ATT (U.S.) has unlimited intl. data plan for $64.99

[andy]

Originally Posted by snidely

... Unlimited incoming and outgoing voice for $50-$70. Unlimited data for $20-$30 more. Overseas, people have to spend mega dollars/Euros etc. to account for the cost of incoming calls. It seems strange that it costs a caller in London, Madrid, and everywhere else 5 to 10 times more to call a cell phone 1 km away that it does to call my cell in the U.S.

Is it so much more expensive here?

We don't pay for incoming calls

... unless roaming in another country. If we are roaming, we have cheaper rates in Europe than most Americans get.

I could have bought 800 minutes and 1600 texts and free internet for £11.67 a month, if not bothering with a new phone. I didn't, as I was offered something cheaper for a year. Do you use much more than that for your $70 to $100? If so, double those minutes and texts for another £10 a month. Data is included free on most SIM-only contracts from about £20 a month

Or on prepaid, from 8p a minute for mobile to mobile. Is that 5 to 10 times a typical prepaid rate on US SIMs, especially when you count both ends paying?

The cheapest mobile broadband deal I can see in the UK at the moment would cost a VAT-registered business £1 a month. Ok, it's not unlimited, but 500 MB a month.

By all means slag off the costs of mobile use here, but at least rely on facts

Originally Posted by snidely

Many users overseas think they have "unlimited free incoming calls". Many choose to ignore they are hooribly expensive. The cost, though, doesn't show on their cell bill. It shows up on their home or office bills.

Someone can get a free SIM card with £5 included credit, and use it for incoming calls forever, for no cost whatsoever.

The bill for outgoing calls from my landline for the past 3 months is under £2. I can leave a mobile at home which calls mine free, and other mobile networks at 8p/min; zero credit used in 2 months

One mobile network offers a landline number option on business mobile contracts. Using call forwarding to well-chosen other SIM cards, and certain callback providers, it would be possible to use this to make free calls from about 120 countries. Ok, that combined possibility is rare if not unique at the moment. But for anyone, roaming SIMs based on territories not far from here, for which you've been forecasting imminent closure for ages, can offer people roaming calls from about 20 pence a minute.

Perhaps it's time for you to stop going on about how backward telecoms are in the rest of the world, please. I don't see any need for you to use an AT&T $65 a month roaming data package here.