T-Mobile Announces International Plan Changes

By: Ben Schlappig

Published: July 12, 2018

61 comments

I’ve been a T-Mobile customer for a couple of years now, and am thrilled with their overall value proposition. They’ve just announced some major changes to their international data plan, which I wanted to cover in this post.

Why I love my T-Mobile International Plan

I made the switch from AT&T to T-Mobile in June 2016, and in many ways it has been life changing for me, given how much I travel internationally. Back in the day I didn’t have data when traveling abroad, while my T-Mobile plan offers free 2G data and calls for 20 cents per minute in 140+ countries. I also receive an hour of free Gogo Wi-Fi per flight on my phone, plus unlimited messaging. Oh, and best of all, I pay half of what I paid with AT&T.

Sure, the 2G speeds are on the slow side, but I find T-Mobile to be a great value. Really what I’m looking for when traveling is data that allows me to check my email and use maps, and the 2G speeds do the trick for that.

I’d note that note that there T-Mobile’s competitors are starting to catch up a bit, and if you’re not married to your iPhone, Google Fi is a good alternative that many like.

So now let’s take a look at the two major changes coming to T-Mobile’s International Plan, one of which is positive, and one of which is negative.

T-Mobile increasing the cost of international calling

Starting on the first new billing cycle following July 31, 2018, T-Mobile will be increasing the cost of international calls by five cents per minute, from 20 cents per minute to 25 cents per minute.

This is of course bad news, though keep in mind these rates only apply when you’re making phone calls and aren’t on Wi-Fi. Personally this change won’t impact me much. I generally only message when abroad and not connected to Wi-Fi, and if I make calls I’m typically connected to Wi-Fi, in which case I’m not being charged anyway.

T-Mobile adding international data in 55+ countries

Now let’s talk about the good news, which I’m very excited about. Starting July 22, 2018, the number of countries eligible for T-Mobile’s International Plan is increasing from 154 to 210+. You can find the new full list of eligible countries here.

To me this is a huge positive. I’ve visited quite a few countries recently that weren’t eligible for T-Mobile’s International Plan, which I found to be a real bummer. For example, looking at my recent travels, Angola, Bangladesh, Brunei, Jordan, Mongolia, Oman, Seychelles, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam, all weren’t covered under the old plan but are covered under the new plan.

Mongolia is now covered in T-Mobile’s International Plan

Bottom line

These changes are no doubt a mixed bag, depending on how much you talk on the phone, and what countries you travel to. Personally I view this as a positive development.

I barely talk on the phone internationally when I’m not connected to Wi-Fi, while I’ve found myself in several countries where I couldn’t even use data, because they weren’t included in T-Mobile’s International Plan. So to see so many countries added is fantastic news, as far as I’m concerned.

Do you view these T-Mobile updates as being a net positive or negative?

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Sho'nuff Guest

July 19, 2018, 2:29 pm

"Dan says: July 19, 2018 at 10:44 am Their 2G speed is so slow, it’s impossible to be considered usable in any international countries. I even have problems loading text messages and it was freaking Canada not even like far…." I'm going to go ahead and call BS. I've used my TMO service on different phones over the years and in very small countries on back roads in the country (Latvia as an example) and while it is a little slow it works fine and was able to do most anything I needed. In major metro Euro areas I was getting faster than 2G, my phone even showed LTE sometimes. Your Canada issue likely happened to be in one area that was bad. Canada is super fast and considered like the US.

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Jae Guest

July 19, 2018, 10:47 am

Wifi calling on TMobile is basically placing a voice call over WiFi instead of a cell tower. In order to use this feature with tmobile, you need 1. To be connected to WiFi and 2. Have a phone that supports wifi calling. Most current handsets support it. I can confirm that the iPhone 6 supported it so I assume all iPhones since then do also. Enable wifi calling in your phone's settings. Now your phone will say T-Mobile Wifi on the upper left corner of your screen (at least on an iPhone it does). Now, any voice call you make will act like you are physically placing a call from the US. So if you call another US number, either cell or landline, it will be the same as if you were placing the call from the US - which is free, since these days most all plans give you unlimited voice and only meter data. Now, if you were to call an international number while on Wifi calling, you will be charged the same as if you were in the States and calling the same international number. Remember, just because you're traveling in Japan, for example, and you call a local Japan number (local to you at the time because you're also physically in Japan) but the call is an international long distance call, since your phone is a US phone and wifi calling makes the phone act as if you're in the States. This of course has advantages and disadvantages. Advantages are that you can call home while travelling for free while on wifi calling. You can also receive voice calls from people that call your US number for free while on wifi calling. Your callers won't know the difference. If phones on both ends are on wifi calling your voice call will be ultra clear as it uses a higher bitrate audio codec due to the increased bandwidth. Disadvantages: you need to be on wifi for this to be free and any international calls outside if the US are still charged as if you didn't leave the US. Sometimes calls drop out or get garbled if wifi signal degrades. Yes 2g sucks but I'd rather have that and wait till I get wifi than pay AT&T $10 a day... Especially when I'm somewhere for a month or two at a time. As far as I know, T-Mobile doesn't charge extra for wifi calling. All TMobile users have it available if you have a phone that supports it.

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Dan Guest

July 19, 2018, 10:44 am

Their 2G speed is so slow, it's impossible to be considered usable in any international countries. I even have problems loading text messages and it was freaking Canada not even like far....

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Linda Guest

July 19, 2018, 10:35 am

After 20 years with AT&T I cut ties last month solely due to their horribly exspensive international plans. I made the switch to T-Mobile and just wish that I had done it so much sooner!

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snic Diamond

July 15, 2018, 5:39 pm

@Arnold - I used Flexiroam once and it worked reasonably well. However, I now have Fi and it is worlds better because (a) it's still my own phone number when I'm abroad, so I get texts to that number; (b) no stickers to mess with and no need to switch anything in an app; and (c) it comes with phone service, whereas Flexiroam does not. Fi is really the way to go if you travel internationally a lot - I imagine that many pilots and FAs use it because it's so easy and cost-effective.

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