Verizon launching $80 5GB prepaid data plan next month, FiveSpot too?

At present, Verizon only offers prepaid mobile broadband in buckets ranging from 100MB up to 1GB at prices from $15 to $50. Problem is, 1GB goes by in about two seconds if you're YouTubin' your way through a layover in Atlanta, enjoying a little too much Hulu and Pandora, or torrenting a few ISOs (perfectly legal ones, of course) -- so to that end, we're hearing that a 5GB option will be launching on August 23 for a breathtaking $80. Presumably, it'd be good for 30 days from the date of purchase the same as the current 1GB plan, though we don't know that from the information we have. Sounds a little ridiculous to us, but we suppose that's the price of contract freedom on a top-tier network these days.

On a related note, we're now hearing that the FiveSpot mobile hotspot we told you about is lined up for a late August launch as well, though we don't have an exact day, and it'll be officially replacing the MiFi -- makes sense. If you already have a MiFi and you don't do much international travel, it doesn't seem like there's a compelling reason to upgrade, but globetrotters are definitely going to want to check this out.

[Thanks, RBF]

[edkobain Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:01PM]

Virgin mobile offers 5GB for only $60 a month.

[nutriapeluda Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:08PM]

@edkobain that's exactly what im using right now, but the $10 option

[DefPoet Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:19PM]

@edkobain
yes they do. And sprint is making bank of of them. Their laptop cards are sold out at every place I check.

[claytonraymond2004 Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:22PM]

@nutriapeluda Same here w/ their MiFi. I love it.

[EggoEspada Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:02PM]

Wow. Pretty damn steep there Verizon.

[lamerz Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:09PM]

@EggoEspada Oh please, like Verizon gives two shits about what you or any of us think? You are nothing but a customer number and monthly bill to them. People need to fucking remember that.

[leigh Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:32PM]

@lamerz Wow..okay there buddy

[EzB Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:05PM]

That's why I got the Droid X....I will stay with my 3g plan and unlimited plan...I am quite happy with this phone...I don't need another one for a long time

[Ezye1313 Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:06PM]

This sucks ass!

[zim2411 Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:08PM]

I'd like to see purchasing data plans in blocks with no monthly expiration. $80 for 5GB, and whenever you use 5GB, it's just another $80 or so. At 1 GB of usage a month, that's $16 a month. If you do just 200 MB a month that drops to $3.20 a month.

But providers would never go for that. Their ideal customer is someone who thinks they need every option, and never uses any.

(Or is there something out there like that and I've completely missed it?)

[chinmas Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:18PM]

@zim2411 So if $80 buys 5GB that can last forever, that's not too bad... however, like Virgin and other prepay companies, those GB's expire usually after 30 days.

I just ordered one of these USB devices from Cricket (yeah we have that here), and it was a Free device (after $50 rebate), AND 5GB/month for $40/month. That's with no 2 year contract... straight month to month.

That's exactly freaking HALF of what Verizon is. Yeah, you might get the EVDO revA speed, or maybe it upgrades to 4G LTE... but $80 for the same amount of data I can get for half the price. That is ludicrous, and I don't mean the rapper.

[edkobain Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:09PM]

Virgin mobile has a 5GB for $60 a month and its good for 30 days.

[FrankDTank Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:11PM]

@edkobain WAIT!! there is a time limit? So if you dont use the bandwidth it expires?

Im ignorant to stand alone data plans.

[moothemagiccow Posted Jul 21st 2010 9:00PM]

@FrankDTank Yes. They used to not do that, at least Virgin didn't. If you're paying for minutes, they shouldn't expire.

[Mcblue01 Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:09PM]

Gaah! That's such a rip off!

[sintricate Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:10PM]

These mobile companys have got us by the balls when it comes to data pricing.

[Psyclotr0n Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:10PM]

Can you rape me now? Good!

[SCB Posted Jul 21st 2010 5:14PM]

@Psyclotr0n

Pretty freaky, there.
Not judging, just observing.

[shadowdepository Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:11PM]

Damn I knew 3G prices in America were high but this is insane....
I live in the Netherlands, I pay 10 euros(about 13 dollars) a month for unlimited UMTS+HSDPA, and the fair use policy is around 20 GB a month.

It's fast too, youtube plays in 480p with no stuttering and I think about 5 seconds of buffering beforehand.

So thats 10 euro, and another 20 euro for 200 minutes/SMS, thats with a one year contract including a HTC Desire and one time costs of 100 euro.

I'm not trying to brag here, i'm just wondering why it would be SO expensive in the states.
I know the costs should be a little higher because of the lesser average population density so there's more towers for less people, but that can hardly be the only culprit

Anyone care to elaborate?

[Menno Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:59PM]

@shadowdepository

US plans include unlimited nights and weekends and unlimited mobile to mobile. Consumers make INSANE use of these two features. Also things like long distance, domestic roaming,

Additionally, US cell companies are not subsidized by the government and have to cover a significantly larger area than the Netherlands. Also, with the exception of sprint and verizon, they use different 3g bands, meaning very little data roaming to help cover the cost.

EU and US phone plans are drastically different for a whole host of reasons. you can't just look at the dollar amount and wonder what's up.

[pika2000 Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:11PM]

Wow, $80 is a lot. You would think by 2010 we will be seeing progress, but no.
On the other hand, this is pre-paid. Meaning you buy it for the month, and that's it. You're not locked into a contract. At the same time, if they want to go with these capped nonsense, then I want to see a truly and fairly metered data, period. Stop the bullshit about abusers. If you really are worried about abusers and want to be fair to consumers at the same time, then meter it.

