Sprint is doing its best imitation of competitor T-Mobile as it launches International Value Roaming, a new program that provides subscribers with unlimited text and data in Latin America, Europe and Asia.
So far, the promotion only extends coverage to 15 countries, namely Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Russia, South Korea, Spain and the United Kingdom. It’s a small collection of territories considering that T-Mobile offers the same service for 120 countries. But Sprint usually charges at least $15 (100 megabytes for one day) for international data packages, so this is definitely a move in the right direction.
“The continuous feedback from our customers indicates how important it is to travel without the fear of high roaming charges,” Marcelo Claure, Sprint’s CEO, said in a press release. “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.”
Similar to T-Mobile’s program, Sprint’s international data service will crawl along at 2G speeds, which is just enough to facilitate sending emails and browsing the Internet. The best part of the deal is perhaps the unlimited texting, since it would make communicating while on the road a lot easier. However, if the need to call arises, it would only set you back 20 cents per minute.
International Value Roaming is bundled into Sprint’s Unlimited Plus Plan, which is exclusive to subscribers with Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge devices. If you’re on a different Sprint domestic plan, you can activate the program by visiting a Sprint store or visiting the company’s International Value Roaming page.
