Verizon's iPhone 4 Tethering Reality Check

Much ado was made over the hotspot feature of Verizon's version of the iPhone 4. However, some who may have thought the carrier was going to make this a standard feature may want to think again. A Verizon spokesperson has confirmed to Macworld that the tethering functionality would be an optional, extra-cost feature.

Verizon will charge an additional $20 per month, which will give the user 2GB of data to use (additional usage is charged at $20 per 1GB). This will be a separate data plan altogether, and follows pricing for tethering on other smart phones on the network that have the capability. While the charge may dampen the enthusiasm a bit, it's better than AT&T's tethering offering, which also costs $20 a month, but takes data of your iPhone data plan. That means you only have 2GB to use overall before you're socked with overage charges.

I wonder if AT&T will respond by changing its own tethering plan, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

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