Database Users

Being Deployed to Germany - Can I Keep US T-Mobile Plan?

Hey guys,
So I'm being deployed to Germany for 2 years, and I would like to know if I can keep my US T-Mobile service and use it over there. The dude at T-Mobile said that my G1 will not work in germany. He said I would have to get a new, German G1 and get a new service plan with the provider over there.
My phone is currently rooted and I use Cyanogen's roms. I have no idea who the provider is over there.
Guessing I would be roaming?
G1 not a world phone?
Would tethering still work?
Any information or help is greatly appreciated. I leave next Tuesday and need to get things squared away before I go.
Thanks!
EDIT: Maybe this needs to be moved to Q&A, my bad. If so, mod please move it. Sorry

lol the provider over there is T-Mobile.... they're a german company
as for the phone I think (but not 100%) it will work.
Your plan is with T-Mobile US and thus you will be in roaming when in Germany, will cost you a heck of a lot of money, would be cheaper to cancel it maybe?

T-Mobile originated in Germany.
A quick google search shows that T-Mobile 3G operates on the 1700/2100 frequency in both the US and in Germany. So looks like your phone will have all its features in both countries.

you can call tmobile and tell them that you are being deployed, and you may be able to suspend but as mentioned above, you will be roaming and it will cost a ton, you can get a prepaid sim with service in germany and get your phone unlocked? may be an option, check the carrier in germany's website and see if they say what radio bands they use.

thanks for the replies. The d-bag at the t-mobile kiosk is obviously unaware the history of the company he works for.
He did mention though that it would cost a ton to stay on my US plan and use the phone over there. He said it can be done if the phone is unlocked. I'm not sure what that means, but, like I said, it is rooted.
Also, I don't want to suspend my plan, cause I'll still get to use it a lot. I'm not going into combat, just a medical station in Heidelberg, so I'll have off duty hours and would like to use sms.
Maybe did he mean I'd have to carrier unlock it, like I did to my old Dash? I dunno...god I'm a noob.

d0m1n0 said:
thanks for the replies. The d-bag at the t-mobile kiosk is obviously unaware the history of the company he works for.
He did mention though that it would cost a ton to stay on my US plan and use the phone over there. He said it can be done if the phone is unlocked. I'm not sure what that means, but, like I said, it is rooted.
Also, I don't want to suspend my plan, cause I'll still get to use it a lot. I'm not going into combat, just a medical station in Heidelberg, so I'll have off duty hours and would like to use sms.
Maybe did he mean I'd have to carrier unlock it, like I did to my old Dash? I dunno...god I'm a noob.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you go to Germany and use a prepaid SIM, your phone will prompt you for the unlock code. Your phone comes locked to T-Mobile US, and SIM cards from any other providers (including T-Mobile Germany) will prompt for the unlock code.
You can get the unlock code by calling T-Mobile, if you've been a customer for longer than 90 days. As for root, it's unrelated to lock/unlock.

cigar3tte said:
When you go to Germany and use a prepaid SIM, your phone will prompt you for the unlock code. Your phone comes locked to T-Mobile US, and SIM cards from any other providers (including T-Mobile Germany) will prompt for the unlock code.
You can get the unlock code by calling T-Mobile, if you've been a customer for longer than 90 days. As for root, it's unrelated to lock/unlock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I understand. maybe I'll just get rid of the G1 plan and go back to my Dash, that's completely unlocked. Or maybe I'll just say F it and buy a new device when I get over there. Like I said, the only reason I'll be using it is for sms to my buddies, and an occasional call back to the US. But I might get an internet service for phone calls, I dunno.
I appreciate all the quick replies. I'll get it figured out. Probably just change to a German plan and get a new phone when I get there. Get a pretty good cost of living pay that I can buy a new phone with

d0m1n0 said:
Ok, I understand. maybe I'll just get rid of the G1 plan and go back to my Dash, that's completely unlocked. Or maybe I'll just say F it and buy a new device when I get over there. Like I said, the only reason I'll be using it is for sms to my buddies, and an occasional call back to the US. But I might get an internet service for phone calls, I dunno.
I appreciate all the quick replies. I'll get it figured out. Probably just change to a German plan and get a new phone when I get there. Get a pretty good cost of living pay that I can buy a new phone with
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, keep your phone, it costs nothing but time to get it unlocked with T-Mobile, just tell them you need to use the phone overseas. I think it took 2 or 3 days to get the code after I made the request.

