T-Mobile eliminates ridiculous roaming fees for 20 more countries

By Robert Nazarian Published September 17, 2015

T-Mobile continues its Uncarrier moves with an announcement that will make international travelers super excited. The carrier added 20 new countries and destinations to its Simple Global feature, which allows T-Mobile’s Simple Choice postpaid customers to make flat-rate calls at $0.20 a minute and take advantage of unlimited data and texting at no extra cost while abroad.

Essentially, T-Mobile won’t charge roaming penalties to anyone who travels to a total of 145 countries worldwide. The deal now includes all of Europe and South America. According to T-Mobile, Simple Global now covers 90 percent of the trips Americans take abroad each year.

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The new countries T-Mobile added include the Bahamas, Haiti, Monaco, Albania, Belarus, Bosnia, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Guernsey, Alderney, Jersey, Sark, the Isle of Man, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

On top of Simple Global, the Uncarrier also launched Mobile without Borders back in July, which eliminates roaming fees for all of North America. That particular feature ensures that customers who travel to either Canada or Mexico won’t have to pay an extra penny for calls, texts, and data. Customers who don’t travel can still take advantage of the plan, as they won’t be charged for calls to Canada or Mexico either.

T-Mobile offers by far the best rates for travelers, as the other carriers continue to jack up pricing the minute you step into another country. For example, customers on Verizon Wireless will pay $250 for just 1GB of data in qualified countries with an international add-on. That’s only the tip of the iceberg, though, as it can get beyond embarrassing for those who forget the add-on or travel to other countries that are not included in the plan.

Roaming charges not only hit people going on vacation, but also businesses with employees who travel for work. According to RCR Wireless, American businesses paid over $7.3 billion in wireless data charges for their employees roaming abroad.

T-Mobile aims to help its globetrotting customers avoid the pain of expensive roaming charges with its updated offer, and it will be interesting to see which other countries the Uncarrier adds in the future.

Robert Nazarian

Former Contributor

Robert Nazarian became a technology enthusiast when his parents bought him a Radio Shack TRS-80 Color. Now his biggest…

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