International Data - AT&T

[thetexan]

I'm checking for a friend who has an iPhone...

I'll be going on a cruise and I have a Droid on Verizon. Talking to Verizon yesterday they have a plan for $64.99 a month that allows unlimited data roaming internationally. Cool thing is I can prorate out the plan and start it the day the cruise starts and cancel it the day the cruise ends. This offers me unlimited data for our 7 day cruise for about $16. Not bad considering the price of wifi on the ship is expensive. Also the ship has a CDMA tower on board so I don't need a phone with GSM.

Does anyone know if AT&T offers anything like this? I looked around their website and I couldn't find anything. The only thing I saw was an option to buy data in advance but it was super expensive. $25 for 20MB?!?

Also Verizon will charge $0.05 per SMS received but it looks like AT&T will charge $0.20 per SMS received? I ask about that because if I leave my phone on I can't control if I get an SMS or not.

 

[anjinha]

How can the Droid work internationally if it's CDMA?

 

[n9n3]

I'm checking for a friend who has an iPhone...

I'll be going on a cruise and I have a Droid on Verizon. Talking to Verizon yesterday they have a plan for $64.99 a month that allows unlimited data roaming internationally. Cool thing is I can prorate out the plan and start it the day the cruise starts and cancel it the day the cruise ends. This offers me unlimited data for our 7 day cruise for about $16. Not bad considering the price of wifi on the ship is expensive. Also the ship has a CDMA tower on board so I don't need a phone with GSM.

Does anyone know if AT&T offers anything like this? I looked around their website and I couldn't find anything. The only thing I saw was an option to buy data in advance but it was super expensive. $25 for 20MB?!?

Also Verizon will charge $0.05 per SMS received but it looks like AT&T will charge $0.20 per SMS received? I ask about that because if I leave my phone on I can't control if I get an SMS or not.

As far as I know, the add-on packages of 20MB, up to 200MB I think, are the only ways to get international data. My girlfriend will be traveling to Canada on business for 4 days and she has an iPhone on a plan we share, so I've been looking into our options to reduce the amount of extra money we need to spend. The add-ons are expensive, but not nearly as expensive as the normal roaming data rate for Canada- $19 per MB!!!!

As far as the texts go, there might be add on plans for a few bucks a month that reduce the rates for sent or recieved texts while traveling internationally.

 

[thetexan]

How can the Droid work internationally if it's CDMA?

The ship has a CDMA tower on it. Also Verizon offered to fedex me a loaner Blackberry Tour that has GSM/CDMA for no charge. He did stated I'd have to pay for shipping but it's less than $10 bucks and it includes a return label to ship it back when I'm done. I won't need that option since the places we have shore excursions to also have CDMA coverage since they get a lot of American tourists. I think it's cool for Verizon to offer the option of letting me borrow an international phone for free, something I'd do if I were going to Europe.

 

[yg17]

Also Verizon will charge $0.05 per SMS received but it looks like AT&T will charge $0.20 per SMS received? I ask about that because if I leave my phone on I can't control if I get an SMS or not.

I don't know about the data plan, but with AT&T, when roaming internationally (and I speak from experience), what you will pay to receive a text is the same as what you would pay as if you were within the US. Which means, if you have unlimited texting, you will pay nothing to receive while roaming. If you have 200 texts a month, receiving will decrease from that bucket. If you have exceeded your monthly package or don't have a text plan, you will pay 20 cents. Sending costs 50 cents, regardless of plan.

 

[redcupr]

I'm checking for a friend who has an iPhone...

I'll be going on a cruise and I have a Droid on Verizon. Talking to Verizon yesterday they have a plan for $64.99 a month that allows unlimited data roaming internationally. Cool thing is I can prorate out the plan and start it the day the cruise starts and cancel it the day the cruise ends. This offers me unlimited data for our 7 day cruise for about $16. Not bad considering the price of wifi on the ship is expensive. Also the ship has a CDMA tower on board so I don't need a phone with GSM.

Does anyone know if AT&T offers anything like this? I looked around their website and I couldn't find anything. The only thing I saw was an option to buy data in advance but it was super expensive. $25 for 20MB?!?

Also Verizon will charge $0.05 per SMS received but it looks like AT&T will charge $0.20 per SMS received? I ask about that because if I leave my phone on I can't control if I get an SMS or not.

