Alberto received a $62,000 bill from his mobile carrier for using his data card in Mexico to download Wall-E. He was able to get the charge reduced to $17,000 by contacting the unnamed mobile provider.

Alberto made the mistake of not signing up for a roaming plan with his carrier. All major mobile providers offer international roaming plans. AT&T for example offers a number of roaming solutions to help travelers save money. $5.99 a month gets you their AT&T World Traveler package. The World Traveler package reduces your voice roaming rates in over 85 countries. However, the company’s roaming data plans are a lot more expensive. Their 200 MB Data Global Add-On plan costs a hefty $199/month.

Via Ars Technica

Analysts expect a slowdown in the global mobile market next year. Growth may slow down to 3%. In recent years, the global mobile sector grew at a pace of about 10% annually.

The global mobile market fell for the first time ever in 2001. Since then, it has been growing at a steady pace.

A majority of the mobile market growth comes from sales in emerging markets.

Via: Herald Tribune