Verizon Begins Selling Unlimited Pay-As-You-Go PopData In 30 And 60-Minute Increments

So why exactly would a customer even want to pursue PopData? Let’s say that you have one of Verizon’s lower-tier 2GB data plans, which costs $35 per month. However, what if you are out and about and want to download or stream a movie while away from Wi-Fi or you’re tethered to your notebook and need to quickly download a major operating system update for OS X or Windows 10. PopData would give you some extra headroom to take advantage of unlimited data for a given time period without exhausting your standard bucket of monthly data.

Right now, Verizon is offering a PopData session of 30 minutes for $2, or you can opt to go for a full hour and pay $3.

PopData can be accessed by opening the My Verizon app, tapping on Data Meter, navigating to Get More Data, and then selecting PopData. From there, you’ll need to follow the on-screen directions to select either a 30-minute or 60-minute interval. Once you opt to use PopData, you have 5 minutes to decide which time session you would like to purchase. Verizon explains:

There's a time limit because availability depends on the amount of network traffic when you select either a 30 or 60-minute session.

Just like buying event tickets, you have a limited amount of time to accept the tickets, or the opportunity to buy the tickets expires.

You will also need to have location data turned on in order to take advantage of PopData, and Verizon also explains that reasoning:

Before you can start a session, we'll analyze network activity, strength and expected capacity for the next 30 minutes at the location where you make the request.

This doesn't guarantee that something unexpected won't occur, like moving to an area with poorer service or more network congestion.

According to Verizon, PopData sessions are charged to your monthly bill and is currently available for Android smartphones, iPhones and iPads.