Sprint International Roaming Preferences

[Ascertion]

I'm curious about which one is more popular.  Which one do you currently have enabled, or prefer to have enabled on your line(s)?  According to previous discussion, it appears to be 50/50, and at first I definitely did not like the idea of being charged $30/GB overages, but I've been on slowed speeds before and they are noticeably slow!

[nexuss4g]

I tried Sprint Global Roaming for a week and it wasn't that bad at all. Mostly for texting purposes and lite browsing. Now on Sprint Open World but have yet to try it. Will report back.

[mirskyc]

I've only used Global Roaming in Israel and Russia. When I was in Russia for my layovers Open World would of been great. hHw much data could I use in a few hours. My month only use 10GB so my daily use isn't that much. 
 

I think Open World is great for 1-10 day vacations. But if you have an extended vacation Global Roaming or a local SIM is your best option. I think data should be free or cheaper in Open world if you have a limited data plan to begin with like the family share plans and take from that data pool.

[Ascertion]

Wow, exactly split down the middle.  It's a great thing Sprint offers both options as of now!

[Thomas L.]

I kind of wish Sprint would combine the two, offer 1gb of high speed, then 2g unlimited with the option of buying a high speed data pass like T-Mobile. 

[Ascertion]

I kind of wish Sprint would combine the two, offer 1gb of high speed, then 2g unlimited with the option of buying a high speed data pass like T-Mobile. 

This would be so great.  Haha The other unique thing that Sprint does different is bills per KB used, so even if you went 1MB over your 1GB allowance, you'll only be billed for that 1MB worth.

[Rawvega]

I kind of wish Sprint would combine the two, offer 1gb of high speed, then 2g unlimited with the option of buying a high speed data pass like T-Mobile. 

 

Well it's not just T-Mobile. On Global Roaming, Sprint also gives you 2G unlimited with the option of buying a high speed data pass.

[jasonsteele]

On a cruise from Long Beach to Ensenada. Open World works in Ensenada, and although "3G" data is unusable I can still make calls. I racked up over $100 in international roaming charges when on the open water though. Yikes!

 

 

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[Rawvega]

Yeah, cruise ship roaming is such a rip off. I wonder if anything can be done there. That could be an "uncarrier" move that Marcelo could beat Legere to.

[Arysyn]

Yeah, cruise ship roaming is such a rip off. I wonder if anything can be done there. That could be an "uncarrier" move that Marcelo could beat Legere to.

Legere could call it "The Un-cruise rate" and make a spiffy advertisement for it based on a cruise ship where John Legere is standing on the railings, yelling out "I'm the king of the world!!!", only to be interrupted by a couple standing behind him arguing about their carrier's expensive roaming rate onboard.

 

John Legere could step off the railings to approach them about how if they had T-Mobile, they wouldn't be subjected to the same high cost, unfair carrier moves, yada yada of the Duopoly, then close out the commercial with some typical hip T-Mobile ending.

[jasonsteele]

I figured out why data is not working on Movistar in Ensenada...Sprint turned off data roaming because of what I incurred over international waters. Lesson learned...turn off data roaming until you reach your destination.

 

 

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[WiWavelength]

Yeah, cruise ship roaming is such a rip off. I wonder if anything can be done there. That could be an "uncarrier" move that Marcelo could beat Legere to.

Legere could call it "The Un-cruise rate" and make a spiffy advertisement for it based on a cruise ship where John Legere is standing on the railings, yelling out "I'm the king of the world!!!", only to be interrupted by a couple standing behind him arguing about their carrier's expensive roaming rate onboard.

 

John Legere could step off the railings to approach them about how if they had T-Mobile, they wouldn't be subjected to the same high cost, unfair carrier moves, yada yada of the Duopoly, then close out the commercial with some typical hip T-Mobile ending.

 

That is not going to happen -- not for Sprint, not for T-Mobile.  Micro cell based cruise ship roaming is little but a huge profit play against high rollers who do not care about costs and ignorant tourists who are unaware of costs.  Even one cruise ship guest who used the wireless service the same as he would at home could put Sprint or T-Mobile on the hook for thousands of dollars in roaming charges.  And the profiteering cruise ship wireless operators are not going to play along with Sprint or T-Mobile by lowering their roaming rates so that cruise ship roaming could be included in standard plans. 

 

AJ

[WiWavelength]

I will add that I have been on week long cruises twice in my life.  Once an Alaskan cruise, next a Mediterranean cruise.  Both were before I had a cellphone.  But I am happy to report that I survived.

 

 

AJ

[lordsutch]

I moved over to Open World since I don't plan on traveling outside of the Americas anytime soon; for short trips to Mexico and Canada, 1 GB LTE and unlimited calling is plenty as long as you don't do anything dumb like stream video (which you probably won't have access to do anyway). If I were going to Europe, I'd either get a prepaid SIM or go back to Global Roaming since unless you're in an Open World unlimited country (i.e. in the Americas), GR is a better deal because of the free 2G usage.

