Sprint now offering free international roaming

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Sprint is taking another page out of T-Mobile’s playbook and announced Friday that it was offering International Value Roaming. This new feature gives customers unlimited data roaming and texting while traveling to select countries in Europe, Latin America, and Japan.

The data roaming, like T-Mobile’s plan, allows no charge use at 2G speeds, enough for email, messaging and basic browsing. Voice calls are billed at 20-cents-per-minute, to any destination.

The initial batch of eligible countries is small, but not insignificant. International Value Roaming is available in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Russia, South Korea, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

In addition to the free roaming, customers with iPhones and select Android devices can also leverage Wi-Fi calling when connected to any number of hot-spots. Customers can also buy higher-speed (3G) mobile data packages too. A $15 day-pass is good for up to 100MB, a $25 seven-day pass is too for 200MB, and 500MB can be had for $50 over a 14-day period. There are no overages, speeds just revert to 2G when the threshold is reached.

Of course, Sprint will add countries to the list as it expands its program. It is easy to see where Sprint is copying borrowing from T-Mobile, right down to the language, “…understanding customers’ pain point,” common phrasing from Team Magenta’s colorful CEO, John Legere. However, Sprint makes no bones as to whom it hopes to draw interested customers from, AT&T and Verizon. These options are quite a bit more attractive than the international packages currently available from the two larger carriers.

International Value Roaming is also part of Sprint’s Unlimited Plus Plan, which is available exclusively to owners of the new Samsung Galaxy S6, and Galaxy S6 edge. It offers unlimited everything in the US, plus the international roaming, and a free phone for $80 per-month.

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source: Sprint

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