Verizon customers that pick up the CDMA iPhone next month may not be the only ones to get access to the Personal Hotspot feature in iOS, but there is one thing they'll have access to that their AT&T counterparts won't: unlimited data. Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam confirmed today that his carrier will offer its $30 unlimited data plan to iPhone customers. Back in June 2010, AT&T cut its unlimited data option, replacing it with $15/200MB or $25/2GB offerings, much to the chagrin of its smartphone customers. When asked whether or not Verizon iPhone users would have access to unlimited data, McAdam said, “I’m not going to shoot myself in the foot.”
We've heard that Verizon would offer unlimited data for the iPhone in the past, but hey, it's always good to get confirmation. It'd be kind of crazy if Big Red decided not to give iPhone users unlimited data, as that's a pretty easy way to attract customers from AT&T. What would be really interesting is if AT&T decided retaliate by reinstating its unlimited data plan, although I'm not sure I'd hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
UPDATE: If you're planning on signing up for an unlimited data plan for your shiny new iPhone, you'll need to act fast! McAdam confirmed that the unlimited option will only be around for a limited time, and that Verizon would soon follow in AT&T's footsteps by moving to tiered data.
UPDATE 2: Continuing with the Verizon iPhone data plan news, Brenda Raney, Big Red's Executive Director of Corporate Communications, confirmed that the Personal Hotspot feature will set customers back an additional $20 per month. The hotspot plan comes with its own 2GB of data use, separate from the actual data plan, and every gigabyte over the initial two will set you back an additional $20.
