t-mobile Simple Choice Free International roaming (data/text)

[gtbarry]

With t-mobile (USA) Simple Choice plans you are eligible to get free data and text while roaming in over 100 countries. Just curious if people have any experience with this

Is there something you wish you knew going in?

Also, I will be traveling to the following locations soon and would love to know if anyone has experience in these cities with Simple Choice (or do I need to do the old fashion local SIM in my unlocked phone):
- Toronto (Canada)
- Prague/Pilsen (Czech Republic)
- Geneva (Switzerland)
- Stuttgart (Germany)

Thanks!

 

[kate]

You’ll be limited to 2G data speeds with international roaming.

T-Mobile list of countries:
http://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/simple-choice-international-plan-countries.html

 

[chong67]

I thought it is 3G speed.

 

[codesplice]

I haven't found official wording from T-Mobile (aside from a statement that you wouldn't have the same high-speed data access that you do at home), but did find an Engadget article about the experience:

That unlimited international data actually came along with a pretty nasty limit. Regardless of the partner network you're using abroad, speeds are capped at 128 Kbps -- in many cases, that's a tiny fraction of the pipe overseas carriers offer to their own customers, and to a partner's users with a pay-per-use roaming plan. 128 Kbps sounds almost unusable, and it is, but for certain tasks, T-Mobile's restrictions won't make much difference, as I discovered during a week-long trip to Taiwan.

 

[kate]

I thought it is 3G speed.

I haven't found official wording from T-Mobile

It's at the bottom of the page I linked above and is 128Kbps (actually with that speed a is more appropriate).

 

[codesplice]

I'm not so great at the reading - thanks for pointing it out @kate!