIM capable? You should download an international data eSIM like Airalo, DENT or Piranha Mobile* and have a means to connect even when T-Mobile roaming isn't working.
If you pay $50 for International Roaming for 30 days you expect service; but yes sometimes there are local network issues but in this case there were none because the local roaming partner for T-mobile had excellent service. How do I know? I had to buy one of their local packages to get service. Even in the capital city of Harare T-mobile roaming often indicated EDGE and sometime 3g but was unusable. And yes I do use Airalo when I need to, but buying local service is always better and cheaper. I suspect the local partners in some of these places are not living up to their contractual obligations. I reported again to T-mobile and they could see I used just about nothing and refunded me.
Buying a data pass does not give you any better access to the roaming partner's network*. It just removes the throttle at T-Mobile's APN (and flat-rates voice calls). This is why I will normally check things out with default data and if that works buy a one-day pass to see how things improve. If I feel a longer pass is warranted, I buy it at the end of the first day.
*Except for the Essentials plan where it provides data access (IMHO, YMMV, etc.)
Thanks - good advice.
