6 ms·

> It would fit so well into their premium brand of "your iPhone works the moment you step off the plane wherever your amazing life takes you". If there's anyth

> It would fit so well into their premium brand of "your iPhone works the moment you step off the plane wherever your amazing life takes you". If there's anything that would make me buy an iPhone, this is it. I travel a lot between the US and Europe; I'm using Fi at the moment even though I shouldn't actually have access to it. It's mind boggling to me the crazy things we can do with tech today, and not make it all work smoothly and reliably when you step a few meters off the border of whichever country you're in.

garmaine 9y ago
There are T-Mobile plans that work this way.
- scrollaway 9y ago
  ... available to american customers. Wake me up when it's the other way around :/
  - jackweirdy 9y ago
    If you're in the UK, Three offer plans that are comparable (if I'm understanding correctly). "Feel at Home": http://www.three.co.uk/feel-at-home http://www.three.co.uk/feel-at-home
  - Tijdreiziger 9y ago
    If you're in the Netherlands, KPN offers a 100GB EU+US plan, and T-Mobile offers a Unlimited NL + 10GB EU+US plan (although you should boycott T-Mobile [1]). It's not quite the entire world, but it might be useful if you travel to the US often. [1] https://www.bof.nl/press/t-mobile-allowed-to-keep-violating-net-neutrality-principle/ https://www.bof.nl/press/t-mobile-allowed-to-keep-violating-...
    - voltagex_ 9y ago
      Is there any way I could get a decent KPN SIM prepaid while travelling (I'm not a resident)?
- mvid 9y ago
  The T-Mobile plan is limited to high speed in North America, and 2G elsewhere. Even when you pay to upgrade to 3G, it’s capped at something like 1/4 MBps. It’s borderline unusable internationally.
  - jbuzbee 9y ago
    > It’s borderline unusable internationally. The T-Mobile plan has worked fine for me in both Australia and the UK, even for navigation.
cosmie 9y ago
I have T-Mobile's Simple Choice plan, and while I haven't flown too much internationally, the few times I have, my service has worked seamlessly. My plan includes 4G coverage in Mexico and Canada, and 2G coverage in 100+ other markets (with the option to upgrade for 3G and 4G rates in those markets). Looking at [1] it appears the current plans may not offer this for free anymore, but it's still available. [1] https://www.t-mobile.com/travel-abroad-with-simple-global https://www.t-mobile.com/travel-abroad-with-simple-global
- ivanstojic 9y ago
  I believe the above commenter talks about the ease/pricing of Fi as much as the experience. I'm using Fi on my iPhone (and have for a while) - and it works worldwide for $10 / 1Gb. It's actually downright magical compared to other offers (even the Apple SIM powered ones).
  - dzhiurgis 9y ago
    $10 buys you unlimited LTE in like half europe. If you can actually get these plans using Apple SIM - it’d be order of magnitude cheaper.
    - paranoidrobot 9y ago
      I've used Travel SIMs in the past simply because although they're more expensive, at least they work and I know I'll probably have coverage. Trying to figure out how to get a prepaid plan with a good amount of data that'll work everywhere in Europe isn't easy. Then there's issues about recharging the plan, and many of them don't accept foreign CCs, so you need to be in the country you purchased it in to buy a voucher from the carrier's store. I also hadn't found any 'unlimited' data options on a prepaid SIM - they only appear to be on the more expensive contract plans. At least, based on my searches in France, Netherlands, Denmark and Norway.
      - nordify 9y ago
        Finland has unlimited (without the quotation marks) data on prepaid SIMs from all carriers. Usually for about 1€ per day or 20€ per month. Depending on the plan it will also include unlimited texts and talk.
andrepd 9y ago
In my travels in the EU, I've never had to even lift a finger. It all worked smoothly and reliable. When I stepped off the plane on the other side I got a text letting me know I was in roaming mode and could talk/use data from my current plan. When I returned I got a text saying "welcome back, I hope you had a good trip". Oh, and this is not a premium plan or anything. I pay 7.9EUR for unlimited calls and texts, and 1GB of data.
- digi_owl 9y ago
  The more i learn about US telecom, the more i wonder how the hell they managed to invent both the landline and mobile phone. Their infrastructure sounds like a balkanized mess...
  - wil421 9y ago
    Not really a fair assessment. The 4 larger mobile providers are spilt between GSM and CDMA in the past CDMA phones wouldn’t work abroad, except maybe China. You would even have to buy a CDMA version of the iPhone. The big 4 just buy up all competitors and usually one tries to buy one of the others. Geographically the US is much more expansive than the EU and more robust. I would not compare infrastructure I would compare the regulations. The telcos created the tech and most likely the laws.
    - arcticbull 9y ago
      CDMA is winding up in the US also as all providers move off to LTE leaving their legacy infrastructure to die off at scheduled EoL.
    - spiralpolitik 9y ago
      Regulation was the key difference. The EU mandated a common wireless standard (GSM) to be in use across all countries. The US let the market decide and ended up building 4-5 largely incompatible semi-nationwide networks. Thankfully time, technology, and consolidation has now reduced that down to 2 (CDMA/LTE - Verizon, Sprint, GSM/LTE, AT&T, T-Mobile). LTE will eventually consolidate that down to 1.
rsync 9y ago
"I travel a lot between the US and Europe; I'm using Fi at the moment even though I shouldn't actually have access to it." Would you elaborate ? I am currently traveling in Europe and used the "Orange Holiday Europe" travel SIM which appears to do everything I need it to (tethering, calls to anywhere, etc.) and it "just worked" when I landed. What alternatives to this would be worth looking into ?
- scrollaway 9y ago
  I know it sounds like a first world problem but I don't like having to take care of my sim card situation when I travel. When I fly I have enough on my mind already and I don't want to have to sorry about getting a new sim, changing plans, enabling something, changing numbers, ... I just want my phone number, data, calls and texts. No fuss. Fi is expensive but gives me peace of mind, I never have to worry about my phone, I know it will work just as well as back home.
sametmax 9y ago
I'm kinda of amazed of the Internet and mobile situation in the US. I was in the Silicon Valley recently. Internet was terrible everywhere I went. Phone plans were incredibly expensive. While my French phone plan, that I pay $25 a month, gave me unlimited calls and text messages, even in the US, and from France to the US or vice versa. On top of unlimited 4G in my country, I had 25Go of free 3G in the US for my trip. And it was faster than any Wifi I connected to: hotel, work, restaurant... How is that possible that I was next to Cupertino and Mountain View, yet witnessed this ? This is supposed to be the super tech region of the world, yet it felt nothing like that.
- seanp2k2 9y ago
  That’s how awful cell carrier oligopoly is here. Wired internet is even worse, even in Silicon Valley. I have the choice of Comcast 100mbit Internet (used to be ~20mbit a few years ago) for ~$80 USD per month or nothing. Literally my only real high-speed choice is Comcast in every apartment I’ve rented in the Bay Area in the past 6 years. Many friends are in the same situation. Think about that: ISPs in the US are so firmly entrenched, so highly organized and with such strong lobbies that even in the Bay Area it’s awful. I want to believe that this will change, but I’ll bwlieve it when I see it. Google tried, and it looks like they’re scaling down their expectations for G Fiber rollouts. Wireless likely can’t work without some quantum leap in the tech, and the infra costs for a buildout are MASSIVE (on the order of tens-hundreds of billions for a nation wide network) plus you need permits for every eyesore tower that every city will individually fight you on. These are just some of the reasons that all the people and all the money in the valley can’t fix US ISPs.
- tomcooks 9y ago
  Just to add insult to injury: Don't forget your French sim works without roaming across all EU member states
  - p1esk 9y ago
    On the other hand there are countries like Luxembourg, where cellular data service in the middle of the capital is horrible. The guy in Orange shop who sold me a sim card said I might need to manually switch from 4G to 3G in some areas, because the reception is so bad. And it was bad pretty much everywhere, even on 3G.

