Free Calls From Europe?

Can someone explain me how to use wi fi to make free calls from Europe home to the US? I tried it in the US!I have shut off the Mobile Network Connection and to have it on wi fi only! Even though it was on wi fi only, it still shoved T-Mobile-linksys! i was wondering if I do it same while over in Europe, will I be charged roaming and long distance fees? I do not mind if I am using minutes, but I would not like to pay those high fees for roaming and long distance.

If anyone had a similar experience or know anything about it, please help!
Thank you!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

If you have subscribed to T-Mobiles Hotspot service, you will get a UMA indicator on your device.

That means all your voice and date are going through the Wifi network. It does not matter where in the World you are calling from.

Unlimited Voice and Data with Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) is big, very big.

If you do not subscribe, you will be paying for Voice minutes, even with "uma" active. Your Browser, on the other hand, can access all the data you want over Wifi, with on carrier data charges.

Originally Posted by Stoner

If you have subscribed to T-Mobiles Hotspot service, you will get a UMA indicator on your device.

Untrue.

Every UMA-capable BlackBerry can send and receive UMA calls with or without the Hotspot@Home plan.

The Hotspot@Home plan is a RATE plan. It doesn't do anything operationally to your phone.

If you have Hotspot@Home, all of your UMA calls are unlimited. If you do not have Hotspot@Home, any UMA minutes you use come out of your regular minute plan bucket.

If you are in Europe, all UMA calls (TO THE USA ONLY) are either free via the Hotspot@Home plan or are deducted from your TMo USA normal minute bucket.

HOWEVER, any calls you make in Europe to a European number are billed as international calls. Call home to the USA from that Italian cafe in Venice and it's either free or part of your USA minutes on a UMA connection. Call your hotel in Venice from that Italian Cafe, and it's an international call.

Originally Posted by wirelessforever

...
Every UMA-capable BlackBerry can send and receive UMA calls with or without the Hotspot@Home plan....

How I wish that were true.

Our national Carrier is just now experimenting with an Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) package. The service is limited to voice only and further limited to a single hotspot router. At this point, it is voice only, there are no BlackBerrys in the initial roll out. They have been promised in future quarters.

http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/7/1/...gs-0.jpg?rev=0

My 8320 connects to my Router, but the UMA fields are not configured. My device never communicates with a UMA server and all data flows through Wifi.

If I were to install a SIM, my voice and messages would flow through my carrier and I would be billed accordenly.

If I were able to use T-Mobiles service, the moment my device connects to Wifi, all voice and data are routed through the net, not the cellular network.

When you move out of range, UMA is disabled and data flows through the carriers network.

It is more then a billing plan. It requires a dedicated server to monitor the relative signal strengths of the configured devices checking in. If they have an adaqute Wifi signal, the server implements UMA and data flows.

Originally Posted by Stoner

How I wish that were true.

It is true with T-Mobile my friend. When you were specifically speaking about and quoting the Hotspot@Home rate plan, it was only reasonable to assume you are a T-Mobile customer. My apology for not understanding you use a Canadian carrier.

We've heard rumors about UMA debuting in Europe and Canada but nothing concrete yet. And it sounds like your Canadian carrier is not bringing to market a competitve product to T-Mobile's but something quite different,

To clarify, you do not need Hotspot@Home to make and receive UMA calls with a T-Mobile UMA phone on the T-Mobile network. All Hotspot@Home does for T-Mobile customers is give you a rate plan.

For all others with other carriers, you are on your own.

(P.S. - I believe I saw that T-Mobile has announced plans to open service in Canada in the near future.)

Nice thread. Thanks for the info wirelessforever!

Originally Posted by wirelessforever

It is true with T-Mobile my friend. When you were specifically speaking about and quoting the Hotspot@Home rate plan, it was only reasonable to assume you are a T-Mobile customer. My apology for not understanding you use a Canadian carrier.

We've heard rumors about UMA debuting in Europe and Canada but nothing concrete yet. And it sounds like your Canadian carrier is not bringing to market a competitve product to T-Mobile's but something quite different,

To clarify, you do not need Hotspot@Home to make and receive UMA calls with a T-Mobile UMA phone on the T-Mobile network. All Hotspot@Home does for T-Mobile customers is give you a rate plan.

For all others with other carriers, you are on your own.

(P.S. - I believe I saw that T-Mobile has announced plans to open service in Canada in the near future.)

I can vouche for this. I have called the US from St Maarten (carribean) while using UMA on a non-secure hotel network and was allowed to make the call. My minutes were just taken from my minutes bucket as I did not have the HotSpot@Home service at the time.

I just signed up for the Unlimited Family 4-pack though, it is a great feature in my case as it helps with my minutes a lot.

Hope this can help someone confirm "wirelessforever'' and his statement.