Slickdeals is community-supported.  We may get paid by brands for deals, including promoted items.
frontpage Posted by WackyP • Jan 31, 2025
frontpage Posted by WackyP • Jan 31, 2025

Helium Mobile Zero Plan w/ 100 Minutes Talk, 300 Texts + 3GB Data Per Month

(ID Verification & Location Sharing Req.)

Free

594 Comments 298,620 Views
Get Deal at Retailer
Good Deal
Save
Share
Deal Details
Helium Mobile has Helium Mobile Zero Plan w/ 100 Minutes Talk, 300 Texts & 3GB of Data (per month) for Free when you Bring Your Own Device and follow the instructions below by using code BREAKFREE at signup.

Thanks to community member WackyP for finding this deal.

Deal Instructions:
  1. An unlocked T-Mobile-compatible device is required.
  2. Download the Helium Mobile app (Android / iOS)
  3. Open the app and when prompted, enter invite-only code BREAKFREE
  4. Proceed through the setup process by proving the following details:
    • Valid email address
    • Your name, home address and date of birth
    • Complete the identity security check using a valid government-issued ID (i.e. a driver's license) and taking a 'selfie' photo.
  5. No credit card or other payment info is required for this free plan.
  6. You may select eSIM or physical SIM card activation (SIM card ships free).
  7. Your monthly Zero Plan w/ 100 talk minutes, 300 texts and 3GB of data will be Free

How is Helium Mobile able to offer a free phone plan? (source)
  • "Helium Mobile's free plan is made possible with its community-built network, a new type of infrastructure that is less expensive than legacy carriers. In exchange for the free plan, you'll share your anonymized location data, enabling the community to create coverage where it's most needed."
Plan Features (per month):
  • 100 minutes talk
  • 300 texts
  • 3GB of high-speed data (4G LTE/5G)
    • Note: hotspot data is not available on the free Zero plan.
  • No credit card needed
  • You may port your existing number to Helium Mobile if desired
  • Earn Rewards with Cloud Points
    • Redeem points for gift cards to travel, dining, and other experiences.
  • Helium Mobile operates on the T-Mobile network

Editor's Notes

Written by RevOne | Staff
  • Click here to read the Frequently Asked Questions page for more details.
  • Please see the original post for additional details & give the WIKI and additional forum comments a read for helpful discussion.

Original Post

Written by WackyP
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
Helium Mobile has Helium Mobile Zero Plan w/ 100 Minutes Talk, 300 Texts & 3GB of Data (per month) for Free when you Bring Your Own Device and follow the instructions below by using code BREAKFREE at signup.

Thanks to community member WackyP for finding this deal.

Deal Instructions:
  1. An unlocked T-Mobile-compatible device is required.
  2. Download the Helium Mobile app (Android / iOS)
  3. Open the app and when prompted, enter invite-only code BREAKFREE
  4. Proceed through the setup process by proving the following details:
    • Valid email address
    • Your name, home address and date of birth
    • Complete the identity security check using a valid government-issued ID (i.e. a driver's license) and taking a 'selfie' photo.
  5. No credit card or other payment info is required for this free plan.
  6. You may select eSIM or physical SIM card activation (SIM card ships free).
  7. Your monthly Zero Plan w/ 100 talk minutes, 300 texts and 3GB of data will be Free

How is Helium Mobile able to offer a free phone plan? (source)
  • "Helium Mobile's free plan is made possible with its community-built network, a new type of infrastructure that is less expensive than legacy carriers. In exchange for the free plan, you'll share your anonymized location data, enabling the community to create coverage where it's most needed."
Plan Features (per month):
  • 100 minutes talk
  • 300 texts
  • 3GB of high-speed data (4G LTE/5G)
    • Note: hotspot data is not available on the free Zero plan.
  • No credit card needed
  • You may port your existing number to Helium Mobile if desired
  • Earn Rewards with Cloud Points
    • Redeem points for gift cards to travel, dining, and other experiences.
  • Helium Mobile operates on the T-Mobile network

Editor's Notes

Written by RevOne | Staff
  • Click here to read the Frequently Asked Questions page for more details.
  • Please see the original post for additional details & give the WIKI and additional forum comments a read for helpful discussion.

Original Post

Written by WackyP

Community Voting

Deal Score
+219
Good Deal
Get Deal at Retailer
Leave a Comment
To participate in the comments, please log in.

Top Comments

If someone asked me how to make a free mobile data plan, my very first thought would be "control its DNS, packet-inspect everything on my network so I can tell who's doing what, sell that info to data brokers, advertisers, marketing agencies, etc., and insert enough legalese to my long-AF-that-nobody-reads-it terms of service that it's totally OK for me to do that." Classic case of "if it's free, it's because you are the product."

