Pre-Paid vs. Post-Paid Coverage

[WumpusVA]

Hola WA,

So I'm in an interesting situation with carriers. I'll try to keep this short...

Right now I have Sprint because I need CDMA coverage -- I frequent southwestern Virginia and GSM coverage is a joke compared to CDMA. This is a fact - Let's not debate it.

But, I also will be frequenting parts of Canada and Mexico in the coming months, where CDMA coverage is a joke. I know that for my needs (moreso data than voice), I have to have GSM. I don't feel like messing with SIMs and I need people to be able to call/text me without them having to deal with long distance.

To solve this issue I recently signed up with T-Mobile postpaid... I got a cheap voice plan and I'm good to go as far as roaming is concerned. However, upon further research I discovered that T-Mobile allows North American roaming on prepaid phones. For my needs, I'm considering returning the post paid phone (I have still yet to use it) and getting a prepaid phone.

Problem is, apparently there is a difference in coverage. I called T-Mobile to inquire if this is true and the rep told me that there is no difference in Roaming coverage outside of the country when it comes to pre vs post paid. But the map on the link below shows otherwise..

Unsupported Browser

So does anyone know the official answer or have any personal experience? Does prepaid have different international roaming coverage than post-paid?

Thanks.

[clock3687]

Originally Posted by Wumpusva

Hola WA,

So I'm in an interesting situation with carriers. I'll try to keep this short...

Right now I have Sprint because I need CDMA coverage -- I frequent southwestern Virginia and GSM coverage is a joke compared to CDMA. This is a fact - Let's not debate it.

But, I also will be frequenting parts of Canada and Mexico in the coming months, where CDMA coverage is a joke. I know that for my needs (moreso data than voice), I have to have GSM. I don't feel like messing with SIMs and I need people to be able to call/text me without them having to deal with long distance.

To solve this issue I recently signed up with T-Mobile postpaid... I got a cheap voice plan and I'm good to go as far as roaming is concerned. However, upon further research I discovered that T-Mobile allows North American roaming on prepaid phones. For my needs, I'm considering returning the post paid phone (I have still yet to use it) and getting a prepaid phone.

Problem is, apparently there is a difference in coverage. I called T-Mobile to inquire if this is true and the rep told me that there is no difference in Roaming coverage outside of the country when it comes to pre vs post paid. But the map on the link below shows otherwise..

Unsupported Browser

So does anyone know the official answer or have any personal experience? Does prepaid have different international roaming coverage than post-paid?

Thanks.

Hey Wump,
Canada has got 1 gsm main GSM provider and thats Rogers. Ive used a prepaid t-mo sim while in Ontario and that worked fine. They should allow you to use the entire Rogers network while in canada. As for mexico, i can only speak for post-paid. I went to cancun a few years back and used the telecell network. I dont see why you would have a restriction placed on what network you use internationally, but you know that cell companies can do some wierd things. good luck.

[Telekom]

Originally Posted by Wumpusva

Hola WA,

So I'm in an interesting situation with carriers. I'll try to keep this short...

Right now I have Sprint because I need CDMA coverage -- I frequent southwestern Virginia and GSM coverage is a joke compared to CDMA. This is a fact - Let's not debate it.

But, I also will be frequenting parts of Canada and Mexico in the coming months, where CDMA coverage is a joke. I know that for my needs (moreso data than voice), I have to have GSM. I don't feel like messing with SIMs and I need people to be able to call/text me without them having to deal with long distance.

To solve this issue I recently signed up with T-Mobile postpaid... I got a cheap voice plan and I'm good to go as far as roaming is concerned. However, upon further research I discovered that T-Mobile allows North American roaming on prepaid phones. For my needs, I'm considering returning the post paid phone (I have still yet to use it) and getting a prepaid phone.

Problem is, apparently there is a difference in coverage. I called T-Mobile to inquire if this is true and the rep told me that there is no difference in Roaming coverage outside of the country when it comes to pre vs post paid. But the map on the link below shows otherwise..

Unsupported Browser

So does anyone know the official answer or have any personal experience? Does prepaid have different international roaming coverage than post-paid?

Thanks.

Prepaid and postpaid coverage are different. With postpaid pretty much any carrier that's available (if your home carrier is not) you can use. With prepaid you can roam some places, but not as many places as you can with postpaid.