[hdawg]

I guess I don't know what confuses everyone so much about this.

When you're on UMA you're using WiFi. Unless TMO had a geographical database of IP locations and they locked data over UMA down to those IPs they would have no way to track where you're physically located. Yes, you can do some level of tracking of a persons physical location with IPs (generally) ... but IP is IP; the reason the Internet works is because the only thing that separates me being acknowledged as someone else is my unique ID ... my IP. If it works at home (which just happens to be in the US), why wouldn't it work elsewhere. I dunno, I just don't get the confusion that everyone has over this.

It'd be like a GPS receiver not working in another country ... as long as it still talks the same language (which it does), why wouldn't it work ... sure I may not have the maps, but that is a totally different story. meh

[TroyDBrown]

I think the bottom line is people think it is to good to be true and also don't understand how VoIP works.

[hdawg]

^^ Yeah ... I take too much for granted at times.

[invisik]

We travel frequently to Madagascar and have T-Mobile. It takes a few weeks for calls made there to show up on our bill. I think the communication of the calls that were made while internationally roaming just takes some time to get back to Tmob. I have not tried using UMA there, but wish I could have our last time... $500-some phone bill when I got home.

-m

PS: We typically roam on the Orange network down there.

[te73]

To the earlier posts - the confusion is on a couple of levels...

First off, TMO's reps are not knowledgeable on UMA service and billing practices of their own company. My experience so far is they tell you what you don't want to hear so they can sign you up for one service or another (just my humble opinion based on many calls to them). I, too, heard a rep tell me I would be billed for int'l calls over WiFi/UMA at the expensive int'l roaming and long distance rates. And hence I would need the international unlimited data plan to stop at least part of that terribly expensive billing.

The second matter has to do with billing. TMO bills me for calls made over UMA on an infrequent basis. It seems to detect some calls and not others. You would think there would be some consistency on this matter. So far, I have seen some calls in the US billed and some not. And so far, I haven't been billed for any calls I've made internationally. This matter, of course, contradicts what the reps say.

[bajajoe]

Sometimes out of country charges do not show up fir a few billing cycles. Remember nothing is free

[John Clark]

Many people are not getting billed for UMA calls, even in the states.

[shona67]

Originally Posted by trigrampictures

I recently visited Colombia and turned off the Mobile Network in "Manage Connections" and after a few minutes of being connected using my wireless router hooked up the hotel broadband, I got a screen that read TMobile - @Home (router name).

I made calls as if I were home (stateside) and sent text messages, etc. There is no way that T-Mobile can know where you are logging in from. I have Vonage and take my phone adapter overseas and it's the same. As long as you turn OFF the Mobile Network and just have Wi-Fi ON - you are good to go without issue.

I shared this information with TMobile reps and they were not sure - my bill was clean! I made tons of calls via UMA - nobody knew the difference!

I'm no longer taking my Vonage phone adapter abroad! I don't need it!

I'm very happy with the overall quality of the calls via UMA and it works flawlessly on most wireless routers!

Hope this helps.

Jerry

I am beginning to wonder about bringing a wireless router with a wifi BlackBerry in other non data network countries. Supposedly a country that doesn’t have a data network such as Belize, Botswana or Nepal, I decide to use UMA to make a phone call or surf a website. Will it work?

[shona67]

Originally Posted by invisik

We travel frequently to Madagascar and have T-Mobile. It takes a few weeks for calls made there to show up on our bill. I think the communication of the calls that were made while internationally roaming just takes some time to get back to Tmob. I have not tried using UMA there, but wish I could have our last time... $500-some phone bill when I got home.

-m

PS: We typically roam on the Orange network down there.

I am curious. Did you ever use UMA to surf website/instant message in Madagascar where it has no data networks?

[shona67]

Is there any websites that tell you a location of international Wi-Fi coverage/cell tower? It definitely will be helpful for us to navigate on whether we switch between two networks (Data and Wi-Fi).