Verizon Wireless announces $30 unlimited browsing plan for smartphones
Verizon Wireless has been slow to catch up with the smartphone data access plans offered by competing carriers, with premium prices and some confusing options, but things are taking a real turn for the better. The new "E-mail and Web for Smartphone" plan goes for a mere $30 a month when paired with a qualifying voice plan, and is available with the SMT5800, XV6800 and the MOTO Q9m, with other devices to hop on board in the coming months. Verizon's press release is very careful to tout unlimited email and web browsing, not data, and we have a feeling Verizon will be clamping down pretty hard on anybody trying to tether with this plan.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Filed under: Verizon Wireless
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Myke @ Apr 14th 2008 1:04PM
You can tether with this plan (for an additional $30/mo.) The only difference between $44.99 and $29.99 is that $44.99 gets you corporate email and PIM, in addition to the POP3/IMAP & web access that the $29.99 gets you.
Kevin @ Apr 14th 2008 1:28PM
Wow... my entire 500-minute-unlimited-everything-else Sprint SERO plan costs $30. And, no, I didn't notice a hit in the signal quality, even switching from super-expensive Verizon!
The D Train @ Apr 14th 2008 2:13PM
And your super awesome Sero plan could actually be interpreted as a form of fraud since you more than likely dont work for the company and used someone elses employee email address to sign up for the service.
So you enjoy that SERO plan that is entire flawed in the process of cellular price plan sales, and generally holds no sway in terms of actual priceplan discussion.
You are using a plan that is for the most part, outside of the usual websites/blogs what have you, not known to the public and therefor really is only to make you feel better about yourself getting over the system.
This plan is designed for just that, average users who do not need corporate email or forwarding. It is not labeled as 5gig cap because without tethering there is no way just basic web browsing on a phone is going to reach a gig in an entire month. This plan is in relation to the blackberry plan in regards to the fact that we(as a company Verizon Wireless, yes I'm employed under said company) recieved many complaints about the pda pricing versus casual BB user pricing.
To get back to my point though, your SERO plan is meaningless, obtained under false pretenses and is in fact, abuse of sprints terms even though they did catch you under that contract.
CornMonkey @ Apr 14th 2008 2:18PM
I don't know where you are but I'm in West Los Angeles. I too went from Verizon to Sprint's SERO plan but signal quality dropped significantly. It's not bad enough for me to hate SERO but I need to stand in my kitchen when I'm using my phone as this is the only place that gets decent reception at my place.
All in all, no one else can touch $30/mo for 500min and unlimited everything else.
loosely_coupled @ Apr 14th 2008 5:33PM
@The D Train
"without tethering there is no way just basic web browsing on a phone is going to reach a gig in an entire month."
Here is a short selection of popular webpages and the size of their sub-pages or article pages. These sizes are NOT for the frontpage/homepage of the website, which can get quite large, especially for blogs.
websites:
engadget.com (random post) 420KB
yahoo.com (news article) 585KB
nytimes.com (news article) 345KB
seedmagazine.com (article page) 223KB
discovermagazine.com (article page) 731KB
livescience.com (article page) 438KB
tgdaily.com (subpage) 253KB
technologyreview.com (subpage) 247KB
macrumors.com (forum page) 207KB
tmz.com (blog post) 433KB
Average: 389KB/page.
1GB per month / 30 = average 33 megabytes/day. With the average web page view nearly 1/2 megabyte already, you can see that is not a whole lot of allotted data.
Obviously, the 5GB data limit on laptop cards is going to be MUCH worse due to different usage models with a large laptop screen...
The D Train @ Apr 15th 2008 10:07AM
yes this has all been posted before, the same exact numbers in fact, and if I were to look at it I bet it was you who posted it. The fact of the matter is that it is nearly impossible to reach the limit with basic web browsing on the phones. The phones can't do it fast enough to make it as easy to generate those types of numbers like you can on a computer.
I've been using internet on my phone for nearly a year and a half, went from a symbian OS to the iPhone and even with the speed of the iPhone in the month I've had it, using web pages like engadget etc every day I am barely at a gig of use. And I do use it every day, basically on the hour.
