Travel Technology - Best US phone plans for overseas data?

Does anybody know which major US carrier has the most cost effective data plans for overseas use? I have a Blackberry for a US number that I need to keep open. My work means that I spend upwards of 60% of my time overseas (Europe and Asia mostly).

Currently, I an using AT&T. For data, they require $15/month for 200MB domestic data plus an add on $25/month for 50MB of international data. The 200MB domestic plan is required to add the international package. Thus, while overseas, this effectively works out to $40/month for 50MB of data which is really expensive.

Now, 50MB/month is actually sufficient MOST of the time. Is there a more cost effective plan for data?

Also, for voice, I'm stuck with paying roaming which is usually $1.29/minute. If anybody has suggestions for roaming voice, I'd like to hear them as well. I do get local SIM cards for the countries I travel to, but sometimes calls come in on my US line and I have to pick up on that.

ATT is prob as good as you are going to get for overseas rates.

Are you set on using your current device overseas or would you consider having a dedicated overseas device? In my opinion there is not any economical way to use a US-based phone for overseas, especially for lots of voice use.

Here is what I've tried:

1) Bought an unlocked voice phone for about $75 on Amazon and purchased a OneSimCard.com worldwide SIM card for like $30. This gives me worldwide voice capability with no cost incoming calls and outgoing calls at $0.75 per minute. Data is not a good option with OneSimCard.com (charges per KB).

2) I took my US CDMA Android phone with me to the Middle East but kept it in Airplane mode but with WIFI on. I found that I could easily get data access over WIFI on my smartphone numerous times per day and always in my hotel room.

3) I forwarded my US CDMA Android number to my OneSimCard.com number so if I got a voice call on my US cell phone, it would ring my International phone.

4) I also have tried a worldwide MIFI rental from Xcom Global and it worked great. It can be pricey for long stays (about $15 / day) but when you consider that could be about the price of some hotel's WIFI and you get no data caps (you can use GB's if you want), it is not that out of line. I again, used my US CDMA Android phone in WIFI mode with the MIFI for data.

5) I also got a SIM card from the Middle Eastern cell phone company with a Dubai number and a couple hundred MB of data for about $75. But honestly, I didn't like using data on a phone that wasn't my main one. I much preferred using my US phone in WIFI mode using one of the other methods discussed above.

Forgot to mention that I also subscribe to RingCentral.com. I use the no-answer forwarding feature of my home phone and all 4 of my family's cell phones to forward unanswered calls to our RingCentral.com account. RingCentral becomes a virtual voicemail service for all of our phone lines. Each of my four family members has their own voicemail box in RingCentral. So when someone calls my cell phone and leaves a message, they get dumped into the same voicemail box as they would if they called my home phone. We don't use the voicemail of our cell phone company or our home phone company. This is how this relates to my post above:

RingCentral has some really powerful call routing wizards. So if I don't answer my US cell phone, it gets forwarded to RingCentral and RingCentral detects the CID of my cell phone and dumps it into my mailbox automatically. All I do when I travel internationally is that I activate the "international travel rule" that I created. This rule, when RingCentral detects of an incoming forward from my US cell phone (meaning I didn't answer it), RingCentral then prompts the caller to wait while it tries to find me and it tries to find me by ringing my International OneSimCard.com phone! If I don't answer THAT phone, it puts the caller right back into the same mailbox as before.

This allows you to have a dedicated International phone but your callers won't even know it. All you need to tell your potential callers is to call your US cell phone. In reality the US phone is forwarding to RingCentral upon no answer (which if it is in airplane will require no rings to accomplish), which is then doing a follow-me ring to my International OneSimCard.com number (which is in Estonian) while I am in the Middle East. If I don't answer any phone, it dumps back into voicemail which I get via email on my US CDMA smartphone using WIFI on the MIFI. Pretty fun stuff if you like this kind of nerdy thing!