garmaine 9y ago

There are T-Mobile plans that work this way.

scrollaway 9y ago
... available to american customers. Wake me up when it's the other way around :/
- jackweirdy 9y ago
  If you're in the UK, Three offer plans that are comparable (if I'm understanding correctly). "Feel at Home": http://www.three.co.uk/feel-at-home http://www.three.co.uk/feel-at-home
- Tijdreiziger 9y ago
  If you're in the Netherlands, KPN offers a 100GB EU+US plan, and T-Mobile offers a Unlimited NL + 10GB EU+US plan (although you should boycott T-Mobile [1]). It's not quite the entire world, but it might be useful if you travel to the US often. [1] https://www.bof.nl/press/t-mobile-allowed-to-keep-violating-net-neutrality-principle/ https://www.bof.nl/press/t-mobile-allowed-to-keep-violating-...
  - voltagex_ 9y ago
    Is there any way I could get a decent KPN SIM prepaid while travelling (I'm not a resident)?
mvid 9y ago
The T-Mobile plan is limited to high speed in North America, and 2G elsewhere. Even when you pay to upgrade to 3G, it’s capped at something like 1/4 MBps. It’s borderline unusable internationally.
- jbuzbee 9y ago
  > It’s borderline unusable internationally. The T-Mobile plan has worked fine for me in both Australia and the UK, even for navigation.

cosmie 9y ago

I have T-Mobile's Simple Choice plan, and while I haven't flown too much internationally, the few times I have, my service has worked seamlessly. My plan includes 4G coverage in Mexico and Canada, and 2G coverage in 100+ other markets (with the option to upgrade for 3G and 4G rates in those markets). Looking at [1] it appears the current plans may not offer this for free anymore, but it's still available. [1] https://www.t-mobile.com/travel-abroad-with-simple-global https://www.t-mobile.com/travel-abroad-with-simple-global

