First, let me say I know that Verizon reps are not always the most reliable sources. That said, I am one who wants to keep the hotspot after the free promotion, but am leaving on vacation in the morning on July 7th and that is when I'll really need the hotspot (at home I use my cable modem for internet access). So, I went to the local Verizon store yesterday to see if I could find out how this whole ending of the free promotion was going to work and see if I could go ahead and have the (paid) hotspot added to my account. I was told that since I already had the hotspot on my phone (free trial) they could NOT activate the paid version and I'd have to wait until the trial ended and it was cut off. The rep also told me that no one would be automatically charged for the hotspot after the promotion ended, but the service would simply be disabled and if you try and use it, you will get a message that the promotion has expired and to call Verizon if you want to activate it again (paid, of course). I asked if he could tell me exactly when (time) it would expire and he said there was no way to be sure since it had to be done to all the free accounts and could be done anytime throughout the day. So, I just need to keep checking throughout the day tomorrow by trying to connect through it until it tells me it ended and then call Verizon (*611) and have them activate it.