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FreedomPop: Activation for BYOD + Unlimited Talk & Text + 1GB Data Expired
Free
FreedomPop is offering Activation for Bring Your Own Device w/ Unlimited Talk & Text + 1GB Data for Free. Thanks Naoautorizada
Note, you will need to enter your address & your phone's MEID to check compatibility w/ FreedomPop.
Note, you will need to enter your address & your phone's MEID to check compatibility w/ FreedomPop.
Editor's Notes & Price Research
Written by
A temporary pre-authorization charge may appear on your card. You may also optionally pay a one-time $5 fee to disable automatic top off to avoid overage charges. Refer to the forum thread for much more information about this offer. -johnny_miller
Original Post
Written by
Edited February 10, 2017
at 04:17 PM
To keep your Ringplus phone from becoming instantly obsolete without having to pay recurring charges and no calling requirements:,
http://www.freedompop.
READ AND FOLLOW this series of steps for EACH individual phone you want to save.
Do not skip any steps, do not execute out of order, do not hesitate but also do not panic, do not re-use any steps from this or any other previous Freedompop activation.
NOTE: This will NOT save your Ringplus number OR your top off there. The following instructions just keep your phone alive and provides continuing service without cost as you exit the sinking ship.
1. First swap out your the MEID (IMEI - last digit) of your R+ phone with a dummy, or just CANCEL the R+ line altogether
. . . (If you have to cancel, screenshot the R+ screen showing any remaining balance. You can use this to chargeback those funds, in some cases no matter long ago they were initiated.)
2. Create single use VCC with value of $35 (will cover $27.50 pre-auth and $5 charge referenced below) with BoA, Citi, privacy.com, Kroger Visa/Mastercard money card, whatever
Then the usual procedure applies...
1. Register with FP, using NEW email address and VCC from BoA, Citi, privacy.com, Kroger Visa/Mastercard money card, whatever
2. Downgrade both PLAN and SERVICES (Including Premium Voice)
3. Turn auto top off OFF (will require that you allow them to take $5 from you to add to top up) to avoid being charged top off or being cancelled for overages in the future
Optional: Add "Freedompop Friends" to bring your free minutes and data allocation up to something useful.
Feel free to continue to use your phone, knowing that if you exceed your allocation your phone service will simply stop working until you add money or next month's allocation kicks in.
http://www.freedompop.
READ AND FOLLOW this series of steps for EACH individual phone you want to save.
Do not skip any steps, do not execute out of order, do not hesitate but also do not panic, do not re-use any steps from this or any other previous Freedompop activation.
NOTE: This will NOT save your Ringplus number OR your top off there. The following instructions just keep your phone alive and provides continuing service without cost as you exit the sinking ship.
1. First swap out your the MEID (IMEI - last digit) of your R+ phone with a dummy, or just CANCEL the R+ line altogether
. . . (If you have to cancel, screenshot the R+ screen showing any remaining balance. You can use this to chargeback those funds, in some cases no matter long ago they were initiated.)
2. Create single use VCC with value of $35 (will cover $27.50 pre-auth and $5 charge referenced below) with BoA, Citi, privacy.com, Kroger Visa/Mastercard money card, whatever
Then the usual procedure applies...
1. Register with FP, using NEW email address and VCC from BoA, Citi, privacy.com, Kroger Visa/Mastercard money card, whatever
2. Downgrade both PLAN and SERVICES (Including Premium Voice)
3. Turn auto top off OFF (will require that you allow them to take $5 from you to add to top up) to avoid being charged top off or being cancelled for overages in the future
Optional: Add "Freedompop Friends" to bring your free minutes and data allocation up to something useful.
Feel free to continue to use your phone, knowing that if you exceed your allocation your phone service will simply stop working until you add money or next month's allocation kicks in.
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Community Wiki
Last Edited by ultrasoul
May 1, 2017
at
11:05 AM
NEW $0.99 BYOD Sprint Activation Promo
Link [freedompop.com]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This isn't a traditional voice/text/data plan. Voice service and texts are provided VOIP over the data network using the FreedomPop app, not over the traditional voice network like other cell carriers.
