Free internet, and cell phone services through freedom pop

[Stroop]

I have recently discovered this awesome company, and it actually works. I am using a Samsung S3 with no monthly fees. There are no strings attached. when you activate the phone its a $20 activation fee. They have a variety of multiple plans giving you everything you need for half the price of METRO PCS! With the free service you get 200 talking minutes, 500 text messages, and 500mb of data (half a gig). You can get unlimited talk and text starting at $10/month, 2gb of data for $11/month, and 4gb for $35/month. The cell phone service uses the same towers as sprint, and gets just as good service.

For wifi/internet same thing applies. You buy the device (They have 4 hotspots i believe) and you get 500mb of data a month, but then you can upgrade varying on how much you get.

This is amazing for any frugal/minimalist/vandwellers out there. Ive enjoyed mine so far. just thought id share with everyone.

Heres their site:
http://www.freedompop.com

 

[jeanontheroad]

Let us know how that works out for you as you travel. After traveling out west for several months, we have decided that you get what you pay for with internet and cell service. Frankly, Sprint sucks out here if that is the carrier your service mimics. We are both on Verizon, now. We don't like our bill, but we do like our service.

It depends on how much you need to be in touch and how much tolerance you have for service interruptions, I guess. We are not footloose free spirits. Wolf's mother is in her 90's. She panics if she can't reach us. I do a little day trading. I panic if I can't keep in touch with the market. Wolf does all his business, mail scheduling, navigation, and reservations online. There are some things you just don't want to do on public wifi. MacDonalds or Barnes and Noble or internet cafes are not always available. Sometimes, even when they are, their wifi is not working.

We may be frugal in lots of other areas, but skimping on cell and internet service just doesn't work for everybody.

 

[kyonu]

I would brag too much about Spring being good... They're losing business for a reason. Their spectrum is way too high, have horrible coverage, (worse than T-mobile in fact) and their speeds are super low (lowest in the nation, even amongst small businesses.) Probably why Freedom Pop can offer such a low price... You get what you pay for.

 

[caseyc]

Okay, since the last couple posts are about bashing Sprint, I may as well contribute, haha! I had Sprint for some 10 years prior to switching to Verizon. As others have noted, Sprint sucks, and I completely agree. I had problems such as delayed voicemail notification, and calls that would go straight to voicemail without ringing. If I went out of state, even to a major city, people trying to call me would not go through. Frustrating. I don't know why I stayed with Sprint for so long. Oh yeah, I remember now. It's because they had the Palm Treo smartphones (plus Palm Pre phones) which I was addicted to at the time. Even people I know who currently have Sprint tell me while driving on certain local freeways they will get dropped phone calls due to dead spots. Dead spots on a major city freeway?? Unreal, but true. I will never go back to Sprint. Ever.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

Sprint has lousy service for travelers thru-out the west.
I couldn't wait to get rid of them.
We get much better service with cheapo Tracfones.

 

[Stroop]

This is not through sprint though, and doesnt "mimic" them. its uses their towers, but I get better service then my buddy on sprint. Also, for calls it uses VOIP which is voice over internet (forgot what the P is) So if you are connected to any wifi you can still send and recieve texts. As well as their text do this also.

 

[kyonu]

It's "voice over IP" or "voice over internet protocol" bee-tee-dub.

Also, you can only get the same service off the same operating towers, as those towers only broadcast certain frequencies. Sprint's frequencies do not vary by much, and are very high, which is why the service is bad. They need low-band for it to work right.

As for you getting better service, you could just have a better radio antenna on your phone than he does, allowing it to pick up better service. Unless they use someone else's towers that are not listed in the contract (which in itself is illegal), then there's no other option than your phone just receiving better than his.

Note many times basic "dumb" phones get better reception that smartphones, since they have bigger antennae and room for it.

 

[Tippy Tipi]

We may be frugal in lots of other areas, but skimping on cell and internet service just doesn't work for everybody.

