I have a T-mobile phone and I specifically asked for and got one that would work in europe. Now my question is how to make it work. I read the instructions and placed a call on the phone to Paris from Florida. It worked fine. It looks like that's all I do to call a place in Paris while I'm in Paris also. Can that be right or do I need something more to make it work while I'm there?

Julie, I called T-Mobile customer service and asked them to activate the 'world roaming' feature. It was something they had to do and they wanted some advance notice (as opposed to on the way to the airport). There also used to be a requirement that they wanted you to have 3 months billing history, not sure if they still want that or not.

When you arrive in Paris, and turn on the phone, it should automatically search for a provider. Sometimes it will give you a list and you select one. From then on, you just dial, remembering that you are calling 'from the US' when you dial numbers. That means you never use the 0 in the Paris city code, for example. You need to dial the +, the country code, city code and phone number (just like you would from a US phone).

Make sure you understand how to get your voicemail - it might not work the standard way.

In my experience, it's a lot quicker to activate roaming at t-mobile.com/international than by calling CS.

Actually while you are in Paris, you are roaming on a French network and therefore can reach any number in Paris by dialing the number as it is written namely if the French number is 01xxxxxxxx....that's the way you would dial it....it will go through...however most people recommend you dial the way you would from the United States i.e. + (the universal international calling prefix on gsm phones)33 (the country code for France) 1 (the city code for Paris) xx xx xx xx...either way the call would go through.

Hopefully, you have read the various threads and just want to make a couple of calls here and there and receive a couple of calls here and there as you will be paying T Mobile US's rip off rates of 99¢/minute to both make and receive calls...if you are going to do any sort of real use of the mobile hone (getting calls from home, making calls home et al) then you're probably far better off stopping in at any French mobile store and procuring a French prepaid sim which will give you a French number...you can couple that with some sort of long distance card with a local French access number (take a look at Bizon) to call to the United States.

Yep, don't forget to call them and ask them to turn it on. Why it's not on all the time, who knows. When I got to London last year, I assumed my phone would work, but it didn't. Luckily there was a T-Mobile store in Greenwich, and they told me what to do. Had to find a place that lets you make calls on the cheap (like a cybercafe with phones) to call them and get it activated. Worked just fine after that.

Make sure that your phone works on the proper bands. For example, tri-band phones that are 850-1800-1900 will not work in all European countries. My phone is 900-1800-1900 and worked in England, Ireland and France (and USA). Best bet is to get a quad-band phone, 850-900-1800-1900 to cover all your bases.

I agree overall that heavy usage is better made on a local SIM, but I don't think I would characterize 99cents as a 'rip off' - that's the lowest non-local-SIM cost of any provider.

Here is why I call it and it is a rip off...

In theory roaming rates are to compensate the carrier whose network you are roaming on for providing service and building in a bit of a profit...for years T Mobile charged something like 34¢/minute to receive calls while roaming on some networks and then told the world it was doing people a favour by providing international roaming with its absurd 99¢/minute rate to both make and receive calls while roaming internationally.

Who is T Mobile US's preferred roaming partner in the UK? Hold on to your seats but the answer is T Mobile UK...who is T Mobile's preferred roaming partner in Holland? ;Hold on to your seats but it's T Mobile NL...Who is T Mobile US's preferred roaming partner in Germany...hold on to your seats but it's T Mobile DE..

Yeah T Mobile US has to compensate T Mobile UK when you use it's network...what's happening they're taking money out of their left pocket and putting it into the right pockets...buth are totally owned by the same company, Deutsches Telcom....and I have to pay to compensate T Mobile US to move the money from its left pocket to T Mobile UK in the right pocket?

Give me a break.

Er - they still have to compensate the roaming partner carrier for deploying and maintaining their infrastructure. The fact that it's a sister company is irrelevant.

T-Mobile's costs to support roaming are the same as Orange's or TIM's and they deserve to gain a return on their investment. That's capitalism, which we defended tooth and nail against all comers for 60 years.

I'm smack in the middle of a T-Mobile area. If I sit at my desk with my cell phone to my left and call if from my landline to the right, half the time or more I will get a recording telling me that I'm not avaialble and to leave a message. If I would do that, in about 15 minutes to half an hour when a signal becomes available, my cell phone will ring telling me I have a message. If I try calling my landline to my right from my T-Mobile cell phone to my left, half the time or more I will get a "call failed" message immediately.

If T-Mobile can't provide service that extends between two phones that are two feet apart, I'm astonished that they can provide it between two different continents.

My tmobile phone has worked fine in Paris, Florence, Milan, Istanbul, Barcelona, etc.

The one problem is that it works too well -- i.e. you get charged for every in-coming call whether you pick up or not. So when people I don't want to talk to are callling me from the States, I end up having to pay even though I don't pick up, so I started to pick up just to say, don't call me again until I get back to the states.

In addition to setting up International roaming with the business office, either by phone or at the web site, it can't hurt to also call the tech department before you depart to make sure the phone is provisioned. I do not know exactly what this means but after one trip when phone could not select any carrier and a 30-minute phone call on a landline from UK to Virginia to set things straight, I always make sure.

I had a frustrating time with my T-Mobile while in Venice recently. I was unable to make a local call - "call failed" - despite many attempts and eventually I gave up trying. Maybe it's just as well because I would've been charged as if I was calling from the US. Next time I'll buy a SIM card for local dialing.

I was able to call home because I'd switched to the 900/1800 band.

For those who're roaming, make sure you read the manual of the phone and figure out how to switch among available carriers.

At most areas there will be two or more cellular carriers your phone can pick up. Often, not all will roam properly with a T-Mobile USA card. If you have trouble calling out, receiving, or using other features, switch the carrier and see it helps. The cost will still be the same $.99/min regardless which carrier you roam with.

I have used my T-Mobile phone with international roaming more successfully in Europe than in my own house and driveway in Massachusetts or my mother's house in New York, where reception can be spotty.

I do not believe I have been charged for calls I did not pick up. In fact, just leaving the phone on and seeing what missed calls there are is an effective method for getting messages, since I have not been successful in using voice mail when traveling in Europe.

Nikkii and others...

There's a very good reason you get better reception on t mobile when travelling international than when home...European mobile service is eons ahead of US service in terms of coverage etc. When you are in Europe, you are roaming on some network and partaking of their service not T mobile service so that's why service is better.

The way that T Mobile voicemail works, you get charged double or $1.98 if you don't answer an incoming call and it bounces to voicemail...you get charged the incoming and then the call from the roaming partner back to 1 805 MESSAGE....there are ways around this...check on a real mobile phone forum such as www.prepaidgsm.net.

For the most part, when roaming, most modern triband and quad band phones will seek out a network that accept T mobile (or Cingular if that's your carrier) roaming...sometimes it may pay to change carrier to get a better signal but htis is somewhat rare in Europe (it does happen however).

Sorry, I've been away and only now checked these replies. Thanks so much for all your information and first hand experiences. One way or the other, I'm sure I can make this work now. Appreciate your help.