Verizon has confirmed that its mobile hotspot option for the iPhone 4 will be available for an extra $20 per month, according to MacWorld. The “personal hotspot” will allow up to five Wi-Fi-ready devices to share an iPhone 4′s 3G data connection.
Verizon also announced that the hotspot feature will come with an extra 2GB a month, which will be entirely separate from the basic data plan. But be forewarned: if you go over the 2GB limit, every extra gigabyte will cost an additional $20.
AT&T currently supports iPhone tethering, but only for a single device tethered through a USB or Bluetooth connection. AT&T also charges $20 a month for the feature, but doesn’t include any additional gigs to cover tethering — all data used from tethering counts against a customer’s basic data plan. It’s suspected that Apple may include the five-device hotspot feature as part of its iOS 4.3 upgrade.
Verizon’s chief operating officer Lowell McAdam has also added a caveat to his announcement on Tuesday that his company will offer an unlimited data plan for the iPhone 4: unlimited data plans won’t be offered indefinitely. McAdam has now said Verizon will eventually drop unlimited plans and move to adopt a tiered data structure in the “not too distant future.”
AT&T offered an unlimited data option for the iPhone before switching to a tiered data structure last year. Users who had existing unlimited data plans were able to retain their contracts and are being grandfathered in to AT&T’s new data structure. It’s not clear if Verizon will adopt a similar approach once the company drops its unlimited data option.
Verizon is set to begin offering the iPhone 4 on February 10.
And who said Verizon would be everyone’s savior?
Wow. It seems that Verizon has a team whose full time job is to find creative ways to nickel and dime it's customers. The 'temporary' idea is reminiscent of what cable companies do to lure people. They give you some free or deeply discounted service for three months or a year then BAMM! Hit you with a lead loaded punch on your bill. Well, their up front about it, but I'm not sure that either an I phone or any phone for that matter is worth jumping through that kind of hoop just to be able to access the net. Thumbs down, Verizon.
They are starting to sound like AT&T ;)
And all those people thinking Verizon would be their savior, are now stuck with the iPhone on an older network.