FP's so called voice and text service is actually uses data thru VOIP and you have to use their battery hogging VOIP app. Their VOIP plan is only 200 minutes and 500 texts. There are better VOIP providers such as Google's Hangouts app+ free Google voice service for unlimited talk + text VOIP services. Like FP's VOIP service, Google voice VOIP assigns you a number.
If you are using the phone in areas with poor data service, it will have poor voice service. You can alternatively use Google Voice (or other services). GVoice users: Your proxy is international so make sure you dial (+1) first.
----------
Do I need a SIM card?
Most CDMA phones do not need a SIM card. However, the newer ones and especially the GSM/ combo phones like Nexus, Moto G4/ G5, iPhone 6/ 6S/ SE/ 7 (only Verizon/ Sprint models) do need a Sprint SIM card to have CDMA service. You can buy a Sprint SIM card for $2.99- https://shop.sprint.com/mysprint/...=105500049
Can I add this to an existing account?
No, this is only for new accounts going through this BYOD Promotion. Log out of your current FP account and create a new FP account. If you have a gmail, adding a period makes it a 'new' email address in FP systems- i.e. [email protected] qualifies as a different FP account from [email protected]
Any cost to activate my phone?
BYOD activation normally costs $20, but this fee has been reduced to $0.99 for this promotion.
Any monthly charge?
If you choose to remain on the Unlimited Talk, Text, & 1GB data plan upon the expiration of your ONE month free trial then there with be a recurring $24.99/mo fee. There will also be a $7.99/mo fee if you choose to also remain on the Premium Plus add-on service after your FIRST month's initial free trial.
Do ALL THREE to get free service (but make sure your SIM is activated properly before downgrading):
Plan: Change to Free Basic Plan [freedompop.com]
Services: Downgrade from Premier [freedompop.com]
Confirm: Downgrade AGAIN [freedompop.com]
Important Note: Not following the confirm step can lead to a $7.99 charge. There is a web glitch that makes it sort of difficult to fully remove the Premier feature. See matt314159's post here for additional instructions on how to ensure it's really gone
How do I ensure I don't get charged at all? Nothing as in NADA!
Can I keep my current phone number?
Yes, you can Port your existing phone number over to FreedomPop for a one-time charge of $9.99.
Have an Account or Billing Issue?
We encourage all our users to come to us first to see if we can explain any charge or resolve any billing issue before further escalation.
Customer Support:
You can contact us at http://www.freedompop.
This deal is for service on Sprint's network
APN settings:
APN: n.f6.ispsn
MMSC: http://mms.sprintpcs.c
MMS proxy: 68.28.31.7
MMS port: 80
MCC: 310
MNC: 120
APN type: default,mms,supl,hipri
APN Protocol & APN Roaming Protocol: IPv4/ IPV6
Bearer: Unspecified
9. Is this a scam? Is FP business model commercially viable? What if they go bankrupt or shutdown like RingPlus?
Although Freedompop's conversion rate from free to paying customers is in the high double digits, the revenue is not enough to sustain their expenses, especially with the upfront costly expansions to Spain, UK, and Mexico (not to mention the "free" 8GB microSD cards and selfie sticks for US customers). What is keeping the FP afloat and expanding is VC and strategic funding- over $109M to date. FP is now trying to monetize its upsell platform, resulting in its first licensing revenue agreement with Hutchinson Wind.
Had the RingPlus ringback advoice model been successful- RingPlus could have made a similar play on licensing. However, RP never attracted any major VC capital and seed investment not to mention RingPlus's Karl Seelig doesn't have the VC/ M&A connections or the fame like FP's founders Stephen Stokol/ Niklas zennström. Therefore the RingPlus gravy train ended the way it was.
If you look at FP founders' Stokol's/ Zennstrom's history and background, the playbook of FP is pretty clear. Build a large sub customer base (whether of not these are active or not) at the lowest cost (cheap sim cards with free gifts like microSD cards or selfie sticks) and then sell the company for a tidy billion dollar plus valuation.
Yes FP losses are in the low millions annually but they have $100M in raised capital so they can afford to run at a loss for many more years. Each time they ship a package with the SIM card it costs them around $8 - $10 in 3rd party logistics fulfillment and shipping costs, not to factor in the costs of the free gifts. There's no way $0.99 or $0.01 cost to you or me covers those costs.
