Back in July 2015, T-Mobile announced Mobile Without Borders. With this perk, T-Mobile subscribers received unlimited talk and text to and from Mexico and Canada, and still got all of the 4G LTE data that they were entitled to with their regular plan. This allowed a T-Mobile customer to travel throughout North America without having any changes made to their data plan. At the time, T-Mobile said that Mobile Without Borders was really designed to be used primarily in the states and was not made for prolonged international usage.
On Wednesday, T-Mobile announced that it was making a change by capping the amount of data available for subscribers using Mobile Without Borders in Mexico and Canada at 5GB of 4G LTE data. The carrier noted that talk and text will still be unlimited. Once the 5GB cap is met, T-Mobile subscribers will have unlimited data at throttled speeds of 128Kbps on T-Mobile ONE, or 256Kbps on T-Mobile ONE Plus.
The cap takes effect beginning on November 12th. T-Mobile says that it is making the change for a couple of reasons. One, it wants to prevent usage (of data) beyond the intent of the product, and it has discovered that less than 1% of those customers with Mobile Without Borders travel to Mexico and Canada and use more than 5GB of data.
"Mobile Without Borders is an incredible benefit and allows customers to stay connected when traveling in Canada and Mexico. In order to prevent usage beyond the intent of the product, we implemented a limit on the amount of monthly 4G LTE data. Less than 1% of people with this benefit travel to Mexico and Canada use over 5GB a month. 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)."-T-Mobile
Keep in mind that if a subscriber's monthly allotment of high speed data is less than 5GB, they will be capped at that figure. For example, if a T-Mobile customer is paying for a plan with 4GB of high-speed data, he (or she) will be throttled in Canada or Mexico once the 4GB of 4G LTE data is consumed.
This chart will help Mobile Without Borders users determine how much high speed data they will receive following the new 5GB cap
source: T-Mobile
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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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