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Verizon has announced a nice little freebie for its customers on the 5G Start unlimited mobile plan. The company is offering 5GB of mobile hotspot data at no extra cost. The add-on is available to all eligible customers starting today. They don’t need to do anything to get it. The mobile hotspot data is automatically credited to their account as part of the plan.
5G Start is Verizon’s entry-level unlimited plan. It costs $70 per month for a single line but the monthly fee comes all the way down to $30 per line if you get five or more lines. For that price, you get unlimited calls and text, nationwide 5G access, unlimited calls and text in Canada and Mexico, and international texting to over 200 countries. Other add-ons include Verizon Up rewards, spam call blocker, and six months of free subscriptions to Disney+, Apple Music, and Apple Arcade or Google Play Pass.
The only thing missing from the 5G Start plan was mobile hotspot data. All other Verizon phone plans offer some amount of hotspot data (25GB or 50GB depending on the plan). Thankfully, the company is now also covering the users of its most affordable 5G plan with some hotspot data. As a bonus, the carrier isn’t charging anything for it. The same benefit will also be available to all new 5G Start subscribers starting today. Note that Verizon isn’t increasing the amount of hotspot data on other plans.
This bonus for Verizon 5G Start customers comes shortly after a price hike
This freebie for Verizon’s 5G Start customers comes just a couple of weeks after the company raised the prices of its phone plans. It increased the administrative fee and also introduced a new “Economic Adjustment Charge”. The new prices are effective starting this month.
This move drew strong criticism from its rival T-Mobile. The latter, which proudly calls itself the “Un-carrier” lamented Verizon for increasing the prices with baseless “made-up” fees. T-Mobile also targeted AT&T, which has raised its prices as well. The Un-carrier described its rivals’ decision to directly transfer the burdens of the global inflation crisis to customers as “downright disgusting”. It challenged them to adopt its Price Lock model that promises the same plan rate for as long as someone remains its customer.
Interestingly, T-Mobile is preparing to announce another disruptive “Un-carrier move” later today. It will be interesting to see what the company has in store. We will keep you posted.