FreedomPop has been offering some of the cheapest wireless phone plans in the US since the company launched its phone service in October. Basic service with up to 200 minutes and 500 texts was available for free, with unlimited talk and text plans running $11 per month.
Now there’s an even cheaper option for unlimited plans — you can get service for as little as $4.58 per month.
In order to get that low price you need to pay for 2-years in advance. But that’s still just $110. In other words, for the price of a month or two of service with a competing carrier, you get unlimited talk and text for 2 years, as well as 500MB of data per month.
You’ll have to pay for any extra data you use on a pay-as-you-go basis. Bandwidth goes for 2.5 cents per megabyte.
Customers who don’t want to pony up the cash for a 2-year plan can pay $80 for 1-year, which comes to $6.67 per month. Or you can continue paying $11 per month for the same service… or nothing at all for basic service.
There are a few catches: FreedomPop only offers a few phones; they’re relatively old Android devices such as the HTC Evo 4G and Samsung Galaxy S II; and FreedomPop operates on Sprint’s 4G WiMAX network. If Sprint doesn’t offer strong service in your area, FreedomPop won’t either.
sounds good, BUT, giving someone $220.00 in advance for a 2 year plan who has only been around for a little over 4 months and not knowing if they will be around in 4 more months makes no sense to me anyway.
The 2 year prepayment is $110, the devices cost $110 and up, which is probably how you came up with your $220 outlay (possibly more if you get a pricier phone from them).
You can also buy a Sprint device (on their approved list) on your own, and sign up for the 1 or 2 year cell phone plans on a BYOD basis. That way, you can just switch to Sprint (assuming Sprint still supports the device) should FreedomPop go belly up. FreedomPop may be discounting their phone cost or selling refurbs, so there could be some savings in buying a phone from them.
The deal is really in the unlimited voice and text, as you already get 500 MB of data per month even on $0/month plan.
I’d rather have unlimited data and PAYG everything else.
I’ve been using their products since early 2013 and happy with coverage. Some areas of country aren’t covered but major cities come in clear. Definitely recommend the service. Cheap and good but check their coverage map first.
2.5 centers per megabyte is pretty good.