How Much for Data?


YenOk, someone is laughing hard at this, all the way to their eTrade account; get this.  So I call AT&T International service tonight to remove the Mexico package from my phone and add the China stuff so I can tweet from the great wall and all that fun stuff.  The lady that was helping me (wonderfully nice) starts to build up like she has some bad news for me, so I sat back and tried to follow along.

 

Apparently due to limitations with China Mobile, voice and data don’t play well together.  If you add on a data “package” (to save money) you get locked out of voice service. What’s better, your only other option is if you only add the world traveler package to make cheap international calls, you need to use the data roaming rate of $0.02/Kb. For those of you keeping score that’s $20.48/Mb. What the hell man?  To top it off I figured maybe it’s time I invest in the HSDPA plan and use the wireless anywhere deal with my laptop while I’m there, but that concept is way too easy to be true.  Same deal applies, if I use the data tied to my account, I still get no voice service, and the International BroadbandConnect monthly fee is $140/month.

 

Just for the hell of it I jumped on Verizon’s site and checked out their plans for an EVDO card and where the American Nationwide price was comparable, they charge the same rate in China for data.  So that’s all there is to it, I’ll take pictures on my phone and if I find wi-fi i’ll post them all real fast or possibly order it in the hotel, but like hell I’m paying $20 bones/mb or giving my money to two separate carriers.

 

I love all of you dearly who come to my blog, but seeing as each photo from my phone is about 1.2mb, I don’t love you that much ;) 


Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time. Mad? You can blame blog spammers.

Powered by WordPress with GimpStyle Theme design by Horacio Bella.
Entries RSS feed. Valid XHTML and CSS.