Yeah…the Beta is free and if you do nothing they will move you on to the actual plan when it goes live. Then you get charged.
They had a small problem when they launched it this week. Some user account numbers and emails that were not the applicants showed up on the beta site. Some people's basic info was exposed.
They shut it down within a few hours but it's back up now.
EDIT: What stopped me from applying was that they want iOS users to turn off iMessage. iMessage is one of the few ways I can communicate with some contacts free of charge that are not US residents, so I'd rather leave it on.