Verizon Droid Tethering Comes At a Hefty Price 555
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.'"
Quick Guys! (Score:5, Funny)
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.
So... (Score:5, Funny)
These aren't the Droids I'm looking for
Re:Tethering (Score:1, Funny)
Oh! And here I was, thikning it's a device for tied cows to find out where there's more grass!
Well, with a suitable wifi+GPS enabled gadget, it could be...
Re:Beats UK prices (Score:4, Funny)
The unlimited that is limited, the free you have to pay. And Orwell and I laughing in the newspeak sense.
Re:It'd be nice if they stopped lying. (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Re:MOD PARENT DOWN (Score:3, Funny)
couldn't some group of americans sue the shit out of dumbass companies who use misleading marketing - calling something with a cap "unlimited" should result in their whole marketing department fired and any manager who approved it receiving hefty financial fine.
What if a customer agrees to pay the bill subject to a 5 dollar a month fair billing policy?
Turnabout is fair play.
Re:It'd be nice if they stopped lying. (Score:1, Funny)
The NRA?
Re:Free market (Score:5, Funny)
Re:GSM Droid? (Score:2, Funny)
Does anyone have reliable info about when the GSM version of the Motorola Droid will be release? And what will it be called? Sholes? Milestone? etc?
It's going to be heavy and called Millstone.
Re:It'd be nice if they stopped lying. (Score:5, Funny)
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) ... :)
Re:Summary is dead wrong (Score:2, Funny)
Like the old kids game... (Score:3, Funny)
The good news: there are now two usable touch-screen smart phones on the market
The bad news: they still run on the same networks.
Re:MOD PARENT DOWN (Score:3, Funny)
Fair?
I think that would be more like $30 per month fee, with a $50 surcharge for each truckload of bullshit after the first five truckloads of bullshit (on the mandatory unlimited bullshit plan).
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Re:MOD PARENT DOWN (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Say what? (Score:3, Funny)
Am I reading this right? They call the 5GB a month plan "unlimited", and charge $50 PER additional gigabyte (when they were perfectly willing to accept $6/gigabyte before you went over the limit)
Why don't they control usage another way? Say, if you go over 5GB a month, your data rates get slashed to 1/5 or 1/10 the normal speed, and the phone gives you an OPTION to pay an additional fee if you want your full speed restored. I actually think a cap is a good thing FOR PHONES because radio spectrum is a finite resource. Verizon only owns so much spectrum, and using current modulation technology, can only send so much data through the air in a particular cell at one time. There are high tech ways around this problem, but they cost a lot of money, and heavy users should pay more.
But they way they are doing this is just a trap basically. I bet the phone doesn't even tell you if you go over the limit, unless you look in some deeply buried menu. They are just setting you up for a huge bill during that one month when you actually use the phone's internet capabilities to their full potential.
And the phone had so much promise. They say the screen kicks the ass of the iphone, and that the CALL QUALITY is vastly clearer and better. I believe it - I had a CDMA phone years ago, and I recall it being nearly as clear and stable a connection as a land-line. Darn nokia phone would work everywhere as well. I've never, ever gotten service this good through ATT.
Actually the article says 5Gb's not 5GB's like every one is saying. If it was 5GB's it wouldn't be too bad but as it stands now the 5Gb's comes out to a little over 1/2 GB's, which is terrible.