TING - phone service from US

[EVENKEEL]

I switched to Ting phone service recently in preparation for long stays in Thailand. Supposedly after 3 mos I will be able to receive calls from states on my US number. Any thoughts or comments on the reliability.

[MeePeeMai]

16 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

I switched to Ting phone service recently in preparation for long stays in Thailand. Supposedly after 3 mos I will be able to receive calls from states on my US number. Any thoughts or comments on the reliability.

I have not heard of Ting but I am curious, how much is it? 

 

I got a US number through Skype for $69.00 a year so that I can communicate with my banks and credit card companies there in the US (and receive texts / one time pass codes etc. which I cannot get on my Thai number).  That's the only number I use now for anything or anyone in or from the USA.

 

I just couldn't see keeping and paying the monthly bill for my old cell plan and Skype has been a lifesaver.

[EVENKEEL]

5 minutes ago, MeePeeMai said:

I have not heard of Ting but I am curious, how much is it? 

 

I got a US number through Skype for $69.00 a year so that I can communicate with my banks and credit card companies there in the US (and receive texts / one time pass codes etc. which I cannot get on my Thai number).  That's the only number I use now for anything or anyone in or from the USA.

 

I just couldn't see keeping and paying the monthly bill for my old cell plan and Skype has been a lifesaver.

It's a pay as you go service, for 1 line it's $6.00/mo plus usage. In Thailand it's 30cents/min calling or receiving. But, it takes 3 mos before the international plan takes effect. For Thailand it will strictly be a lifeline to the US with my original T-Mobile number. It uses T Mobile towers. My phone has 2 sim cards so I can use one phone for both my AIS and Ting sims.

 

Your deal sounds good. I'm a dummy when it comes to tech stuff.

[MeePeeMai]

46 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

Supposedly after 3 mos I will be able to receive calls from states on my US number

I just spent some time on their website.  It seems like a good option for someone living mainly in the states but I believe that the international roaming charges would kill you here and if you turned off the roaming then you wouldn't be able to receive any calls. 

 

Is it your intention to keep your original US number?  In other words, are you trying to avoid giving up your original T-Mobile number and keep your T-mobile service?

 

I guess my next question would be how much time will you be spending here in Thailand out of the year (for example)?

 

30 cents a minute is quite high too.

Edited December 28, 2019 by MeePeeMai

[EVENKEEL]

1 minute ago, MeePeeMai said:

I just spent some time on their website.  It seems like a good option for someone living mainly in the states but I believe that the international roaming charges would kill you here and if you turned off the roaming then you wouldn't be able to receive any calls. 

 

Is it your intention to keep your original US number?  In other words, are you trying to avoid giving up your original T-Mobile number and keep your T-mobile service?

 

I guess my next question would be how much time will you be spending here in Thailand out of the year (for example)?

Semi permanent, 11 mos/yr. With my phone it has 2 sim cards. Only the card in No 1 slot allows data. So when I'm in Thailand I switch sim card position and use Thai sim for data and local calls. Ting will only be for incoming stateside calls from businesses. Or, that's what I think, I'll be leaving states today.

[MeePeeMai]

26 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

Semi permanent, 11 mos/yr. With my phone it has 2 sim cards. Only the card in No 1 slot allows data. So when I'm in Thailand I switch sim card position and use Thai sim for data and local calls. Ting will only be for incoming stateside calls from businesses. Or, that's what I think, I'll be leaving states today.

I would think that Skype would be a much better option for you since you will be here most of the year.

 

No SIM card needed for a Skype number (use your Thai SIM card for example)

No roaming charges ever / as long as your phone is not turned off your calls will ring on your phone (answered on the skype app)

Call forwarding is also available

Choose your own phone number from a list of available numbers in your state

Choose the area code and state that you want your number to be in (most states are available)

You can answer your Skype phone on your cell, tablet or laptop / desktop computer

Very cheap if you are calling a landline or cellphone (always free if Skype to Skype)

Free Skype to Skype video chatting to anywhere in the world

 

https://www.skype.com/en/skype-number/

Edited December 28, 2019 by MeePeeMai

[MeePeeMai]

Skype rates between Thailand and the USA are

 

SMS texts 6.3 cents per message

Calls to landlines or cell phones (free to another Skype number) only 4.5 cents per minute

 

You can either chose a monthly subscription plan (which I avoid) or just "add credit to your Skype account" via credit card or Paypal for example.  I do a $10.00 Paypal credit with an auto refill when it gets low.  $10.00 has lasted me more than a year now.

 

No monthly fees or minimums, just the annual fee to keep your Skype phone number active.

