T-Mobile is pushing a new data plan that will save U.S. Cellular consumers from having to pay for massive roaming fees when they want to use their phone and still travel internationally.
Starting on Oct. 31, individual and business customers in T-Mobile's Simple Choice plans will be automatically enrolled in the program that will allow them to take their smartphone to a foreign country and pay 20 cents a minute for voice calls. Meanwhile, text and data will be unlimited.
In an interview, T-Mobile's chief executive said that travelers had long been shocked by exorbitant cellphone bills after they traveled, so many people just left their phone off, according to the New York Times. The free roaming will apply to about 100 countries including France, Spain, China, Japan and Russia.
This comes as the latest in an aggressive campaign by the company to revolutionize the American wireless industry. The company has said many times that its goal is to eliminate the things that make people angry with their cell phone companies. In that spirit, earlier this year, the company switched from the normal system of having users sign a two-year contract with a new phone to being able to offer it on a six month period.
The changes, while devastating to the makeup of other rival companies like AT&T and Verizon, has had a positive impact on T-Mobile which reported in August that it had gained 1.1 million customers in the last quarter, giving the company its largest growth in four years.
The company expects customers to continue to sign on with their service, which he expects will more than cover the cost of offering free roaming service to its customers.
For a complete list of the countries that T-Mobile is putting on its new free roaming plan, look HERE via Arstechnica.
