T-Mobile recently implemented some major changes to their international service, and now they’ve announced yet another change (but don’t panic, they’re just ending one specific type of plan, and not international data on the whole, or anything).
Changes T-Mobile recently made to international service
T-Mobile expanded their international plan from 154 countries and destinations to 210+, which I’m very excited about. But then T-Mobile increased the cost of international calls from 20 cents per minute to 25 cents per minute, which is obviously bad news.
Then T-Mobile announced that they were introducing a new $5 Global Pass, where for $5 per day you can get high speed data and calling abroad. You receive 512MB of up to 4G LTE speeds and unlimited calls for just $5 per day, which I consider to be an excellent deal.
The bad news is that the T-Mobile Global Pass is surprisingly annoying to actually use, so I’m a bit disappointed by it.
T-Mobile has now announced yet another change to their international plan.
T-Mobile ONE Plus International Plan being eliminated
T-Mobile has a few international data options at this point:
- The most basic plan is the T-Mobile ONE Plan
- For an extra $10 per line per month you can upgrade to the T-Mobile ONE Plus Plan
- For an extra $25 per line per month you can upgrade to the T-Mobile ONE Plus International Plan
T-Mobile has just announced that the ONE Plus International Plan will no longer be available as a new option starting August 10, 2018. A company representative told tmonews.com the following:
“We simplified and made almost all of the features from ONE Plus International available on ONE Plus. We still offer Stateside International Talk as its own separate add-on option for customers and customers who have ONE Plus International can keep it for as long as they keep their plan.”
So don’t worry, T-Mobile isn’t eliminating their general international plan, and they’re not even eliminating the T-Mobile ONE Plus Plan, but rather just the ONE Plus International Plan.
Here are the differences between the ONE Plus and ONE Plus International options, as described by T-Mobile:
If I’m understanding things correctly (someone correct me if I’m wrong), what sets T-Mobile ONE Plus International apart is that it offers unlimited free international calls to landlines in 70+ countries and mobile phones in 30+ countries, and it offers 20GB of 4G LTE mobile hotspot data.
So this plan is ideal for those who like to tether a lot internationally, as well as those who talk a lot on the phone to those internationally. Personally this isn’t a plan I’ve ever used, but I know it’s one that some people find useful.
You can still get a separate international talk plan added to your line if that’s something you value.
If you could get value out of this, you can still sign up for it today.
The cost of T-Mobile ONE Plus is going up
Also as of August 10, 2018, the cost of T-Mobile ONE Plus will be increasing from $10 per line to $15 per line for those with a single line, while it will continue to be $15 per line for those with a family plan. This isn’t a huge deal for those of us with a family plan, but if you do have a single line, you also might want to upgrade today.
Bottom line
I don’t want to say that these changes are that bad, though increasingly I’m seeing T-Mobile going further and further away from what made them special. I remember they were such a breath of fresh air when I switched to them a couple of years ago, but I guess it should be no surprise that as they increase market share they don’t feel the need to differentiate themselves that much.
I’m not sure if I feel that way because their competitors have improved (they now all also offer decent international plans), or if it’s just because T-Mobile has been doing little to innovate.
Like I said, these changes as such aren’t a huge deal (in my opinion), but I expect we’ll see more negative changes than positive changes in the future.
What do you make of these T-Mobile changes?
(Tip of the hat to Simon)
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