Upon receiving the Verizon Wireless Palm Pre Plus I knew the phone had lots of features. No let me restate that, LOTS of features, seemingly unlimited capabilities in a phone. I knew of the online web surfing option, a Facebook app, and other data features I had seen with my Blackberry Curve. However, one feature that I was told about by the Verizon staff was that the Palm Pre Plus has a feature called the Mobile Hotspot. Okay, do tell, as I am not as tech savvy as my husband, I need a bit more explaining. Basically the phone turns into a wireless hub, port, connection, a wifi hotspot for up to five users or computers. You can also make this a secure or open connection just as you would with a wireless connection in your home.
EEGADS!
IT DOES?
SWEET!
Or so I thought.
Our trip to San Diego was a perfect opportunity to test out the Palm Pre Plus Mobile Hotspot. After we got out of town and the kids were entertained or fast asleep I decided to pull out my laptop to get some blog posts done. I grabbed my Palm Pre Plus and began to look through my navigation menu. The only option available was a Wifi icon. This was not the mobile hotspot option. So I began to Google on the phone to find the name of the app. Only after spending roughly two hours and nearly draining my battery I found a decent article that stated how the mobile hotspot works on the Palm Pre Plus. Here is what Verizon DID NOT tell me:
- You must pay a $35 activation fee for the 3G (or is it now 4G?) service capability to make the phone a mobile hotspot for the Wifi capability. This fee then notifies your account of the available hotspot app. However this option is FREE only with the Palm Pre phone, the activation fee applies to all other phones.
- You must then search through the THOUSANDS of apps in the app catalog for the Palm Mobile Hotpost specific app. Or as I did….update your operating system….AFTER you spent countless wasted hours searching needlessly.
- Only after paying the activation fee, searching endlessly for the app, you must yet again pay another fee. Yes, I did say you have to pay another fee, another $40 per month for what Verizon calls the Mifi. (Minus the former Mifi card that came with the service since your phone is now the air card per se.) However, again, what Verizon does not disclose is that this fee is waived for all Palm Pre Plus owners since this is a feature ONLY to this phone.
I was HIGHLY annoyed and frustrated at the lack of communication in part from Verizon regarding the Palm Pre mobile hotspot capability. Fantastic my phone can dial space but if I don’t pay the tolls and fees to talk to aliens then the option is fairly moot correct? More or less my annoyance was due to the fact that I was TOLD that I already had the mobile hotspot on my phone which meant I “assumed” I could use my phone for Wifi on the road and I could
post wonderful blog fodder.
All in all I am extremely happy with the phone, however, I am a bit disappointed that the Verizon Wireless staff failed to mention the fine print of fees and activation IN ORDER to make the phone a mobile hotspot at the time that I had activated the phone. Plus the mobile hotspot does have a data limit of 5MB for your usage, unless you have the unlimited data plan, so be sure to check with your provider to see what your data limit may be. In the event you are looking to game or do anything other than maybe check your email you will more than likely go OVER your data usage thus resulting in additional fees and charges and waiting until your next billing cycle to renew your data limit. But again, totally happy and satisfied with Verizon Wireless and the Palm Pre Plus, just disappointed with the communication at the store level.
ah this is prettty cool thanks