We could say that T-Mobile is one of the first companies that is really trying to take that leap to give folks international coverage that is worth it. In the beginning of cell phone communications, we could say that international coverage was pretty much non-existent. That lasted for longer than people want to remember. From there we moved to the phase where international coverage from your regular carrier was unreliable and overly expensive. We think that T-Mobile is one of the few companies that is trying to drag us out of that era. To the point where the T-Mobile International rates are decent. Not only that, but the quality of coverage that you get is getting there. At this point, we would still say it’s a bit of a work in progress.
One of the best things about these relatively new features in certain T-Mobile plans is that you’ll be getting your regular texts and even calls on the number that you regularly use. Does this mean that you won’t need to buy a foreign SIM card when you are traveling abroad? Well, that’s actually a question that you are going to have to answer. Yet, we’ve created this article to give you an idea of what your options are to show you the T-Mobile International Rates for 2021
T-Mobile International Rates 2021 With Magenta, T-Mobile ONE, and Simple Choice plans
The reason why we are singling out these plans is that these are the ones that are offering the best international coverage as of 2021. Their rates are as follows:
| Data & Texting | Calls |
| Unlimited* | $0.25 a minute |
*The unlimited data and texting is provided at a 2G speed.
If you have one of these plans, Magenta, T-Mobile ONE, and Simple Choice then it’s not that the service is free, but it is included in your regular plan price in over 210 countries. This seems like great news right? It actually is, as we mentioned the ability to have coverage included in your regular plan internationally is not something that we typically have seen in the industry in the past. There is one catch though and it’s the * that we put at the bottom of the table. You are getting unlimited data and texts, but at 2G speeds. This is the “x” factor that can help shape the way that you obtain coverage abroad.
How To Activate These Rates
Another great part about the new T-Mobile international rates is that you don’t have to do anything to get the coverage. All that you have to do is make sure that your plan is a Magenta, T-Mobile ONE, or Simple Choice plan. If that’s the case then your device is going to directly detect the need for roaming coverage. As T-Mobile puts it this is something that is included in your plan and you should have no trouble activating it. If you have any doubts about whether or not the plan is active we do suggest that you contact them directly. If you have one of the plans that we’ve previously mentioned then you really shouldn’t have to worry. If you’ve been a customer for a while make sure that your plan was updated to one of these.
Calls Can Still Rack Up A Nasty Bill
Before we jump into the data and text coverage which we assume is what most people are worried about we wanted to talk about calling. Getting charged per minute is one of those old habits of phone companies that apparently die hard. There are a couple of things that you may have to account for when making calls. You are going to have to use the country code, plus area code, and then the number to be able to dial to local numbers. At 25 cents a minute making constant calls may not be the best way to travel on a budget.
In short, we would still recommend that you look for alternative methods to be able to make local calls. Even calling through apps with a local wifi connection could be your best bet. Particularly, if you are looking to keep tabs on the amount of money that you’re going to be asked to pay extra on your phone bill at the end of the month. The 2G speeds that you are getting from T-Mobile may make calling directly from an app on your phone with T-Mobile coverage, not the best idea.
Are You Going To Have A Speed Problem?
We don’t want to undersell the fact that getting direct coverage with top T-Mobile international rates is a great thing. People who have been traveling for years know that it has always been a bit difficult to get coverage abroad. Now, the speed issue is a real one. Most people with T-Mobile are used to 5G speeds in their local coverage. When you have an unlimited plan most folks never even bother to turn on the wifi. When you put up 2G speeds against 5G speeds it’s like putting a Ferrari up against a regular sprinter. You’re going to be able to tell the difference pretty quickly.
Here is the negative part of all this. At 2G speeds, there is a good chance that if you are trying to use your web browser or even Google search you can get timed out of your sessions because your phone wasn’t able to connect to the server fast enough. This is something that can get really annoying. The use of apps can be considerably slower as well. Another issue that you are going to have is that your phone’s battery could die out much faster. Since the phone is constantly going to be searching for coverage. For those of you that have grown up with 4G or 5G coverage a trip back down to 2G is going to show you that life was a lot harder not that long ago.
T-Mobile International Pass
Now that T-Mobile offers international coverage with your regular plan you can forget about buying a T-Mobile international pass right? Not quite, essentially these days a T-Mobile international pass is something that you can buy to get faster data abroad. They continue to offer a daily rate for usage. The good thing about these passes is that you can get unlimited calls for as low as 5 dollars a day. Here is exactly what the T-Mobile international rates for added speed are for 2021:
International Pass: 512MB of high-speed data at up to LTE speeds and unlimited calling, to be used up to 24 hours, for $5/day.
