Tips on using Verizon’s NFL Mobile

After some morning editing chores, I decided to watch the highlights of Mr. Tebow in action.  I was distracted yesterday trying to review the new NFL overtime rules when all of a sudden the crowd was cheering a game-winning touchdown.

Verizon reminded me that they will be live-streaming the playoff games this coming weekend and I should get the free NFL Mobile app.

So if you do not already have it, go to the Android Marketplace, search for “NFL Mobile” app, download and install it.

A soon as you fire the app up you get a screen that warns you about charges depending on the data plan you have.  I was going to blow by this, as I have a grandfathered unlimited (for now) data plan.

Then, dear reader, I thought of those of you who do not have unlimited data plans.  The message tells that you may “be billed on a per megabyte basis”, which is very expensive if you have a small data plan or reach your data cap during watching the show.  So please check out how much data you have left for this weekend’s NFL playoff games.

Then I noticed this little gem buried among the fine print: “A monthly charge or a VCAST video package may be required for streaming video content.”

Each game should run around 3 hours or so when you consider the pre- and post-game shows.  You have two games, so that is a total of six hours viewing time, which comes to 4 GB.

If you have a 2GB cap, you will have to pay another $20 (at $10 per GB) to finish watching the games.

If you want an unbiased calculator for video usage, PublicKnowledge,org has a site, http://whatismycap.org that helps show you how much you will owe after watching videos.  Go there and choose your wireless vendor and time you will be watching video for the month to get an idea of what you will owe.

Choose your teams and go watch!