T-Mobile's latest offer could save US cellular consumers from having to pay massive roaming fees when they travel overseas.

Beginning Oct. 31, individual and business customers in T-Mobile's Simple Choice plans "automatically get unlimited data and texting in more than 100 Simple Global countries worldwide, and they will only pay a global flat rate of 20 cents per minute for voice calls when roaming in the same countries," the company announced last night. "Eligible customers on T-Mobile’s popular Simple Choice plan won’t have to activate anything or pay an extra monthly fee."

The deal is good for both new and existing customers. As you might expect, the free data won't get you on a 4G LTE network, or even a 3G one. A fact sheet says the data roaming provides speeds of 128Kbps, "ideal for e-mail, web pages, navigation, and social apps."

That's "up to 2G speeds," T-Mobile said in another document accompanying its announcement. The feature is "not for extended international travel."

T-Mobile told Ars that it will sell higher-speed passes for international travel. A one-day pass capped at 100MB will cost $15, a 7-day pass capped at 200MB will cost $25, and a 14-day pass capped at 500MB will cost $50. T-Mobile did not answer when we asked how fast the higher speeds actually are.

Regardless of the limitations, free data of any speed is good news for anyone who has ever traveled abroad and either paid outrageously high roaming fees or just turned data capabilities off entirely.

Here's a list of the countries where roaming is available:

Prepaid plans and some other low-cost plans aren't eligible for the free international roaming.

T-Mobile also announced a new "Stateside International Talk & Text" feature which costs $10 a month and includes free calls to landlines in more than 70 countries and rates not exceeding 20 cents a minute to any number in the 100 Simple Global countries.

Finally, T-Mobile announced that its 4G LTE network is now capable of reaching 200 million US consumers in 233 metro areas. To celebrate, the company signed a multiyear sponsorship deal with Shakira.