I agree. Tmobile unlocked my G1 when I traveled no problem. So call them and ask for an unlock code. Then just sign up with T-Mobile Germany when you get there. All will be well and you get to keep the g1

d0m1n0 said:
Hey guys,
So I'm being deployed to Germany for 2 years, and I would like to know if I can keep my US T-Mobile service and use it over there. The dude at T-Mobile said that my G1 will not work in germany. He said I would have to get a new, German G1 and get a new service plan with the provider over there.
My phone is currently rooted and I use Cyanogen's roms. I have no idea who the provider is over there.
Guessing I would be roaming?
G1 not a world phone?
Would tethering still work?
Any information or help is greatly appreciated. I leave next Tuesday and need to get things squared away before I go.
Thanks!
EDIT: Maybe this needs to be moved to Q&A, my bad. If so, mod please move it. Sorry
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you move outside T-Mobile USA's calling area (out of the country counts) and you can show them you did (call 800-937-8997) they will let you pass on the early termination fee.
Just ask a customer care rep know what you need to provided them to show you moved out of their coverage area to get your ETF fee waved.
Also if you have had TMO for more then 90 days you can reqeust a SIM unlock code. I would do this before you cancel service...

T-Mobile G1 in Europe?

I live in the US and I have a trip planned to London, Paris and Rome in May. I own a T-mobile G1 and was wondering what my best option was for using my G1 in those cities. I know there are a lot of European users here on XDA so I was hoping somebody could give me some advise from experience. I do realize that the 3G won't work over there no matter what I do.
Thanks for any and all help!

NickPDX said:
I live in the US and I have a trip planned to London, Paris and Rome in May. I own a T-mobile G1 and was wondering what my best option was for using my G1 in those cities. I know there are a lot of European users here on XDA so I was hoping somebody could give me some advise from experience. I do realize that the 3G won't work over there no matter what I do.
Thanks for any and all help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3G should work fine. When you get there, buy a local prepaid simcard.

You need to unlock it first, call T-Mo and tell them what you just posted and they will give you the unlock code.

Your best bet for London (once you've got the phone unlocked) is a "pay as you go" sim from three. Just put £10 credit on it and you'll get a 150mb, 90day internet allowance. If you need to top it up again you get that allowance renewed every time.

Unless I am mistaking, the phone is rooted and is running a non stock rom, thus it is unlocked. I will look into the prepaid sim cards. Will I have to get a different one for each of the countries/cities?
@lbcoder: are you sure about the 3G? since this is a t-mobile phone I was under the impression that the bands it uses for 3G are only the N. American Bands and would only work over here.

Not unlocked for other networks, you need to get it unlocked to use other networks.

NickPDX said:
Unless I am mistaking, the phone is rooted and is running a non stock rom, thus it is unlocked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sim unlock isn't the same thing as root.. You need a code from t-mobile for that. They'll give you one if you tell them what you've told us.
NickPDX said:
I will look into the prepaid sim cards. Will I have to get a different one for each of the countries/cities?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's going to be the cheapest way to do it.. You'll get brutally raped for roaming charges otherwise. In the UK the cards are usually free, you just have to buy the calling credit.

TMO will give you your SIM unlock code for free if your account has been paid up for 90 days or longer. They take up to 7 days. I had to get this from TMO via my American friend when I bought my G1 off him. There are places online where you can pay $25 or so and get an unlock code within hours. SIM unlock is not the same thing as root.
I'm also just about to go to Europe! Vodafone turned on global roaming for free (I just pay for calls) and they sells packs of roaming data, I got 25Mb for $50, which is way cheaper than their usual rate of $10 per 1Mb! For me this is easier than stuffing round with pre-paid SIM cards, changing number and whatever, I also don't know if a pre-paid SIM gives mobile data access? Give TMO a call and see what they offer.
I will turn off Sync and use DroidWall to make sure stuff doesn't update in the background and use all my allowance. It's really only to update Facebook to let people know I am still alive

Your G1 will most definitely work and use 3G in London. You can grab a T-Mo prepaid SIM from the multiple vending machines in the airport when you arrive in London, and swap it in and start using it immediately. I did exactly this at both Gatwick and Heathrow. Do like the other posters said and call T-Mobile in the US and get the unlock code before you fly. It's free that way. I did that too, and they are cool about it. It took about 24 hours after my request and it was emailed to me. The one thing that confused me at first was my G1 kept asking for a "SIM unlock code" or something like that after I had unlocked it using the T-Mobile code. Turns out it was a security setting that I could disable, to prevent someone from using the phone if they stole it. Two totally different "SIM unlocks". Now I know.