Thanks for the info, it looks like I am pretty stuck if I want data at $40/month.

I'm interested in call forwarding, can somebody elaborate on how exactly it works? I think it is actually more expensive. For example:
http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=53957&cv=820#fbid=NhVyEqBPh7p

They will still charge you roaming, and on top of roaming, they will charge you international long distance if you are forwarding to a local number while you are overseas....

You might want to look into a VOIP solution as well. You can get a cheap SIM in whatever country you happen to be in. You can forward your VOIP number to that one (most providers have good rates; and it'll certainly be cheaper than what AT&T would charge for voice roaming). The downside is that I believe all calls would then show that they originated from your number. There might be a solution for that. I'd suggest checking the VOIP forums here - http://www.dslreports.com/forums/59

4) I also have tried a worldwide MIFI rental from Xcom Global and it worked great. It can be pricey for long stays (about $15 / day) but when you consider that could be about the price of some hotel's WIFI and you get no data caps (you can use GB's if you want), it is not that out of line.For the OP's needs, he would definitely be better off buying this outright. Maybe someone here has buying tips on what's needed. There are a lot of GSM frequencies, and it'll depend on the carrier you want to use in the regions you'll be in.
Thanks for the info, it looks like I am pretty stuck if I want data at $40/month.Good news/bad news.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/31/3054804/att-international-data-plan-refresh

They changed the lowest end package from $25/50MB to $30/120MB.

damnit. they did the same for the domestic data. i'm paying $15 for 200MB, but that's only cuz my plan is grandfathered. data now starts at $20 for 300MB.

So my future looks like it will involve $50/month for 120MB and this might be the cheapest out of all US providers.

I don't get why one of the providers doesn't offer a low cost data plan for people that don't use that much data, travelers such as my self would switch over en-masse.

For BB, the option that I used for years was TMO:

1. Unlimited international email for $19.99 [on top of regular domestic BB data plan]. Can turn on/off each trip out of country, pro-rated. Quite reasonable.

2. They 'officially' charge per MB for data; for years they never actually charged but I think recently closed that loophole. Maybe others' can advise.

3. Voice - for calls stateside using wifi/UMA, it's literally free of international roaming fees, only think charged is your bucket of minutes. And for most countries, international calling used to be $1.49/minute plus taxes.

Does anybody know which major US carrier has the most cost effective data plans for overseas use? I have a Blackberry for a US number that I need to keep open. My work means that I spend upwards of 60% of my time overseas (Europe and Asia mostly).

Currently, I an using AT&T. For data, they require $15/month for 200MB domestic data plus an add on $25/month for 50MB of international data. The 200MB domestic plan is required to add the international package. Thus, while overseas, this effectively works out to $40/month for 50MB of data which is really expensive.

Now, 50MB/month is actually sufficient MOST of the time. Is there a more cost effective plan for data?

Also, for voice, I'm stuck with paying roaming which is usually $1.29/minute. If anybody has suggestions for roaming voice, I'd like to hear them as well. I do get local SIM cards for the countries I travel to, but sometimes calls come in on my US line and I have to pick up on that.

Why do you insist on using a domestic carrier? You're going to get a much better deal using a prepaid foreign carrier.

If you must have your domestic calls reach you use a service such as Kall8 (http://www.kall8.com) which assigns you either a toll free 866/877/800 or a local Seattle number which can target any dialable number in the world and you can forward your domestic number to the Kall8 number. Target number configurable on a web page.

Thanks for the info, it looks like I am pretty stuck if I want data at $40/month.

I'm interested in call forwarding, can somebody elaborate on how exactly it works? I think it is actually more expensive. For example:
http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=53957&cv=820#fbid=NhVyEqBPh7p

They will still charge you roaming, and on top of roaming, they will charge you international long distance if you are forwarding to a local number while you are overseas....

