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AT&T was in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress this year, and for good reason. The company took some time out to announce free international messaging to both landlines and mobile phones, giving those with family abroad another viable means of communication without having to pay a megacrapton of money.
So what’s the catch? There is no catch. No, really, for once there truly isn’t any other hooks to this nice deal. Whether you want to applaud AT&T for the gesture or applaud T-Mobile for being the likely cause of this move is up to you, but either way we are loving what this new fierce competition is doing for customers in the wireless industry.
Beyond all that, AT&T also reduced the international calling plan to Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean to just $5 per month at 1-cent per minute. Why? Because you shouldn’t have to take a mortgage out on your home to call loved ones who live just across the border.
“We are always looking for ways to keep our customers happy,” said AT&T chief Ralph De La Vega. “The offer we have is better than T-Mobile’s, because on ours it isn’t just landlines, it includes mobile as well.” That AT&T name-dropped T-Mobile is a testament to Magenta’s impact on the wireless industry as a whole, and as consumers you should definitely be excited for what 2014 is going to bring. AT&T’s latest changes all take effect starting February 28th.
Let the the dogs of war be unleashed.. The consumer be he victor
That sounds like an incantation for some JRPG.
Let the dogs of war be unleashed!!
Hell Rain!!
Nothing to see here. Most people communicating with people internationally have been using whatsapp or Line for years which are far better than sms anyway. Data is data regardless of it being international. SMS should have been free from the moment they introduced data plans.
Eh “better” is a preference, some people would much prefer being able to just add them to a sms group and text pictures normally instead of using pure data for everything.
Have you used whatsapp before? Setting up groups is really easy and sending pictures, video, location, voice messages is really straightforward. Line supports free calling and video chat.
People stopped using sms in Asia probably 4-5 years ago.
Yeah I have used it, but everyone else has to have it is my problem. Everyone I know has a cell phone but not everyone actually will dl and sign up for the app that I ask them to ya know? It makes it difficult to use things like that in groups.
In the context of connecting with family while living abroad, getting family members to dl and install an app isn’t that onerous.
True but with random freinds and what not it gets more tedious.
We use Google Hangouts for both texting and international calls. All of our family use Android phones and tablets. We do video calls through our phones frequently.
Someone SERIOUSLY needs to punch Ralph De La Vega in the face. AT&T has done everything in their power to gouge customers every chance they can until they’re either caught doing it illegally or getting crushed by competition. If they truly cared about customers, they wouldn’t have eliminated all the cheap plans and reduced their prices to 3rd world country levels.
Does this mean the texting fee tacked on existing plans will be dropped? That’d be a great loss of revenue.
Source link?
Prepaid users get this?
”The offer we have is better than T-Mobile’s, because on ours it isn’t just landlines, it includes mobile as well.”
I thought T-Mobile had just added Mexico mobile calling to their International calling add on? Oh well, let me know when you add free international text and data roaming AT&T then you’re competing.
Translation: Facebook buying Whatsapp has us a little scared.
hahahaha at&t always looking for ways to make customer happy!! good one at&t good one!