Communal Clearwire? Meet Karma.

A new startup is chucking the conventional approach to data plans in favor of plans that require users to share access to their Wi-Fi hotspots. Customers with Karma's hotspots, running on Clearwire's WiMAX network, pay $14 per gigabyte. The hotspots offer open Wi-Fi access, and when a new user logs on to the connection they get 100 MB of free browsing. That may not sound like such a great deal for the Karma subscribers shelling out cash for their mobile broadband connection, but there's this: the hotspot owner gets a 100 MB of free data for every outside user that signs on to the open Wi-Fi connection. The idea is to create a cycle that allows hotspot owners to give free access to their connection without incurring additional data charges. Karma's rates are significantly cheaper than those offered by Verizon Wireless and AT&T. Under Verizon's new shared data plans, users pay $50 for 1 GB of data. AT&T charges $20 per month for 300 MB of data, up to $50 for 5 GB of data.