The Smackdown on US Wireless Carrier Roaming Fee
With the onset of smart phones, wireless data usage continues to rise. In response, wireless carriers constantly change their data plans to adjust to the changing in user behavior. The most recent new changes are from AT&T on their voice roaming plans. How does this affect businesses that utilize roaming? How do businesses compare roaming fees from different carriers?
We took an attempt to compare the rates of the four US carriers—AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint. We randomly pick a few countries from each region and review the rates offer by these carriers. The average cost is calculated evenly among the chosen countries.
The results even surprise us. We always thought T-Mobile has the lowest roaming cost, which is true with voice roaming. Yet it is the 2nd highest in data roaming. Sprint’s data roaming fee is high because many of the countries are not covered by its Multi-Country Data Pack.
Some companies receive grandfathered BlackBerry roaming plans from the carriers, which are not considered in our comparison here.
For plans that include a limited number of roaming minutes or roaming MB, we did not include overage cost in the comparison because it complicates the calculation. For example, Verizon offers a 100MB of data roaming plan for $25. The 101st MB will require another $25 plan. It will be very complicated to factor this information into our comparison.
The Smackdown on Voice Roaming Rates
| Voice Roaming | AT&T ($30) | AT&T ($60) | AT&T ($120) | Sprint ($4.99) | TMobile ($9.99) | Verizon ($4.99) |
| Average Per Min |
$1.23 |
$1.94 | $0.88 | $1.90 | ||
| North America | ||||||
| Canada | $0.38 | $0.30 | $0.24 | $0.20 | $0.19 | $0.69 |
| Mexico | $0.38 | $0.30 | $0.24 | $2.29 | $0.49 | $0.99 |
| Europe | ||||||
| France | $1.00 | $0.75 | $0.60 | $1.49 | $0.69 | $0.99 |
| Germany | $1.00 | $0.75 | $0.60 | $1.49 | $0.49 | $0.99 |
| Italy | $1.00 | $0.75 | $0.60 | $1.49 | $0.69 | $0.99 |
| UK | $1.00 | $0.75 | $0.60 | $1.49 | $0.49 | $0.99 |
| Asia | ||||||
| China | $2.00 | $1.50 | $1.20 | $2.49 | $0.49 | $1.99 |
| Hong Kong | $2.00 | $1.50 | $1.20 | $2.49 | $1.29 | $1.99 |
| India | $2.00 | $1.50 | $1.20 | $2.29 | $1.79 | $1.99 |
| Singapore | $2.00 | $1.50 | $1.20 | $1.99 | $0.99 | $2.29 |
| South America | ||||||
| Argentina | $2.00 | $1.50 | $1.20 | $1.99 | $0.99 | $4.99 |
| Chile | $2.00 | $1.50 | $1.20 | $2.49 | $0.99 | $2.29 |
| Peru | $2.00 | $1.50 | $1.20 | $2.29 | $0.99 | $2.89 |
| Caribbean | ||||||
| Barbados | $2.00 | $1.50 | $1.20 | $1.69 | $1.49 | $1.99 |
| Caymans | $2.00 | $1.50 | $1.20 | $1.69 | $0.99 | $1.99 |
| St. Martin | $2.00 | $1.50 | $1.20 | $3.49 | $0.99 | $2.29 |
| Australia | ||||||
| Australia | $2.00 | $1.50 | $1.20 | $1.69 | $0.99 | $1.99 |
Notes:
1. AT&T provides 9 different voice roaming plans starting at $30. The overage is $0.50/min for North America countries, $1/min for European countries, and $2/min for the rest of the world.
2. The remaining carriers require a reduced-roaming fee feature in order to obtain the rates that are listed in the above table: Sprint $2.99 – $4.99, T-Mobile $9.99, and Verizon $4.99.
