This is exactly right. It's like the spokesman for Verizon Wireless who changed to Sprint - will he make the move to T-Mobile now? - where even a few years ago was using the line that almost all carriers have similar coverage. This isn't 2000 or even 2010 when some carriers were clearly better in general situations. For example, if you wanted LTE in a rural area in 2012, Verizon Wireless was likely your best option.

I've been a T-Mobile customer for a long time, and I remember 15+ years ago when I'd venture outside of a major metropolitan area and consistently either end up on a roaming partner or lose service entirely whereas others with different providers still had service. A few years later I'd get a T-Mobile signal but drop to EDGE outside of urban areas or when inside a building. Friends still had EV-DO and later LTE signals. I've since revisited many of these places over the last couple of years and now have a strong T-Mobile LTE or 5G signal, even in rural areas.

I came close to dropping T-Mobile in 2013 before they announced the international roaming benefit. I stuck with T-Mobile because of that announcement, and service has improved to the point where I'll stick with T-Mobile for the foreseeable future. It's nice to know that when I travel internationally that things will just work pretty much everywhere without changing my SIM card or having to pay for add-on services. I could share many stories over the years where I'd by a SIM card and the sales clerk either gave me incorrect information about the plan or I'd waste considerable time getting the SIM card up and running. Now it's a seamless experience where I can text locally and back home on the same number or call ahead to a hotel or restaurant without breaking the bank. This works especially well when hopping across multiple locations where a SIM card might not work across the border, where my stay is not long enough to warrant purchasing a SIM card, or where barriers to getting a SIM card may exist, such as language or residency requirements.

Even T-Mobile's international roaming benefit is starting to lose its edge. We're rapidly moving in a direction where eSIM support will be ubiquitous across all devices and carriers with the option of having multiple active profiles simultaneously. Services like Airalo allow you to get an eSIM up and running remotely and be up and running as soon as you're on the ground at the destination. It is then possible to use DIGITS or another VoIP service to send and receive calls using your primary mobile number.