Behold II Smartphone with Android
AT&T offers 50MB of International iPhone data for $60/month
You can now purchase a $60-per-month -- on top of your current bill -- add-on to AT&T iPhone service that will afford you 50MB of international GPRS (EDGE in the United States) data transfer (20MB will set you back $25). This is still expensive (over $1 per MB), but better than the previous international data roaming scheme which was billed at $5/MB in select countries ("DataConnect Global" countries), and nearly $20/MB in other countries, resulting in some ridiculous bills.
The overage rate is $.005/KB within 29 discounted countries, and $.010/KB anywhere else, with exceptions.
It should be noted that the iPhone will automatically download data over available data networks without notifying the user for applications like Stocks, Weather, etc and other purposes which we can?t yet identify. Even if a user deletes all companies from the Stocks application, and cities from Weather application, data transfer may still take place. (You can check data transfer stats in the in the Usage section of the Settings application.) In other words, even if you have turned off off all options you think could result in data access and don't directly access any data functions, you could still find transfers of several hundred KB on your bill.
iPhone Software/Firmware update 1.1.1 introduced the ability to turn off EDGE data roaming, and there's also a third-party native application for turning off EDGE completely.
[This change in international data pricing was first spotted by Ars Technica]
I subscribed to this service for a trip to Geneva and London that started in mid-September and ended 30 September. I bought the 20 MB package and terminated it on the day after my return home. That package is $24.99 per month and they pro-rated it to $12.50. Be sure to turn it off as soon as you get back, I called the day after my return. However, my bill still showed a charge for the whole month of October for $24.99. I called customer service and they told me that I had already been credited for $23.32 leaving an apparent pro-rated charge of $1.67 even though I was back in the US on 30 September. Customer service agreed to credit me for that amount also. So my data use in London and Geneva for half a month was $12.50.
The 20 MB was more that adequate for retrieving emails and infrequent web viewing. I did have access for my computer in my meeting and in my hotel room.
Voice calls for 47 minutes was $60.63. High but the convenience was worth it. I did learn to completely turn the phone off while I slept after a 4am call from a friend who did not know I was out of the country.
The data plan worked well while I was working in Geneva. For example, after finishing diner I noted an email from a colleague in England who had submitted some draft text for the meeting. Instead of lingering in town I returned to my room to edit the draft. I was able to submit it for consideration the next morning. There was time for lingering about town later in my visit. I found voice plan most useful for rendezvousing with a friend in London.