This is called "new customer acquisition" costs in finance. This is no different from Snapchat which has been running $400M - $600M in losses every year but can afford to do so thanks to their $2.7B war chest raised thus far prior to its IPO.
FP's most recent international expansion efforts will be less a drag on profitability as these expansion expenses will shared with their partners (Dish Mexico for the Mexican expansion, Axiata for later Asian expansion) unlike their UK and Spain expansion.
With regards to return on investment for investors, the question is not whether it will happen but when and how much of a price Freedompop will fetch. There were already serious acquisition talks with Intel which fell through a year ago. M&A and VC activity is already starting to pick up in the US and around the world given the low interest envionment so I wouldn't be surprised that some telco/ technology company (a la Microsoft's $8.5B purchase of Skype)/ VC fund (a la Masayoshi Son's SoftBank $100B Vision Fund) would pick up Freedompop for several hundreds of millions of dollars.
Link [freedompop.com]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This isn't a traditional voice/text/data plan. Voice service and texts are provided VOIP over the data network using the FreedomPop app, not over the traditional voice network like other cell carriers.
FP's so called voice and text service is actually uses data thru VOIP and you have to use their battery hogging VOIP app. Their VOIP plan is only 200 minutes and 500 texts. There are better VOIP providers such as Google's Hangouts app+ free Google voice service for unlimited talk + text VOIP services. Like FP's VOIP service, Google voice VOIP assigns you a number.
If you are using the phone in areas with poor data service, it will have poor voice service. You can alternatively use Google Voice (or other services). GVoice users: Your proxy is international so make sure you dial (+1) first.
----------
Do I need a SIM card?
Most CDMA phones do not need a SIM card. However, the newer ones and especially the GSM/ combo phones like Nexus, Moto G4/ G5, iPhone 6/ 6S/ SE/ 7 (only Verizon/ Sprint models) do need a Sprint SIM card to have CDMA service. You can buy a Sprint SIM card for $2.99- https://shop.sprint.com/mysprint/...=105500049
Can I add this to an existing account?
No, this is only for new accounts going through this BYOD Promotion. Log out of your current FP account and create a new FP account. If you have a gmail, adding a period makes it a 'new' email address in FP systems- i.e. [email protected] qualifies as a different FP account from [email protected]
Any cost to activate my phone?
BYOD activation normally costs $20, but this fee has been reduced to $0.99 for this promotion.
Any monthly charge?
If you choose to remain on the Unlimited Talk, Text, & 1GB data plan upon the expiration of your ONE month free trial then there with be a recurring $24.99/mo fee. There will also be a $7.99/mo fee if you choose to also remain on the Premium Plus add-on service after your FIRST month's initial free trial.
Do ALL THREE to get free service (but make sure your SIM is activated properly before downgrading):
Plan: Change to Free Basic Plan [freedompop.com]
Services: Downgrade from Premier [freedompop.com]
Confirm: Downgrade AGAIN [freedompop.com]
Important Note: Not following the confirm step can lead to a $7.99 charge. There is a web glitch that makes it sort of difficult to fully remove the Premier feature. See matt314159's post here for additional instructions on how to ensure it's really gone
How do I ensure I don't get charged at all? Nothing as in NADA!
- Use a virtual credit card (BOA or Citi cards) when setting up FP account. Set a $6 limit on the VCC (test authorization that drops off has been raised to $5)
- After signup, immediately downgrade to basic free voice, remove the Premium services, disable premium voice and disable voicemail. Don't wait until 30 days is over- you WILL forget
(see links at the beginning of wiki) - Add 10 FP friends to get additional 500MB- see thread https://slickdeals.net/f/5276432-freedompop-friends
- Your downgraded plan with have 500MB + 500MB more if you add 10 FP friends.
- Use Google Voice for VOIP unlimited talk and text with hangouts dialer app, CSIPmobile, or any other VOIP client for voice and texting needs.
