Verizon Charges $15 Per Month for Exchange Mail on Droid
2:38 am, November 3rd, 2009, Pete Mortensen
Image via Despair
So, you know those off-the-mark iDon’t commercials Verizon’s using to hype the launch of the Motorola Droid? No removable battery, no physical keyboard, and a list of features only a developer could care about? Well, according to InfoWorld, that campaign could be turned against the Droid with the far more damning “DroiDon’t include free corporate e-mail access with a standard data plan.”
That’s right, in addition to the mandatory $30 data plan, equivalent to the iPhone’s, Verizon is charging Droid customers $15 per month extra to check their work e-mail — as they do all smartphone customers. It takes a lot to make AT&T look like the superior network, but Verizon has managed it.
And no, there’s no possible justification for this other than greed and foolhardiness.
Posted by Pete Mortensen in Hardware, iPhone | Comment on this article
And I’d be willing most people’s employers will pay the extra $15 for their minions to check their work email 24/7, so this seems pretty much like a non-issue.
Chris W., on November 3rd, 2009 at 2:58 am
I worked at a non profit, and it was sure handy to use my iPhone to access my exchange calender and inbox. There was no way they were going to pay for me to check email 24/7.
J, on November 3rd, 2009 at 7:11 am
AT&T charges for Exchange too –
Enterprise Data Plan for iPhone
Enterprise Data Plan for iPhone is for using iPhone to access corporate email (via Microsoft Exchange), company intranet sites, and/or other business solutions/applications. Includes Unlimited data (web and email) and Visual Voicemail – for use in the U.S.
Ironically, it is $15 more than the regular data plan. How odd that the charges are the same as Verizons
Mike C, on November 3rd, 2009 at 7:35 am
I think I still plan on switching to Verizon when they sign up with Apple. But thanks to this article, I will be looking at them with a lot more scrutiny. Is there something fundamental about the cellphone market that drives these guys to such shady tactics like this and the crap they’re pulling in Europe (redefining Unlimited)?
I was actually pretty happy with AT&T, until this summer when they clearly demonstrated that they’re spending too much time figuring out how to play with their money and not enough working on improving their infrastructure. Where the hell is my tethering?
Scott, on November 3rd, 2009 at 7:39 am
This is total non-news. All it means is that the article authors are new to smartphones.
Most carriers have this $15 charge. Yet no one seems to pay it.
Exchange works just fine on the $30 plans.
Kevin, on November 3rd, 2009 at 7:59 am
“And I’d be willing most people’s employers will pay the extra $15 for their minions to check their work email 24/7, so this seems pretty much like a non-issue.”
Really?? I don’t know who you work for, but I seriously doubt most people’s jobs would PAY to allow their employees’ non-supported devices to connect to their Exchange server.
If an employer is that adamant about allowing their employers to access their email, then they’d give them Blackberries. And if they offered them that, then there’s no way they’d pay MORE to let them use another non-supported device.
My company has a Blackberry server, but only execs get them. They reluctantly and begrudgingly turned on Active Sync so the rest of us could use other devices. But they enforce mandatory PINs and they would never PAY a monthly fee to give us access. They’re already paranoid about lack of control over these devices (no remote wipe, etc.) and what would happen if we lost one.
A non-issue? Sorry, no.
rb, on November 3rd, 2009 at 8:51 am
You don’t need an Enterprise data plan to access corporate email on the iphone so it’s $15 cheaper than droid and that is an issue. Never accept a companies BS over your fanboyisms. They ALL should be called out so the WE can pay a fair price for them.
George, on November 3rd, 2009 at 9:24 am
To be clear, this is for Verizon’s synch service, i.e. push email. If you want to just connect directly to your Exchange server with your phone, there is no extra charge.
David, on November 3rd, 2009 at 9:34 am
I have the iPhone and I don’t pay any more per month for my use of Exchange. It’s not just corporate clients that use it. A lot of universities are moving to Exchange for all their student email servers and many of those students are checking that email with their iPhone. I wonder if it will be possible this same way on the Droid, just not with the sanctioned “plan”
Billy, on November 3rd, 2009 at 9:41 am
First off… I’m no developer but I think having a real keyboard and inter-changeable batteries are important things… mainly because batteries go bad or die and being able to swap them out without a major hassle is nice. Of course the 5MP duel LED flash camera is a nice touch. As far as Exchange email is concerned, this only applies to people who have to use Exchange email, meaning if you have Gmail, Yahoo or any other web based account, it’s still free. Let’s also not forget the amazing free GPS the Droid offers and how in pulls all of your Gmail and facebook contact information to your phone for free…. sure you can sync the iPhone to your iCal, but you have to pay $100 per year for the Apple account.
