Sprint tries to counter Mobile Without Borders with its Open World offer
Following Verizon’s decision to borrow some Un-carrier ideas for its new rate plans, it looks like Sprint may have done the same.
Sprint has announced Open World, it’s new international add-on that’s a bit reminiscent of Mobile Without Borders. Open World gives you free unlimited talk and text when you’re in Canada and Mexico as well as Mexico, Canada, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Paraguay. You’ll also get 1GB of 3G data for free, but after that you’ll be billed $30 per GB in KB increments.
If you’re in the US, Open World offers free calling to Canada and Mexico and free texting. If you want to make a call to someone outside of Canada and Mexico, rates start at $0.05 per minute to Latin America, the Dominican Republic, and more than 180 other countries.
Finally, Sprint Open World offers free texting, $0.20 per minute calls, and $30 per GB data in Australia, Canary Islands (Spain), Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Palestinian Territories, Russia, San Marino (Italy), Scotland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Vatican City, and Wales.
To compare, Mobile Without Borders lets you use your regular minutes, messages, and 4G LTE data while in Canada and Mexico. That last part is important, because Sprint offers a single gig of 3G data for free. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have LTE data over 3G speeds. And in other countries, T-Mobile’s got the same $0.20 per minute rate as well as free unlimited 2G data. In all I’d say that while Open World might be nice for folks tied to Sprint, it’s mostly a validation of T-Mobile’s Un-carrier moves.
Source: Sprint