In a new press release put out on Tuesday, T-Mobile dropped a somewhat humorous infographic, did some obligatory AT&T ribbing in typical T-Mobile fashion, and announced a simple new plan aimed at travelers coming to the United States from elsewhere in the world. The new plan offers up an easy way for tourists with unlocked phones to avoid roaming tariffs, high charges and commitments from typical plans, or having to settle for buying and loading a prepaid SIM. The plan on offer only costs $30 and, surprisingly, is somewhat comparable to a similarly priced postpaid plan for an individual user who calls the U.S., and T-Mobile’s network, home.
All a tourist has to do is stop by a T-Mobile store and hand over $30. For that price, they’ll get a free SIM card, which will give them access to T-Mobile’s network for 2,000 minutes of talk time, unlimited domestic and international texts with over 140 countries, and 2GB of LTE data. The service only lasts for three weeks, however, and is meant for one-time use. Any user that burns through their 2GB of data and wants to add more, or needs to stay active for longer than three weeks, will have to transition to a more traditional prepaid or postpaid option, depending on their situation and the length of their stay in the U.S. Additionally, the plan does not include Un-carrier features like Binge On and Music Freedom, making it a somewhat unwise idea to stream high-quality tunes from your Google Play Music library or YouTube Music while walking the streets of an unfamiliar city. The plan does allow you to use your phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot, but will eat into your 2GB data allotment to do so.
The plan is available right now at any T-Mobile store and most authorized retailers, such as cell phone repair shops and mall kiosks. When the three weeks are up, the plan will automatically become inactive and cannot be renewed. Given the price and the package nature of the plan, those staying less than three weeks or who are reaching the end of their vacation with data intact cannot get a prorated refund.
