T-Mobile offers unlimited data in over 100 countries around the globe “at no extra charge” [UPDATE]

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T-Mobile global data coverage

We’re still waiting for T-Mobile’s big announcement in New York, due later this evening. Before anything could even be made official, it appears that T-Mobile’s own site has let the cat out of the bag a little earlier, cluing us in as to what they could be announcing at tonight’s event. According to T-Mobile, the 4th largest carrier in the US will begin offering global coverage in over 100 countries around the globe at no extra cost.

Of course, T-Mobile’s fine print reads that you’ll need to be enrolled in one of their Simple Choice plans and have a global capable device. A pretty big deal for globetrotters who will be available to avoid global roaming fees and pre-paid SIMs. Let’s hope that this is only 1-part of tonight’s announcement, with the other half mentioning more coverage and LTE in more places here at home.

UPDATE

T-mobile has just made Un-carrier Phase 3 official. Starting October 31st, customers on T-Mobile will be able to receive unlimited 2G data and text messages in over 100 countries around the world (T-Mobile estimates 95% of “where people go”). For voice calls, those can be made at 20 cents a minute.

For customers looking for something a little higher speed, there will be more plans for globetrotters looking for 4G.

100MB for $15
200MB for $25
500MB for $50

There is also a $10 a month plan for Simple Choice customers looking to call abroad. The Stateside International Talk and Text plan is “no more” than 20 cents per minute to participating countries. Calls to landlines in 70 of those countries will be free.

T-Mobile also signed a multi-year deal with Shakira to help promote the Un-carrier, but we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed that this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Carly.

[T-Mobile]

Chris Chavez
I've been obsessed with consumer technology for about as long as I can remember, be it video games, photography, or mobile devices. If you can plug it in, I have to own it. Preparing for the day when Android finally becomes self-aware and I get to welcome our new robot overlords.

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60 Comments

  1. loyalty rewards, data rollover, improve phone trade in.

    one of these would impact a lot more people than international calling.

    looking forward to the announcement

  2. I’ve always wondered why companys such as tmobile and at&t with presance in other countrys haven’t done this yet

  3. awesome! i travel to mexico all the time and use Telcel on a $30 phone. my Nexus 4 will be very happy to know i won’t be cheating on it anymore.

  4. Oh tmobile, everyday I like u better!!

    1. lol

    2. Me to they just gave me a free galaxy s4 well I’m waiting for it to come I won one from the #hate2wait contest

      1. That’s awesome!!

  5. T-mobile pushes the boundaries once again.

    1. I’d use this mainly for the SMS. Brilliant stuff.

  6. T-Mobile should have better LTE coverage in the US, and not just “coverage” of major league baseball games.

    1. 233 million pops as of now.

      In rural Minnesota, (New Prague), I have LTE. It does to hspa+ once or twice on the way to work. That’s it. Edge in the very middle of the large manufacturing plant i support… most carriers get voice-only in that location.

      The myth regarding their lack of coverage is just that.

      1. ummm…… yeah, most of their network is 2G. You can’t drive on many major interstates without dropping down to Edge or more likely GPRS.

        1. FALSE.

          I drive to and from work every day on I-35 and have LTE almost the entire way.

          So maybe *you* “can’t drive on many major interstates without dropping down to Edge”, but obviously many people can do so just fine.

          “most of their network”…durr….try saying that again with a straight face but instead with the correct understanding that “most” refers to users, not “open physical space”. (VZW and AT&T understand it…why don’t you?)

          1. I can refer to most as I like.

            To me, most is square milage. Everything else is pixie dust.

          2. Then your being disingenuous or worse, purposefully misleading, as the carriers all use it by number of users rather than open physical space.

            No problem though. I expected replies from people attempting to keep spreading the bs…

          3. Quite the contrary I assure you. Why else would T-Mobile hide its high speed coverage when you look further than 300 miles zoom? To mislead customers.

            Why did they make this?!

          4. And when you zoom in on att? VZW?

            *yawn*

            Company uses best possible way of presenting their data! News at 11!

            So you must actually use TMob then, right? Since you know their highway coverage so well?

          5. I have used T-Mobile for years.
            (I’m not using their service now though)

            I cancelled my T-Mobile line in September.

            Because of the article above I might switch it back on if I ever need to travel to another country though.

          6. Well your either the unluckiest customer or I am the damned luckiest as each of the three most often repeated complaints are personally verifiably BS.

