PC world reckons the Box account will always be free [1], and Hojoki says that there will always be a free plan [2].

[1] http://www.pcworld.com/article/2018603/get-a-free-25gb-box-a... [2] http://hojoki.com/#plans

Can you only access the 25 GB Box account via the Hoijoki dash or is it just a regular Box account?

After signing up through Hojoki you have a regular Box account with 25GB for free as a starting point.

Did sign up ... and did NOT get 25GB - just the regular 5.

You need to click on a link in Hojoki on the right once you've logged in, not on the link you see when you click to activate Box... I nearly fell for that.

It doesn't really sound too good to be true to me. A file hosting service is able to buy large hard drives and then commoditize their space. A dollar currently buys about 20GB. So if one of these 25GB users decides to upgrade, then each month, they will pay the overhead for 10 new 25GB users (forever minus the cost of occasionally replacing old hard drives, bandwidth, etc.), or 40 new ordinary free 5GB users.

Moreover, if somebody uses even 10GB, they're pretty well locked in to box.com. That's more than any competitor I know of gives with free accounts, so to switch, you'd be looking at paying, right off the bat, for service you haven't vetted yet.

So while 25GB may feel generous, it's really only a one dollar loss leader, and the "catch" is built in to ordinary usage of the service.

Box.net runs this type of promotion regularly. I remember, I got 50GB free lifetime (till company survives) account by signing up using their iPad app.

Same here, I don't think I've used it much though.

I got 50GB for signing up with my android a while back, and I haven't seen a bill yet.