$9.98 Freedompop sim is currently an exclusive and ONLY AVAILABLE SHIPPED FROM WALMART. Item is not available at other retailers nor are they stocked in Walmart's own stores. Free Plan: 300 minutes, 1000 tests, and 100mb per month. Towers used: T-Mobile.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Freedo.../680827893
Note: This is different from the free plan listed at freedompop.com. That one consists of 10 minutes, 10 texts, 25mb data, and uses AT&T towers.
Before now, the biggest question to potential users was:
Is this sim just a starter kit for the new Freedompop Walmart $10 and $20 plans
OR
Is there really is a free plan consisting of 300/1000/100 every month?
We now know there is a free 300/1000/100 every month plan as there is a real person who has used the service for a month, renewed it for free, and then was given 300/1000/100 for the next month.
Although this free plan has only been available for slightly over a month, I will now try to respond to what I anticipate are the most likely comments based on what I believe is accurate as of December 2021. Credit to toejamfootballhegot and xtraterrestrial_Zoologist for posting their experiences with this new Freedompop free plan. Feel free to correct any inaccuracies, mention changes, provide updates, or add anything important regarding this deal to the WIKI.
Q: Why should I even consider Freedompop? They screwed me in the past.
A: Cuz we are all cheapskates? Seriously though, save yourself from potential aggravation if you are not comfortable dealing with the company. Just move on and ignore this thread. Should you decide to try Freedompop again, proceed with caution. Red Pocket are now the owners of Freedompop as they bought the company from STS Media in June of 2019. We shall see if they provide a better customer experience for Freedompop users.
Q: Tried Freedompop calling before. VOIP still sucks!
A: This is not VOIP. Native dialing. No Freedompop-specific dialer app required.
Q: Textnow has unlimited talk + text for free and now also uses T-Mobile towers. Plus, I have never been overcharged by them.
A: If VOIP works for you and do not mind the ads within the calling/texting app, then they are an option for free cell service.
Q: Should I decide to take a chance and order, What exactly would I be buying?
A: A sim card. Activate it, insert it into your compatible phone, and get 300 minutes, 1000 texts, and 100mb data for free every month.
Q: Any taxes on the initial Walmart order?
A: Your local taxes and a 911 fee will be added.
Q: Is this Freedompop's lifeline program that is only available to households with low income?
A: No.
Q: Is there an initial top-up required like the old Freedompop?
A: No.
Q: Is a credit card required?
A: Yes, as you need it to renew service every month.
Q: Are there automatic top-up's when I exceed the free amount of min/text/mb?
A: Looks like no. You need to call customer support to add them.
Q: What are the top-up options?
A:
Minutes Add-ons:
$2 for 100 minutes good for 30 days
$5 for 500 minutes good for 30 days
$10 for 1000 minutes good for 30 days
Messaging Add-ons:
$2 for 100 messages good for 30 days
$5 for 250 messages good for 30 days
$10 for 1000 messages good for 30 days
Data Add-ons:
$2 for 100 MB good for 30 days
$5 for 250 MB good for 30 days
$15 for 1 GB good for 30 days
Q: Will the plan renew automatically every month?
A: No. You need to login and renew manually with credit card when the plan expires every month.
Q: My account says "Your account is Active, and your next payment of $0.00 +tax is due in 5 days, on January 31, 2022. You have # minutes, # text messages and # MBs of data remaining." Can I renew early, or do I have to renew on January 31, 2022?
A: Users on the free plan who manually renew must wait until the accounts says "Airtime Expired" to renew. That would happen February 1, 2022.
Q: Do unused amounts (minutes, texts, data) carryover to the next month?
A: No.
Q: A Walmart store is nearby & I am not a Walmart+ subscriber. In addition, I am unwilling to pay extra for shipping or spend another $25 to reach free shipping.
A. Someone suggested ordering returnable junk to reach $35, get the sim, and then take the rest back to your local store for a refund???
Q: I do not want to bother if Freedompop is going to make changes in the future. Will this free plan last for a few years at least?
