Buzz Out Loud Lounge forum: Please don't buy the Droid... VZW needs to stop price gougin

I'm eligible for the "New Every 2" discount, since I've been month-to-month for a couple of years now. I checked online, and I'd end up paying 99.99 for the Droid with the regular discount plus the new-every-2 $100 discount.

Online it says my current plan is compatible with the Droid. Of course, it's a voice plan, only. I'm paying $39.99 for 450 minutes, minus a corporate discount. It's costing me anywhere from 48-53 bucks a month after taxes/fees, depending upon how many texts I send/receive. I don't have the unlimited text plan.

Ok, so given what you've said, I would end up paying at least $78/month just for the service alone (without tethering) and more like $108-$110/month with tethering?

All I want is a cool phone with a monthly outlay of about $50 before taxes/fees --so $60 total. Doesn't seem like it's going to happen. That's too bad, because this phone looks nice. I agree about the nickel and diming nonsense.

just say its for personal use or something...

thats nice but only serves to prove that verizon = greedy a$$holes.

Almost any smartphone on any carrier or any mobile data plan has a limit of 5GB per month so this is nothing new on the Droid. The iPhone does not specifically have a limit but I guarantee that if you consistently used over 5GB a month you would get a nasty letter from AT&T stating that they were exercising some right in the pages of fine print you signed to terminate your contract. 5GB is actually a significant amount of data for a smartphone. I consider myself a power user and I rarely get above 1.5 GB of data in even a heavy month.

The problem is that the overage charges are so absurdly extreme and there are no option for people who might need more and the lack of real competition in the wireless data industry means that no startup can build a business around a segment of the market that is not being served.

The additional fee for Exchange functionality is revolting greed on Verizon's part and they deserve to be publicly mocked for such a fee. And tethering plans are a racket on just about any carrier, not just Verizon.

Why the beating up on just verizon?
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/08/12/us-canada-and-spain-win-the-battle-for-most-expensive-cellph/

or you could just wait until Cyanogen has a mod and you root your phone. Once you Root your phone, tethering is not a problem. only prob would be the 5gb cap.

Just my 2 cents

Because the more I look at it Verizon's Droid plan doesn't seem much different than any other company's smart phone plans.

The exchange dustup is really just the difference between a corporate account and a personal account. AT&T has these too (15 dollars extra). And of course the sales associates would love for you to think you need a corporate account send and receive exchange email. But they can't MAKE you get it unless your bill is obviously going to a business address.

And while the 30 dollar tethering charges are absurd, they are pretty much an industry standard as well. As is the blatant abuse of the term "unlimited".

The problem is that "industry standards" seem, more and more to be controlled by 4, very cozy companies who have no real danger of competition. They all overcharge for the same stuff. Text message charges keep going up across the board at all 4 carriers, etc.