Germany Doesn't Suck

I have a T-Mobile USA SIM card that I use — and there is no roaming for it. My card is actually assigned a Chicago-land number and I’ve used it in Bloomington, Indiana; Denver, Colorado; rural Wyoming; New York City; DC; etc…, without roaming charges. One gets charged a per minute or per day rate, the details of the T-Mobile pay-as-you-go plans are on their website.

Given that you’re starting with a phone from Germany, your technology limits you to choosing between AT&T and T-Mobile. That said, when I was in the market for a SIM Card I quickly found that AT&T was clueless and T-Mobile was the only one that would sell me a pay-as-you-go SIM card quickly and easily, so that’s who I went with. (I actually had an AT&T dealer specifically tell me to go to T-Mobile when I asked if I could buy a SIM Card and do pay-as-you-go; this was probably 3 or so years ago so the current situation may have changed.)

T-Mobile sells refills for its pay-as-you-go service all over the US and those refills are good for any T-Mobile pre-paid SIM. I’ve bought such refills at Walgreens, T-Mobile dealers, T-Mobile stores, as well as other places. The T-Mobile USA website has a very helpful locator service that will help you find the nearest retail outlet.

I’ve been very pleased with my T-Mobile USA pre-paid service. In fact, much to my great surprise, it did work in Rural Wyoming when roaming off of the native T-Mobile network, unlike, I might add, my T-Mobile German SIM’d iPhone, which despite being on a not-pay -as-you-go service did not work once in the state of Wyoming as a phone.
.-= tqe | Adam´s last blog ..My Apartment: Festtafel =-.

I bought a SIM card last time I was in the US. It was easy (especially with that American customer service!!) and as I recall there was no problem with roaming.
.-= CN Heidelberg´s last blog ..Want to see Mannheim? =-.

Excellent – I just saved this “as new” on my feedreader – I”m taking two US trips this year and will have this issue too. Looking forward to reading what people suggest.
.-= Jennifer´s last blog ..More notes from spring, illustrated =-.

Adam, thanks a lot for the info. Would you do me a favor if you still have the US SIM card and pop it in your phone and see if it works in Germany? I see that I can order one and have it shipped to a US address before I go. Ideally, I’d like to have the number when I get there but it requires activation and I think that will require a SMS or something.

CN, thanks. I remember roaming charges from yesteryear.

Jen, I aim to please…lol

J – The one thing I can tell you is that pre-paid T-Mobile SIM cards will *not* work from outside the USA. You can use the SIM from within the US to make international calls (expensive), but the SIM card on pre-paid will not travel. (People under T-Mobile USA contracts can request international travel; same with AT&T, but my impression is that both AT&T and T-Mobile USA think that people don’t travel internationally.)

I actually had to get a new phone the last time I was in the states because (annoyingly) I lost the charger for my tri-band phone… I now carry two phones in the US–my iPhone (as an iPod and for SMSing people in Germany, plus emergency calls), and a tiny brick phone with my US number.

(My iPhone is still locked to T-Mobile Germany, I haven’t felt like jailbreaking it or reached the time where I can get it unlocked because my contract has timed out. Make sure that your Handy is unlocked, otherwise your T-Mobile US SIM will not work in your German phone, even if you use T-Mobile Germany.)

As for activation, I’m clueless — I’ve had this number for at least 3 years and I don’t remember what the activation procedure was any more.
.-= tqe | Adam´s last blog ..My Apartment: Festtafel =-.

Adam, thanks for the info on the card not working abroad.

FYI, I bought my phone in Thailand (future blog post). It has worked on two different Thai networks, a Vietnamese one and now on T-Mobile Germany. It’s also quad-band and can be charged by USB cord, so I think I’m covered.

I’ve done a bit more research and should have more info in a few weeks after I put a few things into play.

Hey J- I walked into a T-mobile store in a tiny town in the US two years ago, bought a SIM, popped it into my (then under contract Telekom phone) and walked out. I top up my minutes yearly, over the phone, and have no issues, no roaming charges,a nd can access my account on line and retain my US number. It was $20 for the account then and that included a bunch of minutes to start with. Took 5 minutes in the store to be activated.
.-= G´s last blog ..It’s going to happen. =-.

The tmobile card I got would expire after 90 days, so I’m surprised to hear that other people are able to use theirs year after year.
I just bought one in the US a couple of weeks back and it was a huge headache. I got it at a Tmobile location at a mall and although the initial activation went through, the credit didn’t. We were on the road and after nearly an hour with customer service, they were still telling me that the only think I could do was travel back to the point of purchase to resolve it. Credit card receipt and all. I got my money back through my credit card company.
Red pocket mobile is supposed to have good rates, but I don’t know where to get a card.
Good luck!