Edited December 28, 2019 by MeePeeMai

[EVENKEEL]

39 minutes ago, MeePeeMai said:

I would think that Skype would be a much better option for you since you will be here most of the year.

 

No SIM card needed for a Skype number (use your Thai SIM card for example)

No roaming charges ever / as long as your phone is not turned off your calls will ring on your phone (answered on the skype app)

Call forwarding is also available

Choose your own phone number from a list of available numbers in your state

Choose the area code and state that you want your number to be in (most states are available)

You can answer your Skype phone on your cell, tablet or laptop / desktop computer

Very cheap if you are calling a landline or cellphone (always free if Skype to Skype)

Free Skype to Skype video chatting to anywhere in the world

 

https://www.skype.com/en/skype-number/

I'll definitely check it out when I get to Thailand. Good info, thanks.

[Langsuan Man]

Never heard of "ting" but have used my MagicJack here in Thailand for the last 10 years, flawlessly . 

 

Friends and family just dial a local US number and my phone rings in Thailand.  Even use my existing wiring to be able to answer from upstairs bedroom

 

Have used Google Voice for SMS from US banks for OTOP's and now via the MagicJack app you can receive SMS via that number

 

I have discovered that even though banks are accepting Google Voice for SMS, the US Internal Revenue Service will not.  To use the IRS OTOP's the phone number must be registered with a US carrier in your name.  So International roaming would be required for use in Thailand.  The Thai mobile operators do not charge for International out bound SMS, not true for US carriers , they require International roaming  

[Pib]

Quote

I switched to Ting phone service recently in preparation for long stays in Thailand. Supposedly after 3 mos I will be able to receive calls from states on my US number.

Do you also have to wait 3 months before you can start receiving a SMS from the US....like a bank security code SMS?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

21 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

It's a pay as you go service, for 1 line it's $6.00/mo plus usage. In Thailand it's 30cents/min calling or receiving. But, it takes 3 mos before the international plan takes effect. For Thailand it will strictly be a lifeline to the US with my original T-Mobile number. It uses T Mobile towers. My phone has 2 sim cards so I can use one phone for both my AIS and Ting sims.

 

Ting has been perfectly reliable here as an international roaming, U.S. traditional SIM phone service that can be kept here at very low monthly cost, and then also easily used on trips back to the U.S., without having to futz around about changing your plan details or having to pay extra for adding data service, etc etc...  Since it's all pay as you go, pay for what you actually use.

 

The one thing to be aware of with Ting, however, is they've decided to ditch their current MVNO arrangement with T-Mobile and instead are doing a similar future tie-up with Verizon, which operates on different frequencies than T-Mobile back in the U.S.  And right now, we don't know if or whether Ting's international roaming arrangements will change once the transition to Verizon is completed during 2020.

 

One thing we do know, right now, though, is that all existing Ting customers who want to continue with Ting under the future Verizon arrangement will at some point in the coming year have to get and start using a new Ting/Verizon compatible SIM card.

 

PS - I activated my Ting SIM more than a year ago and started using it first here in Thailand, not in the U.S.  I never had any 3 month limitation on being able to use it with international roaming. Obviously, I started using it here from Day 1 and it worked perfectly fine. Whether Ting has changed something about that in the past year for new accounts, I can't say.

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

12 hours ago, Langsuan Man said:

Never heard of "ting" but have used my MagicJack here in Thailand for the last 10 years, flawlessly . 

 

Friends and family just dial a local US number and my phone rings in Thailand.  Even use my existing wiring to be able to answer from upstairs bedroom

 

Have used Google Voice for SMS from US banks for OTOP's and now via the MagicJack app you can receive SMS via that number

 

I have discovered that even though banks are accepting Google Voice for SMS, the US Internal Revenue Service will not.  To use the IRS OTOP's the phone number must be registered with a US carrier in your name.  So International roaming would be required for use in Thailand.  The Thai mobile operators do not charge for International out bound SMS, not true for US carriers , they require International roaming  

 

I too have been a MJ customer for more than a decade. And the newer version of their Android app certainly is an improvement on the prior ones in terms of reliability.

 

That said, MJ's international SIM reception performance pales in comparison to Google Voice. Probably 95% of my financial SMS activities use my GV number, and the SMS messages arrive here pretty much without fail literally in less than 5 seconds from the point I hit "send" on the online banking or similar web interface I'm using.

 

However, as you said, there are a few senders/providers where Google Voice doesn't work/isn't accepted for whatever reason. And you do need to have a traditional U.S. paid mobile service to use, and sometimes, even the various prepaid ones don't work for that. And it needs to be a monthly billing type mobile account where your billing or residence address is registered.