AT&T doesn't have the best deal for forwarding, but it's still cheaper than using regular voice minutes overseas. To forward with codes key: **21*[number forwarded to]#<send> this is for GSM forwarding. For CDMA forwarding I believe it's *72[number]<send>

You can get a cheap SIM in whatever country you happen to be in.

Bingo. That's the only way to not get ripped off. There are no good cross-border options. Even Europeans must have a SIM for each country to avoid getting fleeced.

BTW, European rates are much better anyway. In principle you should be seeking the reverse -- what EU card to bring back to the US. In Europe, you can get 400mb for a month and the cost is only 4 EUR, no contract. No US provider can touch that.

Moreover, AT&T is an evil company. You should not want to support them. They support CISPA. This is the same company that illegally surveilled their customers without a warrant, shared the data, and then weaseled out of the lawsuit by some retroactive legislation.

^great info; can you please share which provider gives 400MB for 4EUR; thanks!!

^great info; can you please share which provider gives 400MB for 4EUR; thanks!!

Alditalk.

A full comparison of Belgian mobile broadband providers is posted in the be.providers usenet newsgroup (message-id <d53e571f3e74f1775c34abb4a20d3adb@dizum.com>).

With AT&T's international pricing it is at least now REASONABLE. I also just forward my AT&T number to my google voice number when out of the country. It rings through on the data side of my phone when travelling and dumps a voicemail transcript to the google voice app on the iphone. I'm sure android is the same. Then, I just call back with Skype using wifi or the data plan.

With AT&T's international pricing it is at least now REASONABLE.
Thanks for the post. Got me searching. Definitely more reasonable than the outrageous pricing before the latest changes last week. All the more reason to keep competition in the mobile marketplace since AT&T was following Verizon's lowering of international roaming costs.

New international data plans:
120MB for $30 per month
300MB for $60 per month
800MB for $120 per month
http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=22891&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=34535&mapcode=consumer|wireless

New international data plans:
120MB for $30 per month
300MB for $60 per month
800MB for $120 per month
http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=22891&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=34535&mapcode=consumer|wireless[/QUOTE]

AND, any overages are now simply billed at the same 30$ per additional 120MB not the previous .195/kb, or 10$ per megabyte like before. THAT was some stupid pricing

AND, any overages are now simply billed at the same 30$ per additional 120MB not the previous .195/kb, or 10$ per megabyte like before. THAT was some stupid pricing
I totally agree. Basically near-monopoly pricing that they got away with. We should be thankful that the latest generation Verizon smartphones can roam easily on GSM networks. Pretty much up to this point, AT&T had a lock on GSM roaming since T-Mobile is such a small and weak GSM competitor.

Thanks for the post. Got me searching. Definitely more reasonable than the outrageous pricing before the latest changes last week. All the more reason to keep competition in the mobile marketplace since AT&T was following Verizon's lowering of international roaming costs.

That is a lot more reasonable. Almost enough to make me dump my Blackberry on TMo's unlimited email plan and hop over to ATT. For a long weekend overseas on a smartphone, the ATT plan ought to work. Add in the corporate FAN discount, and I'd be ahead with ATT. Believe it or not!

Personally, I wouldn't bother to roam intl with US data plan anymore. It just makes much more sense to buy a local SIM. Now I know that if you're constantly changing countries, etc that can be a pain but I still think it is the way to go.

For voice, a lot depends on how responsive you need to be to your callers.

If you need to answer their call, then roam voice or have a call forwarding scheme to a local provider

If you need to get back to them within a window, then I would get a Google Voice number, have it e-mail you any messages and use a local data plan to make a Skype or other VOIP call back (either using you local data plan on mobile or your computer on the net at office or hotel).

For example, in Italy, I can get a 5GB pre-paid SIM for a tablet for E20 that is good for one month.

Personally, I wouldn't bother to roam intl with US data plan anymore. It just makes much more sense to buy a local SIM. Now I know that if you're constantly changing countries, etc that can be a pain but I still think it is the way to go.

