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Old 12-25-2009, 11:48 PM   #1
newwavesnob
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Cool SMS on WiFi/UMA overseas

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I'm in Colombia right now, got here today. I got on UMA through my friend's wireless connection, turned off the mobile network, and it's been working well, everything has been working well.

I'm ignorant about how this works, I'd appreciate the help. Will I have any extra charges for BBM, SMS, internet navigation, or calls?

Thank you,
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Old 12-26-2009, 06:32 PM   #2
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Wirelessly posted (Scared of sea bunnies)

Since you are on uma, your data would be through wifi which should be free since you're using your friend's router.

As for text and calls, I haven't heard anything official but from browsing the forum it seems that calls made to your home country are free. Meaning if your service is US based (I'm on wap so I can't see where you are from), calls made from Columbia back to US are free. I would assume that calls recived from the US are free as well. But you can't make local Columbian calls. This gets treated as long distance.
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Old 12-30-2009, 10:01 AM   #3
tom0100
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Yeah...I think this is a 'extra' t-mobile didn't think of when they did UMA or voice over IP on some of their phones. If you use an access point or wifi like a computer...the call doesn't really know where it's coming from so it looks at your sim which then looks at your phone # on your sim (which is a US phone #) so they end up being free voice calls.

I think this is ONE reason they wanted to get rid of UMA (which they have pretty much done away with UMA for new phones...no new phone of theirs will have it).

I'm sure they are working on a fix to charge somehow though. When I've gone to europe..I go to McDonalds to make calls (I know silly to go to Mickey D's in Europe) but I know they always have free access points and I MAKE free voice calls over their WiFi THEY HAVE wine menu sometimes too!!
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Old 12-31-2009, 03:56 PM   #4
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Tmobile does know about this. In fact they have (or had) a FAQ that says something to the effect of it may or may work overseas but it's not guaranteed. Theoretically they could one day decide to cut off or charge for access from ip addresses not in the US, but they haven't done that.

They may decide to phase out UMA at some point, but it was likely a work around for their relatively sparse cell network. So odds are it'll be around a while. They've made big improvements in coverage in the few years I've had Tmobile, but are still a long way off from matching the coverage of AT&T or Verizon in the Los Angeles area and other areas I've traveled to. In several places the only way I had any signal was the wifi at the hotel or a travel router plugged to a network, but there was certainly an AT&T signal around, and others had no problems with Verizon.
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Old 12-31-2009, 11:29 PM   #5
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Wirelessly posted (The Dacia Sandero of data plan)

You say no new phones but what about the 9700? That has UMA.

For Tmobile, it makes good sense for them to keep uma. It's a unqiue feature that other carriers don't offer, along with the Hotspot@Home. And as mentioned previously, it helps deal with reception issues especially important areas like at home.
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Old 01-01-2010, 03:43 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Trimix View Post
Wirelessly posted (The Dacia Sandero of data plan)

You say no new phones but what about the 9700? That has UMA.

For Tmobile, it makes good sense for them to keep uma. It's a unqiue feature that other carriers don't offer, along with the Hotspot@Home. And as mentioned previously, it helps deal with reception issues especially important areas like at home.
They also have their T-Mobile @Home service which is a sim card in a router, for VOIP service. Costs only $10/month or $15/month and has unlimited minutes. So that tells something about the economics of having a centrally located bunch of UMA equipment versus equipment on rented towers all over the place.
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Old 01-01-2010, 04:58 PM   #7
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Wirelessly posted (The Dacia Sandero of data plan)

Ah yes you're right it's called Tmobile@Home. H@H was the old name.

It's only $10/month which I think is great value, especially for people who have broadband but have no need for a landline.
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Old 01-02-2010, 09:02 AM   #8
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UMA is actually free. You don't need to pay if you use a cell phone.It just comes out of your minutes. If you have an unlimited plan it is "free" to use UMA calling.

T-mobile made the two services confusing. One is basically Voice over IP on your cell phone and the other is replacing your landline with a router and a regular looking home phone (they confuse the two even at the stores).

They are two different service though and even the people in the stores never explained them well.

But for anyone with a UMA phone? YOu don't enable the feature with T-mobile...it's just there. It comes out of your minutes like your are connected to a tower....easy.

