Call Me

Against my every intention, I am now addicted to the internet.  I subconsciously turn off my alarm (on my iPhone) in the morning and know immediately how to dress for the weather outside, am informed of the major news events, and have considered the day's hottest Groupon/Living Social/ Scoutmob deal.  I've 'taken out the trash' in my email and answered any late night texts ... all before even getting out of bed.   International data plans however, will quickly break this habit.  Cold turkey.

My cell service is AT&T and my phone an iPhone.  Here's the skinny on what things look like for taking your cell and data habit overseas.  (All this and more can be found on AT&T's international travel website.

Calling:  Calling overseas will be more expensive, period.  To get a 'discounted' calling rate, I'm signing up for the World Traveler Plan for $5/month.  This will save an average of $0.40 per minute on international calls.  It will quickly pay for itself if I do end up calling while traveling.  Time will be money:  I'm looking at $0.99 per minute for calls outbound anywhere in Europe, and $1.99 per minute in HK and China.  

Data:  Way expensive.  I think it would cost something like 2 dollars to open 1 email....  mmm, not happening.  So, I'll turn off the 'data roaming'  setting on my iPhone which will not pick up any data via the AT&T network.  And therefore, not charge me any extra data fees.  When in wi-fi hotspots, I'll still be able to connect and use the wireless internet.   Yay!  From what I understand, this should not be a problem in most of Europe and at least the big cities in China.

Texting:  For $10/mo I will get 50 international texts.  This will be used to communicate locations and plans with Celine once I land in Paris and Luke and Lawrence once I'm headed to China.  Incoming texts will be billed to my regular texting plan (unlimited).