For voice, a lot depends on how responsive you need to be to your callers.

If you need to answer their call, then roam voice or have a call forwarding scheme to a local provider

If you need to get back to them within a window, then I would get a Google Voice number, have it e-mail you any messages and use a local data plan to make a Skype or other VOIP call back (either using you local data plan on mobile or your computer on the net at office or hotel).

For example, in Italy, I can get a 5GB pre-paid SIM for a tablet for E20 that is good for one month.

That's well and fine, but most of my international travel is one or two nights. In that case, the value/time tradeoff is such (at least for me) that setting up a local SIM is not usually worth it, considering how little data I typically use in that time period. (Especially since 80+% of the time I get free internet access in the hotels).

When I go for a week, I do the local SIM thing.

Italy's an exception as I have a TIM SIM that I keep alive all the time, no time spent finding and setting up, and no upfront cost.

If one travels enough on an annual basis, then trying to work with AT&T and get on the legacy "business" international data plan might be worth trying. You have to still keep it active for 24 months at 65$ a month, but at least at that point there is no variance. We still have one phone on it, and have put a couple people on it in the last 12 months. Having a FAN account makes it easier, but that doesn't mean it cannot be done without.

Don't try to find any info at ATT.com, there isn't any.

For BB, the option that I used for years was TMO:

1. Unlimited international email for $19.99 [on top of regular domestic BB data plan]. Can turn on/off each trip out of country, pro-rated. Quite reasonable.

2. They 'officially' charge per MB for data; for years they never actually charged but I think recently closed that loophole. Maybe others' can advise.

3. Voice - for calls stateside using wifi/UMA, it's literally free of international roaming fees, only think charged is your bucket of minutes. And for most countries, international calling used to be $1.49/minute plus taxes.


1) Remains true and GREAT option. I still use it. Note that according to my last use/call with TMO customer service, this includes email and BB Messenger data but NOT web surfing or web app data (see 2 below)

2) According to my last use/call with TMO customer service, data is not included in 1 above. Watch out! They do charge for that now.

3) I carry a SIM unlocked phone for use when abroad for my local calls (and some international). I keep my TMO BB phone on for the rare emergency incoming call from someone in the USA. But, in general, I'm using the US BB for email (see 1, above).

1) Remains true and GREAT option. I still use it. Note that according to my last use/call with TMO customer service, this includes email and BB Messenger data but NOT web surfing or web app data (see 2 below)

2) According to my last use/call with TMO customer service, data is not included in 1 above. Watch out! They do charge for that now.

3) I carry a SIM unlocked phone for use when abroad for my local calls (and some international). I keep my TMO BB phone on for the rare emergency incoming call from someone in the USA. But, in general, I'm using the US BB for email (see 1, above).

What happens with data you push over BES back to a corporate server. Can they figure out if that is email or something else?

If your company has contract with Sprint, their Worldwide data plan is still the best plan out there. $40/mo. pro-rated by day unlimited data. Using foreign SIM is fine when visting one country at a time, but most of my trip will hit 3-4 countries in 2 weeks, getting SIM for each countries doesn't make much sense. Plus place like Japan is a hassle to get a SIM card.

If your company has contract with Sprint, their Worldwide data plan is still the best plan out there. $40/mo. pro-rated by day unlimited data. Using foreign SIM is fine when visting one country at a time, but most of my trip will hit 3-4 countries in 2 weeks, getting SIM for each countries doesn't make much sense. Plus place like Japan is a hassle to get a SIM card.

I know it has to be a Foundation account, but is it limited to Blackberry or is it now available for iOS/Android?

I know it has to be a Foundation account, but is it limited to Blackberry or is it now available for iOS/Android?

I have been using my Photon 4G travel to London/Zurich/Munich/Bangkok/Singapore/Tokyo/Korea/Hong Kong for the past few months.

My co-worker is in India now with his iPhone 4s.

