T-Mobile International Roaming

T-Mobile in the US recently added free international data roaming with NTT DoCoMo 3G and Softbank Mobile 3G in Japan. Has anyone taken advantage of this? How was your experience?

I have rented MiFi routers in the past. We are leaving March 28 and I plan on using just our iPhones. I wanted to get reassurance that this will be good enough to use for maps, gps, email and a few web searches on the go.

Thanks!

I have the question.
Here is what TMobile says: Unlimited international data coverage and texting are included with a qualifying Simple Choice Plan at no extra charge. It�fs just 20 cents per minute for calls to mobile devices and landlines.
http://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/simple-choice-international-p...
Japan is part of this deal.

It would be nice to know if somebody had a chance to use TMobile service in Japan and how was the experience.

that a good question, my brother is also leaving at the end of this month to Japan to go visit a friend and he ask me the same question too. when i was in Japan 2012/13 i meet someone who used their t-mobile and was hit because of the dat usage. i dont the answer to your question but i would like to know myself so i can tell him.

before going to Japan i called t-mobile like 20 times about this and they didnt cover it. i think there is a catch-22 in this. how could they offer a international deal like that AT&T can't, something smell. i went with Softback when i was in Japan

I don't think it is a scam...

From Bloomberg:
"The company loses money on this: It will sacrifice the revenue it makes from international roaming while still having to pay the carriers its customers use while traveling... Trading profit for growth is an exchange T-Mobile seems pretty comfortable with�\at least for now."

This international roaming data, cheaper plans, and paying our early termination fees were the reasons I switch my family's 4 phones over to T-Mobile.

Well if no one has done this before and posted, I will be the guinea pig and post when I come back on April 6. I lived with 3G speeds before, i'm sure I can live with it for 9 days..

I have T-Mobile and it's exactly as described.
I am in Japan now for my first time and it's been super easy thanks to having my maps and navigation. When I first got here I thought it wasn't working but I checked my settings and I just had to enable international data roaming.
In fact, I'm writing this over my free international data right now.
I've been keeping up with my account and I have absolutely no charges.
I hope you enjoy your trip; I know I am!

Josh, how's your data speed? LTE fast? 3G fast? I'm very curious!

Thank you Josh! That is very helpful.

As for the last question in the posting, T-Mobile says it is 3G speed in Japan. Other countries (such as China) are listed as 2G speed which would, for me, be unusable.

t-mobile is in international company so they con more than at&t and verizon. data and voice is free only if you call someone back in the states. your data speed my vary.

t-mobile is in international company so they can do more than at&t and verizon. data and voice is free only if you call someone back in the states. data speed my vary. I'm also traveling to japan on the 27 of march, i traveled around the world and wifi calling also works great.

I'm the original poster and I'm now in Japan. The T-Mobile Simple Choice Plan free international roaming is 3G speed here. So convenient!

Nice! Would you mind posting your download speed? Just curious...

I am currently in Japan now. Tmobile's data roaming works flawlessly. It is detecting 3G network but Im only getting 0.15 mbps up/down. Can't really complain about the speed. It's still better than getting none!

I used both a Blackberry z10 and an iPhone 5s in Japan on T-Mobile.

The z10 registered a 4G connection.
The iphone registered a 3G connection.

Everything worked fine. free data roaming and 20 cent/min calls in or out. Free texting in or out as well.

Just curious...if you're in Japan is it also 20 cents/min to call within Japan? If not, what are the charges?