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So you may recognize me from other threads in this forum taking about free phone services. Well I have not mentioned this one yet, but would like to share as I have been using it for 2 weeks and have so far had a great experience.
The company is called FreedomPop. The offer a free cell phone service that includes (per month): 200 minutes, 500 texts and 500mb of data. Yes, you did read correctly, this will cost you $0.00 per month! Pretty good deal, huh?!
They do try to upsell you to higher rate plans but if you decline you will get the plan I just mentioned for free. Is there a catch? Not really. You do however have to have a Original Sprint smartphone (you can buy one from them or BYOD (bring your own device)). I bought a used Samsung Galaxy s2 on Amazon for $58 and activated it with Freedompop without any problems.
So IMO this is MUCH better than Tracfone or any other budget carrier.
Just wanted to share my experience so hopefully other Frugally minded people on this page can benefit from the info!
There are several very cheap phone plans:
Page Plus Cellular, Consumer Cellular, H2O Vireless, Republic Vireless, ChitChat Mobile, Zact, Ting, and Ultra Mobile.
There are several very cheap phone plans:
Page Plus Cellular, Consumer Cellular, H2O Vireless, Republic Vireless, ChitChat Mobile, Zact, Ting, and Ultra Mobile.
Exactly: several cheap ones; however the one I mentioned is absolutely FREE. Big difference.
Yes, I missed that!
Does that plan covers only Sprint-compatible iPhones? They can bring their own compatible phone or buy from them a refurbished iPhone for..... $350!!
The bad news is that the carrier’s free plan is for very, very light users who consume less than 500MB each month, speak in the phone fewer than 200 minutes per month and send and receive less than 500 combined messages.
However, you can have unlimited talk and text for $4.58 per month if you pay for two years of service up front. Still extremely cheap!
You need to live in supported area:
Not sure where you got your info from elnina...But no, their service is not only for iphones...In my original post I stated that I bought a used Galaxy 3 off Amazon for $58 and activated that with FreedomPop without any problems.
They do sell 4 refurbished phone models if you choose to buy from them directly, they range in price from $90-$300.
Thank you for this great post (and the others regarding cheap/free) phone service plans. When my 2 year contract is up with Verizon (even though I think I'm getting a "pretty" good deal at $60/mo for unlimited talk/text and 2gig data), I will really look into trying one of these services out. Paying $0 or even just half of what I'm paying now sounds great to me.
Though I'm hoping more of these types of services will be available by then, or the big service providers will wake up and offer better deals - instead of raising costs each year. You'd think that advances in technology would allow them to provide the same or better services cheaper. I suspect it is due to low competition among the big four, but with these third-party companies springing up, and hopefully becoming more popular, maybe they will change their tune?
My daughter had a terrible experience with FreedomPop. She signed up for it, her first FreedomPop phone did not work. She had to wait for a replacement. It took her 108 days from signing up to receive a working phone. Then she was told the offer she had signed up for was no longer available, and she would have to pay $7.99 plus tax per month, not including internet. The second phone worked one month then died.
I've been using Ting for 2.5 years now and could not be more pleased with the service. It is not free, but it is very low cost.
Thank you for this great post (and the others regarding cheap/free) phone service plans. When my 2 year contract is up with Verizon (even though I think I'm getting a "pretty" good deal at $60/mo for unlimited talk/text and 2gig data), I will really look into trying one of these services out. Paying $0 or even just half of what I'm paying now sounds great to me.
Though I'm hoping more of these types of services will be available by then, or the big service providers will wake up and offer better deals - instead of raising costs each year. You'd think that advances in technology would allow them to provide the same or better services cheaper. I suspect it is due to low competition among the big four, but with these third-party companies springing up, and hopefully becoming more popular, maybe they will change their tune?
Anyways, thanks again!
Thanks for the feedback! Yeah I got sick of paying so much for phones and am very happy to be paying $0.00 per month!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Petunia 100
My daughter had a terrible experience with FreedomPop. She signed up for it, her first FreedomPop phone did not work. She had to wait for a replacement. It took her 108 days from signing up to receive a working phone. Then she was told the offer she had signed up for was no longer available, and she would have to pay $7.99 plus tax per month, not including internet. The second phone worked one month then died.
I've been using Ting for 2.5 years now and could not be more pleased with the service. It is not free, but it is very low cost.
You know, I watched some reviews on youtube about FreedomPop and they all said that too! That's why I decided to BYOD (bring your own device) and doing so I have had zero problems so far...It does seem that they are not a good place to buy the actual phone from...But as of now (2 weeks in) service has been great! I'll try to make an update in 6 months or so to let everybody know how it's going...
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