Check the fine print very carefully. Last time I looked at AT&T's International Data Plan it DID NOT apply to cruise ships. You might come home to a surprisingly large phone bill.

 

[thetexan]

Check the fine print very carefully. Last time I looked at AT&T's International Data Plan it DID NOT apply to cruise ships. You might come home to a surprisingly large phone bill.

Good point. I confirmed with the Verizon rep that the unlimited data plan will apply to the cruise ship. I also read a forum devoted to cruising that had Verizon customers doing the same thing I plan on doing and the only extra charge was the charge for the prorated international data plan.

 

[redcupr]

Good point. I confirmed with the Verizon rep that the unlimited data plan will apply to the cruise ship. I also read a forum devoted to cruising that had Verizon customers doing the same thing I plan on doing and the only extra charge was the charge for the prorated international data plan.

Very cool. If and when Verizon ever gets the iPhone, I may have a reason to switch now.

 

[CSMchris376]

I don't know about the data plan, but with AT&T, when roaming internationally (and I speak from experience), what you will pay to receive a text is the same as what you would pay as if you were within the US. Which means, if you have unlimited texting, you will pay nothing to receive while roaming. If you have 200 texts a month, receiving will decrease from that bucket. If you have exceeded your monthly package or don't have a text plan, you will pay 20 cents. Sending costs 50 cents, regardless of plan.

I'm not so sure that is still in effect. My daughter just went to Canada this week. We have unlimited text, and the manager at the local AT&T Corporate store said that she can receive a text for free, however she has to pay the $0.50 to send one. We told her to limit the number of texts she sent, so I'm not real sure. She doesn't have an iPhone, so I cannot speak of the data either.

 

[CocoaPuffs]

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Roaming/index.html

On a Cruise Ship: Verizon Wireless Cruise Ship Services enable you to make and receive calls while traveling on select cruise lines for a low rate of $2.49 a minute.

Unfortunately, the list of countries that have CDMA access is very very limited.

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Roaming/rates_coverage.html

 

[anjinha]

I'm not so sure that is still in effect. My daughter just went to Canada this week. We have unlimited text, and the manager at the local AT&T Corporate store said that she can receive a text for free, however she has to pay the $0.50 to send one. We told her to limit the number of texts she sent, so I'm not real sure. She doesn't have an iPhone, so I cannot speak of the data either.

He was only talking about the texts you receive, not the ones you send.

 

[Applejuiced]

I'm checking for a friend who has an iPhone...

I'll be going on a cruise and I have a Droid on Verizon. Talking to Verizon yesterday they have a plan for $64.99 a month that allows unlimited data roaming internationally. Cool thing is I can prorate out the plan and start it the day the cruise starts and cancel it the day the cruise ends. This offers me unlimited data for our 7 day cruise for about $16. Not bad considering the price of wifi on the ship is expensive. Also the ship has a CDMA tower on board so I don't need a phone with GSM.

Does anyone know if AT&T offers anything like this? I looked around their website and I couldn't find anything. The only thing I saw was an option to buy data in advance but it was super expensive. $25 for 20MB?!?

Also Verizon will charge $0.05 per SMS received but it looks like AT&T will charge $0.20 per SMS received? I ask about that because if I leave my phone on I can't control if I get an SMS or not.

Is this really asking a question for your "friend" with an iphone or one of those my network does this and is that much cheaper and yours doesnt?
If your "friend" wants details about international data packages he could probably call AT&T himself right?
Seriously, some of you fanboys are getting rediculous

 

[Diseal3]

Is this really asking a question for your "friend" with an iphone or one of those my network does this and is that much cheaper and yours doesnt?
If your "friend" wants details about international data packages he could probably call AT&T himself right?
Seriously, some of you fanboys are getting rediculous

Dosent even seem like hes asking about att to me, asking about verizon in a iphone forum.

 

[Nermal]

This offers me unlimited data for our 7 day cruise for about $16.

You're probably OK since there's a plan for it, but double-check that you have data coverage. The reason I say that is because if I take a CDMA phone to the US, I get voice roaming but no data. This indicates that the opposite is true too. So just double-check that data roaming is supported on your cruise when using a CDMA phone.