Verizon has a data usage pricing inconsistency bordering on a scam through the use of misleading marketing and price advertising.
On Verizon’s web site under certain (perhaps all) calling plans without data usage the price is listed at $1.99/megabyte. Even the fine print indicates that this is the price. However if you have a PDA phone such as a Pocket PC XV6900, Palm, etc. they actually charge $0.015/kilobyte. Since 1 Megabyte is 1024 kilobytes this comes out to $0.015 x (1024 kilobytes/megabyte) = $15.36/megabyte. Which is 7.71 times more per unit of data than if you have a regular phone.
This is outrageous especially since PDA phone users often use *MORE* data than someone on a phone, which would make them more money.
I happen to use less than 10 megabytes/month of data. That is sufficient for me to sync my email when I am away from my desk for long periods of time, only a few times a month.
So, I thought I should post this so everyone knows what is going on.
I saw the $1.99 price and used the data, until I checked my usage for the month at 6,419.06 KB where it predicted I would be billed $96.30. I promptly called Verizon to find out what was going on.
Since I realized this was the case before I was billed, Verizon was nice enough to allow me to retroactively change to an unlimited data plan for $29.99/month so I wouldn’t be charged $96.30.
Check it out HERE for yourself, just browse plans, enter your zip code if necessary and it is the third bullet point from the top $1.99/MB.
I wonder if you sign up for the plan on a regular phone, then switch it via their website to the ESN of a PDA phone….
