Slickdeals is community-supported.  We may get paid by brands for deals, including promoted items.
expiredWackyP posted Dec 31, 2021 04:36 PM
expiredWackyP posted Dec 31, 2021 04:36 PM

FYI - Freedompop: Buy Sim for $9.98 and Get Free 300 min, 1000 texts, 100mb Every Month

Walmart
69 Comments 20,552 Views
Visit Walmart
Good Deal
Save
Share
Deal Details
$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.
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
$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.

Community Voting

Deal Score
-15
Good Deal
Visit Walmart

Leave a Comment

Unregistered (You)

70 Comments

Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.

May 31, 2022 06:05 PM
1,104 Posts
Joined Dec 2009
PriapisXMay 31, 2022 06:05 PM
1,104 Posts
I had this. Got it for an emergency phone. Forgot to use my phone for a few weeks. Now, my account has been permanently canceled, cannot restart, cannot port the number. Frustrating.
May 31, 2022 06:25 PM
4,204 Posts
Joined Jan 2012
RedElmoMay 31, 2022 06:25 PM
4,204 Posts
Quote from PriapisX :
I had this. Got it for an emergency phone. Forgot to use my phone for a few weeks. Now, my account has been permanently canceled, cannot restart, cannot port the number. Frustrating.
Wait. So it needs to be used once a month to keep it active?

I'm waiting for my sim card to be shipped to be. Slow shipping. Won't arrive for another 10 days. June 10th.
May 31, 2022 06:26 PM
1,104 Posts
Joined Dec 2009
PriapisXMay 31, 2022 06:26 PM
1,104 Posts
Quote from RedElmo :
Wait. So it needs to be used once a month to keep it active?
Apparently so. Zero recourse if you don't. Number is completely lost, account is completely locked.
May 31, 2022 06:28 PM
4,204 Posts
Joined Jan 2012
RedElmoMay 31, 2022 06:28 PM
4,204 Posts
Quote from PriapisX :
Apparently so. Zero recourse if you don't. Number is completely lost, account is completely locked.
Thanks for the heads up. I too was going to put it in a spare phone that I have. Learning more about it before I get the SIM card.
Jun 01, 2022 12:04 AM
1,419 Posts
Joined Apr 2008
jimatesJun 01, 2022 12:04 AM
1,419 Posts
Quote from RedElmo :
How did you get it to auto renew? Did you set up auto renew manually?
Last month when I activated thd sim it asked about auto renew. I assumed it wouldn't auto renew based on the info from others comments.

I found the email I received when I signed up.
This was the message
Your FreedomPop number xxxxxxxxxx has been subscribed for 30 Day- 300 Minutes, 1000 Messages, 100MB Data $0.00 - GSMT recurring payments.
Last edited by jimates June 2, 2022 at 05:30 AM.
Jun 09, 2022 05:26 AM
4,204 Posts
Joined Jan 2012
RedElmoJun 09, 2022 05:26 AM
4,204 Posts
I just got my SIM card and activated it today. So seems like there is $0.30 tax each month? Is that right?

And now the question. When do i renew the plan. My renew date is 07/08/2022. Do I renew a day before. The day of. Or day after?


Is there a way to change the caller ID associated with the number they assigned me? It's a random name.
Jul 17, 2022 12:44 AM
7,980 Posts
Joined Aug 2011
johnnybladesJul 17, 2022 12:44 AM
7,980 Posts
so just an update. i've now got 4 of these plans for about 6 months and they all renew each month automatically and i've never had a random charge on credit card. i live in MN and have never had any monthly tax fee either. pretty slick
Last edited by johnnyblades July 16, 2022 at 05:46 PM.

Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.

Aug 03, 2022 11:49 PM
4,567 Posts
Joined Aug 2007
pug_sterAug 03, 2022 11:49 PM
4,567 Posts
https://www.nena.org/page/911ratebystate

Apparently, depending which state you live, you will have to pay monthly 911 fees for your prepaid service. I live in NY state so it cost $1.20 per month. I managed to evade it by creating a virtual credit card in privacy.com. I put my relative's address as the billing address somewhere in Washington DC which the fees is 2% of 0 = 0. Good thing about privacy.com virtual credit card is that you can put a spending limit and it expires in 6 years. I ported one of my phone numbers out which I don't use in cricket and it worked.
Aug 03, 2022 11:58 PM
7,712 Posts
Joined Nov 2010
MusicSharkAug 03, 2022 11:58 PM
7,712 Posts
Quote from jimates :
Last month when I activated thd sim it asked about auto renew. I assumed it wouldn't auto renew based on the info from others comments.

I found the email I received when I signed up.
This was the message
Your FreedomPop number xxxxxxxxxx has been subscribed for 30 Day- 300 Minutes, 1000 Messages, 100MB Data $0.00 - GSMT recurring payments.
Quote from johnnyblades :
so just an update. i've now got 4 of these plans for about 6 months and they all renew each month automatically and i've never had a random charge on credit card. i live in MN and have never had any monthly tax fee either. pretty slick
So it doesn't require to install app to make phone call?
Aug 04, 2022 04:23 AM
7,980 Posts
Joined Aug 2011
johnnybladesAug 04, 2022 04:23 AM
7,980 Posts
Quote from MusicShark :
So it doesn't require to install app to make phone call?
no app required
Aug 09, 2022 12:26 AM
7,712 Posts
Joined Nov 2010
MusicSharkAug 09, 2022 12:26 AM
7,712 Posts
Quote from johnnyblades :
no app required
So you need to add payment method on fp account to use the $10 sim card?

You also have to manually renew each month?
Aug 11, 2022 04:43 AM
7,980 Posts
Joined Aug 2011
johnnybladesAug 11, 2022 04:43 AM
7,980 Posts
Quote from MusicShark :
So you need to add payment method on fp account to use the $10 sim card?

You also have to manually renew each month?
need to add payment method but don't need to renew each month. that's my experience for about 6 months. no mystery charges yet. i have 4 plans on my account.
Aug 17, 2022 11:51 PM
4,567 Posts
Joined Aug 2007
pug_sterAug 17, 2022 11:51 PM
4,567 Posts
https://www.redpocket.com/shop/plans

The reddit forums said that you can buy the GSMT sim card from Redpocket for $5 and not pay $10 for the sim card from Walmart. Just in case if you want to buy this without the $35 requirement from Walmart.
2
Sep 10, 2022 07:00 PM
235 Posts
Joined Aug 2009
HarviSep 10, 2022 07:00 PM
235 Posts
FYI - I got the red pocket GSMT and monthly 0, prompt customer service for $0. Beats tracfone (and their useless website/CS) for an emergency line!

Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.

Sep 10, 2022 07:23 PM
713 Posts
Joined Jul 2004
VreebieZSep 10, 2022 07:23 PM
713 Posts
Yyyea.. I'm not gonna risk it for 100megs.
For 500megs, maybe I'll give it another chance because RP bought them (or the name).
Assuming they fired all scammers who designed the previous business strategy. Those scammers need a punch in the face instead of slap on the wrist.

Leave a Comment

Unregistered (You)

Related Searches

Popular Deals

Trending Deals