By To say AT&T is knocking it out of the park when it comes to roaming agreements would be a vast understatement at this point. It was only a couple of weeks ago that the company announced an LTE roaming deal with Rogers in Canada, the first deal of that kind to ever be signed. Now, they’re going even further than north of the border.
AT&T and EE have announced the first international roaming deal that will allow the former’s customers to hop on the latter’s LTE network when traveling abroad. EE controls the biggest 4G LTE market in the UK, with more than 160 markets being drenched in coverage (and more being added as the months tick by).
EE also took this time to mention a couple of different juicy specifics:
- This won’t be the last deal they’ll strike with AT&T, as we’ll be seeing more from the duo early next year.
- EE customers traveling abroad will have options for global LTE roaming, though no further details were given.
We wouldn’t be surprised to see AT&T return the favor for EE customers traveling to the United States, but we’ll have to wait for further word from either of these companies before we figure out what, exactly, is going to happen. EE also made it sound as if AT&T won’t be the only player that’ll be doing business with.
We don’t yet have a solid time frame for the fruits of this agreement to go live, but we’re sure either EE or AT&T will clue us in whenever the time is right. It’s starting to sound like those who frequent international land will want to keep AT&T in mind as a top option.
You say first international roaming agreement, but Three in the UK have got roaming agreements with several Countries (including the USA)?
My wording was a bit confusing. I meant the first international LTE roaming agreement from a US carrier.
I don’t get what is so awesome about these. They are still charging outrageous international roaming fees that I don’t see them providing much value to anyone. So now you can use more data and come home with a $100,000 cell bill instead of a $10,000? I guess it is hitting it out of the park for AT&T.
Great. So who are these people that travel back and forth internationally so much that I should give a crap, while the carriers continue to ream us continentally?
hmm business people? Even the low man on the totem gets to travel from time to time and don’t for get all the conventions around the world.
i don’t get why these deals are beneficial…. the charges are absolutely ABSURD, this is only a way for ATT to make more money.
what would b GREAT is if they were making these agreements and allowing you to use your plan over seas… sure charge more for the OVERAGE fees but ATT should give its customers a set amount for free… same with EE, that is an agreement worth talking about.
Who says they aren’t? T-Mobile just did; maybe this is to compete. Also international roaming, especially free or cheap international roaming is a huge advantage over CDMA carriers.
T-Mobile’s parent company also owns alot of networks overseas, that’s why T-Mobile can do a set amount for free.
True, check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Deutsche_Telekom_world_locations.svg
Though I’m sure AT&T has considerable international assets and partnerships
But let me guess, you still need to have an international plan with att that costs as much as a regular plan?
You wished it costs as much as a regular plan. International data on AT&T is ridiculously expensive, MORE than their regular overpriced plans, which is why it’s almost always better to grab a local sim card when you get to the country.
I guess your not understanding me. To have international on your plan is like adding a whole other plan with it being it so expensive. And the reason people want an unlocked sim phone is because it is a lot cheaper to get a local plan wherever you go than using your international plan, that is unless you have tmobile. My partner travels to the Caribbean all the time and its cheaper for him to get a sim card plan with orange then use his att plan. That is until he switched to tmobile and now gets the free roaming plan that is way cheaper than att.
It’s really not that great, AT&T charges an absurd amount of money for this. You’re better off just popping in a Sim if you really need LTE overseas.
I prefer T-Mobile method of giving us FREE basic use, I don’t need super fast speed while on vacation, just the basics.
Yeah, good luck with that. I am currently on EE and can’t wait to leave them. You only need one word to describe them, poor! Poor signal, and poor customer service.
You know what they say….. ymmv. I see an average of 20Mbps d/l throughputs with EE on HSPA+, and have always found their CS faultless. :)