On the heels of announcing dramatically extended domestic LTE coverage, America’s third-largest carrier, T-Mobile, is now beefing up its international coverage in a big way.
T-Mobile has added 20 new countries and destinations to its Simple Global, Un-carrier 3.0 plans. That means T-Mobile Simple Choice postpaid customers can now tap into flat-rate calls for just 20 cents a minute in 145 countries and destinations around the world.
“The carriers have made billions overcharging consumers who just want to stay connected overseas, and we’ve changed all that,” said John Legere [pictured], president and CEO of T-Mobile. The plan includes all of Europe and South America.
By T-Mobile’s estimates, its Simple Global plan covers more than 90 percent of the trips Americans take beyond U.S. borders every year. Perhaps one of the most welcome additions to the international line up is the Bahamas, which sees over 2 million American visits each year, according to the company’s research.
Legere isn’t pulling any punches with the competition. T-Mobile’s announcement made some direct comparisons with Verizon. Customers on Verizon’s International Travel Preferred Pricing plan, for example, pay $250 for 1 GB of data based on published rates of $25 per 100 MB. That’s on the low end, with the high end seeing costs swell to $2,099.20 for a single gigabyte of data, T-Mobile said. Verizon could not immediately be reached for comment.
T-Mobile is certainly tapping into a need felt by many Americans. One of its recent surveys reveals over 50 percent of carrier customers turn their data off as soon as they leave the U.S. to avoid costly roaming charges. American business users who frequently travel outside the country feel the pain more than most. In 2014, U.S. businesses paid their carriers $7.3 billion in wireless data charges for employees roaming abroad, according to RCR Wireless.
T-Mobile is reporting much lower overall costs on its network for road warriors on week-long business trips. On top of these savings, T-Mobile is reminding customers that its “Mobile without Borders” plan lets users call land lines and mobile phones -- and delivers 4G LTE data from their plans -- across the U.S., Mexico and Canada at no extra cost.
Source: http://www.cio-today.com/article/index.php?story_id=10200A15U5FC