 

PS - And at least for my various uses, I can't think of a single one where GV didn't work but MJ did work.  Usually, if GV won't work, the only alternative is going to be a real U.S. mobile account through one of the traditional providers.

 

Edited December 29, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Re Skype:

 

Quote

And the phone number pricing looks to be $52 a year or $6.50 a month.  That appears to include incoming calls, but not outgoing calls that the user would make with that number.

 

By comparison, for about $40 a year including tax, MagicJack gives you a U.S. phone number in the area code of your choice, plus basically unlimited in or outbound calls to/from the U.S. regardless of whether the called/calling numbers are landlines or mobile, as well as unlimited SMS messaging to/from the U.S. via the MJ mobile apps.

 

Edited December 29, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Here's the Skype pay as you go calling rates for U.S. calls:

 

 

But they also have subscriptions for the U.S. that are pretty affordable -- apart from the costs of purchasing a Skype number for receiving regular phone calls:

 

 

[Nyezhov]

I use ting merely to have a number and data when I arrive in the USA, Its not a bargain for the time I am in the USA with data use, but the $6 a month when Im not makes up for it. I never use it in Thailand, I use Google voice to the USA and vice versa

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

I use ting merely to have a number and data when I arrive in the USA, Its not a bargain for the time I am in the USA with data use, but the $6 a month when Im not makes up for it. I never use it in Thailand, I use Google voice to the USA and vice versa

 

I just came back from a two week trip to the U.S. where I used Ting as my mobile service the entire time. The total bill for the month came to just under $24 including taxes.

 

So basically, that included my calling, a bit of SMS messaging, and data use when I was away from home (where I had house wifi and wasn't using mobile data). For a lot of my calling, rather than using Ting minutes, I'd be using data and various VOIP calling services like MagicJack and/or TextNow.

 

 

The $6 device fee is a flat amount per month for basic service. The $3 amounts for minutes and messages are their first-level bucket charges for those, so it's going to be $3 each for anything from one minute and message up to 100 minutes and messages, separately. The $10 data fee is their 2nd level charge for anything from 101 to 500 MB.

 

 

[EVENKEEL]

10 hours ago, Pib said:

Do you also have to wait 3 months before you can start receiving a SMS from the US....like a bank security code SMS?

Don't know for sure but I'm assuming so, my main reason for Ting was I could keep my old number.

[Pib]

Is there some Ting webpage/document you can reference talking the 3 month delay or are you going off something someone told you?

[Pib]

Found the 3 month reference in Ting's Terms of Agreement.....see weblink below.

 

I wonder if this also means if a person got a Ting SIM mailed to them from the US, if the person could even activate the SIM in Thailand. TallGuyJohninBKK mentioned in a PM he activated his Ting SIM while in Thailand but that was before.....I wonder if a person still can. 

 

Without international roaming being allowed for 3 months it doesn't seem a person could activate from Thailand now....would need to activate in the US.  But hey, maybe you can still activate if outside the US...maybe you can still activate but then simply not be able to use it overseas after that activation for 3 months.

 

I'm interested in this as I ordered a Ting SIM about 6 months ago...had it sent to a US family member who remailed it to me...and I been waiting to activate the SIM...I still have about a year before the activation shelf live runs out.

 

https://ting.com/terms/11

Quote

 

Quote

3.8 Roaming While Outside the United States

International roaming is turned off on all new accounts by default. Enabling international roaming as a feature requires a minimum of three months of service, previous usage on your account, and for your account to be in good financial standing.

When you enable international roaming on your account, you are expressing your intent to roam internationally and you agree to pay all charges associated with international roaming. Depending on where you go with your Ting phone, roaming can incur significant charges over and above the regular Ting rate for minutes, messages and megabytes of data used. A better option for international roaming is an unlocked phone and a local prepaid SIM specifically for your destination, a prepaid phone that you purchase when you get there, or a combination of Wi-Fi and a calling or messaging service when needed (eg. Skype). Ting international roaming rates can be found on our web site.

Third Party Charges

 

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

56 minutes ago, Pib said:

Found the 3 month reference in Ting's Terms of Agreement.....see weblink below.

 

I wonder if this also means if a person got a Ting SIM mailed to them from the US, if the person could even activate the SIM in Thailand. TallGuyJohninBKK mentioned in a PM he activated his Ting SIM while in Thailand but that was before.....I wonder if a person still can. 

 

Without international roaming being allowed for 3 months it doesn't seem a person could activate from Thailand now....would need to activate in the US.  But hey, maybe you can still activate if outside the US...maybe you can still activate but then simply not be able to use it overseas after that activation for 3 months.

