AT&T Rolls Out International Data Plan for iPhone

The new international roaming plan for data will let you surf on the iPhone and check your e-mail abroad without spending a mint—that is, as long as you don't go download-crazy.

Engadget Mobile reports that AT&T just launched a pair of plans: a $25 package for 20MB of data and a $60 package for 50MB, and each option is good for about 29 countries. Not bad, but here's the catch—those megabytes of data can add up quickly. As Chris Null has pointed out before, it's not uncommon for a standard Web page to weigh in at about 1MB or more, so if you're browsing on Safari with the 20MB plan, you could potentially go over the limit after 20-30 Web pages. Also, overage charges aren’t cheap: half a cent per kilobyte, or $5 for a 1MB Web page.

If you do decide to take your iPhone abroad and use AT&T's new international plan, here's some advice: stick to WAP sites when browsing, which are optimized for phones and use a relatively small amount of data. Also, consider turning off automatic e-mail checking (another data hog) unless you're within Wi-Fi range.

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AT&T whips up international iPhone data plan [Engadget Mobile]