Oh, and I keep getting told how cool it is that this new phone will act as a mobile hotspot.  That’s fantastic, except, wait, won’t I likely be using more bandwidth?

Where is the logic in that?

So basically for being a loyal Verizon customer, and for upgrading to a fancy new phone with great new features I have to pay $5/month more for 40% the bandwidth – a that’s about a 3x price increase.  This is completely unacceptable.

In other words, I’ll have to pay about $170 a month to get the 5GB of bandwidth I used to get for $15.  That’s over 11 times as much, which is total BS Verizon!

At a minimum I want to have the same Mobile Broadband Connect with my new Droid X as I had with my BlackBerry.  Period.

================  UPDATE ================

Here is Verizon’s response to me which is very lame (emphasis and commentary mine).  Basically it reiterates Verizon’s marketing materials stressing how great it is to use the new Droid X as a mobile hotspot.  Again, what they are missing here is that I am now paying 33% more for 40% of the bandwidth.  Verizon: you need to fix this.

Oh, and after being promised by the nice support agent yesterday that I’d receive a call back from her supervisor who, conveniently enough, was in a meeting.  It’s been over 24 hours and I’m still waiting for the call back. . .

Dear [Valued Verizon Customer Whom We Are SCREWING],

Thank you for contacting our Verizon Wireless website. We are happy to assist you with your concern regarding the 3G Mobile Hotspot feature of the Motorola DROID X.

We understand your concern and take great pride in having you as a customer. We understand that you have made an investment in Verizon Wireless and the DROID X and addressing your concern is our number one priority.

We understand that this is an inconvenience would like to thank you for taking the time to send us your feedback. Verizon Wireless takes great pride in the products and services that we offer our customers. Customer feedback, such as yours, enables Verizon Wireless to continually improve the products and services that we offer. We will ensure that your feedback is sent to the correct department to allow us to make future improvements and enhancements to the products and services that we offer. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause.

If you would like to receive e-mail updates regarding our products and services, please click on “Sign up for email updates” from the “Support” tab located at the top of our www.verizonwireless.com homepage.

The $15.00 Mobile Broadband Connect feature that you had with your BlackBerry provided the ability to use your BlackBerry as a tethered modem. With that being said, the DROID X does not currently support the tethering functionality. At this time, we are unable to state if or when this functionality will become available for the DROID X as no information has been given. Alternatively, as you have mentioned, the DROID X does offer the 3G Mobile Hotspot feature which, as you have mentioned is $20.00 per month and includes 2 Gigabytes (GB) of monthly data allowance. The 3G Mobile Hotspot application provides access for up to five Wi-Fi enabled devices including notebooks, netbooks, MP3 players, cameras, portable gaming systems, etc. If you connect multiple devices via the hotspot, it is possible that you may use more bandwidth. Additionally, you will be billed at $0.05 per Megabyte (MB) when the included 2GB has been exceeded.

For more information about our Mobile Broadband Connect service (including other supported devices and terms of service), please visit the link below:

Note: Please refer to the information located under “For Mobile Broadband Connect and 3G Mobile Hotspot-capable Smartphone Devices”.

http://b2b.vzw.com/productsservices/wirelessinternet/broadbandaccessconnect.html

We hope you find this information helpful. Troubleshooting tips and helpful product information regarding your Motorola DROID X can be found at:

www.verizonwireless.com/data

[Dear Verizon Customer Who We Really Don’t Care About, But We’ll Keep Saying We Do Just To Make You Feel Good], it has been a pleasure assisting you today and we hope that our quality of service rates as a “10” with you. Should you have any additional questions or concerns, please reply back to this email or call us at 1-800-922-0204 and we will happily address them for you. We appreciate your business and thank you for choosing Verizon Wireless.

Sincerely,

Neil [I have yet to meet anyone from Verizon who has a surname.]

Verizon Wireless

Data Technical Support

If you have received this e-mail in error or are not the intended recipient, please notify us immediately by replying to this e-mail and deleting it and all copies and backups thereof. If you are the intended recipient and are a Verizon Wireless customer, this response is subject to the terms of your Customer Agreement

No, Verizon this information was not helpful and I’m still very displeased with this arrangement!