Unlimited International Data on Sprint?

[hchon]

supervisor - the EVO specifically is incompatible with the global roaming plan

I'm currently in South Korea which has CDMA all over the country.

I know someone else asked this already, but it'll be great if you can check whether you can roam on 4G/Wimax/Wibro. As I travel to Korea often and am looking for a solution.

-hchon

[greendx]

Hey everyone I know this thread is somewhat old but I am hoping that one of you can help me.

I travel internationally 2-3 times per year so what I typically do is add the $40 plan for the duration of my trip and shut it off when I get back home and typically get a prorated charge for the month. As far as I am aware Sprint doesn't care if I do this and does not require one to keep the plan add on perpetually.
Last time I did this was back in July, 10th – 30th and before that back in May.
The only issues I’ve had with this is that the plan add-on doesn’t always get provisioned properly and I end up having to call sprint from whatever country I am in to get it resolved.
Fast forward to 3 weeks ago for a weekend trip to the Bahamas I called in the International Department and was told that the $40 unlimited plan was now discontinued. Before I had a chance to ask why, etc I was placed on hold and then eventually the agent came back to say that after speaking to a senior tech this plan is being returned in early November and that she can add it to my account. However I was no longer in need as I would be back home.
Fast forward to today. I am leaving the country for 2 weeks tomorrow and called up the international dept again. First tech put me on hold and after about 5 minutes I ended up being transferred to the general support queue. I asked to be transferred back to international dept and while being transferred got disconnected. Then I called back spoke to someone else in international dept only to be told the following: as of July 17th the $40 unlimited data plan has been discontinued. I asked him to clarify this explaining what I was told back in October. He then came back with saying that my account was not eligible for the plan but that the plan was in fact still available. I asked him to elaborate as to what plan I need to be on to be eligible as this is first I hear of this (I am on Everything Data Share Plan). He wouldn’t say just said that there was nothing he can do. I asked who can help and he said account services. I was pretty sure that he was trying to get rid of me but said ok wanting to give that a try before calling back in to international to ask to speak to a supervisor.
Speaking with account services I was told that the plan does exist, my account is eligible and my device BB Tour is of course compatible. She also said that only the international group can add this add on to the plan and that I should talk to a supervisor. Back to the international dept to a non supervisor and told the same thing. Plan discontinued as of July 17th and nothing they can do etc etc. He did mention something about corporate plans of $69.99 that I wouldn’t be eligible for anyway. Funny enough the account services rep mentioned that there were actually other plans cheaper than $40 that were also available but I didn’t inquire further. Anyway at this point I asked to speak with a supervisor. After a brief hold my original rep came back on the line saying that he spoke with his supervisor and that they’ve made a onetime exception for me adding the $40 add-on to my plan but that because this plan is no longer active if I was to cancel this add-on when I return I would never be able to re-add it again.

I hope that I’ve provided enough information for you all. I’d like to know from anyone that is knowledgeable here, hopefully a sprint rep or even better a sprint international rep what the real situation is? I mean did sprint really get rid of the amazing data plan???? If not the only thing I can possibly think of is the corporate discount that I have applied to my plan. Would that have anything to do with it?

[Justen]

It does indeed look as though Sprint has restricted availability of the plan. I suspect Sprint found the plan — it was a pretty "amazing" plan, as you say — to be too tough on the otherwise ridiculous margins they (and every other carrier) build into their international data roaming rates.

In my experience, many Sprint representatives generally have very little information about any given rate plan or option once it's discontinued, and they tend to make (sometimes very inaccurate) guesses to try to appease you... Based on a quick look online and two quick calls to Sprint, I don't believe the plan is "unavailable" to just you, but rather no longer available for anyone who didn't have it on their account as of July 17, or for anyone who has removed it from their account, regardless of whether they are an individual- or corporate-liable account (or any associated discounts).

If all this was indeed the case, you were very lucky to get it added back to your account. For a little while after the Canada voice roaming package was discontinued, folks were still able to get it added. (Coincidentally, I believe it was also discontinued in July, back in 2008.) By November of that year, it had become just about impossible to get it added or re-added.

I'd suggest you estimate how much you'd end up paying in data roaming charges each year. Keeping the plan year-round would cost you $480 plus tax. The alternative is to take a look at Verizon, with their GlobalEmail plan (which is the same net cost I believe, although it works a little differently: the "worldwide" plan is your entire data plan, so as you add and remove it your data plan is changed between a domestic data plan and an international data plan). They could discontinue their plan, as well, at any point, although they tend to be a bit more stable with their international options (probably since they've been able to negotiate more favourable agreements than could Sprint).

Good luck, in any case.

[greendx]

It does indeed look as though Sprint has restricted availability of the plan. I suspect Sprint found the plan — it was a pretty "amazing" plan, as you say — to be too tough on the otherwise ridiculous margins they (and every other carrier) build into their international data roaming rates.

In my experience, many Sprint representatives generally have very little information about any given rate plan or option once it's discontinued, and they tend to make (sometimes very inaccurate) guesses to try to appease you... Based on a quick look online and two quick calls to Sprint, I don't believe the plan is "unavailable" to just you, but rather no longer available for anyone who didn't have it on their account as of July 17, or for anyone who has removed it from their account, regardless of whether they are an individual- or corporate-liable account (or any associated discounts).

If all this was indeed the case, you were very lucky to get it added back to your account. For a little while after the Canada voice roaming package was discontinued, folks were still able to get it added. (Coincidentally, I believe it was also discontinued in July, back in 2008.) By November of that year, it had become just about impossible to get it added or re-added.