ivanstojic 9y ago
I believe the above commenter talks about the ease/pricing of Fi as much as the experience. I'm using Fi on my iPhone (and have for a while) - and it works worldwide for $10 / 1Gb. It's actually downright magical compared to other offers (even the Apple SIM powered ones).
- dzhiurgis 9y ago
  $10 buys you unlimited LTE in like half europe. If you can actually get these plans using Apple SIM - it’d be order of magnitude cheaper.
  - paranoidrobot 9y ago
    I've used Travel SIMs in the past simply because although they're more expensive, at least they work and I know I'll probably have coverage. Trying to figure out how to get a prepaid plan with a good amount of data that'll work everywhere in Europe isn't easy. Then there's issues about recharging the plan, and many of them don't accept foreign CCs, so you need to be in the country you purchased it in to buy a voucher from the carrier's store. I also hadn't found any 'unlimited' data options on a prepaid SIM - they only appear to be on the more expensive contract plans. At least, based on my searches in France, Netherlands, Denmark and Norway.
    - nordify 9y ago
      Finland has unlimited (without the quotation marks) data on prepaid SIMs from all carriers. Usually for about 1€ per day or 20€ per month. Depending on the plan it will also include unlimited texts and talk.

andrepd 9y ago

In my travels in the EU, I've never had to even lift a finger. It all worked smoothly and reliable. When I stepped off the plane on the other side I got a text letting me know I was in roaming mode and could talk/use data from my current plan. When I returned I got a text saying "welcome back, I hope you had a good trip". Oh, and this is not a premium plan or anything. I pay 7.9EUR for unlimited calls and texts, and 1GB of data.

digi_owl 9y ago
The more i learn about US telecom, the more i wonder how the hell they managed to invent both the landline and mobile phone. Their infrastructure sounds like a balkanized mess...
- wil421 9y ago
  Not really a fair assessment. The 4 larger mobile providers are spilt between GSM and CDMA in the past CDMA phones wouldn’t work abroad, except maybe China. You would even have to buy a CDMA version of the iPhone. The big 4 just buy up all competitors and usually one tries to buy one of the others. Geographically the US is much more expansive than the EU and more robust. I would not compare infrastructure I would compare the regulations. The telcos created the tech and most likely the laws.
  - arcticbull 9y ago
    CDMA is winding up in the US also as all providers move off to LTE leaving their legacy infrastructure to die off at scheduled EoL.
  - spiralpolitik 9y ago
    Regulation was the key difference. The EU mandated a common wireless standard (GSM) to be in use across all countries. The US let the market decide and ended up building 4-5 largely incompatible semi-nationwide networks. Thankfully time, technology, and consolidation has now reduced that down to 2 (CDMA/LTE - Verizon, Sprint, GSM/LTE, AT&T, T-Mobile). LTE will eventually consolidate that down to 1.

rsync 9y ago

"I travel a lot between the US and Europe; I'm using Fi at the moment even though I shouldn't actually have access to it." Would you elaborate ? I am currently traveling in Europe and used the "Orange Holiday Europe" travel SIM which appears to do everything I need it to (tethering, calls to anywhere, etc.) and it "just worked" when I landed. What alternatives to this would be worth looking into ?

scrollaway 9y ago
I know it sounds like a first world problem but I don't like having to take care of my sim card situation when I travel. When I fly I have enough on my mind already and I don't want to have to sorry about getting a new sim, changing plans, enabling something, changing numbers, ... I just want my phone number, data, calls and texts. No fuss. Fi is expensive but gives me peace of mind, I never have to worry about my phone, I know it will work just as well as back home.

sametmax 9y ago

I'm kinda of amazed of the Internet and mobile situation in the US. I was in the Silicon Valley recently. Internet was terrible everywhere I went. Phone plans were incredibly expensive. While my French phone plan, that I pay $25 a month, gave me unlimited calls and text messages, even in the US, and from France to the US or vice versa. On top of unlimited 4G in my country, I had 25Go of free 3G in the US for my trip. And it was faster than any Wifi I connected to: hotel, work, restaurant... How is that possible that I was next to Cupertino and Mountain View, yet witnessed this ? This is supposed to be the super tech region of the world, yet it felt nothing like that.

seanp2k2 9y ago
That’s how awful cell carrier oligopoly is here. Wired internet is even worse, even in Silicon Valley. I have the choice of Comcast 100mbit Internet (used to be ~20mbit a few years ago) for ~$80 USD per month or nothing. Literally my only real high-speed choice is Comcast in every apartment I’ve rented in the Bay Area in the past 6 years. Many friends are in the same situation. Think about that: ISPs in the US are so firmly entrenched, so highly organized and with such strong lobbies that even in the Bay Area it’s awful. I want to believe that this will change, but I’ll bwlieve it when I see it. Google tried, and it looks like they’re scaling down their expectations for G Fiber rollouts. Wireless likely can’t work without some quantum leap in the tech, and the infra costs for a buildout are MASSIVE (on the order of tens-hundreds of billions for a nation wide network) plus you need permits for every eyesore tower that every city will individually fight you on. These are just some of the reasons that all the people and all the money in the valley can’t fix US ISPs.
tomcooks 9y ago
Just to add insult to injury: Don't forget your French sim works without roaming across all EU member states
- p1esk 9y ago
  On the other hand there are countries like Luxembourg, where cellular data service in the middle of the capital is horrible. The guy in Orange shop who sold me a sim card said I might need to manually switch from 4G to 3G in some areas, because the reception is so bad. And it was bad pretty much everywhere, even on 3G.