[cosmie]

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

[ivanstojic]

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).

[cosmie]

The ease with T Mobile is there too. I pay $50/month for my plan, and calls, text, and data effectively works seamlessly in ~160 countries. If I want faster data in some of those countries, I can pay $10 extra.

Google Fi is $20/month for voice and text, plus a variable $10/month per GB up to 6GB where it caps out at $80/month.

Note that I'm not arguing against you, just wanted to clarify that the t mobile experience is just as seamless as Fi, in case I overcomplicated it.

T-Mobile even supports WiFi calling in the same way as Fi, if you want to enable it (handy for me at work, where I'm in a building built like a bunker that gets close to no reception on any network).

[freewizard]

Also note TMobile supports Apple Watch LTE while Fi doesn’t and probably won’t.

[josteink]

Is 6GB seriously the best Google has to offer? I'm on a 7GB monthly plan and I find that limiting...

I guess we have different standards here in Europe.

[cosmie]

As Larrysalibra said, 6GB is basically just the threshold for where you go from paying per GB to it being unlimited. If you use 3GB, you'll be charged $30 for saga. If you use 6GB, you'll be charged $60 for data, and if you use 9GB or 18GB or 30 GB you'll still only be charged $60 for data.

[larrysalibra]

It doesn't stop at 6 gb, they stop charging you for data at 6 gb. It's "free" after that.

[dzhiurgis]

$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]

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]

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.

[voltagex_]

I ended up using a reseller in Australia to get an "EE" SIM for an upcoming trip - feeling like I've been ripped off here as I paid significantly more than $10

Most of the prepaid SIMs I saw had heavy restrictions on tethering - can you point me in the right direction?

[nikon]

Are you travelling to the UK? There are loads of SIM cards for sale in arrivals, including EE.

[alphakappa]

While T-Mobile has 2G coverage for no additional charge outside of US/Mexico, in practice it's not very usable due to the extremely slow speeds. After trying to painfully use maps with that data plan, I had to switch to a regular 3G data plan so I could get on with being a tourist.

[chrisballinger]

The “One Plus” plan has unlimited international 256 kbps LTE and is juuuuust fast enough to get by. The low latency of LTE is helpful to make it feel a lot faster than a 2G connection of similar speed.

[joelrunyon]

Came here to say this.

Their service is amazing + it's completely spoiled me when I end up in Vietnam or another country they don't have coverage and I actually have to get a SIM card.

Such a killer service and I'm surprised more people don't talk about it.

[mvid]

I used to use T-Mobile, but the reason I switched to Fi was because outside of North America, the speed just isn’t there. Even when you pay for the upgraded “3G” speed, it has a low cap for max speed, something like .25 mbps.

You can buy packages for 4g, but they are ludicrously expensive. As in, so expensive they won’t even show you the prices until you are a customer. If I remember, it was in the order of something like $10 for 100mb

There is definitely a data usage threshold where Fi pricing is worse, but if you spend significant time abroad it is hard to beat.

[cosmie]

Interesting!

I've only been to Mexico and Brazil since getting T-Mobile, but in both those cases I didn't have any speed issues with whatever they capped me at.

That said, I just looked and I can buy a 1GB international high speed "Data Pass" for $20, valid for 10 days. I didn't need one for any of my trips, but if that experience is atypical, I could see where Fi would be more attractive.

[kylehotchkiss]

I've used TMobile One in Turkey, India, Armenia, Canada, and UK. And it auto connects to Mexico when I'm nearby too, all for free. Best I could ever ask from a carrier. I'm pretty anxious they're going to get bought out and cut this immediately.

That said, getting a local sim in foreign countries is nice but sometimes takes an annoying amount of work and passport scans.

[Camillo]

The problem is that then you have to use T-Mobile in the US. I have it too, but only because I'm too stingy and lazy to switch. There are areas of San Francisco where it just has no signal, and forget about the Muni tunnels. It's kind of pathetic.