Editorials May 4, 2010

I Hope I Never Have to Use My 3G iPad Abroad

Gear Diary I Hope I Never Have to Use My 3G iPad Abroad photo

The 3G and WiFi iPads are very similar. When I received my 3G iPad last Friday I began exploring it to see if there were any differences from the WiFi version I’d been using since the iPad launch. The obvious difference in the 3G version is the addition of the Cellular data settings. It’s there that you set up your account with AT&T, pick a plan and enter your payment information.

One thing that struck me, all right — it shocked me, when browsing through this area was the amount of money AT&T is asking for to set up an international plan for their 3G service abroad.

Can you say highway robbery!

I can, and it goes something like this:

$24.99 for 20 MB.

$59.99 for 50 MB.

$119.99 for 100 MB.

$199.99 for 200 MB.

All the plans expire in 30-days and are one time only plans.

I can’t imagine anyone in their right mind paying these sort of prices. Especially since the fact that the MB usage allowances are so low you’d probably blow threw them in record time.

Tags: Apple iPad, AT&T

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About LarryGreenberg

View all posts by LarryGreenberg

I have always had a passion for gear and gadgets. It all started for me with the release of the very first Palm Pilot. I've always had an interest in handheld electronics. From handheld PDAs, to cell phones, Mp3 players, watches and other products, I'm the first person my friends, family and colleagues call when they need advice on tech. I have roots in the online tech. forum community. I served as the Administrator to Howard Forums.com and as a Moderator at both Treo Central.com and Blackberry Forums.net. Under the screen name “lgreenberg” I've amassed 50,000+ postings. I also manage my own YouTube channel under the user name larrygreenberg. I'm always eager to help.

http://twitter.com/applenewswatch/status/13371780788 Apple Core: News!

geardiary: I Hope I Never Have to Use My 3G iPad Abroad – http://www.geardiary.com/2010/05/04/i-hope-i-never-have-to-use-my-3g-ipad-abroad/
http://www.geardiary.com Douglas Moran

I think iPad pricing is still seeking it’s level. This particular pricing *clearly* needs to seek a *much lower* level.
http://www.geardiary.com Michael Anderson

These vendors want to extract money where they can, and gouging international data charges is one of the remaining places ripe for extortion …
SamP

These are actually pretty good rates for international data roaming.

Sprint charges $0.016/KB in most places ($16/MB). There are also some monthly plans but I couldn’t find information on them on my quick check, though I recall that there is an international data service for Blackberry which was pretty good.

Verizon has a $129.99/month plan that provides 5 GB in the US and 100 MB international, a $229.99/month plan that ups that to 200 MB, or you can pay a straight $0.02/KB ($20/MB) (Canada and Mexico are cheaper).

T-Mobile is $15/MB (Canada is $10/MB)

This might be a good option: http://localanywhere.truphone.com/. Hmm… 0.50 pounds/MB is roughly $1/MB.

The usual suggestion is to acquire a local prepaid SIM when traveling internationally, though I’ve read that data SIMs are hard to find.
http://twitter.com/navidrockni/status/13389134567 navid

I Hope I Never Have to Use My 3G iPad Abroad http://bit.ly/bLmbk7
Drew Guttadore

Not bad really.. When we run over our allotments down under its absolutely nuts! Let alone overseas.. AT&T is probably responding to the rates they have to pay the other int’l carriers. I don’t get it either, sure doesn’t encourage use does it!