Verizon’s HTC Thunderbolt 4G was already up for pre-order at Amazon yesterday, but right on schedule the carrier itself has thrown open orders for the LTE smartphone. Priced at $249.99 with a new, two-year agreement – or $599.99 full retail – you’ll need a voice and data package but get free mobile hotspot tethering until May 15.

After that, Verizon is offering 2GB of mobile hotspot use a month for a further $20. Your money gets you Android 2.2 Froyo, HTC Sense, an 8-megapixel main camera, 1.3-megapixel front camera and 32GB of storage.

Of course, the biggest thing about the Thunderbolt is the speed, so head over here for all the performance benchmarking your heart could desire.