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Verizon Droid Tethering Comes At a Hefty Price
Pickens writes "Tom Bradley reports in PC World that the new Motorola Droid smartphone will cost users $199.99 with a 2-year contract, with an additional $30 per month for the mandatory 'unlimited' data plan that has a monthly cap of 5Gb. Verizon will charge $50 for each additional gigabyte over the 5Gb limit on the unlimited data plan. Verizon has confirmed that tethering will cost another $30 per month for an additional unlimited data plan that is also limited to 5Gb. If you want tethering you will pay $60 above and beyond the monthly contract for service for an 'unlimited' 10Gb of data per month, and if you plan on connecting with an Microsoft Exchange email account you have to pay another $15 a month. 'Verizon seems to be doing everything it can to make the Droid as unappealing as possible by nickel and diming customers so that actually using it is not cost-effective,' writes Bradley. 'After all of the hype around Verizon's marketing efforts, and generally favorable reviews of the Motorola Droid, users that rush out to get the new device may be in for a shock.' Droid users will have to wait until sometime in 2010 for tethering. 'That service is on our schedule for next year,' says Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Raney. The delay is because 'the service has to be tested on the phone so until we know it works, we don't offer the service. It is not uncommon for us to introduce the phone and continue to test the service and offer it later.'"
Sounds like we need a fourth law of robotics:
4. A Robot may not grossly overcharge a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to be grossly overcharged, except where such orders would conflict with the first, second, or third laws.
These aren't the Droids I'm looking for
The unlimited that is limited, the free you have to pay. And Orwell and I laughing in the newspeak sense.
`echo $[0x853204FA81]|tr 0-9 ionbsdeaml`@gmail.com
You misunderstand; it's the fees that are unlimited rather than the service provided.
A "limited" account would have a cap on how much Verizon could potentially charge you per month.
Come a few months, this isn't going to be the situation. This is a highly deregulated industry, prices like these don't work in the longterm. You be patient for a few months and competition will drive it all down and you'll have the luxury of a choice.
I record my sleeptalking
Of course not. We let the market decide, because in our faith, consumers have the time and ability to be perfectly rational and omniscent in the economic sense. Any time a consumer is decieved, it's because they have sinned, and so they deserve it. To stand in the way of the invisible hand is to deny the will of God (or society, or something) ... :)
For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.