The real trump card, out of T-Mobile's many offerings, is the free international roaming for texting and data usage. No other U.S. carrier offers anything nearly as good on that front. To compare:
T-Mobile: http://www.t-mobile.com/optional-services/roaming.html (Free texting, free 2G data in 140 countries, calls 20 cents per minute, 3G data available for a fee; covers every continent except Antartica.)
Sprint: http://www.sprint.com/landings/international-value-roaming/ (Gets closest; free roaming in 64 countries and similar price plan, but there are significant gaps: it does not cover most of Europe or Asia, and Africa and the Middle East are notable dead zones)
Verizon: http://www.verizonwireless.com/landingpages/international-tr... ($10 day passes, $25 monthly plan that does not include free texting, calls $1.79 a minute, only 100 megs of data)
AT&T: https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/international/roaming.html (Cheapest plan $30, only includes 120 megs of data, calls still $1 per minute)
The company took its biggest advantage over every other U.S. carrier—its affiliation with a large international mobile conglomerate—and leveraged that into something no other carrier could pull off to the same level of coverage. A brilliant move on their part.
I now make a point of recommending people switch to T-Mobile before making a big international trip.
T-Mobile: http://www.t-mobile.com/optional-services/roaming.html (Free texting, free 2G data in 140 countries, calls 20 cents per minute, 3G data available for a fee; covers every continent except Antartica.)
Sprint: http://www.sprint.com/landings/international-value-roaming/ (Gets closest; free roaming in 64 countries and similar price plan, but there are significant gaps: it does not cover most of Europe or Asia, and Africa and the Middle East are notable dead zones)
Verizon: http://www.verizonwireless.com/landingpages/international-tr... ($10 day passes, $25 monthly plan that does not include free texting, calls $1.79 a minute, only 100 megs of data)
AT&T: https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/international/roaming.html (Cheapest plan $30, only includes 120 megs of data, calls still $1 per minute)
The company took its biggest advantage over every other U.S. carrier—its affiliation with a large international mobile conglomerate—and leveraged that into something no other carrier could pull off to the same level of coverage. A brilliant move on their part.
I now make a point of recommending people switch to T-Mobile before making a big international trip.