As far as student email accounts, I just pull mine to my Gmail… it’s free and less face it, the school’s site isn’t very good anyway.
Personally this article sounds like it was written by someone who was angered by the “iDon’t” commercials… because Apple doesn’t do any Mac vs. PC commercial against Microsoft right? right?
So far everything in the “iDon’t” commercial is true… don’t believe me? go checkout the Droid’s official page. You can find it on the front page of verizonwireless.com
Change is good, competition is good.
Derreck, on November 3rd, 2009 at 10:32 am
FYI:
Touchdown for andriod is probably the best Exchange client out there, it’s 20-something bucks a year… no need to pay for push-email service from Verizon.
Leigh McMullen, on November 3rd, 2009 at 10:44 am
“It’s only for Exchange” is a ridiculously weak response. The vast majority of organizations are now on Exchange mail in one form or another. And the fact you can do Push mail with any number of other services shows just what an arbitrary move all of this is.
For anyone citing that AT&T charges a corporate rate equal to VZW’s, look closer. It only applies to phones purchased by IT departments. Anyone who buys an iPhone and uses a standard plan gets access to Push Exchange support out of the box. I know, because I do.
The best thing to do is take Leigh’s advice and get Touchdown. Takes the ache away a little bit and shows just how arbitrary Verizon is being about all of this. A $20 surcharge isn’t the worst thing — $180 per year is.
Pete mortensen, on November 3rd, 2009 at 11:22 am
@Derreck
“sure you can sync the iPhone to your iCal, but you have to pay $100 per year for the Apple account”
Or you can sync both iCal and your iPhone with Google calendar and it’s free.
Don Pope, on November 3rd, 2009 at 11:41 am
With regard to Enterprise vs Personal data plans and AT&T. If you are a corporation you don’t have a choice, you pay more for the Enterprise Data plan. An individual who gets a personal plan can sync with an Exchange Server with no extra charge. There is nothing on the AT&T network that prevents a Personal plan from using Exchange Active Sync.
With Blackberry they (AT&T) has you in a corner. If you want to activate a BB with a Blackberry Enterprise Server, you MUST have a BES plan which costs more. There is no way around it, the BB won’t activate unless you are provisioned for BES.
Proto732, on November 3rd, 2009 at 12:09 pm
@ Don Pope
Well you’re right about that. I suppose my point was that Apple has it’s flaws and so does Google. I love Apple, I’ve got an iPod and a MacBook and hope to get a MacMini soon, but it’s exciting to see Google come up with a powerhouse phone that rivals the iPhone. But after reading so many reviews and stats about both phones, it’s really a toss up depending on what you want out of it (I, for example, have no use for Exchange email).
Derreck, on November 3rd, 2009 at 12:50 pm
this is the standard price for VW plans.
Motorola Droid fansite
motorola android, on November 3rd, 2009 at 10:05 pm
So, now, I guess the double facepalm image applies to this author and website, huh?
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2355249,00.asp
Justa Notherguy, on November 4th, 2009 at 3:41 am
I just got a Motorola Droid and I don’t know what the $15 extra a month is for, I have the normal data plan and I can get to my companies Exchange server without any problems. I don’t do the auto synch as I don’t want to waste the battery.
Anon Y. Mous, on November 28th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Exchange support comes with the $30 service and like most people have already said $15 extra is not something unusual in the wireless market for exchange support.
But that $15 fee is not necessary for exchange support, in fact that fee can not be added to a Verizon account because it is not necessary. For $30 a month you get unlimited data, free google navigation and exchange support!!!
I wish these authors would get their facts straight before writing bashing articles. Maybe they just want someone to read their lousy work.
cuzinsteve, on December 5th, 2009 at 3:41 am
I realize this article is old but I stumbled across it while looking for some images.
The $15 /mo per user is for Verizon’s HOSTED EXCHANGE. In other words it is access to Verizon’s exchange email servers.
So yes all you iPhone phanatics you too would have to pay an extra $15 /mo to have this “feature” on AT&T.
Zer0-9, on January 17th, 2010 at 10:34 am