Got a few Ring+ phone sitting around. I tried to sell on fleabay but can’t get good enough price to worth my trouble so I’m trying to find creative use for them. one of being a music player @ work. The problem is work had blocked all streaming sites, even on so called “guest” network. So either I have to use bandwidth or find some kind of free VPN.
I learned just recently that Freedompop is on Sprint network so these phone should work. If I can get 500mb/month free then it should be enough to act as a streaming music player. So, what’s the catch with Freedompop? I’ll probably not use the phone # at all.
My tmobile phone is WINDOWS based, so no app usage.
I want a CHEAP (or free) data plan for another ANDROID-based phone, so I can use apps for shopping and other things - like Kohls, mcdonalds, smoothie king…
from what I had read on FW, I thought freedom pop allowed for near free data usage…
So any help with getting and using freedom pop, without running into being nickel and dimed to death, would be appreciated!
Well, from what I hear, support is terrible but then you get what you paid for. They are on Sprint network which is probably similar or slightly better than T-Mobile.
I got a few old android phone on Sprint network so if you are interested, let me know.
Support is terrible, unless you stumble into the right places - they have a support forum, where I’ve gotten decent help from what appeared to be FP affiliated mods, although the format doesnt feel like “official” customer support.
I got a couple phones from them ($29.99 specials, which are decent, if older models) - first, because I needed an mp3 replacement and figured free cell service would be a bonus, and the second because the first worked well so I leave it in the other car in case it’s needed.
The biggest “catch” thus far (6+months of service) has been that not making an actual phone call for a couple months results in the account being deactivated. Which is easily handled by calling yourself once/month (or manually reactivating online if you forget). That, and if you start with a free trial, you need to make two changes - one to downgrade the service plan, the other to downgrade the “premium talk” feature - to get to actual free service after the trial period. When you change one, it isnt obvious that you need to change the other as well, until you get billed the following month.
Otherwise, it is truly free service with no nickle and diming. If you need a phone, sign up on their web site and wait for a promotional email offering some model of refurbished phone for $29.99.
[quote=“StatGren, post:5, topic:2051”]
My FreedomPop service operates on AT&T. [This is not to be construed as a recommendation]
[/quote]How did you acquire your phone, unlocked or was it an ATT phone?
It was an iPhone that had been on AT&T and was now unlocked.
It has an Intel modem in it, which can only do GSM.
I believe FP’s use of AT&T’s LTE network is relatively new. If you are careful and wise to their business tactics, it costs you less than a dollar to try it for a month.
It is definitely not free if you use them a lot. However, if you are not a heavy user, it can be free and cheaper than other plans I know of.
For instance, if you use landlines for most calls, and a computer for most internet, they can be a great deal.
As was pointed out you may get a phone at a good price, and this may be nice if it is to be used for other than lots of calls and network use. For instance one can be used as a WiFi call placer, book player, GPS, game player, or as a safety device in car (try to be sure that if stolen it cannot be used to run up a high bill).
However, they are very tricky on billing. For instance, a on link link to down grade looks like you can do it any time on line, but I found when clicked on it, it just gave a number to call, which proved to be a business hours only one (and this was a start of a three day weekend). While with arguing I got the charge reversed. Free advice is to down grade early rather than waiting for the last minute.
Wife ended up with significant charges by getting a device and not bothering with the fine print.
To be clear, I would not use FreedomPop for a phone I carry with me as a primary means of communication. And of course, if your usage exceeds the parameters of the free plan, it will not be free. But within the 200/500/500mb limits of the free plan, it is a truly free plan.
I’m extremely cheap, so I do in fact use FreedomPop for my primary phone. I’m paying $19.99 for unlimited talk and text and 5GB LTE data on AT&T’s network (six month plan paid in advance). They also have 2GB/mo for $11.99 paid a year in advance, for example. No one else can touch that price point.
Having said that, I do not recommend FP for the faint of heart. I find their business model to be based on trickery and traps.
Well, i went to their BYOD page and put my Sprint (Ring+) phone’s IMEI in there and it just puked.
All these phone’s IMEI starts with 99- and I can’t even find a place on ebay that will unlock them. bummer.
ETA. I tried to search why the 99----- IMEI is so special but except some sites that states DON’T TRY UNLOCK CODE on them but fail to mention why I find nothing. Ok, it’s driving me nut not able to get an answer on the interwub.
I currently have two Android handsets on FP that had previously been on RingPlus.
(Both have MEIDs starting with 35…) They were prepaid Sprint or Sprint MVNO handsets purchased new in stores and never turned on until their RP accounts were set up. When they were turned on, Ringplus captured the account instead of the intended carrier. Also, they had been “whitelisted” by Sprint. Neither RP or FP required new SIM cards - the handset’s original card was fine.
I signed up for Freedompop’s free month trial and after four weeks downgraded to their free plan. For my Sprint handsets that’s 200 minutes of VOIP calling, 500 texts, and 500MB of 4G LTE data (not tetherable on the free plan). Data is throttled to 1Mbps, good enough for Google maps and music streaming in the car.
I paid $5 to prevent automatic topup and have not paid a cent since then. FP has a habit of “expiring” that $5 credit after 31 days, so I just log into my account and “reinstate” it. (I put a reminder in my phone’s calendar.)
If you’re doing BYOD, you must have an iOS or Android handset because you have to use their dialer/SMS app instead of the stock one.
Yes, there’s a bunch of hoops to jump through for free service, but if you have decent Sprint network service, why not try it?
Would this be the kind of thing to keep a spare iPhone active? For backup purposes? Or better to just add a line during a free t mobile promo to existing?
Hmm, it depends. I think Freedompop makes sense if you intend to use the phone. Otherwise, you may forget to do the monthly “housekeeping” to keep the account free. Also, if your iPhone was on a GSM network, you’ll want to get FP’s AT&T GSM SIM, as mentioned at the “FP For Dummies” website. That free service comes with only 200MB of free data per month and (I believe) uses the AT&T network instead of Sprint.
This is not correct. I have an unlocked GSM iPhone originally purchased from AT&T that was locked originally, and then unlocked. I am using it with FreedomPop service now on the AT&T network. You should, however, but the SIM from them because, well, it costs less than a dollar.
I tried to see if my ring+ phone can work as BYOB Freedompop didn’t like the IMEI and pop up a message to call them instead… not sure if this is worth the effort.