5GB International Pass: 5GB of high-speed data at up to LTE speeds and unlimited calling, to be used up to 10 days, for $35.
15GB International Pass: 15GB of high-speed data at up to LTE speeds and unlimited calling, to be used up to 30 days, for $50.
(https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/roaming)
Is A T-Mobile International Pass Really Going To Make My Phone Faster?
Both the international pass and the Magenta Plus plan promise to double the speed at which you can navigate across the web abroad with your regular plan. The reality is literally in the fine print on your T-Mobile contract. The top speeds that you can get with an International pass literally top out at the equivalent for 3G speeds. Would you tell the difference in speed from your regular plan abroad when you buy an international pass? Sure, you are probably going to be able to tell the difference. The speeds are not going to reach the regular 5G that you are probably accustomed to by now. An international pass for calls though, can totally make sense.
Positive Side Of T-Mobile International Rates & Coverage
You are going to have data for the essential things. Also, texts are going to keep coming in. People in the United States are still very attached to texting through regular text messages. Most of the world has moved to texting through apps like Whatsapp or Telegram. You can still expect to get your regular emails and other information that you have on your phone. The thing is there is a good chance that you’re going to take a bit longer to be able to receive texts and emails.
Best Ways To Milk The Most Out Of T-Mobile Coverage Abroad
We talked about the speed issue. It’s pretty simple what we are going to recommend here. Make sure that you only have certain apps running and that the rest are not using up data. For most people, that’s going to be keeping your email notifications on and keeping the texts rolling in. From there we would advise that you keep the rest of the apps nonactive for the rest of the trip. Maybe only update them when you have a wifi connection. Then otherwise make sure that they remain inactive. Yes, we are going to include Instagram on this list of inactives.
How Do I Know If The Country I Am Traveling To Is On The List of 210 Countries?
There are actually a couple of ways that you can figure out whether or not the country that you’re traveling to is on the list. T-Mobile has a search engine on their site that asks you to enter the destination and directly checks if you can expect to have coverage there. The other way that you are definitely going to be able to figure out is waiting to see what happens when you arrive at your destination.
As we mentioned your phone should detect that you are on foreing soil. When the country that you are in is part of the 210 you’ll get a notification that your coverage is active. If you don’t get the notification and you don’t have coverage there are three options. Either your plan is not on the list that we’ve mentioned a couple of times already. The country that you are in is seriously not on the list, the other option could be that you don’t have coverage in that part of the country even if the country technically is on the list.
Is Buying A Local SIM Card Still An Option Even With The New T-Mobile International Rates?
Just right off the bat we could say that getting a local SIM card is going to allow you to access the fastest speeds that are available in the country. If you are traveling to Mexico for example you can expect very decent T-Mobile coverage overall. You can’t expect 5G speeds for one simple reason. At the time of writing there is no 5G network in Mexico. Therefore, the fastest speed that you can get in Mexico is 4G. That 4G coverage is only going to be accessible through a local SIM card. The same thing goes for other countries. Without a local SIM card there is a good chance that you’ll still be getting very slow coverage.
The way that we see it, you’re in a perfect spot if you happen to have a phone with dual-sim capabilities, or you have a burner phone that you can carry around. Now, you can keep your regular SIM active and get your emails, and your texts for “free” on your regular number. You can use the local coverage to make calls or run a maps app, upload your pictures to instagram and just use your phone as you normally would. Just make sure that you’re getting coverage from the right SIM. If you are still worried about extra roaming costs the burner phone option with the local SIM card is the best way to go.
T-Mobile International Rates 2021 Conclusion
Certainly the fact that T-Mobile is opening up this avenue where you can access at least minimal coverage from your regular phone company abroad is great. The rates are seemingly included in your regular plan which is also great. You can get faster coverage abroad by paying 15 extra dollars a month. Is paying that extra rate or an International Pass justified? That’s something that each person has to figure out. We feel that the International Pass is great for people who still need to make phone calls with their every day number. Other than that, the speed benefits don’t seem to be worth your while. Particularly when you can make the same investment for local coverage that by all accounts is going to be faster than even the fastest coverage that T-Mobile is offering.
The market in our opinion is really opening up and allowing people to use dual SIM phones “appropriately”. If you are comfortable using your dual SIM particularly in places like Mexico and LatinAmerica it makes a lot of sense. You can get monthly coverage on a local SIM with a decent amount of data for 10 to 15 dollars. In many ways paying that money for a local SIM can make way more sense than adding those costs to your regular plan for what we could describe as medium tier coverage at best!