6 ms·

I just traveled to Japan, the Phil, Bulgaria, San Francisco, and Boston without having to change sim cards or worry about my data situation. I'm going to keep i

by buf 8y ago

I just traveled to Japan, the Phil, Bulgaria, San Francisco, and Boston without having to change sim cards or worry about my data situation. I'm going to keep it until someone else can do the same at a lower price.

jxi 8y ago
T-Mobile does it for cheaper than Fi, especially if you have a family plan. I've also heard reports that they have better global coverage than Google Fi due to better negotiated deals with the local companies. For example, Fi doesn't work well in Vietnam whereas T-Mobile does.
faitswulff 8y ago
Why not T-Mobile?
- sithadmin 8y ago
  Fi negotiated better terms for international roaming with TMO than TMO gives its own customers. TMO customers are rate-throttled abroad; Fi is not.
  - toomuchtodo 8y ago
    But I can get a TMO customer rep on the phone in under 60 seconds. And just did, moments ago, to get an unlock code for an iPhone I sent with a friend who moved out of the US. Trade offs!
- buf 8y ago
  2G speeds: https://www.t-mobile.com/travel-abroad-with-simple-global https://www.t-mobile.com/travel-abroad-with-simple-global
- mcrae 8y ago
  TMO only gives 2G internationally which, while it doesn’t sound terrible, it ends up being unusable in practice. Your experience may vary though I guess.
  - andrewvc 8y ago
    Yes, can confirm. I can't actually load a webpage on their '2G' service anytime I travel to europe. I suspect that their partners in europe throttle with an algorithm so aggressive it flat-out breaks TCP.
    - reificator 8y ago
      > I can't actually load a webpage on their '2G' service anytime I travel to europe Remember when web pages were measured in kilobytes? Pepperidge Farms remembers.
  - teraflop 8y ago
    T-Mobile's throttling does a great job of highlighting how bloated a lot of modern websites have gotten. The last time I tried using it overseas, text-heavy sites like HN loaded almost as fast as normal. Reddit was mostly usable, but certain subreddits were painfully slow due to image-heavy custom styles. But try to load an article from a typical news website, and the connection would time out before it managed to render anything.
    - chris11 8y ago
      It's not a horrible solution though. I'm kind of cheap, I don't want to pay for unlimited data. So I have an inexpensive plan with T-Mobile that gets throttled. But I can still have some internet access for free once I go over my limit.
  - Someone1234 8y ago
    That's accurate. You can however pay for international 3G via their "One Plus" upgrade package if you wish, which makes it at least usable.
    - mvid 8y ago
      It’s not true 3G. It shows up in your tab bar as 3G, but it is throttled to 2x what the 2G is, something like .25 Mbps. It makes it marginally useful, but nowhere close to Fi. I’m saying this as someone who runs Fi on an iPhone, using it in a half broken hacky way is still superior to TMo
- ForTheTimeBeing 8y ago
  My wife and I just traveled to Korea and Japan for the better part of December. And I have a Google Fi plan while she is with T-mobile. My service was superior in several ways: 1. Better and more reliable coverage 2. Roaming surcharges for my (Google Fi) calls where less (albeit, nominally so) at $0.20/min vs $0.25/min 3. While she had some problems enabling her data, the transition of my service in this respect was absolutely seamless (and as just fast as here in the States) 4. Importantly, Google Fi supports tethering abroad whereas T-mobile does not
  - atomical 8y ago
    I'm a T-Mobile customer. I use EasyTether to tether wherever I am.
  - disiplus 8y ago
    wtf USA, blocking tethering in roaming.
kung_fu_jive 8y ago
I can relate to this. I was in Japan for two weeks and the international data worked flawlessly for me. I was diligent about tracking my usage and didn't see any charges out of line with my expectations. It made navigating the public transit a cakewalk. I'm in the same boat.
- soperj 8y ago
  Why not download the maps before hand? Whenever I go abroad, I just download the maps in advance, and have no issue at all with just being on airplane mode.
  - kung_fu_jive 8y ago
    That is a great suggestion. I did rely on more than just transit information however. Using translate, looking up services and reviews for services, reserving a rental vehicle for two days, etc. Some of my needs couldn't be anticipated such as meeting a bartender in Osaka and being recommended a Japanese band to check out. Researching how to purchase tickets was something I didn't anticipate needing to do while planning the trip.
    - soperj 8y ago
      You can actually download an offline translation file as well for google translate.
  - xster 8y ago
    Depends on the individual's travel style I guess. I'm a very spontaneous unplanned type traveler so I use a lot more than just navigation data during the day. Things like venues' reviews, event tickets, hotel bookings, train tickets, travel blogs, local payment apps, rideshare apps, answering VoIP calls/messages/voicemails from home number etc.
  - propogandist 8y ago
    You cannot download offline maps for Japan, at least on Google Maps
iammiles 8y ago
This has been my experience as well. Last year I went on a trip through Morocco and the UK. Never worried about my usage despite using services like Spotify and Google Maps. Got a bill that I would expect with traveling within the States. My normal day-to-day has me on WiFi the majority of the time so my phone bill usually comes out to about $36 a month. Edit: For the curious, I've been using Fi with a Pixel 2 since the phone was released.
- martin_bech 8y ago
  In Denmark 36usd will get you unlimited calls, texting, 40gb of data and worldwide roaming.. seems like the same is priced at 80usd at google fi? The US is a wierd place.. https://www.3.dk/abonnementer/mobil/40-gb-mobilabonnement-info/ https://www.3.dk/abonnementer/mobil/40-gb-mobilabonnement-in...
raz32dust 8y ago
It's all good until you have to deal with Google support
- codereflection 8y ago
  I can relate to that. I spoke with 3 different support agents and got 3 different answers to my problem.
zavi 8y ago
It even worked for me flawlessly in China, no extrw VPN software needed.
zamalek 8y ago
I'd bite and switch if there was someone else in America who wasn't truthfully awful in some way. I cannot morally support the likes of Verizon and AT&T. T-Mobile are the good guys, but spotty reception is a more common occurrence than bad support; I haven't had to call support once in two years, but my phone has switched networks multiple times.
kevinflo 8y ago
I tried to do the same during a bout of extended international travel. I popped out the fi sim once to try a super cheap local unlimited data sim (some countries are great for this), only to find out afterwards that it killed the fi pairing, and that re-pairing is not possible while abroad (tried VPNs etc., no dice). Your only method to get paired again is to either fly to the states (Hawaii), or to ship the phone to someone in the states and have them ship it back. Ended up having to go months without my main cell service, although months later it did somehow pair again while I was in Japan. Keep in mind that you'd be just as out of luck if you wanted to switch phones while traveling, like if your primary was lost or stolen. For that reason, I canceled fi immediately upon returning to the states and strongly caution anyone I know against fi for extended travel.
- lwf 8y ago
  Weird, I haven't had that experience -- I've switched between Fi and my work SIM several times while abroad using the chooser in my Pixel 3's settings… Did you perhaps somehow reset your eSIM? Edit: ah, you were using a physical SIM. Mildly ironic that you'd have a worse experience "re-pairing" than with an eSIM. Related anecdote: at 34c3 last year, I was able to activate Fi while in Germany, but 6 months later, no matter how many agents I talked to (none of whom identified being in Europe as the problem), I wasn't able to reactivate it in Europe. This was because I had paused my service and switched phones, and they apparently implemented checks to prevent activation outside the USA. Or, I was the accidental beneficiary of the various GSM hacking going on at Congress, and it never was supposed to work in the first place. Curious if it'd be effectual (although impractical) to use an AT&T femtocel to activate while abroad…

