On Mar. 14, AT&T and Verizon Wireless announced they will allow all customers to call and text family and friends in Japan for free in March.

Beginning Mar. 11, and continuing through Mar. 31, AT&T wireless customers will not be charged for international long distance phone calls and text messages originated from the United States and Puerto Rico to Japan. Customers will either see no charges or they will see a full credit applied to their bill.

All Verizon Wireless customers will receive free calling, text and multimedia messaging to Japan from Mar. 11 through Apr. 10. All calls made from a Verizon residential landline to Japan will be rated at $0.00 per minute. Customers with Verizon World Plan (300, 500 or unlimited minutes) can call Japan without using any minutes.

Also, TV Japan, the 24 hour Japanese news channel, is available for free through Mar. 17 to all AT&T TV subscribers and Verizon TV subscribers, allowing viewers to follow the news and recovery efforts.

“We want to help our customers connect with loved ones in Japan in anyway we can,” said Mark Collins, senior vice president, Voice and Data Products, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “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 and Verizon wireless customers can text “redcross” to 90999 to give a $10 donation to help the Red Cross with disaster support efforts in the area.

(Image courtesy of Ed Yourdon, Flickr user)