Last week’s devastating earthquake and tsunami prompted an untold number of long-distance calls and text messages from people reaching out to family and friends in Japan. Today, AT&T announced that it would be making that process a little less burdensome by offering free calls and text messages from the U.S. to Japan.
AT&T also announced that it is offering its residential wireline customers credit for up to 60 minutes of free direct dial calling to Japan.
The free services are being applied retroactively to calls placed beginning on March 11 — the day the earthquake struck — and will be offered through March 31.
“We want to help our customers connect with loved ones in Japan in anyway we can,” said Mark Collins, AT&T’s senior vice president of voice and data products, in a press release. “Connecting with family and friends is most important at times like this— we want to make it as easy and worry free as possible for our customers.”
AT&T wireless customers can text 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross’ efforts to provide disaster relief in Japan. No text message fees apply.
It’s important to remember: even gigantic telecommunication companies can sometimes show a semblance of humanity in the face of an overwhelming tragedy.
