Sprint "Open World" plan (replaces International Value Roaming)

[RAvirani]

I'd have to imagine that international LTE roaming is a no at this time. HSPA is much more likely in my opinion.

 

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I wonder why they haven't started on international LTE agreements...the other three all have...

[ingenium]

I wonder why they haven't started on international LTE agreements...the other three all have...

Supposedly LTE roaming costs more than HSPA roaming. But considering Sprint doesn't even have domestic LTE roaming on Nexus devices yet, I wouldn't hold my breath...

 

Sent from my Pixel XL

[RAvirani]

Supposedly LTE roaming costs more than HSPA roaming. But considering Sprint doesn't even have domestic LTE roaming on Nexus devices yet, I wouldn't hold my breath...

 

Sent from my Pixel XL

Oh...I didn't know costs were based on RAT, I had always thought they were based on data usage. Guess you learn something new everyday .

[jefbal99]

Damn, i wish the program was last January when I spent a week in Jamaica or Jan 2018 when I'm going back...

[mc_gusto]

This is great news. My relatives are going on a cruise to the Caribbean. What's the best way to ensure they can use sprint open world but not roam on the cruise networks that price gouges.

 

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[ingenium]

This is great news. My relatives are going on a cruise to the Caribbean. What's the best way to ensure they can use sprint open world but not roam on the cruise networks that price gouges.

 

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Disable data roaming first. Then when they get to a country go into settings, mobile networks, more, and there should be a way to select which network the phone is connecting to. It doesn't show up when you're on Sprint native service.

 

Once you've connected to a network that is part of Open World, reenable data roaming. The phone will be locked to that network then and won't switch unless you manually select a different one.

 

Sent from my Pixel XL

[mc_gusto]

Disable data roaming first. Then when they get to a country go into settings, mobile networks, more, and there should be a way to select which network the phone is connecting to. It doesn't show up when you're on Sprint native service.

 

Once you've connected to a network that is part of Open World, reenable data roaming. The phone will be locked to that network then and won't switch unless you manually select a different one.

 

Sent from my Pixel XL

Damn it'll be hard talking my mother through that without being there with her. I just hate the way cruise ships get you.

 

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[ingenium]

Damn it'll be hard talking my mother through that without being there with her. I just hate the way cruise ships get you.

 

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Yeah, I'm not even sure exactly where it shows up in the settings. If you put a non Sprint SIM in the device it should show you the setting, but with a Sprint SIM in it's hidden unless GSM/UMTS roaming.

 

Sent from my Pixel XL

[Rawvega]

Currently relaxing in the Bahamas and wanted to take a moment to add a couple of Open World data points.

 

 

BTC 4G is identified as HSPA or HSPA+ by SCP.

 

Great Stirrup Cay, NCL's own little private island. BTC has one cell site set up there which probably gets hammered in the morning as the ship(s) pull into port.

 

 

Nassau

 

 

Roaming has been seamless. I received the Open World text from Sprint when I posted my phone up in the Bahamas and I didn't need to do anything else, it just worked. I suspect that Sprint and/or BTC throttles user's download speeds while roaming, but the speeds are quite usable nonetheless.

 

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[jamesinclair]

Im going on a cruise in January so this is great.

 

 

Anyone have any experience with St Martin?

 

The island is divided into two countries, St Martin and Sint Maarten.

 

Does anyone know if the Sprint service includes the Dutch side or is limited to the French side?

[Rawvega]

Im going on a cruise in January so this is great.

 

 

Anyone have any experience with St Martin?

 

The island is divided into two countries, St Martin and Sint Maarten.

 

Does anyone know if the Sprint service includes the Dutch side or is limited to the French side?

I was just there in August. Before I left the Open World map showed the entire island as green so it was all covered and I was fine. I noticed when I got back that only the French side was still green and the Dutch side was changed to purple and thus subject to the regular (read:expensive) international rates. There's a few posts about it earlier in this thread.

 

Even on the Dutch side you can sometimes pick up signal from Open World partners Digicel from the French side and Flow from wherever. I wouldn't count on that though. Unless you're 100% sure that you can exclusively lock your phone to Digicel or Flow I wouldn't chance it. If your phone roams onto Telcell or Chippie on the Dutch side you'll likely have a large bill waiting for you when you get home. Be careful.

