About international incoming call and the plans (T-Mobile, iPhone, Skype)

[Paris-Seattle]

So... I'm gonna try to explain that the most clearly with my english...

In USA, plans for mobile are totally different from France.
When you get an incoming call, your plan counts minutes out of your plan.
So incoming calls are counted.
That's absolutly specific to US.

So, if I take a prepaid plan from T-mobile (unlimited in US) + the international service (unlimited for the handlines in France)... How T-mobile can counts minutes from a unlimited plan ???

There is no minutes to take off (concerning the incoming call) since it's unlimited...

Is someone here receiving international incoming calls on his/her mobile ?
If yes, can you tell me if it automatically counts minutes from your plan ?

Thanks a lot to enlighten me

[SitoUK]

I have T-mobile and limited minutes. When I get a call, from wherever it reduced my remaining minutes. If I call abroad however that is significantly more expensive than calling a domestic number.

If you're on an unlimited plan you should be able to receives as many calls as you want, from anywhere in the world, without any additional cost.

T-Mobile also gives you the option of wifi-calling (with some devices) which allows you to call free of charge if you have a Wifi-connection (in Seattle you're almost always close to a Wifi) but I haven't tried it out yet.

I usually use Skype on my phone to call abroad, which is free to another online device or pretty cheap to a phone. But you just reminded me that I should have another look at the t-Mobile Wifi calling

[Paris-Seattle]

Originally Posted by SitoUK

I have T-mobile and limited minutes. When I get a call, from wherever it reduced my remaining minutes. If I call abroad however that is significantly more expensive than calling a domestic number.

If you're on an unlimited plan you should be able to receives as many calls as you want, from anywhere in the world, without any additional cost.

T-Mobile also gives you the option of wifi-calling (with some devices) which allows you to call free of charge if you have a Wifi-connection (in Seattle you're almost always close to a Wifi) but I haven't tried it out yet.

I usually use Skype on my phone to call abroad, which is free to another online device or pretty cheap to a phone. But you just reminded me that I should have another look at the t-Mobile Wifi calling

Thank you very very much for these precious informations !!!

1/ " If you're on an unlimited plan you should be able to receives as many calls as you want, from anywhere in the world, without any additional cost."
It's exactly what I would like... But it seems TOO BEAUTIFUL too be real...

2/"in Seattle you're almost always close to a Wifi"
Very interesting as I already use Skype also...

Knowing that with an Iphone for example, you don't even need a plan or a wifi plan to get Skype...

[Thegonagle]

It's real. The reason incoming calls deduct minutes from the mobile user's plan in the US is to pay for the airtime, not the phone connection. The caller pays their normal long distance/international rates. (Note that in the US, the caller pays the same rate whether calling a mobile or a land line.)

This harkens back to the olden days, when analog phone towers could handle a very limited number of calls (like less than 100 on each of its three cells), so the phone company billed mobile users for airtime coming or going.

Now that everything's digital, capacity is vastly increased, so unlimited plans are possible. (Once they went digital in the US, they could have made incoming mobile calls free, just like on US land lines, but they haven't, because they'd make less money.)

If you're looking at an unlimited minute plan, then you don't need to worry about any cost associated with answering an incoming call, no matter where it comes from. If you're looking at a limited number of minutes, all incoming calls are treated the same no matter where it came from. In either case, there are no incoming long distance/international charges.

Hope this helps.