AT&T whips up international iPhone data plan, also adding iTunes radio?
By Ryan Block 
posted November 2nd 2007 12:07PM
posted November 2nd 2007 12:07PM
We're not sure what took 'em so long -- reports of unhappy customers who traveled abroad with their surreptitiously email-checking iPhones returning home to bills totaling in the thousands of dollars -- have been de rigueur for AT&T since June's launch. Well, today that changes. Despite Apple's addition of an anti-data-roaming option in later firmware updates, the service side now has a new Data Global Plan, which, for $25 or $60 (extra) per month, gives iPhone users 20MB or 50MB of international data access -- but nothing more on the voice side -- in some 29 countries (including our neighbor to the north, and parts of Europe and Asia). Take that SIM unlockers who would rather just buy an overseas SIM and pay something reasonable for their data rates.Update: AT&T's site also shows an interesting and possibly telling quote: "While using data on iPhone is free within the U.S., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, International data roaming can get expensive quickly. Consider that just 20 minutes of iTunes radio takes 20MB of data. That's why AT&T has created two iPhone International packages with more reasonable rates in 29 countries." (Emphasis ours.) So, iTunes radio, eh? Certainly AT&T isn't talking about downloading tracks over the iTunes WiFi store -- that's only possible via WiFi. Maybe we have something here. Thanks, Ryan.
Update 2: Bonus -- we have confirmation from AT&T that it's not contractual, meaning you can sign up for the Data Global Plan before you hit up a trip and then drop it when you return. We don't have pro-rating details, but we're sure you'll work it out.
I was just in Prague and Vienna. I used my iPhone ot make calls to the US while keeping the data roaming off. I paid an extra $5.99 before I left to get a cheaper call rate of 99¢ in Vienna and $1.99 in Prague. The total bill came out to be about $40 over the norm. The call clarity was better on 02 and Vodaphone and Tmobile than ATT. My family thought i was in the US, where ATT is usually scratchy (that says the call quality is not due to the phone but due to ATT).
I used WiFi at my hotel and found it quite easy to find open hotspots all over Prague. Vienna was harder, but then again i was in the shopping district as opposed to the residential one in Prague. So its understandable. I was reall satisfied how it all worked out... it beat the tar out of my GFs Verizon "World Phone" which cost her $250.
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