One thing though, if you subscribe their hotspot plan, they will disable it during the Worldwide data plan is active. I have no problem using pdanet to share the data connection with other devices.

If your company has contract with Sprint, their Worldwide data plan is still the best plan out there. $40/mo. pro-rated by day unlimited data. Using foreign SIM is fine when visting one country at a time, but most of my trip will hit 3-4 countries in 2 weeks, getting SIM for each countries doesn't make much sense. Plus place like Japan is a hassle to get a SIM card.

I just got off the phone with Sprint and apparently they told me they changed this option on May 18. I've used this too many times to count, but as of today, I'm off on a trip without an unlimited account. This was the best deal in the business. I've used it for nearly 10 years and now it seems to be gone.

I got ATT's plan when I was travelling and living abroad. This has been a slow year, but I am still just eating the $40 a month. I also regarded these type of plans as too risky to flip on and off. I just turn a blind eye and pay the fee.

I just got off the phone with Sprint and apparently they told me they changed this option on May 18. I've used this too many times to count, but as of today, I'm off on a trip without an unlimited account. This was the best deal in the business. I've used it for nearly 10 years and now it seems to be gone.

Really? my co worker told me he enabled it last week on his way for a trip to India. If this is the case, I see no reason keeping Sprint anymore.

I guess I will find out next month.

If one travels enough on an annual basis, then trying to work with AT&T and get on the legacy "business" international data plan might be worth trying. You have to still keep it active for 24 months at 65$ a month, but at least at that point there is no variance. We still have one phone on it, and have put a couple people on it in the last 12 months. Having a FAN account makes it easier, but that doesn't mean it cannot be done without.

Don't try to find any info at ATT.com, there isn't any.

I have tried this route 2-3 times in the last year - trying to get myself added to the company's legacy plan.

The answer is always "no".

And the last time I asked, they killed the legacy plan for our company, too.

What happens with data you push over BES back to a corporate server. Can they figure out if that is email or something else?

I just spent 8 days in Costa Rica using my BB9780 on BES AND my Playbook (bridged).

Just checked my US T-Mobile bill and don't see any additional charges for data.

Of course I first turned on their pro-rated $19.99 BB Int'l plan for e-mail.


PS It seems that TMO have now switched some of their CS functions to India or Pakistan and I had a slightly difficult time turning off the BB Intl plan upon my return due to language challenges.

That's well and fine, but most of my international travel is one or two nights. In that case, the value/time tradeoff is such (at least for me) that setting up a local SIM is not usually worth it, considering how little data I typically use in that time period. (Especially since 80+% of the time I get free internet access in the hotels).

When I go for a week, I do the local SIM thing.

Italy's an exception as I have a TIM SIM that I keep alive all the time, no time spent finding and setting up, and no upfront cost.

Understand. The frequent short trip, not the same place profile is a pain. I've at various time done the Estonian roaming # thing but, in my experience, it's pretty flaky.

In my opinion, US plan roaming INTL with voice isn't a deal breaker but data is. I don't mind $10's/100's in phone but won't pay $1000 in data so if your using little data and can do hotel internet, that might suffice.

Only suggestion I would have is to roam US voice and get a hotspot for data and look for a SIM that is a reasonable cost roam.

I think we all miss the old Verizon Intl data plan!

Understand. The frequent short trip, not the same place profile is a pain. I've at various time done the Estonian roaming # thing but, in my experience, it's pretty flaky.

In my opinion, US plan roaming INTL with voice isn't a deal breaker but data is. I don't mind $10's/100's in phone but won't pay $1000 in data so if your using little data and can do hotel internet, that might suffice.

Concur. And the recent moves by large hotel chains to make internet access at no extra cost to elite members makes a huge difference.


Only suggestion I would have is to roam US voice and get a hotspot for data and look for a SIM that is a reasonable cost roam.

I think we all miss the old Verizon Intl data plan!

Not just Verizon, but some of the others, too.