The language of data is international. And expensive.

Around the time of the release of the iPhone, we first started hearing angry comments from those who wanted to use their phones while abroad. Turns out that even with AT&T’s international calling plans, users often end up being charged exorbitant rates due to the phone’s data capabilities. Apple partially addressed this in the 1.1.1 software update by adding a feature to disable Data Roaming, but now AT&T is doing their part by adding international data plans for the iPhone to the mix.

The plan comes in two flavors, differentiated by a data cap—sorry folks, no unlimited firehose here. For 50MB of data, you’ll pay $59.99/month, for 20MB, $24.99/month. Go over and you’ll pay half a cent for every kilobyte. But wait: there’s more. That rate only applies within the 29 countries in which AT&T has struck their deal. Visit the link above for the fine print. In both cases, you’ll need to add International Data to your existing domestic iPhone plan, so international users looking for a loophole shouldn’t get too excited. Plus, as AT&T spells out, overages can get expensive pretty quick, with each additional megabyte running you up to $20 if you routinely travel outside the coverage area.

Category: AT&T

Posted by Dan Moren on Nov 2 2007, 2:23 PM ET

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