T-Mobile International Data vs. the Competition: Rates Compared

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 Data CostVoice Calling Cost
AT&T$30 per 120MB / $120 per 800MB (Global Add-on Package)$30 / month for $2.00 per minute (Rest of World Plan)
Sprint$40 per 40MB / $80 per 85MB (Multi-country Data Roaming)$4.99 / month for $0.99 - $5.99 per minute (Sprint Worldwide Voice Plan)
T-Mobile$60 per month for 2.5GB (Simple Choice Plan) Speed Pass: $15 for 100MB or 1 day, $25 for 200MB or 1 week, $50 for 500MB or 2 weeks$0.20 per minute flat rate (Simple Choice Plan)
Verizon$25 per 100MB (Global Data)$3.99 / month for $0.06 per minute (International Long Distance Value Plan)

T-Mobile has announced the third phase of its Un-carrier initiative, which is no extra charge for international data and text. From the looks of it, this move will help T-Mobile's customers traveling abroad save some serious cash. But just how much will your wallet thank you compared to the likes of AT&T, Sprint and Verizon?

Under T-Mobile's new plan, you'll pay no extra fees for using data overseas. That means whatever data you consume will come out cot you your usual $60 for 2.5GB of data or $70 for unlimited data. If you're looking for high-speed data, though, you'll have to fork over $15 for 100MB or 1 day of data. Need more? You can also pay $25 for 200MB or 1 week of data or $50 for 500MB or 2 weeks of data.

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Currently, under AT&T's Global Add-on Package plan, users can expect to pay an additional $30 per 120MB of data or $120 per 800MB. Go over your data limit and you'll be charged and $30 per 120MB

Sprint charges $40 for 40MB of data or $80 for 85MB of data under its Multi-country Data Roaming plan. If you're on Verizon, you can expect to pay as much as $25 for 100MB of data under the carrier's Global Data Feature. If you don't sign up for the plan, you'll pay $20.48 per MB.

Even when you add in the cost of T-Mobile's Speed Pass plans for higher-speed data, you'll wind up paying half as much on T-Mobile versus AT&T for nearly the same amount of data (100MB vs 120MB). And if you pay $25 per month on T-Mobile for 200 MB, you'll get nearly twice as much data versus AT&T for $5 less. 

We'd like to know how fast normal data speeds are under T-Mobile's plans without the Speed Pass option, but any way you slice it the carrier's new international offering looks like a pretty good deal.

Daniel P. Howley
LAPTOP Senior Writer
A newspaper man at heart, Dan Howley wrote for Greater Media Newspapers before joining Laptopmag.com. He also served as a news editor with ALM Media’s Law Technology News, and he holds a B.A. in English from The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.