T-Mobile will bring an end to its ONE Plus International unlimited plan add-on on August 10. The ONE Plus International plan is effectively identical to the less expensive ONE Plus option, which costs $10 extra per month. That means it includes HD content streaming, double the international data speeds, incoming caller identification from unknown numbers, voicemail to text, and unlimited in-flight Wi-Fi on select flights. The ‘Plus International’ variation of the add-on bolsters those benefits with a cost-free international calling to landlines and mobile in a wide array of countries. That’s in addition to unlimited 4G LTE where available in Mexico and Canada. With that said, the biggest feature to be removed alongside the ONE Plus International offering is its inclusion of unlimited 4G LTE hotspot data. While the Plus International add-on bumps up the cost of T-Mobile‘s ONE unlimited plan by $25, the more affordable Plus option only gives users 10GB of hotspot data.
Customers who sign up prior to that will be ‘grandfathered’ in and continue receiving its benefits even though no new users will be able to sign on with it. Simultaneously, the company has reportedly said that it will be increasing the hotspot offered along with its more affordable ONE Plus plan to 20GB in conjunction with removing its International add-on. The plan won’t be increasing in price but users who require international connections won’t necessarily benefit from that. The carrier says that the goal is to reduce the overall complexity of its plans. Moreover, it has also indicated that it will be adding an international add-on for customers in the U.S., although no price point has been offered for that new add-on, as of this writing.
The removal of T-Mobile’s ONE Plus International add-on option, in the meantime, falls exactly in line with the company’s introduction of a new ‘Essentials’ plan. That plan will offer two lines of service at a total cost of $60 per month while the next four lines are only $15 per month for each line. Unlimited hotspot tethering is included in the plan but is not offered at 4G LTE speeds. Like the soon to be depreciated ONE Plus International add-on, voice services, texting, and data are also unlimited for users visiting Mexico or Canada. However, that data is only at 2G speeds with the Essentials plan.