- If you choose to use FP battery hogging VOIP app, you will have 200 minutes and 500 texts. FP is in reality a data only company. Not a text and talk provider over native 2G networks like every other cell carrier out there. You are better off using Hangouts + Google voice for unlimited talk + text VOIP services.
- Close your virtual credit card so no charges go through.
- Add the free Global 100 VOIP plan to your account to make free VOIP international calls to 50+ countries. You can use FP VOIP app to make these international calls or use another VOIP app like CsipSimple if you can extract your FP VOIP credentials- https://forum.xda-developers.com/...?t=2595081
Can I keep my current phone number?
Yes, you can Port your existing phone number over to FreedomPop for a one-time charge of $9.99.
Have an Account or Billing Issue?
We encourage all our users to come to us first to see if we can explain any charge or resolve any billing issue before further escalation.
Customer Support:
You can contact us at http://www.freedompop.
This deal is for service on Sprint's network
APN settings:
APN: n.f6.ispsn
MMSC: http://mms.sprintpcs.c
MMS proxy: 68.28.31.7
MMS port: 80
MCC: 310
MNC: 120
APN type: default,mms,supl,hipri
APN Protocol & APN Roaming Protocol: IPv4/ IPV6
Bearer: Unspecified
9. Is this a scam? Is FP business model commercially viable? What if they go bankrupt or shutdown like RingPlus?
Although Freedompop's conversion rate from free to paying customers is in the high double digits, the revenue is not enough to sustain their expenses, especially with the upfront costly expansions to Spain, UK, and Mexico (not to mention the "free" 8GB microSD cards and selfie sticks for US customers). What is keeping the FP afloat and expanding is VC and strategic funding- over $109M to date. FP is now trying to monetize its upsell platform, resulting in its first licensing revenue agreement with Hutchinson Wind.
Had the RingPlus ringback advoice model been successful- RingPlus could have made a similar play on licensing. However, RP never attracted any major VC capital and seed investment not to mention RingPlus's Karl Seelig doesn't have the VC/ M&A connections or the fame like FP's founders Stephen Stokol/ Niklas zennström. Therefore the RingPlus gravy train ended the way it was.
If you look at FP founders' Stokol's/ Zennstrom's history and background, the playbook of FP is pretty clear. Build a large sub customer base (whether of not these are active or not) at the lowest cost (cheap sim cards with free gifts like microSD cards or selfie sticks) and then sell the company for a tidy billion dollar plus valuation.
Yes FP losses are in the low millions annually but they have $100M in raised capital so they can afford to run at a loss for many more years. Each time they ship a package with the SIM card it costs them around $8 - $10 in 3rd party logistics fulfillment and shipping costs, not to factor in the costs of the free gifts. There's no way $0.99 or $0.01 cost to you or me covers those costs.
This is called "new customer acquisition" costs in finance. This is no different from Snapchat which has been running $400M - $600M in losses every year but can afford to do so thanks to their $2.7B war chest raised thus far prior to its IPO.
FP's most recent international expansion efforts will be less a drag on profitability as these expansion expenses will shared with their partners (Dish Mexico for the Mexican expansion, Axiata for later Asian expansion) unlike their UK and Spain expansion.
With regards to return on investment for investors, the question is not whether it will happen but when and how much of a price Freedompop will fetch. There were already serious acquisition talks with Intel which fell through a year ago. M&A and VC activity is already starting to pick up in the US and around the world given the low interest envionment so I wouldn't be surprised that some telco/ technology company (a la Microsoft's $8.5B purchase of Skype)/ VC fund (a la Masayoshi Son's SoftBank $100B Vision Fund) would pick up Freedompop for several hundreds of millions of dollars.
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Fool me once, shame on you...Fool me twice, you can't fool me again.
...GWB
They put the two downgrades in the tiniest font possible. Once you find it with your magnifying glass, you can click "downgrade" in two different places, and not fall into the traps.
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Fool me once, shame on you...Fool me twice, you can't fool me again.
...GWB
However that said I do have to TD for the lack of info the in OP.
They put the two downgrades in the tiniest font possible. Once you find it with your magnifying glass, you can click "downgrade" in two different places, and not fall into the traps.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
**Edit** Nevermind I see Freedompop uses Sprint's network.