T-Mobile Extends Free Data in Europe and South America Until 2017

[MacRumors]

T-Mobile has announced it is extending its free unlimited high-speed data travel promotion throughout South America and 19 European countries until the end of 2016.

Simple Choice and T-Mobile ONE customers will be able to text and use data at the fastest available roaming speeds up to 4G LTE at no extra cost between October 1 and December 31.

European Destinations:
Armenia, Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, U.K.

South American Destinations:
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Easter Island, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela

Article Link: T-Mobile Extends Free Data in Europe and South America Until 2017

 

[SoAnyway]

I wish they would extend this through the end of 2017 as I'm planning to go to Europe next summer. It would be nice to be able to text and use my data abroad. Oh well, glad I already have an unlocked iPhone.

 

[0815]

This is really an awesome deal. I was this summer in several European countries with the family (4 of us) - and it was great. Speeds were good and we had everywhere network. Back in the days when I had AT&T I would only get a super expensive plan for me and my wife with very limited data and we rarely dared to turn data roaming on. Having the t-mobile plan this summer saved us tons of money and all four of us were always connected - which is very helpful when traveling and you have to look things up.

 

[avanpelt]

It wouldn't surprise me at all if T-Mo ends up extending this deal indefinitely come the end of the year. Then we'll see if AT&T and Verizon will care to compete on this feature.

 

[2457282]

It wouldn't surprise me at all if T-Mo ends up extending this deal indefinitely come the end of the year. Then we'll see if AT&T and Verizon will care to compete on this feature.

I hope you are right. Being on AT&T, I would love to see them do their usual comes-close-not-100% competing offer.

 

[gim]

I wish they would extend this through the end of 2017 as I'm planning to go to Europe next summer. It would be nice to be able to text and use my data abroad. Oh well, glad I already have an unlocked iPhone.

You will be. Even if this promotion ends, there'd still be unlimited texting and 2G data roaming.

 

[NervousFish2]

Lovely. That's my trip home to Ireland for Christmas covered!

 

[Bryan Bowler]

I wish T-Monile would exert more effort into learning how to efficiently handle iPhone orders...

 

[Howyalikdemapls]

Many years ago we didn't even have nation wide roaming. Making a call in another state was super expensive. Now every carrier has nationwide roaming and it's so expected they don't even mention it anymore. I bet it's only a matter of time until we can all use high speed internet on our phones everywhere in the world.

 

[justperry]

I wish they would extend this through the end of 2017 as I'm planning to go to Europe next summer. It would be nice to be able to text and use my data abroad. Oh well, glad I already have an unlocked iPhone.

You probably are aware of the following but just add it here for others too.
Buy a local sim, it's always better than roaming costs, BUT, the next link is interesting for people outside of Europe, from june 15 2017 there will be no roaming costs in Europe, just read more in the following link, I don't know the exact countries this applies to but I guess all countries inside of the EU(This is not Europe).
http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/money-charges/mobile-roaming-costs/index_en.htm

 

[joueboy]

No love for Canada T-Mo? Meanwhile here in the US roaming is limited. After loading a couple webpage then it's useless. SMH!

 

[yg17]

Hell yes. I leave for London this Saturday.

No love for Canada T-Mo? Meanwhile here in the US roaming is limited. After loading a couple webpage then it's useless. SMH!

T-Mobile users already have free LTE data in Canada.

 

[palmerc2]

I wish they would extend this through the end of 2017 as I'm planning to go to Europe next summer. It would be nice to be able to text and use my data abroad. Oh well, glad I already have an unlocked iPhone.

You already do get free text and data at 2G speeds all over Europe, the difference is here they offer free high speed when it's typically a paid upgrade package. They offered it over the summer which was great, I was in Europe for 4 months and I had LTE speeds for 2 of them.

No love for Canada T-Mo? Meanwhile here in the US roaming is limited. After loading a couple webpage then it's useless. SMH!

You already do get unlimited free high speed data, and free calling. Canada and Mexico are treated like a different state, such as going from California to Arizona. If you don't have that feature, call T-Mobile so they add it for free. It's called coverage without boarders I think.

 

[MacSince1985]

Many years ago we didn't even have nation wide roaming. Making a call in another state was super expensive. Now every carrier has nationwide roaming and it's so expected they don't even mention it anymore. I bet it's only a matter of time until we can all use high speed internet on our phones everywhere in the world.

It's already about to happen in Europe. A big concern is that people will buy service in the country where it's cheapest rather than the country where they reside. So they are drafting new laws to protect service providers. If/when that happens worldwide, I wonder what restrictions we'll face.

 

[swm]

It's already about to happen in Europe. A big concern is that people will buy service in the country where it's cheapest rather than the country where they reside. So they are drafting new laws to protect service providers. If/when that happens worldwide, I wonder what restrictions we'll face.

bet you wouldn't believe, that _not_a_single_ european T-Mobile XXX network is part of the deal
there are at least 10 T-Mobile companies in Europe (DE, Austria, NL, SK, Czech, Hun, Pol, etc), and me
as a T-Mobile subscriber still have to pay big $$$ to my local operator (T-Mobile X) when i visit a
neighbouring country and use there T-Mobile Y's network.

 

[MacSince1985]

bet you wouldn't believe, that _not_a_single_ european T-Mobile XXX network is part of the deal
there are at least 10 T-Mobile companies in Europe (DE, Austria, NL, SK, Czech, Hun, Pol, etc), and me
as a T-Mobile subscriber still have to pay big $$$ to my local operator (T-Mobile X) when i visit a
neighbouring country and use there T-Mobile Y's network.