A: All I know is that as of now, this free monthly plan exists.
Q: How are minutes counted?
A: Rounded up to the next minute.
Q: What kind of phone do I need?
A: T-Mobile or unlocked.
Q: Since the amount of data included is almost negligible, I want to use an old POS of a phone and with this service and give it to someone who does not need data. Will that work?
A: Phones that work should be the same as any other T-Mobile mvno. Phones are supposed to be VOLTE-capable before T-Mobile activates the service. There however, have been people who suggests that activating the sim in a VOLTE phone first and then swapping the sim out to a non-VOLTE phone works. No harm in experimenting if using an obsolete phone is your goal.
Q: Does this service support WiFi Calling?
A: Believe you need to contact customer service for help to get that working.
Q: I emailed or asked Freedompop about this plan, and they are not giving me the same info as you. Why?
A: Unclear. Some people suspect that customer representatives have not been trained yet to answer questions correctly regarding this new plan. As of now, it is just users trying to figure this things out.
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That being said, I would not recommended the purchase of the sim if you do not plan on using it regularly. Fairly certain, the number would be gone if left dormant for months.
Still pretty questionable in my opinion, so...I'm in for 1! Don't really need it since i've still got 3 FreeUP lines that work fine, but I do like to tinker so I'll give it a shot.
and yes, I'm fully aware of the past issues with FP. I had probably 8 free lines and 1 of those 1gb/12 month paid plans. I played the game pretty well and only had 1 unexpected Top Up charge and since cancelling I've had no mystery charges, knock on wood...
About a week later after someone received and activated the sim, all signs seemed to point to the free plan being real.
30 days later after a successful renewal, the existence of a free plan consisting of 300/1000/100 each month was confirmed.
Previously the description on Walmart.com was vague. Now it explicitly says "FreedomPop's free plan is truly free. Pay $0.00 per month and get 300 minutes, 100 texts, and 100 MB of data."
Minutes Add-ons:
$2 for 100 minutes good for 30 days
$5 for 500 minutes good for 30 days
$10 for 1000 minutes good for 30 days
Messaging Add-ons:
$2 for 100 messages good for 30 days
$5 for 250 messages good for 30 days
$10 for 1000 messages good for 30 days
Data Add-ons:
$2 for 100 MB good for 30 days
$5 for 250 MB good for 30 days
$15 for 1 GB good for 30 days
Free 300 min, 1000 texts, 100mb Every Month.
Later they would cut it down in half.
Later they would require people to pay a fee to keep the number.
Later they would require people to setup auto top up.
Later they would sell the computer to another company.
Later they would repeat all the steps above again.
I still wonder why the FCC hasn't touched them yet?
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Has anyone had any success using this SIM card in a mobile hotspot device like the T-Mobile T9 (Franklin Wireless R717)?
Thanks!
Has anyone had any success using this SIM card in a mobile hotspot device like the T-Mobile T9 (Franklin Wireless R717)?
Thanks!
That being said, the Freedompop sim will not work reliably on non-VoLTE devices. You might be able to use no-VoLTE hardware initially if lucky. However maybe within days or so, there would be no connection.
RENEWING THE FREE PLAN - UPDATE
Instead of manually renewing the free plan OR adding a credit card to see if it auto-renews, people are testing out what happens if they do nothing. Some have reported success with the caveat that service is lost for a half day or more. In exchange though, they do benefit by never having to input a credit card. Right now, I would say this procedure of renewing by doing nothing is YMMV until this can be duplicated by more people and is done more than once on that account.
Free 300 min, 1000 texts, 100mb Every Month.
Later they would cut it down in half.
Later they would require people to pay a fee to keep the number.
Later they would require people to setup auto top up.
Later they would sell the computer to another company.
Later they would repeat all the steps above again.
I still wonder why the FCC hasn't touched them yet?
Ringplus was exactly the same. Yet there are tons of SDers who still to this day defend RP and how they made out like bandits using their service. Most people got screwed.
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Add credit card info to activate recurring subscription at no charge."
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