Verizon is now offering roaming wireless access to customers traveling to Cuba, making it the very first mobile carrier in the United States to offer the service after more than half a century of hostility between the two countries.
America's biggest carrier made the announcement in a press release, where it says the new offer includes calls, texts and data as part of its Pay-As-You-Go International Travel service, which customers going to Cuba can easily opt into.
"Our customers are citizens of the world, and we want them to seamlessly enjoy a great Verizon experience wherever they travel," Javian Farfan, vice president of cultural and segment marketing for Verizon, says. "By offering international services while travelling in Cuba, we are making it simple and easy for our customers to stay connected wherever and whenever they choose."
However, the service does come with a huge catch. Verizon charges standard international rates for texts, but calls are $2.99 for every minute. Data is also expensive at $2.05 for every single MB, which is around 10 times more than what the average Cuban earns every day.
And because 1 GB is equal to 1,024 MB, customers who rack up just 1 GB of data while on Cuban soil will have to pay Verizon a whopping $2,099 in roaming fees, and all for a single GB. To put it into perspective, 1 GB of data can give users 44 hours of surfing the web and checking emails, or 256 tracks streamed over Spotify, or 17 hours navigating through the Cuban streets with the help of Google Maps.
In contrast, T-Mobile just announced that it is expanding its Simple Global feature to 20 other countries which, unfortunately, do not include Cuba (yet). The service includes calls for $0.20 per minute, which is more than 10 times less than what Verizon offers. It also includes unlimited SMS and data, albeit low-speed data at 128 Kbps, at no extra cost to the customer.
Most notably, T-Mobile's expansion now includes the Bahamas, where it says more than 2 million Americans travel every year. Following the recent restoration of American-Cuban relations, the number of Americans travelling to Cuba has seen a rise by 36 percent, so it might not take long before T-Mobile considers offering Simple Global to the country as well.
