Could T-Mobile (U.S.) new global plan doom the global SIM card business?

[snidely]

See Stu's post about it.

I have been a TM customer since before TM came to the U.S. and took over a couple of regional operators. (They now cover the entire U.S.)

TM no longer requires contracts on either pre-paid or postpaid accounts. While they have, for some years, sold prepaid plans, this Global option is only for postpaid customers. This means that it might be almost impossible for any non-U.S. person to get an account. Anyone can get a prepaid account as easily as walking in and buying a loaf of bread. There are no government requirements.

Maybe there is an opening for an enterprising U.S.(and/or foreign?) entrepreneur to "rent out" T-M SIM cards? He/she would have to figure out how to control all the SIMs on the account.
Individual and small business accounts are limited to 5 lines. First line costs $50/mo., 2nd line $30 and lines 3-5 $10 each. I don't know the structure for "medium" sized business's. Every line has unlimited text, voice and 500MB of fast data in the U.S. You can buy 2G of more data, for a per line cost of $10. After you use your allotment, you are throttled to about 128Kbs.

The TM SIM would be useful for almost any intl. traveler.
Eg: You are Italian. You travel to France or China or Costa Rica. When in those or any of the 100+ countries (called Simple Global Countries -SGC) that are covered, you can call back to Italy or any other SGCs for 20¢/min. Incoming calls are all 20¢. Texts, to SGC countries are included unlimited. Incoming text has always been free.
The Unlimited Data you get is limited to 2G - good enuf for email. You can buy different packages of faster data - but I forget the cost. Comes out to be about 20-25¢/MB, as I recall.

The extreme example of change of price: When we were in Vietnam 18 months ago, using voice would have cost us $6/min!! Of course, didn't use it. They are a SGC country - now 20¢.

[Bossman]

Also looks like one will need to sign up for one of their monthly plans. And cancel it if one needs it for no more than a month.

[fsotirop]

but i don't think this plan is offered to foreigners

[powerlifter]

I have been a T-Mobile subscriber for many years. MY problem with this is how do you get a client to call you if they have to make a long distance call if you are in the same country. I usually have a driver, and I would never let him call me long distance if I had gotten his vm. I personally will stick with local sim cards. I find it a lot easier to deal with.

[snidely]

Originally Posted by powerlifter

I have been a T-Mobile subscriber for many years. MY problem with this is how do you get a client to call you if they have to make a long distance call if you are in the same country. I usually have a driver, and I would never let him call me long distance if I had gotten his vm. I personally will stick with local sim cards. I find it a lot easier to deal with.

What could be easier, on your end, than simply using your phone "on the road" just like you do at home?
Stu seemed to mention there is some outfit that will sell? rent? you a foreign number to use that would forward to your home SIM. I am waiting for him to reply to a question about this. Sure would be easier than dealing with prepaid cards - and you just carry your home phone. Your problem would affect very few users. Calling a U.S. number is cheap for most people and they are used to doing it. There is no surcharge for calling a U.S. cell. There is for calling a cell in the caller's home country! The bottom line, the caller could probably call your U.S. number cheaper than calling a cell in his home country.
Of course for business appearances, having a local number might be the way to go. You could still use your TM SIM for outgoing calls, texts, and data (email). Just use your local SIM for incoming. No cost to you!

[snidely]

Originally Posted by fsotirop

but i don't think this plan is offered to foreigners

The problem is that to get a postpaid account you have to pass a credit check. That wouldn't be possible, I don't think, for foreigners. Maybe if you worked for a large company, they could qualify and get the account in their name. IOW, it's not the fact you are foreign is the problem - it's the fact your name wouldn't appear on a U.S. credit report.
I don't know if you could post a deposit.
I'll make some inquiry in a couple weeks once this whole thing is in operation. I'll be testing it out in China and Hong Kong 10/26-11/8.

[Stu]

Www.hushed.com.

[gkeeper]

Originally Posted by fsotirop

but i don't think this plan is offered to foreigners

If the deal was open to Overseas applicants , is it not the same as the AT&T deal where your Sim has to hit a US tower at least once every 6 weeks, therefore rendering it useless for foreigners unless they travel to the US every 4-6 weeks. These Guys are not stupid i am sure there will be caveats somewhere in the T&cS

[snidely]

Originally Posted by gkeeper

If the deal was open to Overseas applicants , is it not the same as the AT&T deal where your Sim has to hit a US tower at least once every 6 weeks, therefore rendering it useless for foreigners unless they travel to the US every 4-6 weeks. These Guys are not stupid i am sure there will be caveats somewhere in the T&cS

I didn't see it on their site, but in a news report. You do have to "hit" a TM tower every 6 weeks and every 3 month period (12 weeks) half the time has to be in the U.S. I'll try and confirm that.
Doesn't the ATT deal just apply to data and not also voice and text?
OTH - Forgetting about the unlimited data - wouldn't the 20¢/min. incoming/outgoing be a money maker? I wonder what they have to pay the foreign carriers for airtime? What do they pay the carrier for text and data?

[powerlifter]

Originally Posted by snidely

What could be easier, on your end, than simply using your phone "on the road" just like you do at home?
Stu seemed to mention there is some outfit that will sell? rent? you a foreign number to use that would forward to your home SIM. I am waiting for him to reply to a question about this. Sure would be easier than dealing with prepaid cards - and you just carry your home phone. Your problem would affect very few users. Calling a U.S. number is cheap for most people and they are used to doing it. There is no surcharge for calling a U.S. cell. There is for calling a cell in the caller's home country! The bottom line, the caller could probably call your U.S. number cheaper than calling a cell in his home country.
Of course for business appearances, having a local number might be the way to go. You could still use your TM SIM for outgoing calls, texts, and data (email). Just use your local SIM for incoming. No cost to you!

Well as it happens the only country that Stu Hushed link I could use is the UK. I mainly go to the old soviet block countries. I have a number for the UK which is on my business card. Hushed looks quite expensive once you have the card with monthly fees and calls to inbound and outbound. I will stick with local sims.