FreedomPop 3-In-1 4G LTE SIM Kit: Unlimited Talk & Text + 2GB Data Trial Expired

------ UPDATE (10/16/2017) -------

Freedompop no longer let you downgrade WITHOUT adding $5 to the account.

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WARNING: It is recommended that you do a search for and thoroughly read an online guide to the FreedomPop SIM products. Failing to understand the ins and outs of this deal will likely result in unexpected charges.

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Previous threads on the US LTE SIM:
* https://slickdeals.net/f/9723468-freedompop-3-in-1-4g-lte-sim-kit-w-unlimited-talk-text-2gb-data-trial-2-free-shipping
* https://slickdeals.net/f/9654932-freedompop-3-in-1-gsm-lte-sim-4-99-tax-free-shipping-was-1-99-for-a-couple-of-hours
Additional info and review:
* ttp://www.cranialborborygmus.com/FreedomPop-LTE-gsm-sim-review.htm

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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.

To make sure that voice calls work:
In the Freedompop app, go to the Menu (top left corner), scroll down and click on [Sync Account Data].

What happens if I go over the limit?
For data over use, an auto charge of $15 will apply to your card at .02$/mb. For the 200 minutes talk or 200 text, your account will suspends until next billing cycle.

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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

Note that you may also want to consider ending automatic top-ups, and that will cost $5. Otherwise FreedomPop WILL charge you auto top-up ($15) after you downgrade when you are within 100MB of your limit. The additional data costs 2cent/Mb. To do this, visit the Billing->Billing Settings, or click this link (make sure you log in): https://www.freedompop.com/billing_settings.htm and the Automatic Top-Up is at the bottom of the page.

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FreedomPop Friends thread: Here you can add up to 500Mb data to your limit by adding 10 (or more as back up) friends.
https://slickdeals.net/f/5276432-freedompop-friends
PS: You can buy multiple SIMs (same address/CC) but using different emails accounts would let you add new friends (thus have additional 500Mb data). See Q5 below.

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1. What's the deal?
Get 100% FREE Talk, Text, & 4G LTE w/GSM 3-in-1 Sim - Only $0.99 + ONE month Free Trial of our Premium 2GB 4G LTE service with this EXCLUSIVE DEAL! This promo also comes with FREE Shipping!

Nationwide 4G LTE 3-in-1 Sim Card Kit ($15 value)
Unlimited Talk, Text and 2GB 4G LTE Data Trial ($24.99/mo value)
Premium Plus Trial ($7.99/mo value)
Free Shipping
Only, $0.99!

2A. Any monthly charge?
The Premium GSM 4G LTE 2GB plan has a free trial for the first month and $24.99/mo afterwards. The add-on Service Premium Plus also comes with a trial of the first month and $7.99/mo afterwards You can downgrade anytime before your new month starts and make it effectively free! There is NO contract, NO commitment, cancel anytime!

2B. 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 200MB + 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
  

3. Do I need to activate it?
It will arrive to you already activated

4. What network does FreedomPop use?
This exclusive promotion runs off ONLY Nationwide 4G LTE GSM Network, 100% Free 4G LTE Internet can be yours with our basic FREE plan!
This is based on the AT&T network. Connection is fast but as for any service providers, that is based on the location.

Note: There is another SIM card called "Global SIM" (international GSM) that FreedomPop offers. That one is using the 3G data; thus a bit slower and ping times are longer. This one is better for USA use.


5. Why does my second account share and receive data?
Secondary accounts currently do not have the functionality to share and receive data with your FreedomPop friends. If this is a problem and you need to send and receive data to a global sim account, we advise you to purchase this deal through a new email account. Please make sure to LOG OUT of your current freedompop account and use a new email address when signing up for this deal. In other words, don't buy another SIM from the same account (ignore the 2nd SIM offer) .

6. If I signed up for a paid plan or trial, how do I downgrade it?
You can downgrade your plans/trials directly on your FreedomPop account page (better use the links above, if you are novice).

7. 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.

8. Customer Support:
You can contact us at http://www.freedompop.com/contact or You can also get 24/7 help from our community experts on our FreedomPop Forums - http://forums.freedompop.com

9. APN Configuration:
I could not get the data connection to work till I Googled and found that I needed to configure an APN using fp.com.attz -
Android APN (Access Point Name) Configuration for the LTE SIM [freedompop.com]

10. 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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