 

I'm interested in this as I ordered a Ting SIM about 6 months ago...had it sent to a US family member who remailed it to me...and I been waiting to activate the SIM...I still have about a year before the activation shelf live runs out.

 

https://ting.com/terms/11

 

Pib, fyi, I went back and checked....

 

1. The Internet Archive website has a prior version of Ting's T&C's page that has the exact same language you posted above in use as of January 2019.

 

2. I activated my Ting SIM for the first time in spring 2019, well after that date.

 

And engaged in international roaming from the get-go.....

 

 

So based on that, I wouldn't get overly exorcized about their T&C language, until/unless someone comes along here and is actually blocked from being able to do with Ting what I was able to do without any muss or fuss.

 

Dunno if it makes any difference in their case, but I, for other reasons, usually keep "Location Services" turned off on my Android phone with Ting.

 

 

 

Edited December 30, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

By the way, here's the way Ting's international settings are configured under device settings:

 

 

I believe, the first section pertains to the Ting user making international long distance calls to numbers outside the U.S.

 

I believe the second section relates to receiving U.S. phone calls and SMS messages on the Ting phone when outside the U.S.  Re their international roaming data, I don't think I've ever turned that on or attempted to use it.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

BTW, here's a new service that was announced by T-Mobile last November, but hasn't actually been turned on/made available as yet. Sounds promising....just about the same time that Ting is dumping T-Mobile as its partner (PS, not suggesting there's any connection between the two events!)

 

PPS -  No mention of international roaming in the details below... But in the case of TM, usually that's available in their plans automatically simply for extra use charges.

 

 

 

Edited December 30, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Nyezhov]

Heres how I look at it. With ting, for 6 months a year, I pay say $7. thats $42.

Then for 6 months a year, I pay say $40 a month with all the data I may use.$240

Call it $300 for a year. $25 a month. As cheap as here.

 

Roll off the plane and turn on the phone. Presto, Im home.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Well well!!!  It seems Ting has lately backtracked on their prior plan to force its existing customers off of T-Mobile and onto Verizon... and now seems to have executed some kind of new agreement with T-Mobile, alongside of their new Verizon agreement.

 

https://coveragecritic.com/2019/11/30/updates-on-tings-plans-to-add-verizon-and-drop-t-mobile/

 

Quote

 

I am pleased to report that we have reached a subsequent agreement with T-Mobile and a mobile virtual network enabler (or MVNE), named Prepaid Wireless Group (PWG), that essentially eliminates that expense and risk. Prepaid Wireless Group will now be considered our direct provider of T-Mobile network access. The new deal accomplishes a few important things: It extends our ability to support customers on the T-Mobile network for another three years starting this December, with an option to extend further. It allows us to continue to activate subscribers on the T-Mobile network if we choose. And it maintains our current T-Mobile wholesale rates and gives us very reasonable annual revenue guarantees.
 

With this deal, we no longer have any urgency to migrate these subscribers away from T-Mobile, and no reason to incur expensive incentives going forward to do so. We will now add Verizon with much less rush.

 

 

https://www.tucows.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/TCX-Q3-2019-QA-Transcript.pdf

Edited December 30, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

17 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

Roll off the plane and turn on the phone. Presto, Im home.

 

That's one of the things/features I like about Ting, is its simplicity of use.

 

By comparison, T-Mobile's prior $3 a month prepaid plan included no data. So on trips back to the U.S., trying to get them to add data, which usually means having to buy a relatively high priced, limited use duration TM "data pass" was a real hassle, and in my experience, didn't always get handled well by TM.

 

With Ting, your access to their mobile data is always there/on. If you're abroad and not using it, then it costs you nothing. But when you're in the U.S., as you said, get off the plane, turn on your phone, and you can use as much mobile data as you want/need without having to call customer service, change any plan details, buy any data passes, etc etc.

 

Edited December 30, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Pib]

5 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Dunno if it makes any difference in their case, but I, for other reasons, usually keep "Location Services" turned off on my Android phone with Ting.

 

Seriously doubt it as Ting sees what mobile service (foreign or domestic) you are connect to simply through the info/coding in the mobile connection.....that how's they are able to bill you according for a domestic or international call/SMS.

[Pib]

4 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Well well!!!  It seems Ting has lately backtracked on their prior plan to force its existing customers off of T-Mobile and onto Verizon... and now seems to have executed some kind of new agreement with T-Mobile, alongside of their new Verizon agreement.

https://coveragecritic.com/2019/11/30/updates-on-tings-plans-to-add-verizon-and-drop-t-mobile/

https://www.tucows.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/TCX-Q3-2019-QA-Transcript.pdf

Well, that is good news.