Did Sprint Just Surpass T-Mobile When It Comes To International Data?

By: Ben Schlappig

Published: April 21, 2017

59 comments

Staying connected while abroad without getting a separate SIM card keeps getting easier thanks to the number of great plans available through cell phone providers. For frequent international travelers, there seem to be two options that are most popular:

T-Mobile is known for their Simple Choice Plan, which offers unlimited data at 2G speeds, plus calls at 20 cents per minute, in 145 countries
Google Project Fi lets you buy data that can be used globally, though it’s way over my head, so see Tiffany’s post for more on that

T-Mobile-Simple-Choice

I love T-Mobile, and am so happy I made the switch from AT&T last year. I’m not exaggerating when I say that it has been life changing, given that I can tether off my phone and also have data when traveling internationally. Of the bigger carriers I think T-Mobile has been doing the most innovating, though it also needs to be pointed out that other cell phone providers are narrowing the gap.

Not only that, but Sprint may just have caught up, if not surpassed, T-Mobile. This week Sprint announced their new Global Roaming Plan. Sprint users now get free data at up to 2G speeds, free texting, and calls at 20 cents per minute, in 165 countries. This is very similar to T-Mobile’s international plan, except T-Mobile roaming is only available in 145 countries, so Sprint has 20 more countries on the list.

On top of that, Sprint is offering a reasonably priced option to upgrade your data internationally. In most countries, Sprint users can pay $5 per day or $25 per week to upgrade to LTE high-speed data when traveling. This new feature can be activated directly on your smartphone in a few clicks, so this isn’t something that needs to be done in advance.

Here’s the chart that Sprint provides in their press release with a comparison of what they offer, compared to their competitors:

68410-2017 - Sprint Global Roaming Enhancements Chart

T-Mobile also has an updated international plan, called T-Mobile ONE Plus. It costs an extra $25 per line per month, and gets you international data at 256kbps internationally, up to 3G speeds. Many frequent international travelers will find this worthwhile, though 3G still isn’t LTE, like what Sprint is offering.

Bottom line

Sprint’s new international data plan is compelling. On the most basic level, they’re offering unlimited data internationally in 20 more countries than T-Mobile is. But I actually think their option to upgrade to LTE speeds could be a good value as well, given how slow 2G is. I’m curious to see how T-Mobile responds.

What do you make of Sprint’s new international plan?

(Tip of the hat to @RoamingRei)

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Erik Arnold Guest

October 30, 2017, 2:59 pm

Sprint just torpedoed this program and did so quietly. Now it seems that unlimited data is a thing of the past - see their web site and you’ll see that unlimited 2G no longer is offered. It’s just one pay per MB price. Booooo Sprint.

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Joel Guest

October 20, 2017, 3:34 am

Sprint's plan covers Vietnam, T-Mobile does not. Not the biggest hole ever, but it is a hole. T-Mobile's 2G has worked perfect for me in Thailand for making voice calls via WhatsApp, FaceTime Audio, etc. Quite impressive. Until Dec. 31 2017 Sprint has the new customer sign-up promotion for 25,000 AA miles. I'll take a quicker J ticket on JAL, QR, or CX.

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Dan Guest

September 20, 2017, 4:31 am

I've used Sprint's international roaming in Japan, Korea, Israel, and Turkey… all in the last 3 weeks :-D The best: Sprint Global Roaming is an unbeatably good deal for Japan. Data is unthrottled 4G (probably because Sprint and SoftBank are owned by the same folks). I've used hundreds of GB of unthrottled 4G data in Japan, for free. Acquiring a local SIM card in Japan without a local address is a huge pain in the butt, so the convenience is very high as well. The good: - Text-only messaging via Hangouts, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, email work fine everywhere I've been. - Turkey: Since all your traffic is going through a U.S. server, you don't have to deal with their web censorship. Wikipedia works :) - 4G LTE coverage with good signal strength in all the big cities I've been to. No idea which local carriers are actually carrying my data. The bad: - Their "2G speed throttling" algorithm totally sucks. Sometimes it's fast and basically unthrottled, sometimes it's just slow, and sometimes it's so throttled that every attempt to load a Google search or map or web page hangs forever. Rrrrgh. - You'll probably need to frequently update your PRL to maintain coverage, or override the radio settings to go LTE-only. (LTE-only has worked okay on my rooted Android phone.) - Little-to-no LTE coverage in Israel south of Jerusalem (the Negev desert).

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S Guest

June 8, 2017, 3:38 pm

The Global Roaming plan was previously available through Sprint under a different name. However, it wasn't as widely available as it is now - apparently they've rolled it out in over 100 countries with local partner carriers.... hence the press release. I've tried it in Nairobi, Paris, London, and Frankfurt. The 2G was eventually throttled so much that it would take 5 minutes to load anything with each click and often the connection would time out (even after a PRL update, power off/on). This was for basic use (email, web browser, social media app) - nothing data intensive. Unlimited text functioned normally where I had a signal. Their Int'l department's tech support is great and they can be contacted via chat, email or toll free while you are abroad. It is probably cheaper/more worthwhile to ask Sprint's International department to unlock your phone - and to purchase a local carrier's plan/SIM. Sprint's Japan add-on $5/month, if they still have it worked very we'll for me even in densely populated outlying islands (unlimited data and text included).

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AlexS Diamond

April 22, 2017, 3:28 pm

@Stvr : Yes, on Verizon, Europe is "only" an extra $10 per day PER DEVICE, on top of your existing monthly plan. So my trip to Germany with the wife would cost us $200 in extra charges (me, wife) if we had Verizon. That's more than our phone plan on T-Mobile costs us! (~$35/mo per phone with the corporate plan we're on). We jumped ship from Verizon ~2 years ago due to Verizon's progressively-deteriorating network where we live. It got to the point where I had 0-1 bars at work, NO service at home, spotty service at my other home on Verizon. Verizon didn't offer WiFi calling at the time, nor would it benefit me now -- I want to use my phone's built-in SMS app, not their crappy add-on. Likewise, T-Mobile can keep a call connected going all the way from 4G->3.5G->3G->2G without dropping the call. Verizon still can't (and won't ever be able to) go between their 4G and 3G without dropping a call. Sprint's coverage is...eh... pretty bad. Quite a few holes around Florida that I've seen, even more holes in NY and CA. Even right in the middle of cities/towns, no service. Then again, Verizon has some of these same holes.

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