[jreuschl]

The 2G data in Europe was too slow. Even Google Maps struggled to come up. 3G data was much better. I'd suggest Open World for that reason. $30/GB is reasonable.

 

 

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[JosefTor]

The 2G data in Europe was too slow. Even Google Maps struggled to come up. 3G data was much better. I'd suggest Open World for that reason. $30/GB is reasonable.

 

 

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Yup, same experience. Global roaming was useless on Sprint as most Web pages and google maps failed to load. Meanwhile my wife had Tmobile and her 2g was fast enough even to tether my wife's family on. When sprint advertises KBps, they means Kbps (I verified this with customer service).

 

I ended up switching to Open World so I could have a working phone. Still waiting to hear what the damage was. Granted it was nerve racking because the networks that Sprint customer service told me to use had different names in the network selection.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[greenbastard]

Yup, same experience. Global roaming was useless on Sprint as most Web pages and google maps failed to load. Meanwhile my wife had Tmobile and her 2g was fast enough even to tether my wife's family on. When sprint advertises KBps, they means Kbps (I verified this with customer service).

 

I ended up switching to Open World so I could have a working phone. Still waiting to hear what the damage was. Granted it was nerve racking because the networks that Sprint customer service told me to use had different names in the network selection.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

You should be fine since your phone wouldn't be able to connect to networks that aren't Open World partners (or that is what a relief told me).

[Rawvega]

The 2G data in Europe was too slow. Even Google Maps struggled to come up. 3G data was much better. I'd suggest Open World for that reason. $30/GB is reasonable.

 

 

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I'd tend to agree. I don't see much use in Global Roaming for me until they up the speed a bit. If I were taking the family to somewhere like Europe I'd keep my line and my wife's on Open World as $30/GB is reasonable, as you stated, and switch my kids' lines over to Global Roaming.

[ericdabbs]

Still wish Open World provided at least 2 GB of high speed data before charging overages.  Went to Mexico back in Aug and tried to use the "high speed" data but could not connect to the high speed network so it was pretty much useless.  I think for now I'd probably use Global Roaming until things improve and not worry about overages.  Don't care about the calling as much given that there are so many texting apps out there like hangouts or imessage.

 

I assume with Open World you don't get free 1 GB of high speed data in Europe so that is an instant deal breaker to me. So if I were to travel to Europe and wanted to use data, I can't just add the Open World option and just use the 1 GB high speed option without the need for calling.  So if that is true then any international traveler will usually opt for the Global Roaming unless they want to pay $30/GB for data.

[Paynefanbro]

Still wish Open World provided at least 2 GB of high speed data before charging overages.  Went to Mexico back in Aug and tried to use the "high speed" data but could not connect to the high speed network so it was pretty much useless.  I think for now I'd probably use Global Roaming until things improve and not worry about overages.  Don't care about the calling as much given that there are so many texting apps out there like hangouts or imessage.

 

I assume with Open World you don't get free 1 GB of high speed data in Europe so that is an instant deal breaker to me. So if I were to travel to Europe and wanted to use data, I can't just add the Open World option and just use the 1 GB high speed option without the need for calling.  So if that is true then any international traveler will usually opt for the Global Roaming unless they want to pay $30/GB for data.

 

 

Even better, they should just combine the two into one offer where you get 1GB of high speeds data and then unlimited 2G afterwards. Though, I understand how expensive that would be.

[ericdabbs]

Even better, they should just combine the two into one offer where you get 1GB of high speeds data and then unlimited 2G afterwards. Though, I understand how expensive that would be.

 

I would certainly welcome that offer.  But for me, I do international travelling so I would much rather have the unlimited 2G speeds since $30/GB is still pretty steep IMO.

[jamesinclair]

Mix and match.

 

Ill be using Open World next month in Mexico. Im going a week, and 1GB is more than enough.

 

If I were going to Europe, id use Global Roaming. 2G is fine for me.

 

End of the day, Im opting for "free"

[mc_gusto]

Anyone have any experience with London UK? I see only IVR is available for London. Weird. Also anyone have experience in the Ottawa CA airport?

[Ascertion]

Looks like people prefer the faster data.  If the throttled speeds were usable for most essential things (such as Google Maps), I feel that it'd be better than the Open World choice.  Regardless, thanks for voting.  I was curious as to how things would turn out.

[ericdabbs]

Looks like people prefer the faster data.  If the throttled speeds were usable for most essential things (such as Google Maps), I feel that it'd be better than the Open World choice.  Regardless, thanks for voting.  I was curious as to how things would turn out.

 

Well the problem I see with Open World is that it is still very limited.  The free 1 GB of data offer is only good in North and South America and none of the Europe and Asian countries can take advantage of it unless you pay $30/GB from the start.  For international travelers this is an issue.  Perhaps if Open World someday allows the free 1 GB data in all countries I am sure people including myself would consider Open World a more viable option than Global Roaming.  The poll seems a bit misleading since it assumes the 1 GB of high speed data is available worldwide when it is not.