They are waiting to be forced to do so. See http://www.nextinpact.com/news/1014...mission-europeenne-complexifie-son-modele.htm (in French, sorry) that states free roaming will be mandatory starting June 15, 2017.
Of course, it's easier to make that offer in the US where international travel represents a smaller fraction of customers than in Europe.

 

[joueboy]

You already do get unlimited free high speed data, and free calling. Canada and Mexico are treated like a different state, such as going from California to Arizona. If you don't have that feature, call T-Mobile so they add it for free. It's called coverage without boarders I think.

Great. I'm well aware about the roaming to Canada and Mexico for call and texting. But not about data because in the US the roaming is limited so I'm assuming it's the same. If not then I'm good to go next month then.

 

[joueboy]

Hell yes. I leave for London this Saturday.



T-Mobile users already have free LTE data in Canada.

The question now is the LTE unlimited at high speed or throttled after few MB of usage like roaming in the US?

 

[yg17]

The question now is the LTE unlimited at high speed or throttled after few MB of usage like roaming in the US?

I used about 8 gigs of mobile hotspot in Canada last month with T-Mobile, so no. It just comes out of your regular data bucket.

 

[palmerc2]

Great. I'm well aware about the roaming to Canada and Mexico for call and texting. But not about data because in the US the roaming is limited so I'm assuming it's the same. If not then I'm good to go next month then.

Its the same as your data in the US....if you have 5GB of data, you'll have 5GB of data in Canada. If you have Unlimited high speed here, you'll have unlimited high speed in Canada.

When I was in Canada I was getting 70MB/s on speedtest app.
[doublepost=1475122438][/doublepost]

The question now is the LTE unlimited at high speed or throttled after few MB of usage like roaming in the US?

Its unlimited high speed in Europe for this promotion regardless of what your plan is in the US. I have a feeling it'll be extended indefinitely at some point. I only have a 2GB plan since I travel abroad so much I don't need anymore than that, and when they had the promotion over summer I definitely used more than 2GB and still had high speed.

 

[dampfnudel]

I wish they would extend this through the end of 2017 as I'm planning to go to Europe next summer. It would be nice to be able to text and use my data abroad. Oh well, glad I already have an unlocked iPhone.

Yeah, being able to use your data plan at the highest data speed available in the region of Europe you're currently traveling through should be a permanent feature at this point. There's a good chance I'll be going to Europe next September and I would prefer to have my photos upload faster than what you get with only the restricted data speed of 128kbps despite seeing the LTE indicator on top. It sometimes took several minutes which made me feel like I traveled at least 15 years back in time. I know I'm still better off than I was 12 years ago when I traveled to Europe without any mobile phone, only my 3rd gen iPod and an Olympus camera so I probably shouldn't complain too much, but it seems like at this point it's a legitimate deficiency.

 

[joueboy]

Its the same as your data in the US....if you have 5GB of data, you'll have 5GB of data in Canada. If you have Unlimited high speed here, you'll have unlimited high speed in Canada.

When I was in Canada I was getting 70MB/s on speedtest app.
[doublepost=1475122438][/doublepost]

Its unlimited high speed in Europe for this promotion regardless of what your plan is in the US. I have a feeling it'll be extended indefinitely at some point. I only have a 2GB plan since I travel abroad so much I don't need anymore than that, and when they had the promotion over summer I definitely used more than 2GB and still had high speed.

You're awesome! Thanks a lot and your answer is straight to the piont better than T-Mo customer service.

 

[newyorkone]

Great news! Leaving for Europe Sunday

 

[palmerc2]

Yeah, being able to use your data plan at the highest data speed available in the region of Europe you're currently traveling through should be a permanent feature at this point. There's a good chance I'll be going to Europe next September and I would prefer to have my photos upload faster than what you get with only the restricted data speed of 128kbps despite seeing the LTE indicator on top. It sometimes took several minutes which made me feel like I traveled at least 15 years back in time. I know I'm still better off than I was 12 years ago when I traveled to Europe without any mobile phone, only my 3rd gen iPod and an Olympus camera so I probably shouldn't complain too much, but it seems like at this point it's a legitimate deficiency.

Try going anywhere outside of the US with AT&T or Verizon! The charges are horrendous. I've been to 21 countries so far this year and only 2 (Vietnam and Morocco) weren't covered with T-Mobile with free text and data, so in those 2 countries I got a SIM card.

With T-Mobile ONE, if you do the upgrade to Plus (I think it's called) it includes 256Kbps data abroad which I'll probably upgrade to before my next trip.

Although, I find the 128Kbps is adequate. I can do VOIP calls with WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook Messenger, etc on data, send messages, and get directions and that's all I really need. Can save everything else for wifi. Sure webpages don't load so fast but hey it's free. I leave my phone in airplane mode most of the time when I'm out exploring anyway, and only disable when I want to look something up. When I travel I want to experience where I am and not constantly get notifications, and feel obligated to return messages and stare into a screen. I set the time aside when I'm eating or back at my accommodation to return messages and other things that would be better on wifi.

 

[mrwuf]

I too wish they extended it through the end of 2017. Going to South America for 3 weeks and don't want to mess with getting a local SIM (if I'm even eligible-some countries restrict it to residents). I'd just to use iMessage and maybe FaceTime.