Earlier this week, a massive Earthquake hit central Italy, devestating regions such as Amatrice and Pescara del Tronto in the mountains, with the death toll now exceeding 200. In these sorts of situations, it’s common to see networks throughout the world waive fees to let their customers check in on family that might be back home, traveling or visiting family. After this Earthquake in Italy, three of the United State’s four largest networks are offering free calls to Italy over the next few days. We’ve seen the same networks offer the same services to Europe earlier this year following yet more terrorist attacks in France, and it appears as though this has become common practice for the majority of networks as users come to expect more responsibility from these firms.
AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have all offered their own variation on fee waiving during the next few days. Starting with AT&T, they’re giving users free mobile and landline calls until August 26th, as well as waiving fees on text messaging, too. T-Mobile meanwhile, are only offering free calls, not free text messaging, until August 28th. Verizon is doing the same, and waiving fees for both mobile and landline calls until August 26th. Those on smaller carriers such as GoSmart Mobile, MetroPCS and WalMart’s service will also get the saem treatment as T-Mobile customers as they use the same network. T-Mobile is also offering those in Italy right now free roaming to call back to the States and let people know that they’re okay.
It’s interesting to note that Sprint has yet to come forward with their own take on this yet, but it’s more than likely that they will do before long. Those that don’t want to risk any fees of course have a number of free options available to them, including Skype, WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber and a whole host of other apps that offer free WiFi calling and messaging. Regardless of whether or not free calls are being offered, we hope that everyone’s friends and family are okay following this devestating Earthquake.