Verizon Rolls Out Cheaper Data Plans for International Travelers

Traveling outside of the U.S. and using your smartphone is expensive. Thankfully, today Verizon announced new data plans for international travelers that makes international data cheaper.

Starting today, Verizon is offering 100MB of international 3G data for $25 a month.

The data plan is only added during the months that you need it, so you’re not paying the extra $25 every month.

To get the international data plan you need to visit Verizon’s global website and tell the carrier which country you’re visiting. You can then use the plan in 120 countries including Canada, Mexico, and any country in Europe or South America.

If you use up the 100MB of data, Verizon will send you a text message letting you know that you’ve been signed up for an additional 100MB with another $25 fee. Sadly, there is no option to get a larger plan at the start, so travelers still need to keep an eye data use while traveling.

If you’re traveling to a country that isn’t covered by the new international data plan you can still use your smartphone’s data, but at a higher price. In other countries every KB of data used will cost $0.02, which adds up to $20.48 per MB and is very difficult to track.

Verizon’s new plan sounds expensive, but is actually cheaper than it was before. The new plan is also cheaper than AT&T’s international data. AT&T also charges $25 for the base international data plan, but that only gives you 50MB of international data. Even AT&T’s $50 tier offers less data, 125MB compared to 200MB when paying Verizon $50.

Of course, AT&T still has an advantage in that all of its phones are global phones, and only a few of Verizon’s phones are global. Not all of Verizon’s Droid phones are global phones. The iPhone 4S is global no matter what carrier you use it on.