Originally Posted by
Platcomike
That was my reaction. Why would it be cheaper over mobile than wifi????
Possibly because it is considered 'starting in the US' as that is the first cell company infrastructure it will hit? If they allow free texts over Wifi calling to other countries, they may not be able to tell when the text is being sent from within the US or out of the country, so they bill it at the highest rate, which would be as if it came from the US.
Their sms and voice calls are really a breakthrough though which no other carrier in the world offers. It really shows desperation
I don't think it's desperation. They were looking for a competitive advantage to counter their disadvantages - network footprint and speeds outside of metro areas - which impacts their profitability less than it would other carriers who try to match. T-Mo has fairly little international roaming revenue relative to ATT/VZW. This way they are not only getting people over to their service, they are doing something that the big two cannot match without significantly hurting their revenues.