Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ, NYSE:VOD) wants you to buy a wireless netbook. To entice you, it is easing up on its data usage restrictions. The CDMA operator today announced plans to offer the HP Mini 1151NR netbook with embedded 3G in stores, starting Sunday, and while it isn’t doing away with data caps entirely, it’s increasing the megabytes allowed per month on some of its plans and lowering overage charges.
Data allowance on its $40-monthly plan will increase from a measly 50 MB a month to 250 MB. It’s $60.00-monthly broadband access plan will stay at 5 GB, but overage charges will decrease from 25 cents to 5 cents per megabyte. Meanwhile, overage charges for the $40 plan fall from 25 cents to 10 cents per megabyte. The new plans will be available to all broadband devices, including the new MiFi router, a device from Novatel Wireless (NASDAQ:NVTL), which disperses a 3G signal via WiFi, Verizon launched last week, as well as handset modem services.
While VZW’s new data policies certainly provide some relief and show Verizon is becoming more tolerant of heavier 3G data use, but the charges still aren’t very friendly to hard-core data users. Even with the 5 GB plan, a user consuming 1 GB more than allotted for the month will see his or her data bill almost double. Easing overage charges and launching data intensive devices like netbooks and MiFi show that Verizon is encouraging more and more usage on the 3G network, but still within fairly strict limits. In an effort to avoid massive overage bills, though, Verizon is being more proactive on notifying its customers when they’ve gone over the cap, sending alerts during data sessions that incur additional fees.
The new HP netbook won’t just have EV-DO Rev. A access, but UMTS access. The netbook comes embedded with a Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Gobi software-defined-radio (SDR) chipset, which can tune itself to four GPRS/EDGE bands and three UMTS/high-speed packet access (HSPA) bands. Verizon Wireless is offering an international plan with the netbook starting at $130, giving 100 MB of use in 30 countries where VZW has international roaming agreements, as well as 5 GB of domestic usage. In the rest of the world, the charges are all pay-per-use.