T-Mobile

What is everyone's experience with T-Mobile on SXM ? Did you have to add an International service plan before traveling ?

We are on their magenta 55+ plan, which is very basic. In May We got free texts and limited but adequate data for free. Voice calls $0.25/min to numbers on island or to USA. Service was excellent. Also went to Anguilla and had excellent service there

I had the same results as Doug. The free data is pretty slow in some places. Cracks me up when I get the text saying welcome to curaçao and Guadeloupe.

i also have Tmobile. Yes, it may be a bit slower on SXM than at home, but for the most part it works GREAT on the island. Text is free, and if you make a call its only twenty five cents a minute. Most places on island offer wi fi, so between whatsap, and aol messenger, our bill from Tmobile for all our calls to and from the USA was like ten bucks. Even that could've been lower, but answered every call. IF you plan on spending hours on the phone, while on vacation, then it may be worth the ten bucks or so a day for international, but an occasional quick call, it's a GREAT deal just the way it is. I LOVE Tmobile.

Thanks for the replies. Are there any settings that need to be changed to avoid roaming charges ?

Put it on Airplane mode.

Just use the wifi whenever you can. No settings change and free.

What about WhatsApp? Anyone familiar with that? We've used it other places with great success. Don't know how it works, but it always does. Even if there is no Wifi, unless it uses the Wifi on the phone...

I had to change my settings from 5G to 4G for it to work properly in SXM

WhatsApp works on WIFI or Data. Lots of locals and businesses use it on island. We used it a lot while on Island and also communicate from here at home to others world wide. It's free and fast for texts, voice and video calls.

Got it. Thanks for the explanation Scuba. We've never had an issue with it and it was always simple and convenient. However, there are others in our group who are questioning it for our trip next month. I was just wondering if they knew something I did not.

As I understand it, if you are in airplane mode you can only send/receive calls/texts if you are connected to wifi (since your phone will not connect to cell towers). Are you wanting to use the phone anywhere on the island or just where you have a wifi connection?

Wanting to use it anywhere. There are 8 of us. Was going to set up a group chat so that we can communicate if we are at different places. "Hey. We found an awesome happy hour at ______." "When are you guys leaving?" "The food is fabulous, come joint us at_____". Also we can communicate with the kiddos/ friends back home.

Keep in mind that you can only communicate with others on WhatsApp as long as they also have it on their phone and have WIFI or data.

Got it. Thanks!

In that case, you don't want it on airplane mode but your phone will automatically connect to the nearest cell tower. Since I don't use T-Mobile, I will have to defer to others that do regarding plans they have available for international travel.

Also, when calling back to the states, I would use wifi when available since those calls are free. Just make sure wifi calling is activated on your phone.

Aren't all calls/texts free on WhatsApp?

Yes they are.

Yes but you need wifi to use it as well (it's good for calling or texting St. Maarten numbers that would otherwise cost money). But when calling back to the states, when using wifi calling it uses your regular phone number and you don't have to worry about using whatsapp. People in the states can also call or text your regular phone number for free. Again, this only works when you are connected to wifi but I assume you will have it where you are staying and many restaurants and businesses on St. Maarten now have/offer it.

Whatsapp will work with cell data as well if you are using a plan that includes data.

As scuba said, whatsapp only works if the person you are trying to call also uses whatsapp. When wifi calling using your regular cell number, you don't have to worry about that.

Got it. Thanks for all the helpful info.