Broken promises: Verizon, Google, and the Chromebook data debacle

[Commentary] When a company promises two years of free mobile data service with a device, you expect them to deliver. So what happens when a promise suddenly evaporates after you've purchased a product? Chromebook Pixel: Verizon Data Plan.

That's the situation owners of Google's LTE Chromebook Pixel are finding themselves facing right now.

The LTE model of the Pixel went on sale from Google's Play Store last April for $1450. At the time, the product was advertised as coming with a free two-year mobile broadband plan from Verizon -- 100MB per month, with the option to purchase more data on a pay-as-you-go basis as needed.

Fast-forward to one year later, and Pixel LTE owners are discovering their data plans have been disconnected.

The option to pay for data remains, but the free 100MB per month mysteriously vanished just one year into the promised two-year period. Verizon is telling customers that as far as it's concerned, the plans were valid only for one year -- and that's why those initiated last spring are now expiring.