Obviously in this case you are going to have differing mileage but the numbers that you are quoting, again are not as easy to attain as you think.
snowenloe @ Apr 14th 2008 2:01PM
I've had this browsing plan on my Blackberry Pearl for a month now, I believe it's geared towards the non-corporate smartphone using crowd such as myself. Yes Verizon rapes me on a monthly basis, but as a former Sprint customer I can tell you that the lack of crappy customer service is worth it.
gareth @ Apr 14th 2008 2:13PM
Hmm this is interesting, I'm pretty fed up with Verizon and considered going to Sprint, but people consistently tell me their Customer service is ridiculously bad. can you elaborate on why they are so awful?
snowenloe @ Apr 14th 2008 6:16PM
@ gareth
Well let me start by saying that I was a Sprint customer for 3 years. I always had issues with my bill and it seemed like I constantly on the phone trying to resolve overbilling problems. Sprint's customer service rep's seemed rather uneducated and were probably being paid $6.00 an hour. They were usually rude, inpatient and just generally lacked any real knowledge about their products. I was always placed on hold, transferred to rep after rep and 75% of the time my call was dropped after spending a half hour on hold (or so it seemed)and I know it was done on purpose.
Im sure I speak for many Engadget readers when I say that I hate being more knowledgable than representatives of any company, as I seem to have that problem with Verizon, Best Buy, Circuit City and Radio Shack's customer Service Representatives as well. I guess the moral of my story is that no matter what carrier you have, the grass is always greener on the other side('s).
finchburg @ Apr 14th 2008 2:27PM
I really hope the Glyde is eligible for this when it is released.
elgee02 @ Apr 14th 2008 2:50PM
Glyde, just like the Voyager, only requires the $15 V CAST for unlimited web browsing and MB allowance.
yourmom @ Apr 14th 2008 2:50PM
you're serious? the Glyde will have Vcast. $15 a month, NOT $30.
CuRoi @ Apr 14th 2008 3:20PM
What does "paired with a qualifying voice plan" entail? Will this only be available in connection with the unlimited voice plan?
AwlAmericanDawg @ Apr 14th 2008 3:25PM
That's what they say for almost all of their addition things.Basically if you have a voice plan thats $39.99 or higher (Which is all the voice plans except for one which is the nationwide 65 plan)
wildchild0727 @ Apr 14th 2008 3:54PM
Teathering is $15 per month not $30 on all PDAs, Blackberry's and Smartphones.
Joe @ Apr 14th 2008 4:05PM
Wrong. tethering always equals whatever makes it 59.99
$15.00 on a 44.99 data plan, $30 on a 29.99 data plan.
bernardino @ Apr 14th 2008 6:32PM
@Joe
I had 39.99 PDA Unlimited Data plan and $15 BroadbandAccess Connect (Tethering) which totaled $55.
This was back in December so it may have changed since then.
I think data usage should be device neutral and completely based on the amount you use or pre-pay for. If you pay for up to 5GB, it shouldn't matter if its your PDA or laptop.
Wyze @ Apr 15th 2008 8:54AM
I had Sprint early in my cell phone life....I agree they suck with the customer service in terms of a "bedside manner " if that's what you want to call it....as well always less knowledgeable about their own products than I was...and always an issue with the bill....( never their mistake let them tell it)....I also had verizon ...tried to stick with them ( 3-4 years) but they never kept up to date hardware and the customer service was rude and lacked polish....I've been with T-Mob for just over a year and I can say so far I have been satisfied with the service and customer support....just wish they would hurry with the 3g I've got the unlimited data for just 19.99 and I can tether and use my data package as I want...streaming xm....mobi tv etc....so I think I'm parkin it here for a while because they also seem to be getting ready to get a lot of nice high end phones come later in the year and outside of buying one overseas I think I think they will offer some great choices....
joe @ Apr 15th 2008 6:16PM
For those who wish to tether there is also the option of buying the PdaNet program for $34 (i think that is what I paid) which eliminates having to spend the extra $30 per month. I have it for my 6800 and it works very well. You can buy on line. search Google for pdanet...
Roland Stone @ Apr 18th 2008 12:51AM
If Verizon thinks your data use is so high that you must be tethering, they will charge you the tethering fee, even if you're just using PDANet or USB Modem.