Noob question about Unlocking

Hi,
sorry if this has been posted before:
I'd like to know if I buy this phone from Carriers different from my local BELL carrier , would it be possible to unlock the Legend myself for FREE?
I know i can pay $20 to buy some unlock code to unlock the phone from several websites but im wondering if its something i can generate somehow using tools that the members has developped from xda?
Thanks

I am also wondering if I can unlock this bad boy for use on our Telus network here in Canada... Virgin Mobile has it as of right now, and Bell is going to get it on the 16th (that may solve your problem, OP) but I'm looking at buying it outright and unlocking it for Telus... Possible? and possibly free? or do I have to pay for unlocking? (never unlocked a phone before)

Joeball88 said:
I am also wondering if I can unlock this bad boy for use on our Telus network here in Canada... Virgin Mobile has it as of right now, and Bell is going to get it on the 16th (that may solve your problem, OP) but I'm looking at buying it outright and unlocking it for Telus... Possible? and possibly free? or do I have to pay for unlocking? (never unlocked a phone before)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Been googling and so far nothing but PAID unlock codes...
but to answer your question... that's what the "unlocking" is for... once you unlock your phone you can use it on any carrier and therefore not locked to a specific carrier... yes Virgin has it so you can buy Virgin's Legend and use it on Telus once unlocked of course. You'll probably have some Virgin's and Bell's software on it which you cant use.

you can flash it with a unbranded firmware, "RUU", it's a exe file, lanch it from pc and it installs the new firmware just like a firmware update should work this way

I have the Virgin Legend and there are only two signs of any carrier customizations: A Self Serve App (it's actually a shortcut to Bell's site, and it doesn't even work) and a TV & Music App (which can't connect). I am guessing that they don't work because it's probably identical to the Bell Legend which has those on it, I don't think they're intended for the Virgin model, or at least they're not tapped into the system properly yet.

you can unlock for $10 at cellunlock.net with coupon code crackb50. got this from howard forums.

Thanks for the coupon code. I just used it now. $10 is a lot more reasonable than $20 (regular price was actually $30 but it was $10 off before the coupon).
I was going to get a Rebel SIM II shipped to me but Koodo released SIM cards today and I want to get this thing unlocked before the weekend. Hope typing in a number doesn't void the warranty.

[Q] Loyalty phone 1st web compatible with HD2?

Hi I need help with this. My friend has "loyalty phone 1st web" which is a data plan on tmobile. She pays 10 dollars a month and I asked the tmobile rep and he responded that the plan is similar to the "web2go" plan. I have a nexus one with tzones and I popped in her sim card and it works fine. However, her sim card doesn't work in an iphone and an upsell page pops up saying to upgrade to web2go. My sim card however has no problems with the iphone since i have tzones. The question is now I'm doing research on whether it's safe to buy a used HD2 off craigslist that is tied to contract with warranty which means it's probably not unlocked. I read other threads saying that changing the APN to internet2.voicestream.com will work but they never clearly say that it will work with a locked HD2 as opposed to unlocked or bought internationally or full retail. I'd appreciate if anyone can give me advice. Thanks.

(Historically) Which are the preferred carriers to purchase from?

CDMA - Verizon (not), Sprint?, U.S. Cellular?
GSM - AT&T?, T-Mobile?
As with a lot of other people on this site, I'm wondering which carrier will be best to pre-order from? I use Verizon but HATE the fact that most of the times it's one of the last carriers to be able to root the phone. I would also hate for this to turn into another Verizon Samsung Note 4 issue. Too bad the rumors where Samsung was going to start making phones that were both CDMA & GSM/UTMS were not true (as far as I am aware of).
This way since I'm now paying outright for my phones (roughly $800 bucks for 7 Edge), I could use it if I moved between carriers. After reading some other posts, now I'm wondering If I'm paying full price (paid in full), Will it be unlocked? I can't be the only one that feels RIPPED OFF when I pay $800 for a device and can't have root = have my own admin access. Can you imagine buying a laptop and not being able to install/change your own OS? not having admin rights/root?
I feel it's a MAJOR excuse for a carrier to even say - if we give you root & you change the ROM, then it makes it more difficult to help you. Guess what?!? I have not ever asked for help and nor would I... Besides, why couldn't they ask for the ROM version your using... if it matches theirs, they assist... if it doesn't, they tell you before they can assist you, you must put their ROM back on? Yes - there will always be that one person... but hey - if they were able to gain root and swap the ROM, they should be able to swap it back or pay to have it swapped back. OR at least pay for insurance and "accidentally drop it" and have it replaced.
It really bites that I (along with so many other people) want to pre-order the phone for several reasons (the free VR and games along with getting the phone first) but don't want to be SCREWED by one specific carrier and not be able to unlock the phone, root and replace the ROM.
So after all that - which carrier (historically) is the best to purchase from?
CDMA - Verizon (not), Sprint?, U.S. Cellular?
GSM - AT&T?, T-Mobile?
Additional INFO - I'm also about to call Verizon to confirm - But I read 2-3 months ago that Verizon will now allow another carrier's phone on their network (if it is CDMA). If that's true, then why not purchase the phone thru Sprint or US Cellular if historically those phones have been rooted easier than Verizon? I've been on Verizon for so long, that I'm really not sure...
Comments? suggestions?