by buf 8y ago

jxi 8y ago

T-Mobile does it for cheaper than Fi, especially if you have a family plan. I've also heard reports that they have better global coverage than Google Fi due to better negotiated deals with the local companies. For example, Fi doesn't work well in Vietnam whereas T-Mobile does.

faitswulff 8y ago

Why not T-Mobile?

sithadmin 8y ago
Fi negotiated better terms for international roaming with TMO than TMO gives its own customers. TMO customers are rate-throttled abroad; Fi is not.
- toomuchtodo 8y ago
  But I can get a TMO customer rep on the phone in under 60 seconds. And just did, moments ago, to get an unlock code for an iPhone I sent with a friend who moved out of the US. Trade offs!
buf 8y ago
2G speeds: https://www.t-mobile.com/travel-abroad-with-simple-global https://www.t-mobile.com/travel-abroad-with-simple-global
mcrae 8y ago
TMO only gives 2G internationally which, while it doesn’t sound terrible, it ends up being unusable in practice. Your experience may vary though I guess.
- andrewvc 8y ago
  Yes, can confirm. I can't actually load a webpage on their '2G' service anytime I travel to europe. I suspect that their partners in europe throttle with an algorithm so aggressive it flat-out breaks TCP.
  - reificator 8y ago
    > I can't actually load a webpage on their '2G' service anytime I travel to europe Remember when web pages were measured in kilobytes? Pepperidge Farms remembers.
- teraflop 8y ago
  T-Mobile's throttling does a great job of highlighting how bloated a lot of modern websites have gotten. The last time I tried using it overseas, text-heavy sites like HN loaded almost as fast as normal. Reddit was mostly usable, but certain subreddits were painfully slow due to image-heavy custom styles. But try to load an article from a typical news website, and the connection would time out before it managed to render anything.
  - chris11 8y ago
    It's not a horrible solution though. I'm kind of cheap, I don't want to pay for unlimited data. So I have an inexpensive plan with T-Mobile that gets throttled. But I can still have some internet access for free once I go over my limit.
- Someone1234 8y ago
  That's accurate. You can however pay for international 3G via their "One Plus" upgrade package if you wish, which makes it at least usable.
  - mvid 8y ago
    It’s not true 3G. It shows up in your tab bar as 3G, but it is throttled to 2x what the 2G is, something like .25 Mbps. It makes it marginally useful, but nowhere close to Fi. I’m saying this as someone who runs Fi on an iPhone, using it in a half broken hacky way is still superior to TMo
ForTheTimeBeing 8y ago
My wife and I just traveled to Korea and Japan for the better part of December. And I have a Google Fi plan while she is with T-mobile. My service was superior in several ways: 1. Better and more reliable coverage 2. Roaming surcharges for my (Google Fi) calls where less (albeit, nominally so) at $0.20/min vs $0.25/min 3. While she had some problems enabling her data, the transition of my service in this respect was absolutely seamless (and as just fast as here in the States) 4. Importantly, Google Fi supports tethering abroad whereas T-mobile does not
- atomical 8y ago
  I'm a T-Mobile customer. I use EasyTether to tether wherever I am.
- disiplus 8y ago
  wtf USA, blocking tethering in roaming.