The Smackdown on Data Roaming Rates
| Data Roaming | AT&T ($30) | AT&T ($60) | AT&T ($120) | Sprint ($30/$40) | Sprint ($75/$80) | Sprint ($125/$80) | T-Mobile ($9.99) | Verizon ($25) |
| Average Per MB |
$0.20 |
$7.43 |
$6.06 | $0.25 | ||||
| North America | ||||||||
| Canada | $0.25 | $0.20 | $0.15 | $0.55 | $0.43 | $0.38 | $4.00 | $0.25 |
| Mexico | $0.25 | $0.20 | $0.15 | $0.55 | $0.43 | $0.38 | $3.00 | $0.25 |
| Europe | ||||||||
| France | $0.25 | $0.20 | $0.15 | $1.00 | $0.94 | $0.94 | $3.00 | $0.25 |
| Germany | $0.25 | $0.20 | $0.15 | $1.00 | $0.94 | $0.94 | $2.00 | $0.25 |
| Italy | $0.25 | $0.20 | $0.15 | $1.00 | $0.94 | $0.94 | $4.00 | $0.25 |
| UK | $0.25 | $0.20 | $0.15 | $1.00 | $0.94 | $0.94 | $2.00 | $0.25 |
| Asia | ||||||||
| China | $0.25 | $0.20 | $0.15 | $1.00 | $0.94 | $0.94 | $2.00 | $0.25 |
| Hong Kong | $0.25 | $0.20 | $0.15 | $1.00 | $0.94 | $0.94 | $2.00 | $0.25 |
| India | $0.25 | $0.20 | $0.15 | $1.00 | $0.94 | $0.94 | $2.00 | $0.25 |
| Singapore | $0.25 | $0.20 | $0.15 | $19.46 | $19.46 | $19.46 | $7.00 | $0.25 |
| South America | ||||||||
| Argentina | $0.25 | $0.20 | $0.15 | $19.46 | $19.46 | $19.46 | $5.00 | $0.25 |
| Chile | $0.25 | $0.20 | $0.15 | $19.46 | $19.46 | $19.46 | $15.00 | $0.25 |
| Peru | $0.25 | $0.20 | $0.15 | $19.46 | $19.46 | $19.46 | $5.00 | $0.25 |
| Caribbean | ||||||||
| Barbados | $0.25 | $0.20 | $0.15 | $1.00 | $0.94 | $0.94 | $15.00 | $0.25 |
| Caymans | $0.25 | $0.20 | $0.15 | $1.00 | $0.94 | $0.94 | $5.00 | $0.25 |
| St. Martin | $0.25 | $0.20 | $0.15 | $19.46 | $19.46 | $19.46 | $15.00 | $0.25 |
| Australia | ||||||||
| Australia | $0.25 | $0.20 | $0.15 | $19.46 | $19.46 | $19.46 | $12.00 | $0.25 |
Notes:
1. AT&T provides 3 different data roaming plans starting at $30. When you go over the allotted MB, the next MB will require a new plan. For example, the $30 plan provides 120MB of roaming data usage. The 121st MB will require a new $30 plan that will cover the 121st to 240th MB.
2. Sprint provides 5 different data roaming plans: 3 for North America roaming and 2 for the rest of the countries. The overage on the North America plans is billed at $4/MB of overage. The overage on the rest of the countries is billed at $10/MB of overage.
3. T-Mobile provides discounted data roaming usage when you add the $9.99 reduced roaming feature, which is the same feature for voice roaming usage.
4. Verizon provides a single data roaming plan: $25 for 100MB. Similar to AT&T, the 101st MB will require a new $25 plan and will cover another 100MB of usage.
*** In conclusion, we are pleasantly surprised with AT&T new voice roaming plans, which covers usage in 220 countries. (Compared to Verizon’s 167 countries.) These plans drastically reduce the cost of calling when overseas.
We still like Verizon’s simplified one plan for data roaming. However, AT&T’s comparable plans are giving Verizon a run for its money. Verizon’s data roaming plan covers 123 countries while AT&T’s data roaming plans cover 151 countries. Countries that are not covered will be charged a per KB fee.
From studying many corporations’ roaming usage, data roaming usage definitely outpace voice roaming usage. Therefore, when choosing a carrier based on its roaming fees, we recommend putting more emphasis on the carriers’ data roaming cost over voice roaming cost.
Of course, your business may only roam in certain countries, which may change the compared rates.
