AT&T is completely simplifying and improving its international data plans this week by moving to a flat daily fee structure, replacing its previous offering of charging you based on megabytes of data and minutes of calls. The new plan, called the "International Day Pass", simply charges you $10 per day to use your phone in any supported roaming country.
The new plan closely mirrors what Verizon switched to several months ago, which also charges you $10 per day to access your monthly domestic data bucket. Now on AT&T, when you add the International Day Pass to your account, it's automatically activated whenever you travel abroad and auto-renews each day you remain out of the country (unless you cancel it outright). You're only charged when you spend time internationally, which gives you a seamless experience.
More: International data: How the U.S. carriers compare
Prior to the change, you would have to load your account with buckets of 200, 400, or 800MB of data for up to $120. Now, that $120 that used to only get you 800MB of data can instead give you 12 consecutive days of worry-free international roaming, drawing from the monthly data you pay for already.
The only caveat on the plan is about data usage while abroad, which incidentally is exactly the same as Verizon's international roaming terms:
International Day Pass feature may be removed if international voice, text, or data usage exceeds 50% of total voice, text, or data usage for two consecutive months.
So under those terms, that means you can't go 2 months straight using a majority of your data internationally using the International Day Pass. An odd restriction for sure, considering you're paying for your domestic data plan and paying again to access that plan internationally. If you take a few international trips over the course of 2 months, you could easily break this rule, so be aware of this restriction.
