International calling and roaming

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Dialing to international locations

From your T-Mobile account you should be able to dial any direct dialable location world-wide. To make calls to North American locations (anywhere in world dialing zone 1) all you need to do is dial the 10 digit number (3 digit area code followed by 7 digit subscriber number.) Optionally you may dial it as 1 plus area code plus 7 digits or +1 plus area code plus 7 digits (using "international" format) to place your calls. The billing system is sophisticated enough that whichever method you use to place calls the call will be billed the correct way as local, long distance or as an international call.

To dial to other locations outside of North America (including Mexico) you can place your call in one of two ways: Key 011 plus country code plus city code plus subscriber number e.g. to reach a subscriber in London, England you'd key 011-44-20-7654-3210 or you could key +44 20 7654 3210. GSM systems (of which T-Mobile is one) part of the original specification is that the + (plus character) can be used and this will automatically translate to whatever the local international access code is. In North America it's generally 011 while in Europe it's 00. This global functionality of using the + character means that you don't need to know what the local code is for placing international calls. To generate the + character the procedure differs depending on which manufacturer's phone you use. For Nokia phones press the * key twice rapidly and it will generate a +. For Ericsson/Sony-Ericsson and Motorola phones press and hold the 0 key and it will change into the + character. Other manufacturers may use a different keystroke to generate the + character. Check with your instruction manual for further information.

Alternative Methods to place international calls

There are other services that may provide more economical means to place international calls rather than to make a direct call through your T-Mobile account.

Companies that provde such services such as Gorilla Mobile or One Suite have rates at a fraction of the cost you pay calling directly from your mobile handset. Many of these services have "PIN-less" calling meaning you just call the service's access number and all you have to do is key the number you wish to reach and don't have to enter a PIN every time you place a call.

International Roaming

To roam in another country you must first be sure that your phone will operate on at least one of the frequencies used in that country. GSM phones in the US, Canada and Mexico use two frequency bands (850 MHz & 1900 MHz). Phones in Europe, Asia and Africa are 900 MHz and/or 1800 MHz. In South America and the Caribbean you can find just about any combination of GSM frequencies in use. To check which bands are used in another country, look either on T-Mobile's web site or the roaming section of http://www.gsmworld.com. For frequent international roamers it might be best to purchase a phone with all four bands (quad-band.) You must call T-Mobile customer care to have international roaming enabled since it is not enabled by default. Depending on your billing history with T-Mobile they may do another credit check to determine whether you are a good "risk" for being allowed to roam internationally since it's very easy to amass high charges from making or receiving calls while roaming internationally.

To place calls while roaming you may make calls either of two ways: Key the access code that people locally use (e.g. 00 in Europe or 011 in North America) or you can use the universal GSM method by putting a + character before the country code/city code and subsciber number e.g. in France you wish to call a number in the US you'd key +1 311 555 2368 or to call a number in Paris, France you would key +33 1 23 45 67 89

If you arrive at your international destination and you find that you cannot register on any available network there may be problems with your international roaming permissions. You'll need to call international roaming support at +1 505 998 3792 to troubleshoot any connection problem you may experience.