I feel the same, but I got Cricket and you get 10Gigs of high speed internet a month, but if you use that up you still have unlimited internet and it's really not that slow at all after the 10gig high speed. Everything is unlimited for $70 a month and if you do auto-pay, you get $5 off the bill, plus if you qualify for the low income thing (can't remember what it's called,) that's another $13 or so off, and that means you get it for $52 a month. I've had it for several months now and am very satisfied.

And Cricket has coverage just about everywhere now. I'm in a place where nobody gets internet without satellite service, which I don't have, but this Cricket and a Chromebook keep me really happy.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

I hear cricket is nice..I'm pne of the few places not covered :/

I'm looking at republic wireless ..pricey phone for 3g but its 25 for 5 gig data 'unlimited'

 

[Hereandthere]

Like jeanontheroad, we have to have good internet. Here's a comparison chart my husband found recently:
http://www.prepaid-wireless-guide.com/best-mifi-plans.html

He's favoring millenicom. Anyone know about them? They ride on Verizon, which sounds good to me. We're in Colorado, will be out for 4 or 5 months this winter, NM and probably AZ, maybe a bit of southern UT.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

I think millenicom gives the most bandwidth...and they contract from verizon so coverage will be good.

 

[blars]

SOME millinicom plans use verizon. They used to resell sprint, but sprint dropped them pretty much without warning. They also offer stuff on t-mobile.

 

[FreeBird]

I personally use I-Wireless as I'm currently still getting ready for my trip but once out of Iowa it switches to T-mobile's network.

When I lived in St. Pete Florida, I was getting 10+mbps download rates sitting on the beach through T-mobile and the best part is it's $45 for unlimited talk, text and 3GB of 4G data or $55 for unlimited everything, I plan on using my smartphone as a WiFi hot spot during my travel's, I also got reception in Rosarito,MX.

I'm not sure if T-Mobile itself has the same rates but I-Wireless is an affiliate of T-mobile, their website is www.iwireless.com

Also, it's prepaid so no contract.

 

[ToyotaEscaper]

I have recently discovered this awesome company, and it actually works. I am using a Samsung S3 with no monthly fees. There are no strings attached. when you activate the phone its a $20 activation fee. They have a variety of multiple plans giving you everything you need for half the price of METRO PCS! With the free service you get 200 talking minutes, 500 text messages, and 500mb of data (half a gig). You can get unlimited talk and text starting at $10/month, 2gb of data for $11/month, and 4gb for $35/month. The cell phone service uses the same towers as sprint, and gets just as good service.

For wifi/internet same thing applies. You buy the device (They have 4 hotspots i believe) and you get 500mb of data a month, but then you can upgrade varying on how much you get.

This is amazing for any frugal/minimalist/vandwellers out there. Ive enjoyed mine so far. just thought id share with everyone.

Heres their site:
http://www.freedompop.com

I was almost taken in until I saw it was Sprint hahah go figure.

 

[accrete]

...posted to wrong thread...deleted post.

 

[pseudo_mccoy]

I recently looked into Freedompop and found some highly critical reviews. It seems their press release stuff is legit but the business itself is shady.

I was encouraged to see that the wireless provider got picked up by publications like Time and Engadget but the comments are full of people calling Freedompop a scam. Comments on Amazon don't look good either.

Some of these folks are whining about small things like extra 99 cent charges. The more serious cases involve hundreds of dollars of potentially fraudulent charges.

I don't have any experience dealing with Freedompop other than to check their website for prices. This, however, required me to enter personal information so I left.

 

[LeeRevell]

I also was initially interested in FreedomPop, until I read the great amount of bad reviews. Not willing to risk it.

 

[headinthetrees]

PagePlus is now providing unlimited data and they use the verizon towers supposedly. I haven't used the service personally, can anyone chime in that has?

 

[offroad]

Using pageplus now. It's perfect. Same as verizon. I have 4glte Speed for first 3gigs. Then it throttles down after that, but not sure what the throttle speed is. Some say 200kbps.