Originally Posted by Gearlog

Tuesday November 3, 2009

Personal Droid Data Will Cost $30, Even With Exchange

Okay. There's a lot of confusion going on around the Internet about the Motorola Droid's service plans. Some people are saying that if you want to connect to a Microsoft Exchange account, data will cost $45 a month instead of $30.

This is wrong.

I checked with Verizon Wireless HQ and got the official response from spokeswoman Brenda Raney. First of all, the Droid uses the exact same data plans as every Windows Mobile phone on Verizon. There is no special Droid data plan.

Second, whether you pay $30 or $45 doesn't depend on what you're doing with the phone. You can hit Exchange email on the $30 plan just fine. It depends on what kind of Verizon Wireless account you have.

If you have a personal account or family plan, your data will cost $30/month. It doesn't matter if you're using Microsoft Exchange, Facebook, Gmail, or whatever - it's $30. This is the same for all Verizon Windows Mobile and Android phones.

Data on business accounts - "corporate liable," multiple lines, purchased through business sales, usually mediated by an IT department - costs $45/month. Once again, this is the same for every Windows Mobile and Android phone.

The same goes for AT&T's iPhones, by the way. Thousands if not millions of people access Microsoft Exchange email on personal, $30/month iPhone data plans, blissfully unaware that if they were a corporate-liable business account their data plan would cost $45. Once again, it's not down to the kind of e-mail you're accessing, it's down to whether you are classed as an "individual" or a "business" in the carrier's system.

So where's the confusion been coming from? Carrier definitions of "business" and normal human definitions of "business" are different. For carriers, it doesn't matter if you're doing business. They only care if you are a business. Are you a rogue operator, a lone wolf, using a personal credit card to activate your single line of service? Then plow right ahead with your Exchange email on the $30 plan - with your Droid or your iPhone.