If you think I'm joking, check your own current paid ISP plan's terms of service. Non-trivial probability they're already doing similar to you, at least if you're not protected by something like the EU's GDPR.

Is that what's going on here, or is their business model different somehow?
Right now their 20$ a month plan turns out to cost a couple of dollars a month if you opt in to their location tracking. They are trying to build a network of hotpots to fill in what traditional cell towers miss. Turn on tracking and they map whenever they hit one of their hotspots. Then they try to get new ones in empty areas.

Anyways...So they will pay you in their crypto token., Which they then accept as payment.Or you can sell yourself. Im assuming they are going to expand on this somehow.

Also a while back they were talking about another app that carriers were going to opt into that allows people to use each others phones a a hotspot for a small fee.
Just a guess but maybe something with this as well.

They are not the only company going this way there are going to be some announcements very soon of others going this path
I gave them my email address for spam, so we'll see. Right now it looks like they just offer one plan -- $20/mo for unlimited.

594 Comments

Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.

Feb 2, 2025
167 Posts
Joined Jun 2011
Feb 2, 2025
CheapBasturd
Feb 2, 2025
167 Posts
I help run the network, too bad they don't offer free service to use lol
Feb 3, 2025
8 Posts
Joined Jul 2021
Feb 3, 2025
HappyGalley7065
Feb 3, 2025
8 Posts
I've been using Helium for about two years at this point. Works great. Paid for a year of unlimited everything for about $75.

It always seemed way to good to be true, but so far so good. I know their whole business model is questionable, but I'll take advantage of it as long as I can.

The only two complaints: 1. the app is pure garbage and not at all intuitive. 2. You don't get priority access, so if you go to a place with a bunch of people (sporting event), you might not get the same quality of service.
Feb 3, 2025
90 Posts
Joined Sep 2015
Feb 3, 2025
mikeydread
Feb 3, 2025
90 Posts
I've had Helium Mobile since the beginning. I have 5 lines all with unlimited talk, text and data. 4 of the lines are $5 a month and the 5th is $20 a month because I added it later after the $5 promotion. I've had a very positive experience with Helium. They use T Mobile towers and my service and data speed has been just as good as my previous ATT and Verizon plans. They have an option where you can do mapping where you earn rewards which they pay in Helium cryptocurrency. You then can use the crypto to prepay your phone service and they also have a store where you can buy pixel phones, indoor and outdoor helium hotspots that earn more rewards. Last year I earned enough rewards to purchase a Pixel 7 pro, Pixel 8 pro, 3 helium indoor hotspots and 1 helium outdoor hotspot. The customer service is good too. I bought my daughter a iPhone 16 pro for Christmas and submitted a ticket and they had the service switched in about 2 hours. I really love my Helium Mobile service and grateful that I can give the big cell providers the middle finger for all the years they charged me exorbitantly.
Pro
Feb 3, 2025
1,509 Posts
Joined Jul 2009
Feb 3, 2025
paliknight
Pro
Feb 3, 2025
1,509 Posts
Quote from lizard5102 :
Good point. Would using Cloudflare as the DNS, or better yet, hosting your own DNS using a Raspberry-pi that does authoritative lookups work around that?
I ask because I already do that to block ads/tracking using AdGuardHome DNS server running locally on my network. I have set my Android Private DNS under settings -> Network & Internet to use that all the time via DoT (DNS over TLS); so I never use the ISP DNS at all. My home router is set to use that as the DNS server (so all devices on my local network, including TVs, go through that). I have also configured all Google Home / Nest devices at home to not use GoogleDNS in the app settings.

I know 99.9% of the people will not go to this length, but curious if that atleast reduces the concern of your data being used for something like this. Eventually I understand that the ISP can sniff anyway, but most websites today use HTTPS and TLS, so nearly everything is encrypted to the point where that sniffing will be not-so-useful for the ISP.
So really, the most useful data is location information that they can easily get by triangulating towers; and I admit that would still be very valuable data to sell.

TLS encryption begins after you connect to the server so they will still be able to see what websites you visit, from where and when.
2
Feb 3, 2025
1,022 Posts
Joined Feb 2023
Feb 3, 2025
oasisallure
Feb 3, 2025
1,022 Posts
Quote from mikeydread :
I've had Helium Mobile since the beginning. I have 5 lines all with unlimited talk, text and data. 4 of the lines are $5 a month and the 5th is $20 a month because I added it later after the $5 promotion. I've had a very positive experience with Helium. They use T Mobile towers and my service and data speed has been just as good as my previous ATT and Verizon plans. They have an option where you can do mapping where you earn rewards which they pay in Helium cryptocurrency. You then can use the crypto to prepay your phone service and they also have a store where you can buy pixel phones, indoor and outdoor helium hotspots that earn more rewards. Last year I earned enough rewards to purchase a Pixel 7 pro, Pixel 8 pro, 3 helium indoor hotspots and 1 helium outdoor hotspot. The customer service is good too. I bought my daughter a iPhone 16 pro for Christmas and submitted a ticket and they had the service switched in about 2 hours. I really love my Helium Mobile service and grateful that I can give the big cell providers the middle finger for all the years they charged me exorbitantly.

