tld

I just switched back to T-Mobile from AT&T because of their new international data roaming plan. However, I am not confident that the coverage and speeds are really going to be up to par. Can anyone share their experiences with this service in southern Germany, Austria, and in Budapest? I usually buy a local SIM for data when I'm traveling, but it sure would be nice to avoid that, especially on a multi-country trip.

Thank you!

Cowboy1968

Not 100pct sure that I get your question right, but unless that plan has certain restrictions in itself (e.g. speed restricted to 3G regardless whether 4G is available or not) you will be connected to the same network in Bavaria as if you buy a prepaid T-Mobile SIM in Germany.
Coverage is close to 100 percent, also in very rural areas. But in rural areas you will sometimes only have 2G connectivity and speed, and not 3G or 4G. But that is also the case with any of T-Mobile's competitors.
As T-Mobile also operates thousands of public WiFi hotspots in Germany, it could be interesting to check whether your plan also allows free access to those.

greg

I used T-Mobile simple choice plan last fall in Southern Germany. The roaming carrier was mostly T-Mobile Germany and operated mostly in 3G. In tiny villages, I sometimes got just voice when roaming on O2 or other non T-Mobile carriers. In any large cities, I got excellent 3G access. I used to buy local SIMs. However, once I have experienced the simplicity of using the same SIM as I crossed borders at no additional cost, I would unlikely to return to local SIM method except when I plan to stay several weeks in one country.

Andrew

I got only 2G (mostly) in Germany last April. It was very slow but barely usable. I didn't spend much time in Bavaria - only a night in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, one in Nuremberg. 2G is all T-Mobile used to promise with the Simple Choice plan, but I see they have mostly removed any mention of "2G" from their marketing materials. Because several people have mentioned getting 3G in Europe with T-Mobile, perhaps they are going to allow free unlimited 3G data going forward.

DebitNM

From October - December 2014, we traveled to many places in Europe including Vienna and Budapest [along with Santorini, Mykynos, Athens, Prague, Bratislava, Madrid, Valencia, Barcelona, Provence, Paris].Our T- Mobile, Galaxy S5 worked perfectly for texts, data and phone [using wifi or actual cell in the few instances we didn't have wifi available.] Our data was fast and reliable.

There are several threads here about T Mobile, sadly the search function doesn't work for recent thread.

The short story is, unless you have an absolute need for guaranteed 3G or 4G data, TMobile should work fine for you. For the casual tourist, it offers a great way to stay in touch with those at home and do your techno stuff on the road.

tld

Thank you all for your comments. I have been in some areas where the data was so slow as to be unusable, which is a big problem when trying to use Google Maps, for example. I appreciate knowing about the specific experiences of others.

DebitNM

Maps worked great even while using them to walk around the cities!!

Dukey1

I used it for unlimited texting and for navigation recently in Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, and Venice. Worked very well in all areas and made me even happier that I had dumped AT+T and would never go back to that company, either.

greg

tld, what is your phone model?

The slowness, I presume 2G, can also be due to your equipment. T-Mobile USA uses 3G frequency not used by practically anyone else. If your phone is not a higher end multi-3G band model, you might not be able to use the 3G frequencies in Europe.
Highend phones like iPhone and Samsung S5 can use pretty much any 3G bands in use around the world.

itspat

We switched for the same reason and found the 2G unusable "in a pinch" - e.g., looking up directions on the spot. But if sitting down in a café and looking up something over lunch, we'd be "okay". It's better than nothing, but it's nothing I'd hang my hat on as consistent and reliable usage (in our experiences). We now have iPhone 6, but did have year-old phones at the time (iPhone 5s and something-or-other Samsung). Overall, we are happy with T-Mobile and aren't really upset about switching either way.

itspat

PS - sorry - our experience was for elsewhere in Europe and Asia. We'll be trying it out specifically in Austria/Hungary/Slovakia/Prague next month!

oscarandpenelope

Was in Budapest and Vienna, with a day trip to Melk, at the end of December, and I have the T-Mobile Simple Choice International Plan with iPhone 6. Got 3G throughout the trip when we were not moving on the train; fine for Maps for walking around in the city.

tld

greg, I have an iPhone 6, so I'm fairly confident that my experience with 2G speeds wasn't due to the hardware.

It's encouraging to hear that people have gotten 3G speeds while using this T-Mobile plan.

I just found a couple of new apps which I hope will be helpful:

http://www.sensorly.com
http://opensignal.com

These appear to show what services may be available where.... But they can't tell me if T-Mobile is going to force me into the slow lane using my current plan.

Andrew

Well, why worry about it now? When you get there, try it. You have the option to buy a 3G data pass from T-Mobile if you are stuck on slow 2G - or buy your own local SIM card as you have done before. At least this trip you have the choice.

Andrew

Well, why worry about it now? When you get there, try it. You have the option to buy a 3G data pass from T-Mobile if you are stuck on slow 2G - or buy your own local SIM card as you have done before. At least this trip you have the choice.

tld

Andrew - that's my plan B. But I'm traveling with others and I'm not completely mistress of my own schedule on this trip, so I'd like to do as much as I can in advance. For example, if it sounds as though most others have only gotten 2G service in these areas, I'd get a local SIM at the airport. I may do that anyway since it'll only set me back about €20, then I'll have some peace of mind. But I thought it was worth asking about.