 

 

 

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[jamesinclair]

I was just there in August. Before I left the Open World map showed the entire island as green so it was all covered and I was fine. I noticed when I got back that only the French side was still green and the Dutch side was changed to purple and thus subject to the regular (read:expensive) international rates. There's a few posts about it earlier in this thread.

 

Even on the Dutch side you can sometimes pick up Digicel from the French side and Flow from wherever. I wouldn't count on that though. Unless you're 100% sure that you can exclusively lock your phone to Digicel or Flow I wouldn't chance it. If your phone roams onto Telcell or Chippie on the Dutch side you'll likely have a large bill waiting for you when you get home. Be careful.

 

 

 

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Thanks for the warning.

 

Are Telcell or Chippie also GSM?

 

And shame on Sprint for not making that clear on their website

[Rawvega]

Thanks for the warning.

 

Are Telcell or Chippie also GSM?

 

And shame on Sprint for not making that clear on their website

Yes, they're both GSM. It probably would be smart of Sprint just to strike an Open World agreement with TelCell and/or Chippie. While St. Maarten isn't the biggest tourist destination in the Caribbean, I have to imagine that they get a number of customers that accidentally run up huge bills. The problem is exacerbated by the main airport and cruise port being on the Dutch side.

 

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[greenbastard]

Yes, they're both GSM. It probably would be smart of Sprint just to strike an Open World agreement with TelCell and/or Chippie. While St. Maarten isn't the biggest tourist destination in the Caribbean, I have to imagine that they get a number of customers that accidentally run up huge bills. The problem is exacerbated by the main airport and cruise port being on the Dutch side.

 

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That's terribly confusing. Sprint ended up crediting your account, right?

[jamesinclair]

Yes, they're both GSM. It probably would be smart of Sprint just to strike an Open World agreement with TelCell and/or Chippie. While St. Maarten isn't the biggest tourist destination in the Caribbean, I have to imagine that they get a number of customers that accidentally run up huge bills. The problem is exacerbated by the main airport and cruise port being on the Dutch side.

 

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Yup, unless you own a yacht, youre going to arrive on the dutch side, so thats what people think of when they see St Martin.

[Rawvega]

That's terribly confusing. Sprint ended up crediting your account, right?

 

Nope, no need to. There weren't any unusual international roaming charges on my bill. It all fell under the normal Open World price of $30/GB. I imagine that was because their international map showed the entire island in green Open World coverage while I was there. However, shortly after I returned home I noticed that they changed the color of the coverage on the Dutch side to purple while leaving the French side green.

 

Yes, you're correct though, it can be quite confusing.

 

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[jamesinclair]

Hm, so Im looking to switch from the global roaming to Open World as I am going on a cruise next week and want to take advantage of the promotion...

 

When I go here

https://www.sprint.com/landings/openworld/index.html?INTNAV=LP:GlobalRoaming:LearnMore

 

The list of countries does NOT mention the islands.

 

But they ARE shaded in on the map

 

 

Edit: I see on the services add-on menu it is a separate line item that has to be added!

[Rawvega]

Hm, so Im looking to switch from the global roaming to Open World as I am going on a cruise next week and want to take advantage of the promotion...

 

When I go here

https://www.sprint.com/landings/openworld/index.html?INTNAV=LP:GlobalRoaming:LearnMore

 

The list of countries does NOT mention the islands.

 

But they ARE shaded in on the map

 

 

Edit: I see on the services add-on menu it is a separate line item that has to be added!

Which islands are you referring to? I know that earlier in the thread you mentioned Sint Maarten and i shared my experience on that. Pretty much everywhere in the Caribbean should be fine except for the Dutch side of St. Maarten, Saba, St. Eustatius and Cuba.