            Rural, buildings, and now apparently highways…

          7. In my area..
            Mostly EDGE coverage in a top 100 market.. check.
            No LTE despite them saying there is.. check.
            Emergency calls only in buildings.. or EDGE.. check.
            GPRS/EDGE on highways between cities… check.

            This is not BS or myth. Check their map by actually zooming in.

            To redraw their map to be accurate is very simple.
            Take the “Satisfactory” and “Good” colors and change those to the “2G” color and you now have an accurate map.

            And yes, I am a customer…. but not for much longer.

          8. *laughing*

            Yeah, Man. I believe ya. I mean in no way does it look like you just took every single thing I said and contradicted it.

            … obviously, I’m the luckiest damned bastard that ever walked the earth. Yep. That’s gotta be i

            FYI: According to their map, I don’t even get hspa+ where I live or work, so… there’s that.

          9. I agree. I switched to T-Mo 2 months ago from AT&T to save money. Well… I got NO BARS in my apartment… which forces me to use the WiFi calling…. which is mediocre. Walking outside gets me 1-2 bars of edge. I used to have FULL bars of LTE everywhere on AT&T in Phoenix… including home. So… this month I will be switching to an AT&T compatible Straight Talk SIM for $45/mo to save even more money and get a better signal. I use only 1.5 gigs per month anyway…. so the 2.5 gb cap doesn’t bother me.

          10. T-mobile isn’t for everyone unfortunately.
            In central NJ I get great coverage from them, from DC to New York and Philly I have no issues and very rarely drop to edge.
            That area coverage where I am 99.9% of the time.
            Almost always HSPA+ and lately most of the time LTE
            Their prices and network speed make them a great option for me.

            But they don’t have the comprehensive coverage everyone needs especially if you don’t live on the east coast.

            People don’t argue about T-mobile coverage, it really does all depend on where you live, it’s excellent for some (the voice quality is better than AT&T for me as well) but for others it can be crap.

          11. He’s disingenuous for basing his “fact” on his experience alone, and you are not disingenuous for basing your “fact” on your experience alone. Ok, I got it. thanks

          12. I just met you and this is crazy, but read next time maybe?

            Our experiences have zero to do with how the carriers determine the size of their networks, or their coverage.

      2. That’s bs. A myth in your area is correct. The people who can’t get reception in other areas can’t all be liars. Broad opinions like that are foolish.

        1. Congratulations.

          Now look at nearly *every* single post by the haters.

          Broad opinions? Yeah, lock, stock, and barrel. Nearly every one.

          I’m not saying that my experiences are anyone elses. Never did. I simply said the groupthink is false. It is wrong.

          The two biggest complaints; zero rural coverage, and no building penetration, are demonstrably false. If those are demonstrably false in my area, rural Minnesota of all places, then it cannot be “true” everywhere else. I’m simply not that lucky, and Minnesota isn’t that important a market.

          So yes; You nailed it. The myth is false, being that the myth itself is overly broad.

          Do some signals penetrate worse than others? Sure. You bet. That’s fact. Is it as dismal a picture as painted by the haters? Unless they all work in faraday cages; hardly.

          Rural coverage is a case-by-case. As I said earlier, the coverage map shows my area as 3G. I get LTE. Everyone knows the maps for all carriers are…crap. But again it is in no way is it the dismal picture painted by the haters. Obviously, it performs quite well in some rural areas and again, it cannot just be my area. I ain’t that lucky.

          1. The fact that you decided that everyone who has different experiences than you are just haters typing for the sake of typing means you’re in a position in your mind where nothing anyone says to you will ring any sense into you.
            So many contradictions in your statement. But I digress.

            Carry on.

          2. Translation:

            “You said “haters”, so I’m going to ignore every point you make”

            Have a great day.

    2. LTE isn’t a problem where I am (Live), however, “coverage” AT MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL GAMES (Whenever I travel) would be a welcome advancement. Seriously, I can’t use data at Citi Field, Yankee Stadium, Safeco Field, or Fenway Park on game days. Ironically enough though, I get reasonably good service at Giants games at AT&T park.

  7. 2g? Max speed is 200 bps. But I guess it’s better than nothing. But I do like the text messaging being free.

    1. 2g or edge max speed is 384kbps. The fine print for this though is that they will only allow up to 128kbps. Unless I’m going to be in an area for less than a week, I personally will buy a local Sim, in most countries.

  8. no coverage in my area.

