Verizon Is Now Selling Unlimited Data In 30-Minute Increments (theverge.com)

Verizon has unveiled a new pay-as-you-go unlimited mobile data offering yesterday called PopData that has some significant strings attached. The option charges you $2 for 30 minutes or $3 for 60 minutes of unlimited internet data. The Verge reports: Think of it like a microtransaction or in-app purchase in a mobile game, where you can't enjoy the full benefits of a product you ostensibly already own or pay for without ponying up a few extra bucks. There does appear to be some legitimate reasons to want unfettered data access for a short amount of time. For instance, perhaps you know you'll be downloading large files to your phone like numerous Spotify playlists, or maybe you want to enjoy an uninterrupted stream of a sports game or Netflix movie without having to worry about your data cap. But there's no telling really whether this is a good or bad deal, as it complicates how we think of the value of data by blending a monthly bucket metaphor with that of a time-based subscription system. This wouldn't be such a big deal if customers could simply pay for unlimited data every month. Yet Verizon -- unlike ATT, T-Mobile, and Sprint -- does not offer customers a standard unlimited plan, and the company has made an effort to kick users off their grandfathered plans in the past.

Comments

UNICODE, MOTHERFUCKER

[Anonymous Coward]

DO YOU SPEAK IT?

"Unlimited"

[Narcocide]

Unlimited (TM) bandwidth for a limited amount of time! The demographics say the majority of you have poor enough vocabulary skills you'll actually fall for this! Hilarious, seriously. I'd be laughing about it if I wasn't crying about it. What do the FTC and FCC even do these days?

Unlimited?

[rsilvergun]

You keep using that word. I don't think that it means what you think it means.