[1st-mile-nm] Data Access Costs in Europe

[Bill Feiereisen]

I just returned from a business trip to Europe where I was faced with the
exorbitant costs of data access that have (apparently) been worked out
between my (two) American cell providers (AT&T and Verizon) and the local
mobile companies.

On my last trip, last year, my only data access, other than local wifi, was
on my Verizon blackberry. At that time I could buy an international data
package with unlimited data for about $20/month.

In the meantime I have acquired an AT&T iPhone and a Verizon hotspot and was
hoping to buy an equivalent plan for each, The good folks at Verizon told me
that the plans changed on January 11, 2011 to limit the amount of data to
the smart phone and that the costs are now astronomical. Both the phone and
the hotspot are now limited to rates of about $100 for 75 MB (gone in a
flash). This is so counter productive that it hardly makes sense to buy the
data access at all.

Does anyone know what has happened and why this pricing has become so
punitive? Is this just a result of bad negotiations between the American
providers and their European counterparts? Or is something else going on?
What kind of behavior are they trying to incentivize by these changes? Is
this somehow analogous to the American service provider changes that limit
data plans in response to increased demand on American networks?

...Bill
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