Spotted at FierceWireless: AT&T adds two new plans for iPhone users traveling in 67 countries.
Unfortunately, there isn’t an unlimited plan, which iPhone users are used to here in the U.S. Trying to limit usage overseas to avoid excessive roaming or data charges must be a drag.
But the new plans should take care of that, somewhat. At more than $100/month, they are not cheap, however the maximum plan of 200 MB should help supplement any free Wi-Fi travelers stumble on while traveling.
Says AT&T in its press release, it currently charges users $0.0195 per kilobyte outside of the U.S. That means 2 MB will cost $40. But don’t forget, AT&T already has two cheaper international plans for $25 to $50 extra per month. The other nice thing mentioned in the details is that these require no contract. You can sign up or cancel whenever you want.
New plans are:
The 100 MB plan: Costs $119.99/month (or $1.19/MB)
The 200 MB plan: Costs $199.99/month (or $1/MB)
Existing plans:
The 20 MB: $24.99/month (or $1.25/MB)
The 50 MB plan: $50 MB/month (or $1/MB)
Of course, this isn’t limited to iPhone users but that caught my attention. AT&T does offer a handy tip sheet just for iPhone users who want to save money while traveling overseas.
UPDATE: A little more research after SIMply SIMple’s comment below:
There are few alternatives for iPhone users because the phone is locked. But, in general, if you need a data plan overseas, it’s still not cheap, unlike some voice plans with pre-paid SIM cards. At InTouch, there’s the Mobal International SIM card is $30 and includes 1 MB data, but additional MBs are £4, or about $7.35, for the United Kingdom, I’m assuming. Anyone else have suggestions or advice on what you use overseas?
Another note: AT&T offers a simple way to check data and voice prices for international travel at www.att.com/travelguide. More details at the AT&T International calling page are at www.att.com/wirelessinternational.
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Tamara 'the Gadgetress' Chuang
The iPhone via AT&T is a REAL RIP-OFF overseas. I was about to agree to buy an expensive overseas data plan (on top of what I’m already paying in the US) when they said that even with the plan I should keep my phone off as much as possible. That’s because they charge $1.99/minute EVEN FOR CALLS YOU DON’T PICK UP AND VOICEMAILS YOU DON’T LISTEN TO.
And AT&T’s customer service is every bit as bad as people say; I spent 50 minutes on the phone being bounced around from department to department before I could get the facts on the overseas data plans. I’m seriously considering returning the iPhone before the first month is up and going back to Verizon.
Why the heck would you still pay for AT&T exorbitant voice and data charge , when you are travelling overseas .
If you could just simply unlocked your Iphone , both 2G and 3G , and use local country prepaid SIM,
The web is full of do it yourself unlocking Iphone, just google it people ,Get Smart and Be Smart
Assuming you can unlock the phone from using only AT&T SIMs, would data still be less expensive using a prepaid SIM in the phone? I suspect this would be the case.