T-Mobile UK: US & Europe calls included in your minutes

This shocked the hell out of me.

I was packed into a tube train on Sunday with thousands of others going to watch the London Marathon. Angus, a friend, was running. Support is the way ahead. I’m told that it’s inspiring to see your friends waving you on — so I was heading to the 11 mile mark to wave at Angus.

Whilst pressed against a hundred other bodies, I did what any self respecting Londoner does: Read the adverts.

I quickly located the T-Mobile one and had a look:

You what?

I had to look twice. Three times, actually.

US & European mobile/landline calls INCLUDED in your minutes?

The race to zero has begun!

It’s such a shock because I can’t even call internationally on my Vodafone account. I haven’t enabled it. You have to enable international calling if you’ve got a new contract. In fact, it’s SO expensive that Vodafone will take a real close look at you, check if you’re wearing new shoes, see if you’ve cleaned your teeth and the like, before deciding on whether to allow you to pay them ridiculous amounts of money to call internationally. I’m actually using RebTel to make my international calls at a whopping 0.8p per minute to the States (good deal, eh?) via an 0207 local London number. That avoids me paying the 135p per minute or whatever it would be, if I had international calls activated on my handset. So this is on extreme.

The other extreme is T-Mobile. Often the leader in market innovation, T-Mobile is now offering businesses (or those with a ‘business’ account), inclusive international calls.

So if you’ve got 1,000 minutes (for 20 quid a month, per line), you could, theoretically, use them to call the States. Or mainland Europe.

I’m assuming that ‘Europe’ means ‘Old Europe’ (as the US Whitehouse liked to call it — France, Germany, Spain). I reckon the more exotic European countries might not be inclusive.

So. Interesting.

That’s the first time I’ve seen a UK operator offering international calls as part of your ‘minutes’ bundle.

Yes, you have to be a ‘business’ customer, I think, in order to qualify, but that is phenomenally good.

It also makes sense. Global economy and all that.

It’s a rather good marketing ploy too. How long before I start staring at my Vodafone-branded Nokia E90 and think that I really am being screwed against the wall with my Vodafone price plan?

I obviously have to then remember the uber-annoyance I felt when my T-Mobile calls kept on hanging up all the time.