  9. This is awesome. Good job T-Mobile!

  10. Shakira > Carly

    1. Why not both?

  11. Hopefully Landline to Chile is one of those countries….

  12. Cannot wait for AT&T counter offer : free roaming…..to Canada….or something along those lines

    1. never going to happen at&t is money hungry

      1. Why do you think the T-Mobile did it? For the betterment of human kind?

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  14. Tmo give me better coverage. Im sick of edge and gprs outside of large cities. Stop with the gimmicks!

    1. I don’t mind edge, when it actually works at the speeds it should(up to 384kbps), but in rural America it often does not on T-Mobile.

      1. E is pretty much the same as no coverage where I am.

    2. Tmobile is meant for people who stay in metro’s otherwise they offer WiFi features. unfortunately my phone’s wifi card blew out and the Nexus 5 isn’t out yet so my last trip home was miserable.

      1. Oh really? Where is their advertising that mentions this?

        If this is what they intend, then they shouldn’t advertise themselves as a national carrier.

        1. they do have national coverage, but you also have to read coverage maps, which shows its national voice and text running off other companies networks (which means whatever they choose to spare). You don’t get the cheapest service and expect it to be the best, this isn’t rocket science. The simple fact that t-mobile doesnt have stores in po-dunk nowhere should have been enough evidence for you.

          1. Actually I have seen their stores where they have no 3g coverage. It’s ok to be s fanboy AND admit you’re wrong occasionally…

          2. I’m not a fanboy, every cell phone company sucks, its just a pick your poison event. Verizon has the best coverage but their prices are insane and their customer service is god awful (i got screwed out of a 2 year upgrade). ATT has pretty high prices, good internet speeds, drops calls regularly. Sprint has decent coverage, unlimited data, and cheap prices, but the internet is like dial up slow and their phone selection sucks. T-mobile lets you have no contract and cheap plans but they suck when you go out to small towns unless you have access to wifi.

          3. Depends on what part of the country you are in. In the NE bewteen Boston and NYC there is decent coverage everywhere along the two major highways. But once you are 5 miles from the highway you are on and off again.
            They will never be number 2 with this coverage, they just want to take as much as possible from ATT. The question is can they keep them.

  15. I live in South Florida and I just switched from Sprint to T-Mobile… better impossible.

  16. Umm… Shakira’s hotter than Carly, soooo…

  17. Verizon my have j-hoe but T-Mobile has shakira nuff said

    1. Whys she a hoe?

      1. because she wouldn’t give it up to him

  18. I left AT&T because they were literally ripping me off. They would never explain to me what the misc fees were and they charged me the same rate for my SG1 that they were charging others for higher end phones. Does that seem right to you? Everytime I walked into an AT&T store they treated me as a number not as a person. I also couldn’t upgrade my phone until 1 and a half years into my contract and if I changed the plan at anytime, I had to sign a new two-year contract. Does that seem right to you? I switched to T-Mobile for a lot of different reasons, and my coverage is right on par with AT&T. I can only speak for myself but free WiFi hotspot converting, 500Mb more data, the ability to upgrade twice a year, no contract, the same coverage and get treated as an actual person at T-Mobile locations, all this at a lower rate than what AT&T and Verizon offer on LOCKDOWN…yeah, I made the right decision.

  19. Theres a litle catch on this: lets say u leave the country for 3 months u will still need to pay for those 3 months (3×50=150usd), however local companies might just cost half for the same service. they dont want ppl to suspend the service because they will lose money, its great for couple weeks, even a month, but not good if you thinking leaving for over 6 months

  20. If you’re used to making free calls back to the USA with WiFi calling feature, it is no more with this new uncarrier “update”
    If you click on this link:
    http://www.t-mobile.com/International/RoamingOverview.aspx?tp=Inl_Tab_RoamWorldwide
    and select, for example Italy. You will see this at the bottom of the screen:
    * Rates are for calls within destination a country and back to the US and from one qualifying country to another.
    ** Texts sent over Wi-Fi are 20 cents each.
    *** Included data at up to 2G speeds. High-speed data passes available for purchase.
    and
    Simple Choice International Service: “….Calls over Wi-Fi are $.20/min; texts over Wi-Fi are $.20 each…”
    So if you’re connected with WiFi Calling feature at one of that 100+ countries, you will be charged USD $0.20 for sending text messages
    Also USD $0.20/min to make WiFi Call.

    I hope someone can tell me this is not correct.

    I think this is a step backwards :(

  21. LOL..when they launched they said”unlimited data.” Their website says “unlimited data.” When I saw that I ess pretty excited. That’d be a big deal.

    “2g data” wtf is that even? Is that like dial up broadband? IE: bullshit?

    Better off grabbing a SIM from Orange or some other local provider.

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