Verizon iPhone Mobile Hotspot Use Will Cost $20 Per Month

When the Verizon iPhone lands on February 10, it will include the capability to work as a mobile hotspot that can connect up to five Wi-Fi enabled gadgets to Verizon’s 3G data network. But, as with other Verizon smart phones, you’ll have to pay for the service.

Speaking to MacWorld.com, Verizon Wireless executive director of corporate communications Brenda Raney told the website that the competitive feature will cost consumers $20 a month, in addition to standard voice and data costs.

Raney explained the tacked-on fee has a purpose. Verizon Wireless will allot new iPhone users a segmented data allowance of 2GB that is separate from the regular monthly allotment of data for web surfing, e-mail, and other tasks initiated from the smart phone itself. If users exceed the 2GB data limit – which applies to total data use across all connected devices – the overage charge is $20 per extra gigabyte.

Paired with yesterday’s news that , for now at least, Verizon plans to stick with its $30 a month pricing for smart phone-only data, the first CDMA iPhone buyers could pay $50 on top of their Verizon voice subscriptions to access the web from both their phone and connected devices. That may sound expensive, but it’s the same exact pricing Verizon has used for its other smart phones. Given that AT&T, the original iPhone carrier, has no similar feature for its version of the iPhone, the mobile hotspot capability is likely to draw plenty of smart phone switchers and first-time adopters to Big Red’s iPhone 4.

Via Macworld