Verizon Mobile Hotspot on webOS devices now free, Pre Plus and Pixi Plus fall to $49.99 and $29.99
By Chris Ziegler 
posted April 1st 2010 11:15AM
posted April 1st 2010 11:15AM
"Customers who purchase or upgrade to a Palm Pre and Palm Pixi will get the Mobile Hotspot for free. Existing customers who already have the service will find charges on their next bill will be $0.00."Add that in to the fact that the Pre Plus is now $49.99 and the Pixi Plus is now $29.99, both with buy-one-get-one-free deals tacked on, and yeah... what do you want to bet there are some wide smiles over in Sunnyvale this morning?
Note: This isn't an April Fool's joke -- try pricing a Pre Plus on Verizon's site and add the Mobile Hotspot feature at checkout.
@heltoupee
I just put it on my Pre Plus and it is indeed $0.
@jmikelittle My comment is now gone, so someone is mad.
@sawtx The app itself may be free, sure, but there is (possibly used to be) a monthly charge for using it.
@heltoupee
I wonder why it says "$0/month" then?
@weedalin I've learned to deal with Verizon with a healthy dose of skepticism. I guess on this point I'm wrong. First time it's ever happened to me...
@heltoupee There used to be, yes, but that's what this article is about, that there's now no monthly charge.
This is truly huge. I think I will get a Pre plus now. although I should probably wait since by AT&T contract isn't up yet and with the hardware price reductions there will maybe be new hardware.
@iCello Ah, yes, but consider what day it is. You're right. It IS big news. I hope Sprint will follow suit, although that would put Aonic and myTether out of business.
Yes! My life has now been revolutionized! I was never going to pay that fee for my Pre Plus, but now I don't have to!
@andrewjking Truly this is extraordinary. I hope it becomes ordinary.
@andrewjking
Gosh darn it. The deciding factor in my not getting a Pre+ was the fact that the mobile hotspot cost like $40/month.
@andrewjking
It's only fair. Pre users need to be able to use it for something besides Apps, since there practically aren't any.
@andrewjking
If jealous girlfriend calls and wants to complain for 45 minutes about how you are ditching her for your friends, your frends still get to use the Pre's wifi while you wade through a shit storm right?
@Mentat Haha. I'll keep it on for my iPhone-using friends so they can have decent data. We're in one of those "5x more 3G coverage" areas. There is no sign of us ever getting AT&T 3G here, but Verizon covers us like a warm, fuzzy blanket.
@CRA1G Indeed. Looks at Sprint and the pending launch of the Evo, hope this clears up those pricing issues you are still working on.
@andrewjking Pretty much. myTether let you do it for free and so do a few other programs on Win Mobile and Android. Only Verizon would try to charge you for something everyone else gets for free.
@andrewjking My droid is sitting in its dock crying
@pishmish My Pre Plus is lying in front of me and is weeping tears of joy and love.
@andrewjking only one slight problem you still cant use the phone and internet at the same time...
@jerbear
You can only get it for free on Android because you are breaking the TOS to use it. Verizon has NO solution whatsoever for tethering on an Android device so your argument is invalid. The Pre solution may have costed money, but at least there was a legal solution.
@KAL326 Hell yeah, that would make that already god-like phone even more eye catching. I didn't even think about that, but I bet that Sprint will offer this on their plan as well. They sure like to advertise the fact that they are the lowest. I saw a commercial unlimted talk/mms/data for 79.95! Thats a great plan. I know the EVO will be more than that, but still Sprint is looking pretty dang good lately. Then again pay less shoe stores would look good if they was getting the EVO in a couple months.
@Mentat Unfortunately it's 45 minutes of no Internet connectivity since Verizon doesn't support simultaneous voice and data.
@pishmish CyanogenMod is knocking my friend, just answer the door. ;) (I did absolutely no research on this cause I have the N1 and tethering is built in so I simply thought that more than likely the Droid has it too. Please don't flame me.)
@steel notice you got downranked....BUT.....no one actually stepped up and told you or attempted to prove you wrong.
@ummmwhat
That's because we know better than to feed the troll...
@pishmish Sounds like you need to root your droid so it stops crying :) I use the wireless tether all the time!
@pishmish
root that mofo
@pishmish
android-wifi-tether
look it up...
@andrewjking Love the new web os of palm since its debut last CES 2009, I'm so waiting for them to improve it. A view: http://bit.ly/impression-web-os-view
@jerbear Verizon is the only one that Allows it though.
April Fools
@lrhunt87
joke is on you, bro. this is legit.
@iroq d mullet Your name/picture makes my day everytime I see one of your posts.
@angermeans
you're welcome ;)
Oh, Big Red - giving something to your customers, for free?! ... - April Fool's? Nice one.
...and it's still $30 extra per month to tether to a BB? (At least this is what a VZW salesman told me). Such bullshit.
@crawdad689
Get a Palm and join the revolution!
I sure hope this is true . . .
The cake is a lie!
that is pretty glorious and the price is insane for 2 phones!
@Nick Brown
Such a price drop has got to indicate new hardware in the near future, right? RIGHT?
Please?
@Cameron i desperately hope so! if they can get me WebOS on a 4" screen with a decent form factor - maybe even another physical keyboard i would be back on the webOS train for sure!
I had the Pre when it came out - but after moving through 11 different phones which all failed for no apparent reason except that the hardware sucked - i made sprint give me a hero. android is ok...but i would love to back on WebOS for sure.
This would be good with a WiFi iPad.
@ebotee
Now that is an excellent point. Hmm... if only I could think of a use for an iPad.
@ebotee
this would be good with WiFi anything
@steel
glorified paper weight?
Dude guys, Verizon isn't yanking your chain (and we're certainly not). We have an official statement.
Er, correction... if Verizon is yanking our chain on this, we'll be putting tons and tons of smack down.
@Chris Ziegler
yeah, i highly doubt this is a joke. the last thing a company like verizon would want to do is piss off thousands of customers over an april fools joke.
If it's not Verizon yanking our chains, then it's you guys at Engadget. "Official statement", you say? You kidders, you. Thumbs up.
@whySoSerious
"-- try pricing a Pre Plus on Verizon's site and add the Mobile Hotspot feature at checkout."
-tried this, it's legit.
@Chris Ziegler
Hey Guys, I just logged onto Verizon... & added the 3G Mobile Hot Spot... cost $0.00!
This is the REAL deal guys!
AWESOME!
@iroq d mullet
At first glance I thought that picture from the beach was a girl....nice banana hammock...