T-Mobile roaming?

[cbass2781]

Hey everyone... got another question. A friend of mine took her T-Mobile phone to San Francisco, and she tells me that her phone says "Cingular" and is on roam there... I've read on this forum that T-Mobile and Cingular have an agreement to share towers or something like that, so it's not too much of a surprise. But why does it say that it's roaming then? Well, I called customer service, and they told me that it doesn't matter what your phone says--it's whether T-Mobile covers that area or not that's important. So, I'm supposed to carry around a coverage map to make sure wherever I'm traveling to supports T-Mobile service? All I know is that when I was with Verizon, your phone just told you whether you were roaming or not. And then you could avoid paying roaming fees if you wanted to. With T-Mobile, if what I was told is true, it sounds like you can't figure out if you're roaming or not unless you know for sure that you have or don't have coverage in that area.

Hopefully I didn't confuse everyone.

But can someone clear this up for me? Please?

Thanks again...

[bobolito]

If she is on a national plan, then there's no roaming ever no matter what the phone says. Plain and simple. As an option, you can always carry a coverage map with you just to know if you will have coverage or not in the places you're planning to go. However, the phone will always have the last word as to whether or not you have coverage once you get to your destination.

[ZaphodB]

I'll bet that your friend has an older SIM card, or an older hanset, or both. My T-Mobile phone is actually branded VoiceStream and says "Cingular" on it, and my old V3682 is an unlocked Cingular Wireless phone and when I put my SIM in it it says "Cingular Wireless" and thinks it's roaming.

Here in sunny California, T-Mobile use Cingular's towers. Since the towers broadcast their affiliation, it comes across as "Cingular", unless your SIM has been set up to parse 310-170 as "T-Mobile". Cingular towers in CA and NV are treated like "home" towers for T-Mobile. My phone always says Cingular and I've never once had a roaming charge from within the US.

And Bobolito is right... unless you are out of the US, or unless you have the regional 5000 plan, there is no possible way for you to roam. If your phone has signal, you are "home". If your phone can't find a home signal it will not have any signal at all.

[GoodmanR]

gsm phoens display the name of the network they are on, as in who owns the tower. it doenst mean shes roaming, only that she is on the cingular network formally, even though a roaming agreement might be in place.