I'd suggest you estimate how much you'd end up paying in data roaming charges each year. Keeping the plan year-round would cost you $480 plus tax. The alternative is to take a look at Verizon, with their GlobalEmail plan (which is the same net cost I believe, although it works a little differently: the "worldwide" plan is your entire data plan, so as you add and remove it your data plan is changed between a domestic data plan and an international data plan). They could discontinue their plan, as well, at any point, although they tend to be a bit more stable with their international options (probably since they've been able to negotiate more favourable agreements than could Sprint).

Good luck, in any case.

Thank you for your reply. I do agree with everything that you are saying and am seriously going to consider keeping the add-on on my plan though I really am not looking forward to pay an extra $40+ per month. However I would still like to know two things. One why was the account services rep so sure that the plan still exists? I mean I know what you'r saying and usually can tell when I'm being given an answer just to be given an answer. This lady sounded fairly convincing in that the plan add-on option still exists. The second I would still like to see some sort of an official statement from sprint rather than these random answers here and there and am still hoping that someone who works for Sprint from this forum sees this message and can try to confirm things for us.

[greendx]

So a year later let me update on what I've been doing with this plan.

Yes the plan was discontinued last year (RIP) but I did keep it and have been paying $40 per month and ultimately I think it's worth it for me. I do want to add that Sprint has been very good in letting me keep this grandfathered add-on while switching phones. I couldn't wait to get rid of my BB Tour when the Motorola Photon finally came out. Process to migrate this plan to that phone was not easy but not impossible. What you have to do is contact sprint international department before upgrading/activating your new phone (best way I found to do this is via web support ticket). Basically tell them that you want to change your phone but keep the plan and wait until they say okay. If they do they will basically wait for you to get the phone (here is where it gets somewhat tricky) and you would most likely need to order the phone online from sprint.com so that it comes to you un-activated unlike it would getting it from the sprint store or possibly third party online store. Then call in to sprint international (or try to arrange for the agent that has your ticket to call you). Hope that they can make it work.

So in my case I did this with the Photon, was very excited but that only lasted 2 days as I found that the Photon had some issues with Sprint numbers that were google voice integrated. So I went back tot he Tour and moved the plan back along with it.

Next up was the Blackberry Bold. Once that BB came out I went through the same process and have been using it ever since. So far this year I've used the BB in Japan, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Hong Kong and Thailand and still have a few countries to go before the year ends. Couldn't be happier with the plan though it does hurt a bit each month that I am not travelling.

Ultimate thing to do would have been to see if Sprint let me migrate the plan to the iphone. However, I do already have a Verizon iphone and my experience shows that it is horrible as a global phone so I am not going to bother getting one from Sprint.

[greendx]

Today I had an opportunity to speak with a couple of Sprint account reps in my office. I asked if they had any information on sprint international data plans making a comeback. To my surprise they both immediately said that there is in fact a $40 unlimited international data plan available and is not limited to corporate accounts. Specifically they mentioned this was possible to have on the iphone. I mentioned my grandfathered plan on the blackberry and they said that the plan was no longer available on the blackberry and that if I were to remove it from my BB plan I would lose it forever. Finally they specifically mentioned and even recommended activating the plan before travel and deactivating when returning and just paying the prorated rate.

I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere so I was really surprised to hear this. I won't be able to test this out until sometime this summer when I will need to activate international data on a family members iphone.

If anyone knows more please let me know.

[Mr.Cell]

Hey all,
I'm a fairly frequent international traveler (travelling aboard upwards of once every two months), and I'm greatly irritated by both AT&T and T-Mobile's international roaming rates. Out of desperation, I googled Sprint and verizon, and while Verizon's rates suck less, I keep hearing mention of an unlimited international data plan with Sprint for $40 ontop of the normal Everything Else plans.

Does this plan still exist, and can someone shed some light on it? Do I need one of the worldclass Blackberries, or can I use the GSM SIM in anything with a SIM slot (assuming I'm roaming in a country that doesn't have a CDMA network)?

Any information you can provide would be most helpful ...

If you have a sprit sim card from a previous phone or you ask for one at their international roaming department you can use it.

I went to Mexico with my Evo activated but since i was going to be in a place with gsm only i asked sprint to activate the sim that i have in a blackberry 9630. They told me if i turn on my evo in Mexico the sim wont work but that was a lie. I used the Evo on CDMA and the sprint sim on an AT&T BB9700 whenever i wanted.

So if you dont want change your phone just ask for a sim card to use on your own phone.

[smithchampaign]

If you have a sprit sim card from a previous phone or you ask for one at their international roaming department you can use it.

Yes, you can get international data roaming using the Sprint sim but the normal rates are exorbitant, similar to other U.S. carriers. The questioner was asking about the $40 unlimited international data add-on which used to exist, but apparently can no longer be obtained if you don't already have it.

[smithchampaign]

Today I had an opportunity to speak with a couple of Sprint account reps in my office. I asked if they had any information on sprint international data plans making a comeback. To my surprise they both immediately said that there is in fact a $40 unlimited international data plan available and is not limited to corporate accounts. Specifically they mentioned this was possible to have on the iphone. I mentioned my grandfathered plan on the blackberry and they said that the plan was no longer available on the blackberry and that if I were to remove it from my BB plan I would lose it forever. Finally they specifically mentioned and even recommended activating the plan before travel and deactivating when returning and just paying the prorated rate.

I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere so I was really surprised to hear this. I won't be able to test this out until sometime this summer when I will need to activate international data on a family members iphone.

If anyone knows more please let me know.

Sprint account reps aren't known for being highly knowledgeable. I have e-chatted with Sprint several times recently and been told no such thing is currently available to be added. If the unlimited international data plan had actually been re-instated I'm pretty sure there would have been news of it on the web. I would love to be wrong though...