For years, T-Mobile has been the gold standard of international voice / text / data plans. Included with your regular monthly plan, you were able to get international calling / texting / data in 130+ countries around the world. Earlier this year, Sprint announced their Sprint International Roaming world travel plan. (All?) Sprint customers now have unlimited text and 2G data and calls for 20 cents a minute
Sprint International Roaming world travel plan details
You can access the details about the Sprint International Roaming world travel plan by going to Sprint.com and choosing Support -> International.
Like I said earlier, you get free text and 2G data with the Sprint International Roaming world travel plan and calls are 20 cents / minute. With the prevalence of wi-fi hotspots, I would probably look to use Google Voice or a similar wifi calling service in lieu of paying that much, but it’s nice to have it as an option
Is Sprint’s 2G data fast enough to do…. anything?
Is Sprint’s 2G data fast enough to do anything? That is the real question, isn’t it! I’m sure that streaming and other services requiring a lot of data would be right out, but I’m not sure if things like email, maps or simple web browsing would work. I typically use Osmand offline maps to get around but having Google Maps could be useful as well
[My top 2 mobile phone apps for travelers on the go]
Really I just want to know if I can play Pokemon Go while in Sweden so I can catch a Mr. Mime 😀
If 2G doesn’t work for you or you want to upgrade, Sprint does offer full high-speed data as part of its Sprint International plan.
Those price points seem pretty reasonable to me for short term trips. For instance, next month I’ll be in Sweden for 4 days. If the 2G data doesn’t work out, it would probably be worth it to me to pay a few bucks / day for Internet access wherever I go. I think it’s a nice feature that it’s something that you don’t have to decide right away – you can opt-in if/when you want from your phone, though I have not yet used the service to be able to tell if that works well.
Of course if you are a long-term traveler, $5 / day adds up pretty fast and so the Sprint International Roaming plan probably would not work out.
Other options for travelers
Besides Sprint International Roaming and T-Mobile, one other option that I’ve heard recommended for international travel are Google Fi (which either requires specific models of phones or some knowledge / willingness to mess with your existing phones).
Do you have experience with the Sprint International Roaming plan? What do you do for international cell phone coverage?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Recently used it in Switzerland and Italy. Had the same thought as you: try the 2G and upgrade if needed. Never ended up upgrading. Worked better in Switzerland than Italy honestly, but was good enough for TripAdvisor research on the go, and Google Maps. Photos and data heavy tasks were quite slow, but with wifi widely available this served its purpose for leisure travel. One consideration I did not test was if you buy a week-long high speed plan then cross the boarder (say from Switzerland to Italy) do you have to buy another plan. My guess is no but I got conflicting answers from Sprint chat reps.
I used AT&T’s $10 international per day plan worked great. Keeps your same plan and 4G LTE in every country I recently visited in Asia. It’s FREE in Mexico and Canada. It defiantly is better than having to worry about getting a SIM card or having to figure out how much you’ll be spending.
I just tried out Sprint’s new service on a trip that took us to Scotland/Dublin/London, and it was fine. Coverage was a bit spotty in parts of the Highlands, but I pretty much expected that 🙂 Yes, it wasn’t the blazing-fast Internet that we’re used to here at home, but it was fine for checking e-mail, posting vacation photos to Facebook, checking credit card balances, and all of the other essentials 🙂
I’m glad to hear Josh say that it worked in Italy — I’d heard rumors that it WOULDN’T work (or wouldn’t work well) in that country, so I was a bit worried since we’re going there in October. Guess I’ll stop worrying now! 🙂
I’ll be sure to report back next month after we’re back from Sweden
I tried Sprint’s service alongside my trust T-Mobile phone with largely the same offerings. My T-Mobile phone was online in a few seconds, I ordered and Uber, received and replied to many emails, sent some texts, and checked in on Facebook. Meanwhile, my Sprint phone was still trying to find service. It did eventually but data was not functioning. This was in Bogotà Colombia. Eventually after about 20 minutes, my Sprint phone did ‘ding’ with an email alert. Mind you it took another 5 to actually receive the email. Ironically, the networks were identical — both TMO and Sprint were using the same roaming partner.
My thought here is that Sprint is throttling far far past anything even remotely reasonable. The phone also has to wait to ensure that there is no aspect of 1996-technology CDMA that they rely on to be found, then start negotiating and find a network to connect to.
I just eventually gave up trying to use it as it was more frustrating than anything. My T-Mobile phone has been all over the world and is yet to ever let me down. I’ve used it throughout Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and Europe. Never a single issue and always works immediately.