T-Mobile's run with all plans being super attractive deals for North American international travelers is kaput.
As of November 12th, 2017 T-Mobile data usage in Mexico and Canada will be capped at 5GB per month. After you use 5GB, customers on T-Mobile ONE, Simple Choice North America, or legacy rate plans (with a qualifying feature) will see speeds slowed to 128kbps.
Those who are on the T-Mobile ONE Plus plans will be slowed - to a slightly higher speed of 256kbps.
From the T-Mobile announcement:
Starting November 12, 2017 customers on T-Mobile ONE, Simple Choice North America, or legacy rate plans with a qualifying feature will receive unlimited talk, text and data with a maximum of 5GB of 4G LTE. After 5GB of high-speed data is used in Mexico and Canada (or your high-speed data allotment is reached, whichever comes first), customers will stay connected with unlimited data at Simple Global speeds (up to 128kbps for most plans or 256kbps with T-Mobile ONE Plus).
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The new 5GB Mexico/Canada data counts for all data used in either country - on device or hotspotted.
On unlimited plans data used domestically is not counted towards your Canada/Mexico cap - your cap tally begins once you begin use of Canada/Mexico towers.
On capped (legacy) plans, you are still capped at 5GB for Canada/Mexico use, but your domestic use may also reduce your Canada/Mexico cap depending on your data bucket.
T-Mobile clarifies this with the following chart:
On any of these plans, your 5GB of high speed data is shared between Canada and Mexico. If you travel to both countries in the same billing cycle, you have as much as 5GB to use between the trips.
By comparison, AT&T's new unlimited data plans include full use of the plan in Canada & Mexico (except for the Connected Car plan, which doesn't include any international use). And Verizon's new unlimited plans restrict usage to 500MB/day of high speed use over the border.
T-Mobile ONE Plus International
So what if you're planning some extended travel in Canada or Mexico with T-Mobile, and 5GB just isn't going to cut it?
T-Mobile does still offer one plan that is still highly attractive for North American travelers: ONE Plus International.
Customers on the T-Mobile ONE Plus International plan will continue to be granted full speed unlimited LTE data on device in Mexico and Canada - and you can still use all of that data via mobile hotspot/tethering.
ONE Plus International costs an extra $25/month on top of the price of the ONE Plus plan. It includes unlimited 4G mobile hotspot use in North America (US, Canada, and Mexico). This plan also provides 3G speeds internationally beyond North America.
However, T-Mobile does reserve the right to de-prioritize mobile hotspot use over on device use.
In addition, high data users who are primarily using the plan for tethering may be contacted by the carrier to discuss options (this seems to be an issue if you consistently consume more than 50GB of total data month and over 50% of your usage is mobile hotspot).
Beyond Canada & Mexico
T-Mobile offers unlimited text and 2G data in over 140 countries and destinations around the world with Simple Global on qualifying postpaid plans. The ONE Plus International plan provides for 3G data speeds in these countries.
Prepaids/MVNOs
Although no official announcements have been made yet, we fully expect this new 5GB Mexico/Canada cap to be carried over to T-Mobile Prepaid plans and Metro PCS plans (both direct prepaid subsidiaries of T-Mobile).
Related Info:
- Keeping Connected in Canada – Mobile Internet Options for RVers
- Understanding Unlimited Cellular Data Plans: Network Management, Throttling & Mobile Hotspot Usage
We have also scheduled a special edition MIA webinar (check the Video Center for broadcast details) so that we can go deeper and answer questions about all the latest updates to the various unlimited plan options. AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile have all made some interesting changes recently.
Mobile Internet Resource Center (dba Two Steps Beyond LLC) is founded by Chris & Cherie of