AT&T offers free calling, texting to Japan

From CNET News.com: AT&T is offering free service to people who want to communicate with friends and family in Japan.

The carrier announced today that postpaid subscribers won't be charged for calls or text messages to Japan through the end of March. The free service started Friday, the day that a magnitude 9.0 earthquake rocked the northeastern part of the country and sent tsunamis out into the Pacific.

Customers will either find no charges on their monthly bill or a credit for the amount they would have spent. AT&T is only offering the deal on phone calls that originate in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Text messages to Japan can only originate from a U.S. number.

"We want to help our customers connect with loved ones in Japan in anyway we can," Mark Collins, senior vice president for Voice and Data Products at AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, said in a statement. "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."

Following the earthquake and the tsunamis, the death toll has reached more than 10,000, with tens of thousands more people still missing or uprooted from their homes. Damage to property has been astromical.

Meanwhile, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provider Skype has announced (Google Translate page) on its Japan blog that it's giving Japanese customers 25 minutes worth of free calls to landlines in the country. In addition, the company's Skype Access, a Wi-Fi service in Japan, will be free across the country for an indefinite amount of time.

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