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Bounce · 01-13-2008, 08:42 AM

So here it is....I recently added a line to my account, which is in another country right now....

The settings are as such:

Mobile Network is set to off, and options for mobile network are set to WIFI ONLY

Wifi is Set to On....and UMA is active (using the T-Mobile Issues HotSpot Linksys Router on a Ethernet Cable Connection overseas)

Bluetooth is set to off....not that it should matter....

So the phone is connected exclusively over UMA...and if the phone should leave a UMA area it will be set to OFF!

Now, question for you is...I want to be CERTAIN that I am not getting charged international roaming for these calls....(I understand, that as long as you call to your home area in the United States (which is pretty much nationwide USA) you will not get charged with UMA...regardless of where you are) -- is it also true that the router cannot determine where you are calling from (by checking the router IP addy, etc?)

Now, the strange this is this.....on my one line that has been in the united states this whole time...my minutes usage in my T-Mobile statement is up to date....as of the past 30 minutes when I log in....

however....

The line which is overseas has not updated since the time it left the U.S. and I have made and received calls from it over the UMA network...and it has not updated at all....it acts as if there has been no usage altogether....as far as my minutes used billing statement is concerned....

Further, I called T-Mobile CSRs 2x to figure out what was going on....but obviously not directly mention anything regarding overseas travel....the first CSR told me that sometimes the minutes do not update automatically, and might take a while if you are latched on to another network in another country (he went thru a bunch of scenarios and mentioned that if the phone was not in the USA this would happen)....the second CSR simply told me...no calls have been made with this phone anywhere....or at least it just doesn't show up....

Funny thing is that, the phone outside of the USA doesn't show any outgoing calls, but my other curve...shows incoming calls from that number...after the period the phone was outside of the states....

Someone please help me clarify this...because I def do not want to see an enormous bill next month....

John Clark · 01-13-2008, 09:49 AM

Any calls/data made over UMA are counted as they normally would in the states. You will not get any international roaming charges, etc. As for why the calls aren't showing up, not sure. But you don't have to worry about getting any international usage bills.

Bounce · 01-13-2008, 09:53 AM

^^ That is what I thought John....just hearing it from you makes me much more comfortable about it...

It's really weird how they are not showing up at all!!!

Oh, I found this on TMO's website for anyone else...

Can I make or receive calls from outside of the United States?

T-Mobile cannot guarantee Wi-Fi service outside your home or US HotSpot locations.

Calling from international locations with your T-Mobile HotSpot Phone and Wireless Router works the same as if calling from the US. The normal domestic rates apply when making a call to a location within the US, and international long distance applies when making a call to a location outside the US.

NOTE: There are no call hand offs to or from networks other than T-Mobile USAxxx8217;s network, and Wi-Fi calls cannot be made or received at T-Mobile HotSpot locations outside of the US.

*Bluetooth is a trademark owned by SIG, Inc. and is used by T-Mobile under license.

T-Mobile HotSpot @Home – Technical Information

TeritaM · 01-13-2008, 02:44 PM

Are you receiving data overseas as well using just the UMA?

John Clark · 01-13-2008, 02:46 PM

Wirelessly posted (BB 8860: BlackBerry8320/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Quote:

Originally Posted by TeritaM

Are you receiving data overseas as well using just the UMA?

UMA will give you voice and data as if you are on the Tmo USA network, no matter where you are.

Bounce · 01-13-2008, 02:54 PM

Yes, like John mentioned....everything works as it would over the EDGE network....calls, emails, instant and text messages

actually, i should take that back...it actually works BETTER overseas because of the quality of the WIFI Services here....when I am at home with WIFI, I get many dropped calls and so forth, despite the fact that I have comcast cable internet and the t-mobile router....anytime there are people using my network it tends to bog up the bandwidth and UMA drops out....

bucketmouth · 01-13-2008, 03:04 PM

i have tmo@home and heading to bahamas for a week, as long as the uma is on my phone all data and calls are free correct?

John Clark · 01-13-2008, 03:20 PM

Wirelessly posted (BB 8860: BlackBerry8320/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Quote:

Originally Posted by bucketmouth

i have tmo@home and heading to bahamas for a week, as long as the uma is on my phone all data and calls are free correct?

Yes. Over UMA everything is as if you were home in the US.

monkeypaw · 01-13-2008, 05:13 PM

I have just a regular BB plan (no H@H) and almost none of my UMA calls show up on my Tmobile account. I literally mean maybe 10% of them do.

Doesn't matter where I am. I did make some from Asia over UMA that did not show, however almost none of my UMA calls at home or on other wireless routers show up either. The most likely ones to show are if I cal voicemail or Tmobile, however even those seldom show.

My understanding is that Hotspot@Home calls do not show in the call log. So it seems that even though my minutes should be deducting, my account is acting almost as if I have H@H.

hdawg · 01-13-2008, 08:42 PM

Here's to hoping while I'm at 3GSM there is excellent wireless coverage; I don't want a stinking huge international data bill

logisnews · 01-19-2008, 06:35 PM

I called T-Mobile to confirm that UMA calls from overseas DONT incur intl roaming charges.

They assured me that they do; I had them check with a supervisor and the t-mobile rep said that yes, without a doubt I will incur $1.49 a minute charges if I try to use wi-fi calling in Thailand next week.

