T-Mobile, Sprint offer unlimited smartphone data as coronavirus contingency

 

By AppleInsider Staff Friday, March 13, 2020, 06:50 pm PT (09:50 pm ET)

T-Mobile and Sprint on Friday announced a slate of measures designed help the public as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, with provisions granting unlimited smartphone data to all subscribers.All current T-Mobile or Metro by T-Mobile customers with data plans will immediately have unlimited access to the carrier's network for 60 days, the company said. In addition, customers are granted an additional 20GB of mobile hotspot service for the same period and free international calls to Level 3 impacted countries, a list that includes China, Iran, South Korea and 29 European countries. Further, students enrolled in a program that takes advantage of T-Mobile's EmpowerED digital learning program also gets at least 20GB of data per month for 60 days."Now, more than ever, as school and workplace closures are happening each day, reliable internet connectivity is crucial," T-Mobile said in a post to its webpage, adding, "In these unique circumstances, access to unlimited data is more important than ever."The telecom notes its network is operating at 100% reliability and that measures are in place to respond to any issues that should arise. As for T-Mobile's employees, the company is encouraging work from home options through the end of the month. Others are being offered flexible schedules or additional paid time off for sickness and family support, the carrier said. Sprint on Friday announced nearly identical provisions for its customers, noting customers with international long distance calling plans will next Tuesday receive free international calling rates from the U.S. to Level 3 countries. On Thursday, the carrier will offer free unlimited data and 20GB of mobile hotspot data per month to existing subscribers for a period of 60 days. The same 20GB hotspot allotment will "soon" be doled out to customers who do not currently have the service activated. T-Mobile and Sprint are among the first mobile carriers in the U.S. to provide benefits to customers amid the COVID-19 crisis. Earlier this week, ISPs like AT&T and Comcast suspended broadband data caps. All four major mobile carriers signed the Federal Communications Commission's "Keep Americans Connected Pledge," which calls on telecoms to waive late fees related to the pandemic, not terminate service of those impacted by the virus and open Wi-Fi hotspots to the public.

Inside the Classroom: Contracts With Professor George Geis

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NASA Wants You to Photograph Starlink Satellites With Your Smartphone

Over the coming years, Elon Musk's private spaceflight company, SpaceX, will launch thousands of small satellites as part of an effort to provide global, space-based internet. But with each launch, astronomers have grown increasingly worried that this satellite constellation, called Starlink, will interfere with their telescopes' abilities to study the night sky. This week, scientists with the Russian Academy of Sciences announced that they'll take their concerns about Starlink to the United Nations, Newsweek reported.  And now NASA's education office has launched a project that asks for the public's help documenting these satellite streaks as part of a long-term effort to study how the technology will change our night sky. Anyone with a modern smartphone and a tripod can contribute to the Satellite Streak Watcher project. "People will photograph these Starlink satellite streaks, and we'll collect a large archive of these over time," says astronome...
Read more

India's top smartphone maker Xiaomi says growing anti-China sentiment has not affected business

Image
Growing anti-China sentiment in India has not had any material impact on Chinese smartphone maker, Xiaomi, the company's India boss said on Thursday. In the last six years, Xiaomi India built a strong local culture and company, managing director Manu Kumar Jain told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia." "Our product team, R&D teams are here in India. As we have mentioned, all (of ) our phones, majority of our TVs are made in India, large number of components are locally sourced ... entire leadership team is in India," Jain said. "Till now, we are not seeing any major impact on our business, with respect to sales or demand," he added. Xiaomi is India's top smartphone maker and owns about 30% of the market currently, according to data from Counterpoint Research. In fact, apart from Samsung, the rest of the top five phone makers in the Indian market are Chinese firms. Relations between New Delhi and Beijing deteriorated in recent weeks due to a border c...
Read more

Intelligence Brief: Is 5G a smartphone lifeline?

Image
As countries around the world ease pandemic-related restrictions on consumers and businesses, it is abundantly clear operators and smartphone vendors now inhabit a fundamentally changed economic landscape. Covid-19 (coronavirus) sent shockwaves through every sector of the economy, and while it has been better insulated than some, the telecom industry will inevitably feel the effects of the 3 per cent global GDP contraction the IMF predicts for this year. Operators and smartphone vendors are now facing the ominous dual prospects of a severe global recession and a prolonged slump for traditional in-store retail, where most phones were sold before the pandemic. Through the economic gloom, there is nevertheless some good news for smartphone manufacturers. At a basic level, lockdowns have, if anything, further demonstrated the critical importance of mobile devices for enabling eve...
Read more