AT&T international data plans for iPad come at a hefty price
Yesterday AT&T released roaming data plans for the iPad 3G and they do not come cheap. Pricing starts at $25 per month for 20 megabytes and goes as high as $200 for 200 megabytes. Unlike the normal data plans, these international plans do not auto-renew on a month to month basis. Here's the full breakdown:
- $24.99/month: 20 MB data
- $59.99/month: 50 MB data
- $119.99/month: 100 MB data
- $199.99/month: 200 MB data
These plans work in over 90 countries and can be accessed directly from your iPad 3G's cellular data settings. You do have the option to select a start date and AT&T encourages travelers to set this up prior to leaving the country.
What are your thoughts on the above prices? Too much to be paying for data in this day and age? And with the iPad 3G being unlocked and GSM, could pay-as-you-go MicroSIM plans picked up when you visit be a far cheaper alternative (if they become available). Sound off in the comments!
[AT&T, thanks everyone who sent this in!]
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Ridiculous! Close to price gouging. 20Mb in this day and age and with lousy speed on top.
I think Rogers charges like 5 cents per kilobyte of something lol
My thought is that this isn't really news, because they are the exact same prices of the iPhone international data plans which have been around forever.
http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/iphone-travel-tips.jsp
Can't you just, in case you're staying for a reasonable time, get a local carrier Micro SiM and that's it? (At least here, in Spain, you can get data service for a non-contract line) Isn't the iPad unlocked?
ipad is unlocked, we can use local operator sim, if they dont offer microsim, cut one.
There Fool of S#*%
For anyone who has traveled outside of the USA, these prices are not surprising. Even Canadians are used to paying more for data and voice.
These costs also explain why some of us with grandfathered data plans have no intention of giving them up. $49.99 per month unlimited data worldwide on my Blackberry is a predictable business expense. It is why I have multiple phones; so I can pop in a country specific SIM card. It would be so nice if phones, smart phones and iPods/iPads supported multiple SIM cards and allow me to switch using software. Or even better, handle multiple networks simultaneously. But I'm in a minority so I'm not expecting this to solved anytime soon. And I suspect that Apple is too closed to participate.
IMO, we're data junkies here in the USA and we've been lucky because bandwidth has basically been given to us. Despite the cost of the infrastructure. Most other countries that I have visited or done business in - excluding Canada - have historically charged for usage of phones and internet connections starting with landlines. They continued the practice with mobile. 10 Euro for an hour of internet is not uncommon or in hotels, 19 Euro per 24 hour period. Based upon some of the 'horror' stories that I read online about $1000+ mobile bills due a weekends in Mexico, we seem to expect US laws, pricing etc should apply when we travel.
I'm sure that AT&T has to pay the local providers. There are huge taxes (VAT or value added taxes) that apply to goods and services. My European colleagues told me that mobile costs when they come to the US are not that cheap due to roaming fees.
I observe that 'we' recognize that Apple can charge and we're willing to pay a price premium for our sexy mobile Apple experience. Perhaps we should recognize that AT&T (and Verizon and T-Mobile and Orange and SFR etc) is a business and that as capitalists living in a free market economy, we think that businesses are free to establish pricing that maximizes the return on their investments.
If I was in the mobile business and following the most recent ruling of the Supreme Court in the Comcast v FCC, I would be trying to end unlimited data.
Common or not, those rates are ridiculous.
I wonder how one one could use a foreign microSim card. How would they get it into the device without cracking it over their knees?
David I agree with most of your post except the bit about bandwidth being basically given to us despite the cost of infrastructure.
We, the consumers, built the multiple redundant and competing networks with our user fees. No government corporations, like found in Europe.
That said if you need to travel 20 bucks a month to get email seems borderline reasonable for a short term contract. Do your web surfing on widow, and your mail is all you really need.
Oops I meant do your web surfing on wifi and your mail fetch/push on cellular.
Wow! That's a lot. In the UK I pay £5 equivalent to $7.60 for 1GB on the "3" network
Another reason I will not be getting a pad. I will keep my iPod touch and laptop till they put Wi-Max or other mobile wi-fi that isn't stupid 3G and isn't through the cell companies and through a mobile internet company (i.e. Clear).
@tom I pay $30 for 1GB so I'm pretty sure it's not 5 cents a kb.
That's pretty wild. You'd really have to need cell data to pay this much when you could just try to find a wifi hotspot for free!
In the netherlands you have unlimited internet for €10 a month...
In the uk, you get free internet with 02 if you just put £10 on your pay as you go card.
These plans are a Total rip-off imo. Just get a local simcard in the country you travel t
there is no surprise here i work for att and these are their normal data rates when international no more or no less
For those of you in Canada, is the pricing of Bell and Telus any better?
Well it's progress. Remember when AT&T only had 3000 text messages ( sent and recieved ) for the same price of their now unlimited text ? At that same time AT&T didn't even have options for using data over seas on regular phones that could access AIM/YAHOO and WAP stuff.
Maybe by next year the price might go down but for now that's really expensive for someone who still wants to use their ipad the way they did back in the States
I do some limited international travel and would LOVE to see short-term plans for the iPhone that include both data and voice. I would be willing to pay upwards of $100/week to have unlimited data and voice on my iPhone in other countries. The key here is unlimited - I've found it to be almost impossible to monitor data usage accurately.
I must say that your own blog is fairly informative. I've been just spending a bunch of time within the last couple weeks scouting around at what exactly is in existence based upon the very fact that I will be organizing to launch a blog page. The knowledge you have place on here is largely to the point. It just seems so confusing related to all the programming languages that are out there, but I love the way your feels. Gotta take delight in where technologies has come during the previous 20 years.
I found the perfect answer for travelers for unlimited data through AT&T but it literally took me 8 hours with AT&T and Apple Support agents. There is an unadvertised contract for UNLIMITED DATA USAGE WITH AT&T for $64.99 a month, but you must sign a contract for a year. But the termination fee is only $175 - so the total costs for 1 month abroad (including a termination fee) would be approximately $240. This is much cheaper than Vonage or Vodaphone rentals and you get to keep your phone with same number and unlimited data- not a terrible deal for travelers going to multiple countries for a month, roughly $60 a week - less than $10 a day