[raywright1]

when i use my mobile phone for data, i do not stream media and i rarely surf a web page. my usage is client email, contact & calendar synchronization (google), and some rss (some rss usage does result in podcast downloads however). i also occasionally tether my laptop over 3G using WMWiFiRouter.

i'm totally baffled as to why my usage is so high. here is a summary of my last 6 months of data usage with AT&T/USA.

nov09: 320MB
dec09: 355MB
jan10: 680MB
feb10: 985MB
mar10: 488MB
apr10: 613MB

what hope is there of being able to function normally while abroad? are americans just spoiled with low rates ($30 soft-limit 5GB with AT&T)?

i suppose the TMO (UK) 40MB/day for 1GBP would work if i just get email headers and do not download podcasts. but the other rates i see (especially trans-europe roaming cards) are far too expensive.

are there any other plans for high usage? (i'm systematically going through all the thread posts so perhaps it's answered elsewhere).

how does anyone realistically get by on 3MB/day or 20MB/week or 50MB/month? what kind of ordinary usage fits those kinds of tiers? maybe i'll just adapt while i'm traveling.