Travel Jones

What Sprint & T-Mobile Merger Means for International Travelers

Have you ever seen the movie, “The Exorcist”? If you have, then you’d understand what I mean when I say there’s so much going on in the news that your head will spin! What am I saying here? Sprint has merged with T-Mobile and, T-Mobile has absorbed and dissolved the Sprint moniker. Generally speaking large corporation/ acquisitions don’t interest me. But in this case, it does. Why? Well if you haven’t figured it out yet, I am a Sprint customer. The million dollar question is how does this affect (my) travel needs?

The Impact of the Sprint-T-Mobile Merger on Travel Needs

The merger is now a few years old. And back when it happened, it hadn’t peaked my radar simply because of Covid-19. We we’re in the midst of a pandemic, travel had pretty much come to a full stop. If this was about domestic travel then this wouldn’t concern me much. It’s relatively easy to find comparable plans that fit your needs and budget. My concern is how does this affect international travel? When I travel abroad I enjoy having an international plan included with my service. The convenience is that I don’t have to buy and swap sim cards. Albeit, that method is sometimes cheaper, I love the idea of knowing that soon as I touch down my phone is working.

The Convenience of Sprint’s International Plan

While with Sprint, I had no concerns while traveling abroad. Especially while traveling in South America. Why? Sprint offered an add-on at no charge called Sprint Open World. “Sprint Open World offers free calling, texting, and 1GB of data when traveling in Canada, Mexico, and most other countries across Latin America. In addition, calling from the US to Canada and Mexico is included at no additional charge as well as discounts to other destinations.” The moment you touch down, you receive a text noting what country you’re in and what services are available. In the case of flying into Brazil, I had free calling and text, plus 1GB of data (mind you I seldom ever approach a GB of data usage). How cool is that? Literally nothing has to change in the way I use my phone while abroad.

Confusion and Uncertainty After the Merger

I took it upon myself to logon to my account last night. To no surprise, I was redirected to T-Mobile. There was a notification that if I was with Sprint then I can logon to my account with the provided link. When I clicked on it, it took me back to Sprint’s home page (obviously it has T-Mobile all over it as well). My 1st thought was, “this is wildly confusing!” The first thing I wanted to see was my plan. To my satisfaction I was pleased to see that Sprint Open World was still there along with all the other perks I previously enjoyed. The caveat is if I make any changes, for example, remove the Sprint Open World add-on, then I wouldn’t be able to re-add it. Ha! Why would I want to do that??

But then I browsed through the website and it said that my international plan will change. So on one hand they say nothing will change. And in another statement they say it will? Which is it? I’ve noticed reports of T-mobile saying they would not make any changes for the next few years. That being said, while the merger process continues, this is likely all temporary as T-Mobile absorbs and utilizes Sprint’s network.

Comparing International Services and Plans

Let’s recap about the services I value most. International roaming – including data, call and text. A close second would be the mobile hotspot. The question that remains is will I gain or lose anything due to this merger? Let’s compare. As I mentioned earlier, I logged onto my account and checked my plan and add-ons.

 

As you can see I have Sprint Open World at no cost included with my unlimited everything plan. In the small text above you’ll also notice I have 50GB included for my mobile hotspot. All of this for the amount of 80 dollars a month (Note the actual plan is 65 dollars. The insurance pushes it up to 80). Does T-Mobile have anything comparable to this? Let’s see! Here you will see that T-Mobile currently has 3 plans that are comparable. There is Essentials, Magenta and Magenta Plus. As you’ve probably guessed they vary in service from lowest to highest. Comparing dollar for dollar in fairness, let’s look at Essentials.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of the T-Mobile Essentials Plan

At 60 dollars a month, you get unlimited talk and text. Unlimited 4G data, and unlimited 3G mobile hotspot data. Hmmm… but where’s the international roaming? Let’s keep digging into this T-Mobile website, shall we? Here you’ll find that international talk, text and data is, in fact, available with their Magenta plans. Would you just look at that page? It’s almost like they knew my exact concerns about staying connected during international travel. Okay T-Mobile… that’s cool!

On that page you’ll find a search bar that allows you to check if you’ll have service in the country you’re visiting. You get free data (2G), text. and for talk they’re charging .25 cents a minute across the board. Now that’s a solid offer! Sprint Open World gives me 1GB of high speed data and charge .03 cents each additional MB. So the trade off in data is free high speed up to 1GB or free unlimited data at the speed of 2G. That part is a no brainer for me as I never come close to using a 1GB in data. As for talk and text, Sprint Open World gives me free talk and text in North, Central and South America. I’m only charged .20 -.25 cents a minute in any other continents around the world. T-Mobile also offers free text but as I mentioned previously, they charge .25 cents a minute across the board. That’s not necessarily bad, since T-Mobile & Sprint merged, they’re probably making up the difference in cost. Again, the (T-Mobile) Essentials plan is 60 dollars a month. My Sprint unlimited freedom plan is 65 dollars. Out of the categories I mentioned, I have to give the advantage to Sprint (now with T-Mobile). It just works best for me. Although the differences are subtle, they are noticeable! So if you were with Sprint and like your plan, don’t change it because you wont get it back.

P.S. AT&T now has an add-on comparable to the Sprint Open world I had. They have a couple plans that cover Canada and Mexico. There’s another that covers Latin America. Verizon also has add-ons that allow you to get up to 300 minutes in certain countries. Then each additional minute is deeply discounted (as low as 5 cents a minute). If you’re not a frequent international traveler, there’s also international passes at 5 – 15 dollars a day. Seems a bit pricey on the surface but in the short term, I can see how it could be beneficial. Until next time, Cheers!