Verizon Wireless confirms Palm pricing; Wi-Fi Hotspot to cost $40 monthly
Verizon Wireless made official the leaked prices on the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus that emerged this weekend. Big Red is going to match Sprint dollar for dollar on the price of each webOS handset with the Pre Plus coming in at a cool $149.99 and the Palm Pixi Plus at a mere $99.99. Both quoted prices are after a $100 mail-in rebate and require a new two-year customer agreement. The Pre Plus also includes the new Wi-Fi hotspot software that is exclusive to Verizon Wireless. Usage of the Pre Plus as a 5-device Wi-Fi hotspot will come with a high price tag, though, as Verizon is going to tack an additional $40 charge for 5GB of data with this 3G-based Wi-Fi connectivity. The $40 charge is levied on top of your calling and data plan so a Wi-Fi mobile hotspot-activated Pre Plus on a 450 minutes Talk and Text plan would cost you a whopping $129.99 per month ($59.99 for calling plan, $29.99 for Email and Web data plan and $40 for the Wi-Fi feature). Those that are ready to jump on the webOS bandwagon Verizon style can score a Pre Plus or Pixi Plus starting January 25th.
So how much is the palm pre plus at full retail price?
VZW did not release full retail pricing or even one-year pricing. Will have to wait until Monday morning.
Does the Pixi not support the Wi-Fi hotspot software?
This is crazy. I can try to ignore ridiculous additional 40 dollars, but I am not willing overlook the fact that 5 people have to share 5GB usage per month. If VZ wanted to charge premium for their service, they should have offered better. I like the idea of 5 people can share the wi-fi, but only 5GB?
Hate you verizon.
Dude they’re giving you the function of a MiFi built into the phone. So you’re saving money by not having to buy that 2nd device. Plus how often do you connect 5 ppl to your cell phone? Seems perfectly reasonable to me.
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$40 to tether? While tethered I can’t recieve calls? Just spring the extra $20 and get a 4G card with unlimited usage.
I feel sorry for any sap that’s going to fall for this trickery.
It’s not unlimited. 5GB cap.
Verizon only charges as much as they can get away with.
As long as their sheep keep foaming at the mouth claiming they require their nationwide coverage map (even if they never leave their home area) then Verizon will gladly keep charging more.
Verizon does have a lot of coverage, but truth be told it’s not always good coverage nor is their data fast everywhere. Their employees and fanboys will never admit that though.
These 5GB caps are rediculous. The fact that they charge so much for it is even more rediculous.
um…newflash–last time I checked, the big yellow & blue also have a 5G cap for $59.99 for aircar/mifi service, not just Big Red! Do your hmwk before u do the smack talk. If u go to sprint’s website, they don’t even offer the smaller plan for light users, only the $59.99 plan. If u did your research a little more, u would see that Big Red offers a smaller plan for aircard service that $39.99/250mb of usage. Or u can always go to Cricket and get no service once you leave your room and pay roaming rates for $40 a month!
hey people dont worry about that I have a pre on sprint and have been with the hackers called homebrew, and can tether free using a program called mytether brought to you by homebrew. So fear not if you get a verizon pre or pixi just purchase it learn how to unlock your pre (which is very easy, can you say up up down down left right left right b a start) add preware, then download the program and thats it tethering for free. Just go to precentral.net for full instructions on everything.
ever had a problem with sprint saying that your using a high amount of usage or claim that its against terms and conditions? Just curious.
Why are you using a picture of Sprint’s Pre? The Pre Plus doesn’t have a button on the front.
It’s not like you are being forced to add that data pack on. If you don’t want it then don’t get it. It’s just like tethering. At least Verizon offers tethering, Sprint doesn’t. And there are hacks out there. Calm Down.
Not true. Sprint offers tethering.
Actually Sprint doesn’t offer it, but who in their right mind would want to pay Verizon $160 or more per month for a phone with tethering… especially with their slow ass data speeds.
This is cool, but I don’t see a legitimate reason to charge $10 more than the regular tethering/ Mifi price. If you use a MiFi its $59.99/ mo. If you buy a usb modem or tether, its a total of $59.99/ mo. If its gonna cost more, give me something for it like more than 5gb of usage.
Maybe I don’t understand your math. How is $40 more then the $59.99 for MiFi?
not sure how anyone can still defend verizon’s pricing.
at first i was like. Oh, a $40 data plan? that’s not too bad, i mean, it’s just $10 more than the normal one, that’s good pricing.
wait, it’s ON TOP OF the normal data plan?
no wonder verizon is making boatloads of profit each quarter. they don’t need to spend a dime on advancing infrastructure, and can charge everyone for the supposed upkeep of it! MONEY!
this is one of the few times i would encourage government intervention, this is starting to approach a monopoly in some ways.
It’s $40 more because you can connect 5 devices up via WiFi to ‘the network’ just like a MiFi device. Don’t like the idea, then buy a MiFi card and pay the $60 a month to do the same thing. In the world of Verizon this is a deal. It’s 33% off the normal rate and you don’t have to pay for another card.
do u understand what a FEATURE service means? means that you can get it if you CHOSE to, it’s not MANDATORY!
What do you people not understand… IT IS VOLUNTARY! There is no mandatory $40 fee. And why is it more expensive than normal tethering? because you can connect up to 5 devices.
As for the 5 gig limit, that is pretty weak, but when verizon release LTE say hello to unlimited data plans!
Verizon’s prices reflect what consumers will pay.
Your fellow consumers are generally ignorant and they might think that this is a bargain.
There are a bunch of phones out there that didn’t need to ask permission to implement this or any other high value features that can be simply implemented without the carrier’s blessing.
Can anyone explain:
a) Why is a megabyte tethered any different than a mobile browsing megabyte, or especially a Youtube megabyte?
b) Even if it somebody else thinks it is, why should your hardware, that you bought and carry around in your pocket, care? Why should it function to anybody’s purpose but your own?
Like you thought prices were gonna come DOWN? Still, it is only ten dollars more than standard tethering. Just now you can share. Isn’t that a good thing?
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Insane $40
ETF of $375
iPhone ETF $150
verizon td $375 weak.
i see verizon is still raping people with these prices!
I pay nothing extra to tether with my palm pre on sprint
but can your Palm Pre connect your laptop, your ipod, and three of your friends laptops to ‘the network’ while driving down the interstate? Yea didn’t think so.
Windows 7 has internet connection sharing so yeah that would be possible.
It can be done, and who needs “the network” when you have the NOW network.
The article should have “which is $20 cheaper than adding a MiFi card on it’s own, along with not having a second line on contract” to make it sound more like it really is.
It’s nice to see a squabble over the Palm Pre and its functionality…. I want this platform to survive more than anything and I damn think it will! For me, Sprint works great! No switching…
Off subject but the iPhone advocate and ATT claim the ability to browse and talk at the same time. Awesome. All WiFi capable devices on any carrier can do the same thing… The iPhone is a great product but don’t be a tool.
Why would anyone pay that for .03mbps. Go figure?
‘t understand why Verizon and other telcos charge extra for tethering. They have limits on how much data you can download, anything above that and they charge you per MB. Would think they would want you to get to that limit as soon as possible.
Found a good review of the Palm Pre Plus here:
http://cellphoneforums.net/cell-phone-reviews/t307700-palm-pre-plus-review.html
You can use the original Pre as a mifi as well… for free if you know what you are doing.