T-Mobile Reveals New Roaming Internet Boosters

T-Mobile has become the latest mobile operator to reveal roaming plans ahead of the EU price caps coming into place on 1 July.

The operator promised customers are ‘guaranteed’ never to run up an unexpected data roaming bill and, unlike its competitors, the Internet and Broadband Travel Boosters can be used outside Europe.

The boosters will come into effect on 19 June, across all consumer and businesses plans and can be used on smartphones and mobile broadband devices.

The end of bill shock?

“We are really proud to be the first UK operator to ensure our customers can continue to be connected, anywhere in the world – and have the peace of mind they’ll never come back to an unexpected bill,” commented Ben Fritsch, head of propositions at T-Mobile.

Once a customer has landed in another country, they will be directed to a page where they can purchase one of the boosters in order to continue using the Internet. A number of bundle sizes are available, and all last for 30 days or until the data has been used up.

The cost of the booster is dependent on the size and the category of country visited.

Varying costs

The cheapest booster costs £1 for 3MB of data in Europe, which increases to £25 in Group D countries, which includes the likes of Brazil and Japan. The cost will either be added to the customer’s monthly bill or deducted from their Pay As You Go credit.

Last week, Three launched its Euro Internet Pass to allow customers to use as much data as they went while abroad for £5 a day, although there were a number of restrictions, such as a lack of tethering. Vodafone has launched a similar Eurotraveller service, which lets customers use their UK price plan abroad, and includes calls and texts.

However they do not make provisions for outside Europe (with the exception of some overseas territories and departments), and the services are opt-in, rather than automatic.

“Where the other networks put the onus on customers to be savvy and sign up to the plans, T-Mobile customers will automatically be alerted to its Boosters every time they try to go online abroad – and it applies outside of the EU,” said Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at uSwitch. “With the new EU regulations coming into force at the start of July, it is encouraging to see that providers are taking the lead and are already responding to the obvious demand for affordable data by offering customers the chance to curb their mobile spending while in the EU.”

What do you know about smartphones? Find out with our quiz!