This is crazy. International roaming is one reason I switched to T-Mobile. I recently traveled through Southeast Asia and had usable internet throughout Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam (looks like no more free internet in Vietnam). The internet was about 256-512 Kbps and was available even in rural locations. I also had access to my US number when I was on wifi - calls in and out. T-mobile coverage isn't perfect in the States, but overall pretty happy with the switch.
Yeah, it's great - but it's important to note that, despite the un-carrier moves, you only get that free data roaming with a post-paid plan. If you are on prepay and paying the exact same amount for the same service within the US, you'll still get charged the extortionate data prices when you roam (although you won't get a massive bill, it'll just stop when your credit runs out in a few seconds).
> International roaming is one reason I switched to T-Mobile.
It's nice that it doesn't cost any extra, but in my limited experience with it (in Canada and the UK), it is extremely slow. It's fine for having your phone picking up your mail, but things like Google Maps don't seem to work so well, and anything that involves uploading speech for recognition just seems to fail.
That's the right way, but internet on landing was super convenient. I bought proper SIMs for the places I stayed longer than a few days, but did it outside the airport (cheaper and no lines) once I was settled in.
