Question regarding data/wifi and roaming

[ashbeexoxo]

So brief background of my situation: I posted here about going back to college for my last semester in an area where there is NO T-Mobile reception anywhere. T-mobile contacted me about leaving their service due to roaming charges. My question now is since I am constantly somewhere that has wifi (my apartment or campus), do you think T-mobile will
1. Allow me to take data off my account for these few months I'm here?
2. Should I be okay with this roaming on AT&T charges if I turn my wireless connection off and just work off wifi?
I would also love any ideas that anyone might have about me being able to stay with tmobile and not have to worry about finding a new carrier for me and my brand new 8900! Thank you everyone!

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[Artemis68]

I don't think just taking data off will suffice. you'll still have to be roaming on AT&T's network to make calls and the like.

If I were you, I'd call up T-Mobile and see if they could just put your account on "hold" or suspend it, whatever...until you get back from school and you're done. Explain to them that you really enjoy their service and don't want to lose your account, but you're stuck in an area for a while w/o service and you need to put your account on hold until you get back where you DO have service. It shouldn't be any trouble for a Retentions rep to do that for you. Then you won't have to leave T-Mobile.

In the meantime, just pick up a prepaid SIM and use that for the semester. You can use it in your 8900 (if it's unlocked) and use wifi for the data.

[ashbeexoxo]

Well since I have the mobile network unchecked in my manage connections, I just have wifi checked and I can still make callsm
. Is that going over the wifi? So I it will deduct from my tmobile mins? I just don't want to roam again and I figured if I took data off, I would be saving 24.99 a month on my bill. Thank you for the tip though, I will probably have to call tmobile up soon!

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[berryite]

Originally Posted by ashbeexoxo

So brief background of my situation: I posted here about going back to college for my last semester in an area where there is NO T-Mobile reception anywhere. T-mobile contacted me about leaving their service due to roaming charges. My question now is since I am constantly somewhere that has wifi (my apartment or campus), do you think T-mobile will
1. Allow me to take data off my account for these few months I'm here?
2. Should I be okay with this roaming on AT&T charges if I turn my wireless connection off and just work off wifi?
I would also love any ideas that anyone might have about me being able to stay with tmobile and not have to worry about finding a new carrier for me and my brand new 8900! Thank you everyone!

This actually sounds like a no brainer. You have said that you are constantly able to access an Internet connection and that you have a UMA compatible 8900 phone. Why not just set up UMA profiles wherever you go and do all your calling over UMA connections until you finish school?

I'd call customer service and ask to be escalated to the RIM support group and pose this question to them. I'd also make sure that you indicate that this is only for a short term living situation and that you'll be returning to your normal service area at "X" point in time.

Hope it all works out for you.

[Artemis68]

Yes, berry's advice is best. I forgot about UMA ><

I would ask tmobile if they would keep you as a customer if you just used UMA for the time being. I hope they'll let you do it since it is for the short term.

If not, then you can follow my advice but I would try berry's first.

[rnh2112]

Unless you sign up for T-mobiles hotspot@home service all your wi-fi calls will be still deducting from your minutes as if you were on the mobile network. If you pay the $9.99 for the hotspot@home service then you will have unlimited minutes while on wi-fi. You might want to look into that while you're at school also... I know it's an extra $9.99, but at least you'll have unlimited minutes for the money...

[kontender]

uma is the best way to go.
if not you t-mo allows a "vacation" for 90 days. in which you pay i think 10.00 per month. your phone is inactive but you still have an account with t-mo. the downside is 2-3 months (90days) will be added to your contract.