Question

International Roaming Data being throttle too much

  • 18 January 2022
  • 5 replies
  • 1378 views
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I’m on the Magenta Max 55+ plan.  I specifically took it out because I travel a lot and was finding the normal roaming data speed of 128Kbps unusable.  Magenta Max+ is supposed to give double this -  256Kbps but I never get this download speed.

In the UK my phone connects to either T-Mobile or Vodafone UK depending on location.  These speed tests were done with full signal strength bars and LTE showing:

T-Mobile   down 70 Kbps   up  240 Kbps
                 down 80 Kbps  up  220 Kbps
                  down 60 Kbps   up  230 Kbps

Vodafone UK  down 110 Kbps  up  230 Kbps
                      down 120 Kbps   up 250 Kbps

 

and it’s not just the UK.  In Ireland over Christmas I got the following speeds:

                   down  80 Kbps    up 240 Kbps
                   down  80 Kbps    up 230 Kbps

 

I understand about the phone connecting to the networks at a high speed and ‘throttling’ being performed by T-Mobile depending on plan.   But my connection seems to be throttled too much and I’m not getting the speed I’m paying for.

Can anyone help please?

5 replies

syaoran
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Userlevel 7
Badge +15

There are more factors than just being throttled.  Network congestion is a factor, device compatibility with the roaming partner, and you do seem to be getting close to the 256kbps.  There is nothing that says the speed has to be down.  In some cases, creating an APN for the carrier you are roaming on to can help.  Ultimately, they want to sell you high speed data passes.  

Syaoran - I am not a T-Mobile Employee but I could use a new job!
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Hi Syaoran and thanks for taking the time to reply.

Just to put the speed difference in context, if I put my friend’s phone (which has a UK SIM connected to the same network) next to mine then they get 98 Mbps and I get 0.07 Mbps.  My friend is getting a speed 1,400,000 times faster than me.  This really can only be explained by T-Mobile throttling the connection.  That’s fine but they should be throttling it to 0.25 Mbps, which is what they advertise and not 0.07 Mbps.  

The APN suggestion was interesting but I don’t think this can be changed on an iPhone, which is what I’m using.

F
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Userlevel 7
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youre on a different countries network..almost safe to say they prioritize the local SIM cards over the roaming ones..

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K

T-Mobile throttle too much I have 5 GB of high speed use per month when traveling international but it's shared between 4 business phones = a joke, W hen back home I will check up on single registration of my business phones to check cost versus benefits!

I learned to get a dual shim phone so you keep you "home" sim card for calls and buy a local sim card for data when out and about, most hotels today have good free wifi also for eventual gigabit uploads, right now I am in Chile, Rancagua were I could buy and easy activate a 4000 Pesos (USD 5) sim card with Claro with 5 GB high speed 40 GB up 30 GB down and 250 minutes of talk time and free social media use for a month, don't struggle with a poor T-Mobile travel service, find a Stressless solution ther properly will save you money in the end!

E

I don’t know about throttle or any technical stuff but my wife has at&t and it’s much faster. My tmobile is almost useless.

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