Verizon Says No Required Data Plan For Motorola Xoom

Verizon initially required customers who want to purchase the Motorola Xoom to also purchase their data plan. However, the carrier has changed its mind and says users can now purchase a Motorola Xoom off contract without signing up for a data plan. Initially Xoom owners had to pay for a month of required 3G service at $20 on top of the $35 activation fee.

You could cancel the required 3G service after a month, but you would have lost $55 already. Verizon did away with this requirement today and you can now buy the Xoom with no contract for $800 and you won't be required to pay the $35 activation fee, nor will you have to sign up for a data plan. If you plan to purchase the Xoom at Best Buy, the retailer is also honoring the new policy.

At this moment the Verizon website hasn't changed yet to reflect the new policy, the options for purchasers online are a 2-year contract, a 1-year contract, or a month-to-month contract. All three of those options will come with the aforementioned $55 charge, but you can expect website updated soon. Verizon customer service says that if you already purchased a Xoom and paid for the required fees and data plan, you can call them and have the plan removed and the cost will be refunded to you.

[via Computerworld]