AT&T Deflects Criticism on Int’l Rate Gouging

11:09 pm, December 4th, 2008, Lonnie Lazar

Roaming charges were the two dirtiest words in mobile telephony for the longest time. Without getting into the technical details, they referred to the gargantuan spigot mobile service providers were authorized to open, sluicing cash from your financial reserves whenever you wished to make a call outside your regular plan’s designated service area. A 5 minute call back home to check on the kids during a weekend getaway to the mountains could end up costing as much as a full night in a fancy place where they put mints on the pillows at night.

As calling plans have become more “unlimited” in nature and providers’ service coverage areas have expanded, domestic roaming charges have become all but a thing of the past. But mobile service providers are ever loathe to give up easy money when they can get it, and nowhere is the money easier today than charging unsuspecting mobile data users outrageous fees for attempting to access data, such as email or web browsing on smartphones, especially when domestic users try and use their phones overseas.

Follow after the jump to hear how bad it can get and find out what you can do to avoid getting sore in all the wrong places.

iPhone users (legitimate ones, anyway) are required to purchase a data plan as part of their service package with AT&T. Unlimited data for original iPhones costs $20 per month, for 3G users it’s $30, ostensibly because the 3G connection is faster and 3G users will use the data network more often, but, whatever - that’s just the way it is.

But your AT&T voice and data pricing is good for the US only. Never mind that the GSM iPhone will work overseas - unless you plan ahead, you can plan on coming home to some whopping usage charges if you use your iPhone outside the US.

Writer John Biggs tells a tale of woe at CrunchGear, bemoaning AT&T’s nearly $20 per MB charges for accessing data overseas, and he ultimately implied you should consider jailbreaking your iPhone before using it internationally so you can use a pre-paid SIM card or a MaxRoam or Rebel SIM card.

Aware, perhaps, how easy it actually is to jailbreak any iPhone, and wary of the inescapable logic that some users might really follow through on the idea of using alternative SIM cards, an AT&T representative replied to Bigg’s post with a comprehensive list of options the mobile services giant has to help people avoid the pitfalls of easy money, uh, international roaming charges. To wit:

“We advise customers to either call 611 or visit www.att.com/wirelessinternational to check availability and rates – including special voice and data discount plans. (For example, there are a number of data “bucket” plans that offer significantly reduced rates in many countries.)”

“Consider purchasing an international data package, which can significantly reduce the cost of using data abroad. You can sign up for a package before you travel and de-activate it when you return. AT&T offers Data Global plans with low rates in 70 countries.
$24.99 per month - 20 MB package
$59.99 per month - 50 MB package
$119.99 per month - 100 MB package (iPhone only)
$199.99 per month - 200 MB package (iPhone only)

· iPhone users, make sure you click on the link on the wireless page specifically for you (http://www.att.com/wirelesstraveltips)

· Visit www.att.com/travelguide to build a customized itinerary for up to 10 international destinations including cruise ships. Your itinerary will spell out you where your phone works and what the costs are.

· Our wireless network operates on the GSM world standard, which allows you to easily connect around the globe using your AT&T mobile phone. We currently offer wireless voice coverage in more than 200 countries and wireless data coverage in more than 150 countries. Of those, AT&T data plan subscribers can access ultra-fast 3G mobile broadband services in more than 60 countries.

· AT&T’s specialized international help desk is available for problems or questions while traveling outside the U.S. by calling +1-916-843-4685, a free call from your wireless phone.”

The penultimate paragraph of that answer from AT&T is worth reading again and considering. In this modern age, the evolution of communication technology is breaking down all barriers of time and space. As never before, you can use the Internet to make a phone call, even a video phone call, to someone on the other side of the globe and they can sound and look as though they are with you in the room. It’s the beautiful magic of 1s and 0s and because of the way the Internet is interconnected the distance between endpoints is of little to no consequence to the cost of transporting the data.

Call me a communist, but if I have an unlimited voice and data plan with AT&T, and AT&T operates a global network on a world standard that makes it easy for me to connect around the globe using my AT&T mobile phone, why should it matter whether I’m reading my email from inside a Starbucks in downtown San Francisco or from inside a Starbucks on Koh Samui, Thailand?

It shouldn’t, of course, but AT&T -as does every mobile service provider- loves them some easy money.

Posted by Lonnie Lazar in News | Comment on this article