AND for the record...I read T-mobile was dropping the home service and was no longer going to make any NEW UMA phones AS of Dec 2009 (people always grandfather in who already use the service)... BUT we shall see what happens (the phone manufacturers only add UMA if they are asked to my T-mobile).

They never marketed the Voice over IP (UMA) technology well AT ALL!

Last edited by tom0100; 01-02-2010 at 09:04 AM..
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Old 01-02-2010, 09:04 AM   #9
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Where did you read this?
As T-Mobile has made no mention of this to their corporate customers who love UMA.
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Old 01-02-2010, 12:44 PM   #10
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Wirelessly posted (The Dacia Sandero of data plan)

As of right now, it's only rumor that Tmobile is dropping the @Home service. Even then they are only considering dropping a portion of the @Home service. Now which portion it is, they don't specify. It's cited that the new COO has deemed the program unprofitable. I searched on Google using the search term "Tmobile dropping uma."

Tom is right about one thing though -- the two components of Tmob@Home isn't very well explained. They hardly even mention the UMA part anymore, which I think is more valuable than their Voip component.

But it would it seem that if profitability is the issue, uma would be a better deal than their voip. As mentioned before, no other US carrier has uma, and by getting into voip, they are competing with other companies -- why do that? Seems like it would make more sense to keep uma, whereas with voip they have to offer caller I.d., conference calling, and all those extras.
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Old 01-02-2010, 12:49 PM   #11
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So there is nothing written that T-Mobile is dropping UMA. Just checking.
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Old 01-02-2010, 01:25 PM   #12
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Wirelessly posted (The Dacia Sandero of data plan)

That's correct -- nothing official at the moment.
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Old 01-02-2010, 06:00 PM   #13
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If they are discontinuing anything, my guess is they are discontinuing the unlimited UMA calling for a fixed fee or the @home service, and not UMA itself.

I have not seen that add-on service option in a while and it does not show up when doing a dummy cell phone purchase on their website. With their unlimited cell minutes plan now fairly low, I'd guess they'd rather have people trade up to that instead of adding on unlimited UMA.

Unlimited UMA was originally called the @home service, but when they developed the sim card in the router for real service at home, it was renamed. I think it was unlimited hotspot calling or something like that.

The only @home service they have now is the sim card in the router. I could understand them canceling that one as well since as has been noted, it's poorly advertised and understood. Vonage is getting twice as much for maybe just a little more bells and whistles.
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Old 01-02-2010, 08:42 PM   #14
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Yes, you're right. Tmobile@Home is VOIP and Unlimited Hotspot Calling is what used to be Hotspot@Home (UMA). So confusing. Even their website seems confused. Under their FAQ they have "What is T-Mobile @Home and Unlimited HotSpot Calling?" but their answer only talks about Tmob@Home haha.

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Old 01-04-2010, 11:31 AM   #15
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They now seem to be using the term "WiFi calling" to describe UMA. For example, see the description of the 9700 features ( Unsupported Browser ).

I have a grandfathered plan, and looked at adding the Unlimited UMA calling feature last week. The TMO rep quoted $9.99 for either an individual plan or for a family plan -- and it might be worth if for a family plan, but if I create a family plan, I lose my grandfathered plan, so there is no benefit in my case.

PS: This customer has his lines with TMO because of UMA, getting service where VZW, Sprint, and AT&T don't go. Dropping UMA would be bad news for many business customers in large buildings, high rises, and other difficult to serve locations.

Last edited by phrider; 01-04-2010 at 11:34 AM..
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Old 01-08-2010, 03:55 PM   #16
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To clarify, UMA does not appear to be at risk in any way.

Every article I've found says Tmoible@home is being discontinued. That is the SIM in the router, not UMA.

Articles also say that "T-Mobile was careful to note that this will not impact its Unlimited HotSpot WiFi calling service."

T-Mobile to discontinue @Home service « Boy Genius Report

T-Mobile discontinuing @Home calling service - FierceWireless
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Old 01-09-2010, 12:14 AM   #17
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Wirelessly posted (The Dacia Sandero of data plan)

Thank you for that.
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