T-Mobile Introduces ‘Mobile without Borders’: Extends Coverage & Calling Across North America at No Extra Charge

T-Mobile [NYSE: TMUS] has unveiled the latest in its Un-carrier Amped announcements—and this one’s going to make history. The company today announced a massive expansion of its first industry-rocking Un-carrier™ move, Simple Choice™, extending coverage and calling across the U.S., Mexico & Canada for all Simple Choice customers at no extra charge. Called ‘Mobile without Borders,’ this first-of-its-kind move delivers calling to both land lines and mobile phones − as well as 4G LTE data straight from your plan − across all three countries at no additional cost. The epic upgrade makes Simple Choice the first and only wireless plan to span an entire continent.

The move eliminates a major pain point for U.S. wireless customers. Last year, a full 35% of all international calls and 55% of all international travel from the U.S. was to Mexico & Canada alone. Over 70% of international trips taken by small and mid-sized business travelers were to Mexico & Canada. And, the same year, the carriers raked in nearly $10 billion in global roaming charges at over 90% margins. Meaning the carriers are lining their pockets with billions of dollars in inflated roaming fees—for coverage the Un-carrier now includes at no extra cost.

“After spending billions buying up Mexican telecoms, AT&T’s CEO is promising ‘the first seamless network covering Mexico and the U.S.,’ something ‘unique’ that ‘nobody else will be able to do for the consumer.’ So much for that. They won’t be the first. And they won’t offer Canada for free,” said John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile. “We’ve done this the Un-carrier way − reaching across borders, partnering with leading providers offering the best LTE networks, creating a simple solution right now − then not charging a penny more for it.”
 
To hear more from Legere about Mobile without Borders, check out his latest video blog.
 
As with Simple Global, Mobile without Borders takes direct aim at the carrier practice of jacking up the cost and complexity for customers the moment you set foot over a border. The pain is real. AT&T and Verizon’s data rates jump an insane 120x or more when you leave the U.S. For example:

1. Call or travel with AT&T to Mexico and Canada, and you have to navigate a maze of international calling and roaming packages that could ratchet up your monthly rate by an additional $30 to an astounding $245 per line per month.
2. Even with the $30 “AT&T Passport” plan, add on your usage fees and AT&T could hit you with up to $285 in extra charges every week you use your phone in Mexico & Canada like you do at home.
3. If you neglect to buy their costly, confusing add-on packages? You could rack up a ridiculous $10,000 or more in a single week just for using your phone like you normally do.
4. And the insane charges aren’t limited to roaming—simply calling to Mexico & Canada can run up a huge bill.
   
   • Last year, US wireless customers’ long-distance calls to Mexico & Canada totaled approximately 25 billion minutes.
   • Assuming even half those minutes were mobile-to-mobile, the total pay-per-use cost could be as much as $7.5 billion. And, even if every customer paid for additional international long-distance (ILD) packages, the cost could still total up to $130 million.