iPhone 3 GS unlocking & jailbreaking

[ua549]

You can only really use AT&T internationally if you are a billionaire. Otherwise, a few MB of data will cost you a few thousand dollars.

3G and 3.5G international roaming rates are competitive between AT&T and Verizon. The real determinant for choosing the provider is the geography for roaming. The more data the better AT&T comes out the best.


Verizon data rates

$130/mo within USA + Canada 5GB + $5.12/MB overage, international 100MB + $5.12/MB overage

$220/mo within USA + Canada 5GB + $5.12/MB overage, international 200MB + $5.12/MB overage

Pay Per Use Plan (must be purchased with a $59.99 Mobile Broadband plan in the U.S.) $20.48/MB

Most Verizon handsets are not capable of roaming in Europe.



AT&T data rates

$30/mo within USA unlimited + $0/MB, international 0MB + $19.50/MB overage

International data add-on plans

$25/mo international 20MB + $5/MB overage

$60/mo international 50MB + $5/MB overage

$120/mo international 100MB + $5/MB overage

$200/mo international 200MB + $5/MB overage



The Pay per use Verizon plan is clearly more expensive at $60 + 20.48/MB versus the AT&T plan at $19.50/MB.

The $130/mo and $220/mo Verizon plans are slightly less expensive than a similar amount of data on AT&T - $130 vs. $150 and $220 vs. $230.
When going over the included volumes of data AT&T becomes less expensive than Verizon.

In addition to determining the volume of data, one must determine the countries of travel.
Verizon handsets operate in North America, Brasil, Venezuela and some areas of Europe and Asia.
AT&T handsets operate in most of the world.

CDMA/Ev-DO coverage map

GSM/W-CDMA coverage map

Because of the roaming data rates, I like a GSM/W-CDMA handset that I can use with a local network sim. Local use is always less expensive than international roaming use.

*edit*
I just found a Vodafone callya-SIM "Vodafone live! InternetFlat for callya" for €15 per month, but web only.
Basically, everything you can access through a web browser (phone or notebook) works. Link

Here are other great prepaid deals from Fonic in Germany such as unlimited data for €2.50 per day.
Their normal price is €0.24 per megabyte and is billed in intervals of 100 kb.
You'll need a German friend to activate the sim.