kung_fu_jive 8y ago

I can relate to this. I was in Japan for two weeks and the international data worked flawlessly for me. I was diligent about tracking my usage and didn't see any charges out of line with my expectations. It made navigating the public transit a cakewalk. I'm in the same boat.

soperj 8y ago
Why not download the maps before hand? Whenever I go abroad, I just download the maps in advance, and have no issue at all with just being on airplane mode.
- kung_fu_jive 8y ago
  That is a great suggestion. I did rely on more than just transit information however. Using translate, looking up services and reviews for services, reserving a rental vehicle for two days, etc. Some of my needs couldn't be anticipated such as meeting a bartender in Osaka and being recommended a Japanese band to check out. Researching how to purchase tickets was something I didn't anticipate needing to do while planning the trip.
  - soperj 8y ago
    You can actually download an offline translation file as well for google translate.
- xster 8y ago
  Depends on the individual's travel style I guess. I'm a very spontaneous unplanned type traveler so I use a lot more than just navigation data during the day. Things like venues' reviews, event tickets, hotel bookings, train tickets, travel blogs, local payment apps, rideshare apps, answering VoIP calls/messages/voicemails from home number etc.
- propogandist 8y ago
  You cannot download offline maps for Japan, at least on Google Maps

iammiles 8y ago

This has been my experience as well. Last year I went on a trip through Morocco and the UK. Never worried about my usage despite using services like Spotify and Google Maps. Got a bill that I would expect with traveling within the States. My normal day-to-day has me on WiFi the majority of the time so my phone bill usually comes out to about $36 a month. Edit: For the curious, I've been using Fi with a Pixel 2 since the phone was released.

martin_bech 8y ago
In Denmark 36usd will get you unlimited calls, texting, 40gb of data and worldwide roaming.. seems like the same is priced at 80usd at google fi? The US is a wierd place.. https://www.3.dk/abonnementer/mobil/40-gb-mobilabonnement-info/ https://www.3.dk/abonnementer/mobil/40-gb-mobilabonnement-in...

raz32dust 8y ago

It's all good until you have to deal with Google support

codereflection 8y ago
I can relate to that. I spoke with 3 different support agents and got 3 different answers to my problem.

zavi 8y ago

It even worked for me flawlessly in China, no extrw VPN software needed.

zamalek 8y ago

I'd bite and switch if there was someone else in America who wasn't truthfully awful in some way. I cannot morally support the likes of Verizon and AT&T. T-Mobile are the good guys, but spotty reception is a more common occurrence than bad support; I haven't had to call support once in two years, but my phone has switched networks multiple times.

kevinflo 8y ago

I tried to do the same during a bout of extended international travel. I popped out the fi sim once to try a super cheap local unlimited data sim (some countries are great for this), only to find out afterwards that it killed the fi pairing, and that re-pairing is not possible while abroad (tried VPNs etc., no dice). Your only method to get paired again is to either fly to the states (Hawaii), or to ship the phone to someone in the states and have them ship it back. Ended up having to go months without my main cell service, although months later it did somehow pair again while I was in Japan. Keep in mind that you'd be just as out of luck if you wanted to switch phones while traveling, like if your primary was lost or stolen. For that reason, I canceled fi immediately upon returning to the states and strongly caution anyone I know against fi for extended travel.

lwf 8y ago
Weird, I haven't had that experience -- I've switched between Fi and my work SIM several times while abroad using the chooser in my Pixel 3's settings… Did you perhaps somehow reset your eSIM? Edit: ah, you were using a physical SIM. Mildly ironic that you'd have a worse experience "re-pairing" than with an eSIM. Related anecdote: at 34c3 last year, I was able to activate Fi while in Germany, but 6 months later, no matter how many agents I talked to (none of whom identified being in Europe as the problem), I wasn't able to reactivate it in Europe. This was because I had paused my service and switched phones, and they apparently implemented checks to prevent activation outside the USA. Or, I was the accidental beneficiary of the various GSM hacking going on at Congress, and it never was supposed to work in the first place. Curious if it'd be effectual (although impractical) to use an AT&T femtocel to activate while abroad…