What I'm going to do is pre-order from eBay.
The phones have a hell of a mark-up (+$200/$300), but there are unlocked Qualcomms that are usually rooted much more quickly with better support for AOSP.
I hate paying that much, but I'm going to have this phone for years, and the hassle from carrier-branded phones just isn't worth it.
Edit: You should still be able to add insurance and such through your carrier too, depending on their policies.
Didn't have an issue insuring previous phones with AT&T even though they were bought off-plan through other retailers.

It is slightly cheaper when buying it from Best Buy, $779 vs $792. I saw the T-mobile version supports band 13 LTE, but I didn't see anything about CDMA support.

I also did follow up with Verizon about placing a phone on their network that was not purchased from Verizon. They said it is currently limited to 2 phones - I don't have the names because I didn't care much......they couldn't tell me the S7 would be added to the list. So does that mean people on Verizon are STUCK purchasing from Verizon?

For my s6 edge I much preferred the unlocked UK version over the US AT&T version. (Which is why I asked in another thread when we can expect to see unlocked international versions).
AT&T not only added crazy bloat but removed really cool features from the phone. Just took em right out. They also removed Samsung deals/bundles from the phone (there was a MS suite and a free TB of storage or something removed). And in exchange for screwing with the phone they had crazy delays on updates (because they had to re-remove and re-screw the phone).
Coming from iPhone I just can't deal with carrier customizations. Unlocked for life. (crazy that Apple is unlocked now and Android isn't -- bizarro world).

JustWannaRom said:
I also did follow up with Verizon about placing a phone on their network that was not purchased from Verizon. They said it is currently limited to 2 phones - I don't have the names because I didn't care much......they couldn't tell me the S7 would be added to the list. So does that mean people on Verizon are STUCK purchasing from Verizon?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nexus devices are the exception (6, 5X and 6P). The problem with VZW and Sprint is that they use proprietary CDMA technology for voice communication. You can bring just about any device to their networks and have data but you won't be able to make voice calls in most cases.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

JustWannaRom said:
CDMA - Verizon (not), Sprint?, U.S. Cellular?
GSM - AT&T?, T-Mobile?
As with a lot of other people on this site, I'm wondering which carrier will be best to pre-order from? I use Verizon but HATE the fact that most of the times it's one of the last carriers to be able to root the phone. I would also hate for this to turn into another Verizon Samsung Note 4 issue. Too bad the rumors where Samsung was going to start making phones that were both CDMA & GSM/UTMS were not true (as far as I am aware of).
This way since I'm now paying outright for my phones (roughly $800 bucks for 7 Edge), I could use it if I moved between carriers. After reading some other posts, now I'm wondering If I'm paying full price (paid in full), Will it be unlocked? I can't be the only one that feels RIPPED OFF when I pay $800 for a device and can't have root = have my own admin access. Can you imagine buying a laptop and not being able to install/change your own OS? not having admin rights/root?
I feel it's a MAJOR excuse for a carrier to even say - if we give you root & you change the ROM, then it makes it more difficult to help you. Guess what?!? I have not ever asked for help and nor would I... Besides, why couldn't they ask for the ROM version your using... if it matches theirs, they assist... if it doesn't, they tell you before they can assist you, you must put their ROM back on? Yes - there will always be that one person... but hey - if they were able to gain root and swap the ROM, they should be able to swap it back or pay to have it swapped back. OR at least pay for insurance and "accidentally drop it" and have it replaced.
It really bites that I (along with so many other people) want to pre-order the phone for several reasons (the free VR and games along with getting the phone first) but don't want to be SCREWED by one specific carrier and not be able to unlock the phone, root and replace the ROM.
So after all that - which carrier (historically) is the best to purchase from?
CDMA - Verizon (not), Sprint?, U.S. Cellular?
GSM - AT&T?, T-Mobile?
Additional INFO - I'm also about to call Verizon to confirm - But I read 2-3 months ago that Verizon will now allow another carrier's phone on their network (if it is CDMA). If that's true, then why not purchase the phone thru Sprint or US Cellular if historically those phones have been rooted easier than Verizon? I've been on Verizon for so long, that I'm really not sure...
Comments? suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tmobile period, not going to lock the boot loader you'll be able to root (provided the community finds a way, but it's a snap dragon and unlocked bootloader so they will most likely before it even releases. ) second if you don't want tmo service you can still root it and use am at&t sim so there's that.