[rhimbu Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:11PM]

At least now AT&T executives won't be lonely in hell.

[huffy15 Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:12PM]

Hello Verizon??? we are now in 2010 20$ -> at 30gb and 40$ -> 100gb

Take a breath on the Wind Mobile unlimited tongle (limit speed when over 5gb but,....)

[craigrn16 Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:13PM]

They are nuts if people are gonna pay this.

[bjbjohnson Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:13PM]

A $20 premium for being off contract seems like too much to me. Most people that are going to go off contract would prefer something like Virgin Mobile (Sprint) where the network may not be as good but still good enough to meet most people's needs. Granted, $60 off contract might cannibalize sales of their contract plans which are $60 a month, but I think $5 might be a more appropriate premium.

On an unrelated note, this article seems to dis the 1GB plan, but since I've been using Virgin Mobile, I've found the 1GB at $40 to often be more than sufficient on months where I don't travel, which is most months.

[njbianco96 Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:14PM]

pre-paid or not that just makes me sick

[paul34 Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:16PM]

$80 for 5 GB of data?! My god.

(and it IS per month, since it "expires" in 30 days).

[DoctarPeppar Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:21PM]

That's fucking nuts.
Backtrack + AirCrack is a much better solution.
Crack the wifi networks around you for FREE internet, fuck paying for services that would be dirt cheap if they weren't run by profiteering gluttons

[leigh Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:35PM]

@DoctarPeppar And all is well until you crack a bait FBI network and then 5 mins later Police are knocking at your door! rofl...

[McHoffa Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:24PM]

Next thing you know we'll go full on retro and just pay for internet access by the minute like good ole AOL from 1994... I'll only accept it if we get the dial-up sounds along with it when we connect

[McHoffa Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:26PM]

and i am referring more to the capped pay per GB data like AT&T that verizon is supposedly getting

[blahs Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:26PM]

To my knowledge at&t has no PREPAID data plans. Engadget what are you taking about? Breathtaking? Seriously? Do the math under the old 1GB was $50, under this plan 1GB is $16 ($80/5), representing an overall better value to the customer!

All I'm saying is engadget should do a better job of stating facts...

[AiRSK Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:27PM]

Or you can get 5GB for 60 dollars from virgin, and use it on sprint's 3G network.

[SCXFAN Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:27PM]

Data per Gig will soon cost more than 1 ounce of gold. :(

[upsidedown Posted Jul 21st 2010 4:34PM]

If you are already a Verizon customer, why not add a Palm Pre to the family plan. Comes with free Mobile Hotspot.

[MRCUR Posted Jul 21st 2010 5:08PM]

Any bets on how long it takes for VZW to find "RBF" and fire him/her?

[a falling stone Posted Jul 21st 2010 5:11PM]

This does not make sense! It should be less for prepaid. YOU ARE BUYING THE DEVICE AT FULL PRICE! There for, the plan should be cheaper because they are not subsidizing the price of the card.

I have about had it with all phone company's! Thank god I have an xda-evo! Free tether

[SCB Posted Jul 21st 2010 5:16PM]

@a falling stone

You, are correct.
Free tether is awesome!!
I enjoy it also.

[iPaul Posted Jul 21st 2010 5:17PM]

This form of metering should be illegal.

Why the hell do we have networks anyway?

What the hell have the FCC been doing!!!???

[rahul911 Posted Jul 21st 2010 5:17PM]

I don't understand this here in India you just pay $2 for 30 day prepaid card with unlimited usage.

[Psyclotr0n Posted Jul 21st 2010 5:39PM]

@rahul911
here in soviet russia, card unlimited use YOU

[Bervick Posted Jul 21st 2010 6:17PM]

Where do I sign ?

Yours truly,
Mr Bendover

[Bervick Posted Jul 21st 2010 6:18PM]

@Bervick

Name change : Ben Dover

Damn Typo

[Bhima Posted Jul 21st 2010 7:59PM]

interesting... while technology pricing normally goes down as people adopt it, data plans just keep going up. I await my benevolent overlord Google's rise to giving the unwashed masses some type of data plan in the near future that isn't highway robbery.

[RollingRock Posted Jul 21st 2010 8:37PM]

No matter how u look at it these companies ripping off people.. F'em all!

[kenny goo Posted Jul 21st 2010 11:17PM]

I pay $45 a month to my ISP at home for 15Mbps downstream and no bandwidth cap. And you're trying to charge me $80 a month for a wireless signal that I'll only get in a coverage area, and can hypothetically reach 3.1Mbps at its very max, but realistically wont even reach half that at a good day. I can live with this, but a fucking 5GB cap is just ridiculous.

I'm sorry, but when you're charging $25 a month for a smartphone data plan with a 2GB cap (which I already wont pay to begin with), there's no way you can justify a fucking $80 price tag for 5GB. Not a chance.

[shocklat Posted Jul 22nd 2010 12:57AM]

Done with Verizon very soon.

[ColinMcGraw Posted Jul 22nd 2010 1:09AM]

I'd buy one of these (or the Virgin model) in a second if it weren't for the fact that you have to use everything you paid for within a month. The expiration date is too restrictive to make it a good deal in my eyes.

[psycros Posted Jul 22nd 2010 2:00AM]

The first company with the sense to offer unlimited 3G data for $50/mth will own the market. Literally, because they'll have enough money to buy all their competition.