ATT Now Has Day Passes
 

This is lifted from DSL Reports:

As was previously noted, Verizon had started offering a trio of new prepaid wireless broadband options for those of you who couldn't find an open Wi-Fi hotspot, simply hate contracts, and don't mind paying a steep premium for bandwidth. Verizon now offers a $15, 75MB "day pass" plan, a $30, 250MB "week pass" plan, or a $50, 500MB "month pass" plan.

Not to be outdone, AT&T today has announced that they too are now going to be offering prepaid wireless broadband plans. Dubbed the AT&T DataConnect Pass, the pricing and daily usage limits mirror Verizon's plans exactly:

•DataConnect Day Pass – 75 MB – for $15
•DataConnect Week Pass – 250 MB – for $30
•DataConnect Month Pass – 500 MB – for $50


One difference in the plans is that Verizon's prepaid passes charge you overages should you cross the cap (20. 12, 10 cents per MB, respectively). AT&T's system doesn't involve overages. According to AT&T, users will get an automated alert once they reach either 30 minutes or 20 percent of allotted data usage remaining in their session, at which time you'll have to buy more time/data. Keep in mind these plans expire, so if you but the 30 day plan -- you'd best use the available bandwidth within thirty days.

To use the service, AT&T customers need a new SIM card or their existing SIM card information (SIM ICCID serial number and IMEI equimnet serial number), and then need to log into AT&T's DataConnect pass "buy a session" website.

I tried to register an active GoPhone SIM card but got an error. I take it existing customers require new SIM cards as well...

I don't know. Vlad, if you need an extra ATT SIM card, drop me a line.

I just checked the ATT-pages and it seems that they have added value:

https://buyasession.att.com/sbd/unau...iateSBD.action

DataConnect Day Pass - 100MB $15.00 100MB maximum usage over 1 day on the AT&T network

DataConnect Week Pass - 300MB $30.00 300MB maximum usage over 7 days on the AT&T network

DataConnect Month Pass - 1GB $50.00 1GB maximum usage over 30 days on the AT&T network

Are they still restricted to their own hardware (making BYOD useless)?

According to this guide you are at least required to provide the IMEI of a "AT&T compatible netbook/laptop" listed here upon registration/activation of your SIM (which you have to perform online at http://www.att.com/buyasession). I don't know if they actually check your device being "AT&T approved" or if this is rather a recommendation but once registered I guess the SIM is tied to the registered device. The answer to your question costs $ 4.28 - that's the price of a AT&T SIM including delivery to Europe, which you could try to register through http://www.att.com/buyasession while providing the IMEI of your own device.

Hello,

it seems, they have changed the system (for the worse):

Answer Center | AT&T

So, you 'll need an extra Sim for using it and can not use an existing (voice) sim.

The only place I found it, has been at Walmart.

Walmart.com: AT&T LG Turbo USBConnect 3G Prepaid Broadband Device: Cell Phones

The LG seems to be nice (but not working on the AWS T-Mobile UMTS network) and got even UMTS 2100 MHz. But it is network-locked and I do not know how (if possible) to change that.