Originally Posted by
star_world
There is no reason for the average user to unlock their iPhone - the downsides (primarily a complete lack of support going forward and the potential to be excluded from any future software updates) significantly outweigh the benefits. Buy a cheap $10 Nokia phone online that is unlocked and use that when traveling with a local SIM.
The technical ease of performing the upgrade is irrelevant.
Or buy a slightly more expensive unlocked nokia, install jokuspot on it, and you will turn your Nokia into a virtual hotspot which you can pair with your iPhone and push data to it that way. Or buy an unlocked Nokia e63 which is a cheapish unlocked smartphone. If you have subscribed to Mobile Me, you sync all your information from your iPhone to it. It will also support jokuspot.
I think international is the achiles heal of the iPhone. If you are on an ATT foundation (corporate account) there is a little published unlimited international data plan for iPhone (cruise ships, Saudi Arabia, and a few countries excluded -- but well beyond the 60 on their consumer international data plan). It works like the Blackberry International plan. There is an old thread on it in ATT's official forum - international section.