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Root [T-Mobile] Roaming with T-Mobile

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flimflamman

Lurker
TL;DR How can I roam on AT&T with a T-Mobile prepaid plan?

So I bought my Samsung Galaxy S3 from T-Mobile a few weeks ago. Despite them telling me I can roam on AT&T in areas in which there is no T-Mobile service. I discovered this wasn't true.

I've rooted my phone, added Frosty Jelly Bean ROM, and now I'm wondering if there's a way I can roam with a prepaid plan. OR maybe I'll go post-paid which allows you to roam but you only get voice/text, no data. Is there a way to enable data roaming on AT&T?

If none of these things apply, is it possible to unlock the phone (aside from waiting another 1.5 months to ask to unlock it from T-Mobile)? If I pay to unlock it from one of those websites, what personal information will they be getting from my IMEI number. Any risk in that? Privacy is a large concern.

Thank you for any replies!!
 
flimflamman said:
TL;DR How can I roam on AT&T with a T-Mobile prepaid plan?

So I bought my Samsung Galaxy S3 from T-Mobile a few weeks ago. Despite them telling me I can roam on AT&T in areas in which there is no T-Mobile service. I discovered this wasn't true.

I've rooted my phone, added Frosty Jelly Bean ROM, and now I'm wondering if there's a way I can roam with a prepaid plan. OR maybe I'll go post-paid which allows you to roam but you only get voice/text, no data. Is there a way to enable data roaming on AT&T?

If none of these things apply, is it possible to unlock the phone (aside from waiting another 1.5 months to ask to unlock it from T-Mobile)? If I pay to unlock it from one of those websites, what personal information will they be getting from my IMEI number. Any risk in that? Privacy is a large concern.

Thank you for any replies!!
Click to expand...

From my understanding of prepaid plans (and having been on Virgin Mobile), that is one of the primary reasons that prepaid is cheaper than an equivalent post-paid plan: no roaming. I think that is consistent across pretty much any carrier. There is always, always, always a catch.

I think you could go with Straight Talk and specify if you want to get a Tmobile or AT&T SIM, so if you get better AT&T service where you are, maybe that is a better way to go.
 
Can you not change the roaming code via QPST with this phone? There is some debate on whether this actually helps or not if the network doesn't allow roaming, but its a suggestion. I'm coming from a MT and this method worked to change the roaming channel, but I never received any confirmation that the change had a positive effect (or negative either)
 
GrandTheftBJJ said:
Can you not change the roaming code via QPST with this phone? There is some debate on whether this actually helps or not if the network doesn't allow roaming, but its a suggestion. I'm coming from a MT and this method worked to change the roaming channel, but I never received any confirmation that the change had a positive effect (or negative either)
Click to expand...

Might be worth a try, although you're talking CDMA vs. GSM, so don't know if that would also make a difference...
 
Yes, the MT and VM are CDMA and I'm aware the GS3 on Tmo is GMS. The one thing w/ VM was that they do not allow roaming... period. So that's why it was kind of fruitless in my previous experience. However, I don't know about the GS3. Tmo allows roaming, but i'm not sure how it is regulated who can (postpaid) and can't (prepaid); ie: how are they checking to stop your roaming? Also, I'm not familiar w/ the dev work here if any of the ROMs have roaming capabilities. Time for some investigating :)
 
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