 

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[ingenium]

I can confirm that RCS works while roaming via Open World. The other person was also roaming on the same carrier (Movistar Peru)

 

Sent from my Pixel XL

[greenbastard]

I can confirm that RCS works while roaming via Open World. The other person was also roaming on the same carrier (Movistar Peru)

 

Sent from my Pixel XL

Really? The settings for RCS disappeared when I was roaming on Movistar Mexico on my Nexus. I guess it automatically turned off for me.

 

I did find it odd that I was able to roam on Telcel for a brief period of time. Movistar was the only network I could register on when I searched for networks manually. And then out of the blue, Telcel popped up. After 10 minutes, I was back on Movistar and I could no longer register on Telcel. Data didn't work, but SMS worked fine while on Telcel. Didn't attempt to place a call so I don't know if voice worked.

 

I know Sprint set up a comfy roaming agreement with Telefonica (knocking countless Latin American/European birds with one stone), but would it kill them to at least enable LTE roaming? I am paying for roaming overages, so why not make it work? Everyone else does offer LTE roaming. My At&t account roamed on At&t MX LTE and T-Mobile worked on Telcel LTE.

[ingenium]

Really? The settings for RCS disappeared when I was roaming on Movistar Mexico on my Nexus. I guess it automatically turned off for me.

 

I did find it odd that I was able to roam on Telcel for a brief period of time. Movistar was the only network I could register on when I searched for networks manually. And then out of the blue, Telcel popped up. After 10 minutes, I was back on Movistar and I could no longer register on Telcel. Data didn't work, but SMS worked fine while on Telcel. Didn't attempt to place a call so I don't know if voice worked.

 

I know Sprint set up a comfy roaming agreement with Telefonica (knocking countless Latin American/European birds with one stone), but would it kill them to at least enable LTE roaming? I am paying for roaming overages, so why not make it work? Everyone else does offer LTE roaming. My At&t account roamed on At&t MX LTE and T-Mobile worked on Telcel LTE.

Some people I'm with have T-Mobile and they are roaming in Movistar with HSPA as well.

 

I've found movistar to be hit and miss. Some areas they're completely saturated, so I forced my phone to Entel instead and it's much faster, albeit less coverage. When I need coverage I set it back to automatic and it switches to Movistar eventually. Oddly, Movistar shows as LTEVUELA on my phone, but SCP and every other app shows it as Movistar. Both are listed though under networks.

 

 

 

RCS is working for me on both Entel and Movistar. I haven't tested Viettel yet (it didn't let me connect to the network when I tried once, but it's an approved roaming partner. Will try again later), but I assume it works there too.

 

 

 

Sent from my Pixel XL

[greenbastard]

I ran into odd network names myself on my Nexus. iPhones on US At&t SIM cards were correctly showing the "At&t MX" name on LTE and 3G. Unfortunately my Nexus on Sprint was still displaying the old legacy names of the companies At&t bought out. Iusacell GSM & 4G, Nextel, and 334-05 (PLMN for Iusacell's prepaid Unefon brand) where all being shown instead of At&t MX when searching for networks.

 

As for Movistar, my Nexus displayed the name correctly, but my iPhone showed the PLMN number (334-03) instead of the actual network name. Very odd all around.

[ericdabbs]

I wonder when Sprint is going to add more countries to its Global Roaming program. It has been a long time since they have added any countries.

[RAvirani]

I wonder when Sprint is going to add more countries to its Global Roaming program. It has been a long time since they have added any countries.

 

The big one they seem to be missing is China.  And the other big thing they seem to be missing is LTE roaming.  This was a problem for me when I recently visited the United Kingdom where I was primarily roaming on Three.  Three's network consists of 2100mhz WCDMA/HSPA, 1800mhz LTE and 800mhz LTE.  Often times I found myself without service while I saw other peoples' phones displaying 3 LTE.  

[utiz4321]

The big one they seem to be missing is China. And the other big thing they seem to be missing is LTE roaming. This was a problem for me when I recently visited the United Kingdom where I was primarily roaming on Three. Three's network consists of 2100mhz WCDMA/HSPA, 1800mhz LTE and 800mhz LTE. Often times I found myself without service while I saw other peoples' phones displaying 3 LTE.

LTE roaming is likely far far more expensive. I don't expect to see that with any kind of reasonable price tag for a while.

 

 

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