did you earn lots of rewards by phone or hotspots?
Feb 3, 2025
259 Posts
Joined Mar 2016
Feb 3, 2025
greenhandle
Feb 3, 2025
259 Posts
Quote from washerebefore :
freeup is no longer available but if you signed up AT&T kept the service up but stop offering it many years ago, more than 5 yrs ago I think by now..
Just to clarify: FreeUp is very much still in business: it's just the free plan that isn't available anymore (and hasn't been for several years).
Feb 3, 2025
852 Posts
Joined May 2010
Feb 3, 2025
bikerbandito
Feb 3, 2025
852 Posts

Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank bikerbandito

I have been using Helium for a few months. No complaints except when I'm in NYC where my data slows to an unusable level. Totally fine everywhere outside of that city for some reason. Mapping does have a noticeable effect on battery, but significantly reduces monthly bill. All in all I'm happy enough but I may ditch it due to my NYC issues.
1

Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.

Feb 3, 2025
259 Posts
Joined Mar 2016
Feb 3, 2025
greenhandle
Feb 3, 2025
259 Posts
Quote from amorde :
They're a little better than those. No ads and they're well funded. https://www.finsmes.com/2022/03/n...llion.html
Well, FreedomPop was pretty well funded in the early days, too.
Feb 3, 2025
837 Posts
Joined Nov 2004
Feb 3, 2025
lizard5102
Feb 3, 2025
837 Posts
Quote from Hudsnhawke :
I have one Nest is this difficult to do to set my nest to not use Google DNS ?
Much appreciated.
I also have an ecobee as well but am not sure if that also has something similar?
Nest Router, by default, uses the DNS of whatever ISP you connect with. It does not connect to Google DNS automatically.
Other Nest Devices, such as the Nest Home and their smart speakers by default uses Google DNS, and you have to change that in the Google Home App.
Feb 3, 2025
56 Posts
Joined May 2014
Feb 3, 2025
chasemee
Feb 3, 2025
56 Posts
Quote from NavyMint1272 :
Packet inspection wouldn't net a lot - any time you use an https website (which should be just about every website nowadays) your data is encrypted between your device and the website provider. In order for this to work as you described, they'd have to act as a man in the middle, meaning they make the connection to the website and you make the connection to them and whatever device you're using would have to have their certificate trusted. Doable if they control the device but then they'd need a lot of bandwidth and processing power to do this and figure out what data to pull. This would also be a huge security concern because they would be able to see any password you typed in to a website. DNS would work but I'm not sure they could make enough money to make it worthwhile.
this was like back in the day, where I used to earn credit on FON with a fonera router... and most recent relevant comparison for self is to the dishwireless that became boostmobile infinite -> boostmobile...
Feb 3, 2025
392 Posts
Joined Oct 2022
Feb 3, 2025
NeatCable281
Feb 3, 2025
392 Posts
Ever since the $5 Hello Mobile plan died after they got bought out been looking for something else
Feb 3, 2025
1,905 Posts
Joined Oct 2013
Feb 3, 2025
audioClover
Feb 3, 2025
1,905 Posts
Quote from MusicShark :
This company has very questionable practices.
Like what? Helium has been great for me the past year. Love not having a phone bill and the service works great.
Feb 3, 2025
1,905 Posts
Joined Oct 2013
Feb 3, 2025
audioClover
Feb 3, 2025
1,905 Posts
Wow there are a lot of people in this thread that have no idea how Helium works and have never used it before, spewing what they think is knowledge. Unreal.
Feb 3, 2025
426 Posts
Joined Dec 2006
Feb 3, 2025
max-a-mill
Feb 3, 2025
426 Posts
Quote from tedcruz :
I had it for 2 years IIRC. Saved $400.
agreed! ringplus was awesome except the service was sprint. but for free it was acceptable service.
Last edited by max-a-mill February 3, 2025 at 12:05 PM.

Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.

Feb 3, 2025
210 Posts
Joined Dec 2019
Feb 3, 2025
Satoshi_N
Feb 3, 2025
210 Posts
Quote from audioClover :
Like what? Helium has been great for me the past year. Love not having a phone bill and the service works great.
helium is great. I love the 2 - 3$ phone bill and 5g speeds faster than my old provider
people seem to know a lot about something they never tried

Related Searches

Popular Deals

View All

Trending Deals

View All