With the proliferation of smartphones in the last few years, more consumers are using data services such as e-mail, streaming video, web surfing, or other activities that require access to data through a mobile network from smartphones. Consumers are accustomed to the “all you can eat” data plans that can be used everywhere, which enhance productivity and support the interaction with information in new ways.
Those who travel abroad with data-enabled smartphones are used to higher roaming rates per minute for telephone calls and seek cheaper alternatives for overseas voice calls. However, data roaming is an entirely different beast. Many smartphones will silently ping various data services for updates on new information, which ranges from e-mail and instant-messaging applications to GPS-enabled street maps. All of this traffic requires data plans, which on overseas jaunts can add up to big bucks.
For example, AT&T charges $0.0195 (about 2 cents) per kilobyte; downloading a 1-megabyte file could cost about $20. For a consumer who uses about 50 megabytes of data on a phone the cost would be $975 if AT&T roaming rates were applied.
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