We’ve tried, and tried, and painstakingly tried to tell people about Verizon’s 5 GB of free Mobile Hotspot to anyone with a Pre Plus or Pixi Plus. We’ve gone farther, and explained how you can combine that with their $15, 150 MB data plan. In fact, we saw this as such a game changer, we gave the Pre Plus our Phone of The Year award for 2010 because of it.
But, sadly, some people still don’t get it. We keep hearing people tell us they “didn’t know this was possible.” We tell them to read PhoneNews.com daily, and that will help them avoid the shame.
So, we’ll tell you again, with a new twist. BeDeals is offering the Pixi Plus for $64.99 with free shipping. You can activate this on any modern Verizon plan, alongside either the $15 or $30 data plans… and yes, you’ll get 5 GB of Mobile Hotspot data each month.
And yes, this is totally supported by Verizon Wireless. You can even call for tech support if you have issues with it.
And no, this offer will not be valid on the Pre 2. We asked.
Help spread the word and push the carriers to match what Pre Plus and Pixi Plus have on Verizon. Tweet, digg, and post this article on Facebook, your blog, and anywhere you think it’s prudent to do so. The more people that know 5 GB of Mobile Hotspot can be economical for $0, the more pressure the carriers will have to make it the standard.
Update: BeDeals is sold out, but you can still take advantage of the free Mobile Hotspot deal by grabbing a Verizon Pre Plus or Pixi Plus new or used… from Craigslist to your local Verizon Wireless store, and just about anywhere in-between.
Do you have to have a voice plan with this or could one just purchase the Pixi, add the $15 data plan, and use the device as a mobile hotspot?
Both the $15 and $30 data plans are add-ons to a voice plan.
The cheapest data-only plan is $45, I believe. The free Mobile Hotspot was supposed to be tied to voice plans with a mandatory data add-on, however the $0 plan code may also attach to data-only plans, I’ve never tried.
Also, I don’t believe that the Mobile Hotspot $0 plan code is available on prepaid. It certainly is not available on PagePlus or other prepaid MVNOs that support Verizon devices.
You can, however, activate this Pixi Plus deal above on PagePlus and pay per KB for data. At $65, it’s probably the best prepaid smartphone deal in America, even if you have to put up with PagePlus as your service provider.
Thank you Christopher! This is exactly what I need. I will send a link of this page to family & friends.
I am now thinking of getting VZ just for this hotspot feature…
So which of the options may work (given i talk very very little) and how:
1)PagePlus prepaid minutes + VZ $15/150MB (w/hidden 5GB feature)
2) VZ prepaid (25c/min) + VZ $15/150MB (w/hidden 5GB feature)
3) Cheapest VZ monthly plan(is there a 100/200 min /month or even less plan?) + VZ $15/150MB (w/hidden 5GB feature)
Thanks again for the article. I am glad I got Pixi Plus recently from stealdeals site.. WOW!
Only option number three would be viable, SR.
Page Plus cannot use Verizon’s data addons, and the pay-as-you-go Verizon prepaid will not activate on smartphones. Hence, neither option is available to you.
Only the third option will work, and you’d better hurry, as Verizon will be dropping the $15 data plan at the end of the month.
There is a $29.99 voice plan, but it is only available to senior citizens. The cheapest single-line voice plan is normally $39.99/month.
As such, this deal is really only stellar for people that have either an existing Verizon service, such as on a family plan. Page Plus users who are looking for a Wi-Fi-only smartphone also would find this a good deal, as Page Plus allows activation without data, or with their tiny data plans.
Dang… I just bought a Pixi Plus for $55 from 1saleaday.com
It’ll probly take 2 weeks to get here, but I was planning on using one of the $30/mo data-only plans from VZ. $30/mo for prepaid smartphone data. $0/day prepaid plan + $1/day of data usage. Turns out the prepaid smartphone plan requires data. The $0/day prepaid plan doesn’t work with smartphones!! I asked why not. “Well, webOS is constantly accessing its own servers…” So then that means I’d pay $30/mo, regardless, by that logic, no?? “Ohh, well… we just don’t offer it at this time.”
I’ve seen a $50/mo & $55/mo data-only plan from VZ during my research today. What is this $45/mo data-only plan that you speak of, Christopher??
Oops… that’s supposed to be:
“Turns out the prepaid smartphone plan requires voice.”
What a bummer.