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back to article AT&T freshens tourist-trapping iPhone data plans

US telco giant AT&T has announced two new international data plans for the Jesus Phone, saying they'll save Americans "hundreds of dollars" on journeys abroad. But we all know this is just another way for the company to hold your wallet hostage. Tomorrow, AT&T will begin offering a 100MB per month international plan for $119. …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Cowboys

    I would have thought that you would get a better deal per data unit if you went for the larger option, however it seems that having, for example a 100mb ($119.99) limit isn't just twice as expensive as a 50mb ($59.99) one, it actually costs a cent more. Brilliant.

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  2. Herby

    If they charged voice at data rates...

    ...it would be hideously expensive. The example noted $.005/kB for "overage". That works out to between $.30 per minute if you use DS0 (8kB/sec) rates. Typically most carriers use some adaptive coding which is 1/2 the data, so it goes to $.15 per minute which is pretty expensive for minutes. Why don't they charge the same rate for "voice" minutes as "data" minutes? Anything else is biased (usually to the detriment of the data user!). Besides "data" minutes ought to be LESS since they do not need to be "real-time" in delivery (which "voice" usually attempts to be!)

    Oh, by the way, that was for one way voice. Most of the time voice is "full duplex".

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    VAT Not Included

    Unlike ol' Blighty, they quote all prices without VAT this side of the pond (due to all states' VAT being different and all that), but with taxes, charges, hidden fees and cess(pools), you're probably going to end up getting bilked a lot more (probably to the tune of -L- rather than $ <whatever it is>)

    All this drooling over the iPwn reminds me of http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=iphone

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  4. Dr Chris Thomson
    Stop

    $.15 a minute, cheap!

    Well the standard per minute rate in the UK out of contract is about 10-20p a minute or $.20-.40 so that rate sounds rather attractive, ther per kB rate in the for data is about .002p on most carriers so you could argue that the rate is quite good on that basis, and data is cheaper still as many have a cap of £1.50 a day on data charges or something similar like £1 for the first 15MB. urk.

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  5. Piloti

    ... what we really want is........ to be able

    .... to be able to put a 'local sim card' into a device when roaming, and not be latched to a device.

    The joy of a real mobile device and not a tarted up piece of junk with far too much eye candy.

    P.

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  6. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Mmm...

    "AT&T's overage rate is $0.005 per KB", what's the underage rate then?

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  7. Joe Montana
    Flame

    Apple?

    Why don't Apple pressure their carriers to provide more reasonable roaming rates, they already have agreements with carriers in most countries and the iphone as a device is quite heavily dependent on data service... So how about, if you sign up to an Apple plan in one country, you can use the equivalent plan in another country (ie if your on o2, but spend a week in new york you pay for 1 week worth of service at the normal rate AT&T charges american customers)..

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  8. Mister Cheese
    Linux

    Unbelievable!

    I'm impressed. I thought hotel broadband charges were expensive - but for only 100MB (that's maybe only 20 large e-mails) they'll charge you $120!

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  9. Chris O'Shea
    Pirate

    So how does this compare with O2?

    If I take my iPhone to Germany or the US, how much will I get charged for data? And given the number of people who aren't technically minded who have iPhones, how many are going to pull out their iPhone in Paris or Berlin or New York (or leave them in their pockets polling for email) and get back two weeks later to an astronomical bill for data while travelling?

    Enquiring minds want to know!

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  10. Nev
    Thumb Down

    Data Roaming

    What they don't tell you is that although you pay per kbyte if roaming in the US,

    there is a minimum per connection charge of about $2.

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  11. BioTube
    Thumb Down

    @Apple?

    Because Apple gets kickbacks. They gouge their customers on a regular basis anyway.

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  12. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge
    Flame

    Apple versus AT&T

    I'm sure Steve is already screaming his head off at AT&T.

    AT&T is the company that "raises the bar" by telling your phone to show three bars even when the signal is too weak to dial out. AT&T is the telco that gives you the choice of buying expensive Internet+DTV bundles or suffering with last decade's raw DSL plans. AT&T is the telco that sent out a draconian contract update for land-line users, giving you the option to agree or not have a phone. Such a friendly company.

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