Sprint Offers Unlimited International Roaming In Select Countries
You've probably read horror stories of international travelers opening up their cell phone bills only to find they owe a king's ransom instead of the typical monthly fee they're used to paying. Welcome to the world of roaming charges. To prevent that kind of bill shock from occurring, Sprint is now offering unlimited data roaming in select countries.
Eligible countries for Sprint's "International Value Roaming" plan include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Russia, South Korea, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Not a bad list of destinations, and both new and existing customers are eligible to add International Value Roaming to their plan at no extra charge.
That's right; Sprint is gifting this to any and all customers who want it. Looking for caveats? There aren't many -- it's limited to the above-mentioned territories, and the free unlimited data is good only for 2G speeds, not 3G or 4G. Still, there are no data charges, no roaming fees, no text charges, and no data overage charges. If you want to make calls to anywhere in the world from one of the aforementioned countries, it will cost 20 cents per minute as part of the International Value Roaming plan (or use Wi-Fi for free calls).
"The continuous feedback from our customers indicates how important it is to travel without the fear of high roaming charges," said Marcelo Claure, Sprint CEO. "So, we launched free data roaming and Wi-Fi. “Latin America, Europe and Japan are only the beginning. We will continuously add new countries to ensure our customers can use their device virtually wherever they travel."
If you need faster web service and don't mind ponying up for it, Sprint will sell you 3G access in one-day, seven-day, and 14-day increments. The one-day pass runs $15 and includes 100MB of data with no data; seven days runs $25 and is capped at 200MB; and 14 days runs $50 with a 500MB cap. There are no data overage charges for any of the plans -- data speeds simply revert back to International Value Data roaming (2G) when you've used your allotment.
Eligible countries for Sprint's "International Value Roaming" plan include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Russia, South Korea, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Not a bad list of destinations, and both new and existing customers are eligible to add International Value Roaming to their plan at no extra charge.
That's right; Sprint is gifting this to any and all customers who want it. Looking for caveats? There aren't many -- it's limited to the above-mentioned territories, and the free unlimited data is good only for 2G speeds, not 3G or 4G. Still, there are no data charges, no roaming fees, no text charges, and no data overage charges. If you want to make calls to anywhere in the world from one of the aforementioned countries, it will cost 20 cents per minute as part of the International Value Roaming plan (or use Wi-Fi for free calls).
"The continuous feedback from our customers indicates how important it is to travel without the fear of high roaming charges," said Marcelo Claure, Sprint CEO. "So, we launched free data roaming and Wi-Fi. “Latin America, Europe and Japan are only the beginning. We will continuously add new countries to ensure our customers can use their device virtually wherever they travel."
If you need faster web service and don't mind ponying up for it, Sprint will sell you 3G access in one-day, seven-day, and 14-day increments. The one-day pass runs $15 and includes 100MB of data with no data; seven days runs $25 and is capped at 200MB; and 14 days runs $50 with a 500MB cap. There are no data overage charges for any of the plans -- data speeds simply revert back to International Value Data roaming (2G) when you've used your allotment.