I told them the whole reason I went with t-mobile int he first places was because of the ability to use the blackberry 8320 overseas... and that I'd called twice before to confirm that I would not incur intl charges... two previous reps assured me this was okay as long as I didn't try to call locally withing the foreign country... calls to USA numbers were billed at home rate.

But this latest rep (and her supervisor) said that's not true.

Is there anywhere on t-mobiles website that spells this out?

Thanks

Jim

sgtcasey · 01-19-2008, 06:51 PM

Unless they've changed their billing procedures in the last two weeks that is not true. You most likely got a Customer Care rep, not a UMA rep which is no excuse, but while I was working for T-Mobile the number of people who still did not know how HotSpot@Home works or what it needed always amazed me.

As far as I know, if you see UMA on your device and place a call that call appears as if you are in the US. The reason it works like that is because your phone connects to a server in the US when you are using UMA. When your call is routed out onto the regular phone network it is being done so from the US. Hence your calls appear as if you're right in the US and the billing is done accordingly.

I'm not sure how you could determine if someone was overseas or not. Going by IP address is unreliable in determining physical location.

In short, the rep and their supervisor were wrong. Unless T-Mobile changed something in the last two weeks.

Dave

monkeypaw · 01-19-2008, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by logisnews

I called T-Mobile to confirm that UMA calls from overseas DONT incur intl roaming charges.

They assured me that they do; I had them check with a supervisor and the t-mobile rep said that yes, without a doubt I will incur $1.49 a minute charges if I try to use wi-fi calling in Thailand next week.

snip

In November I called over wifi (UMA) from Thailand and those were part of those minutes that never show on my account. Plenty of other folks have called over UMA from other countries and had no problems. sgtcasey is right in that unless something has changed recently, you should have no problems.

Since the billing on UMA should be instantaneous, you should be able to check after the first call on what it's doing.

trigrampictures · 01-20-2008, 01:18 AM

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

TroyDBrown · 01-20-2008, 01:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trigrampictures

There is no way that T-Mobile can know where you are logging in from.

Actually they can tell by the IP address but have choosen not to bill for this. If you can connect via WiFi then they don't care where you are.

Quote:

Originally Posted by trigrampictures

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!

Sounds like you got a rep that didn't know how UMA works. In the T-Mobile FAQ about HotSpot @ Home it states that you can use WiFi from anywhere.

John Clark · 01-20-2008, 02:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by logisnews

I called T-Mobile to confirm that UMA calls from overseas DONT incur intl roaming charges.

They assured me that they do; I had them check with a supervisor and the t-mobile rep said that yes, without a doubt I will incur $1.49 a minute charges if I try to use wi-fi calling in Thailand next week.

I told them the whole reason I went with t-mobile int he first places was because of the ability to use the blackberry 8320 overseas... and that I'd called twice before to confirm that I would not incur intl charges... two previous reps assured me this was okay as long as I didn't try to call locally withing the foreign country... calls to USA numbers were billed at home rate.

But this latest rep (and her supervisor) said that's not true.

Is there anywhere on t-mobiles website that spells this out?

Thanks

Jim

I agree with everyone else here. This is wrong info from the reps. You will not incur charges for calls back to the US while on UMA, no matter where you are. Now if you're in London and you call London you will be charged for a call from the US to London.

Bounce · 01-20-2008, 12:45 PM

Let me clarify as well....I just returned from Aruba....

I honestly hope, and I have been checking my t-mo online access each day, that I do not get charged for any of my UMA calls. The update as far as I can tell is that some UMA calls show up as (U) - which stands for UMA on a TMO Bill....and most just do not show up at all...I don't know why this is.....

but so far I have not been charged for them.....

and if you notice my earlier post above...there is a LINK to a T-Mobile website which clearly states that UMA access doesn't matter where you log in from, and it will be billed as a call originating from your home area....

check it out.

UMA ROCKS!

count88 · 01-23-2008, 12:08 PM

Thanks for the valuable information on this thread. I just bit the bullet and bought a 8320 to use overseas. I have two specific questions -

1. Do I have to subscribe to TMO @Home? I understand that if I don't, my minutes will be charged (at least in the US).

2. Is is just UMA or will any WIFI phone like Dash work?

Thanks

Bounce · 01-23-2008, 12:11 PM

Count88:

If you do not subscribe to TMO @ Home Service, the plan will naturally deduct from your minutes...so make sure you do not go over your minutes, otherwise it will charge you airtime.

Now I will attest, along with some other UMA users on this board, that TMO for some reason does not have pinpoint accuracy in their UMA billing. This being so because some of the calls (pretty much all of the calls from outside the states) that I made...do and did not show up on my billing statement whatsoever. However if you are going to talk a considerable amount on your phone, I would recommend a @home plan.

As far as right now the only UMA phones that work are the one's tmobile has noted as thier hotspot @home phones...you can check if the dash is one of those on their website.

John Clark · 01-23-2008, 12:19 PM

just to clarify...

Without H@H, minutes used over UMA (no matter where) are just deducted from whatever minute plan you have. H@H just gives you unlimited minutes over UMA.

It makes no differernce where you are. If you have UMA on the device then calls will be deducted as if you are calling from the US (essentially, you are.)

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