Travel Gear - T-Mobile Sim Card

[Sugarglider]

I bought one of these sim cards from Travel Gear ($30 for card) and then went on the $2/day plan - so another $30 and the thing worked really well.
However - here are the considerations.

The T-Mobile smart phone network is operating off 4G now. In Australia almost all smart phones are operating off 3G, which T-Mobile doesn't support - so T-Mobile can only deliver 2G service which can be a bit slow and I found it frustrating depending on what I was doing.

this warning is on the Travel Gear website in among all the instructions so just think about what is important for you.

Also, when it came to accessing websites on the phone I found I was blocked from a lot of sites. (this is only an issue if you are accessing via a T-Mobile account - not the Disney free WI-FI) I went to the T-Mobile outlet in the Mall of Millenia where they told me that foreigners opening mobile phone accounts are subject to anti-terrorism laws that limit smartphone website access - apparently I might be investigating something or trying to tell my terrorist mates about it. Sites like Facebook and my own blog were blocked. The only sites seemingly not blocked were retailers! (you can go shopping, but you can't tell anyone about it).
it took two attempts and three days for T-Mobile to sort this out and give me full access.

I do recommend getting organised in advance. And lots of people kept asking me for contact phone number (like hire car, restaurant bookings and even the ME wanted one). Landing at DFW i popped in the SIM card and it worked perfectly immediately. And the deal was very reasonably priced.

Be aware that somethings like this may happen to you.

 

[battymum]

Thats interesting,
My DD16 was permanently attached to her phone and facebook for three weeks! (in hindsight, it would have been worth it to pay roaming on my phone for the few calls we made, and save the grief between us about her constantly being on the phone, but thats just us! ) Having it blocked would have suited me.

It was a bit slow and she couldnt upload photos

 

[Anne_Aus]

Thanks for the information, I want to purchase in the next couple of weeks but was still not 100% sure on the travel gear sim

 

[Sugarglider]

The touring plan app worked really well in the parks but loading photos onto facebook was very slow

 

[OziJo]

Thanks for this info sugarglider. I've been was tossing up between buying when I got there or buying from Travel Gear. How long did it take to get your sim in the mail?

 

[Sugarglider]

Thanks for this info sugarglider. I've been was tossing up between buying when I got there or buying from Travel Gear. How long did it take to get your sim in the mail?

It arrived very quickly. Travel Gear sent it via express post - so it was only a couple of days.

I liked having it ready to go and not have to waste my valuable holiday time looking for a simcard. And it worked - phone calls were fine.

I couldn't find a place to get a simcard in DFW - and i did ask several places. Neither at Universal or WDW. I did buy a data sim card for my Tab at the T Mobile store at Mall at Millenia (this was the closest to Universal), which took about 30 - 45 mins to buy. I got this cause Universal/ RPR were still charging for WiFi in the rooms - or I sat in the restaurant and used the free WiFi. I also frequently used my phone as a WiFi hotspot for the tab, which worked well. (so I really didn't need that extra data simcard)

 

[AussieSing]

So do you know what they had to do in the end to allow you access to the internet fully? We are going to WDW in February and were going to get one of the T-Mobile sims but we won't have the time to go and muck about with getting access sorted out. Also how did the internet speed compare to phones in Australia?

Thanks in advance

 

[Sugarglider]

So do you know what they had to do in the end to allow you access to the internet fully? We are going to WDW in February and were going to get one of the T-Mobile sims but we won't have the time to go and muck about with getting access sorted out. Also how did the internet speed compare to phones in Australia?

Thanks in advance

I had to provide some kind of govt ID. In the T-Mobile shop I showed them my Australian drivers license and they used that. But the access failed again after 24 hours. I rang them and they asked for the last 4 digits of my social security number (and I obvi don't have one of those) so I used the last 4 digits of my drivers license (ummm ... in hindsight I could have told them anything) Both stints probably took about 20 mins to sort out.
As it is a legislative requirement this technically should happen with all carriers. I just don't know how different companies would handle it.

As per my opening post - T Mobile is slower - providing only 2G than in Australia which is 3G - unless you have one of the few and rare 4G phones (these phones - 2 or 3 of them - were named on the Travel Gear website)

I still used my smart phone a lot - posting to FB, touring plans app, and lots of web browsing. Just slower than here.

 

[Anne_Aus]

quick question did most people buy the initial credit reload from travel gear as well?
I was planning on using the website they give where it is cheaper but it seems like more mucking around that I am not sure if I can be bothered with anymore

 

[areweindisneyyet]

quick question did most people buy the initial credit reload from travel gear as well?
I was planning on using the website they give where it is cheaper but it seems like more mucking around that I am not sure if I can be bothered with anymore

I got the sim and credit all at once from travel gear. We did the $60 & $30 plans so we could text each other. Applied credit night before we left and the SIM activated with roaming here so knew we would be good. I had 100mb data on the $60 one and using mouse wait, checking Facebook, bus timetables etc. had used 80% after 18 days which hey sent a text to tell me.

Did get some random calls but otherwise highly recommend

 

[Sugarglider]

I know what you mean about the cheaper price - but I did the $2/day plan for 14 days - the saving would have been something like $3. Unless you talking about saving massive amounts - at least the value of a nice dinner - buying all together up front was fine by me for the convenience.

Did get some random calls but otherwise highly recommend

I didn't get any random calls but I had learnt from others here on the boards that because the phone numbers are recycled this can happen.

I still recommend the product too