Posts tagged exchange
Verizon to Charge $15 for Exchange Access on the Droid? [UPDATE]
Nov 4th
Verizon, a name that is synonymous with the phrase “nickel and dime,” is at it again. Wired has picked up on the reports that Verizon will charge Droid owners $15 for access to Microsoft Exchange’s ActiveSync. That $15 will be charged on top of the required $30 per month data plan. So yeah, now you’re talking about $45 for data on top of your talk time. Pretty steep stuff if you ask us.
As it stands, there are three options available to Droid owners:
- $30/mo in addition to voice plan to add data
- $45/mo in addition to voice plan to add data plus Exchange support
- $50/mo for a data-only
How does Verizon justify this? They claim the Droid is primarily a consumer phone and corporate e-mail usage rates apply to other smart phones… like BlackBerries. Meh, kinda. BlackBerry handsets that need to connect to the BlackBerry Enterprise Systems (BES) for corporate email pay a premium. This is slightly different than the BlackBerry Internet System (BIS) which many average consumers use.
So you still want Exchange support but don’t like paying through the nose for software? Alternatives like NitroDesk’s TouchDown app seem like a downright steal with the one-time $9.99 charge. You could always pick up a different handset too. Owners of the HTC Hero, MyTouch 3G, and Samsung Moment all have access to ActiveSync free of charge.
