Sprint Free Data Roaming Expands To Six Additional Countries, Speeds Still Capped At 64Kbps

Sprint's free International Value Roaming service that was introduced last month is expanding to six new territories, bringing the total number of countries to 22. As the plan dictates, when a Sprint customer is in one of those nearly two dozen countries, he or she can roam with up to 2G speeds and catch up on emails and surf the web at no additional cost.

They can also send text messages from the 22 included countries for no extra charge, and if they want to make phone calls, the rate is 20 cents per minute. All a qualified customer has to do is add International Value Roaming to any Sprint domestic phone plan -- they can do this online by going here or by visiting a local Sprint store.


The full list of countries that are included in Sprint's International Value Roaming service are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Russia, Sweden, South Korea, Spain and United Kingdom.

Sprint's timing couldn't be better -- summer is just around the bend, that means people will be taking vacations. This is an attractive bonus for anyone planning to visit one of the included territories, though 2G data speeds (up to 64Kbps) can be painful.

For those who want faster speeds, Sprint offers 3G network access in one-day, seven-day, and 14-day increments. The one-day pass includes 100MB of data and runs $15; a seven-day pass includes 200MB and runs $25; and a two-week pass includes 500MB for $50. There are no data overage charges -- if you go over your data allotment, speeds drop back to 2G.