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FreedomPop advertised: “100% FREE Mobile Phone Service FREE Talk, Text, & Data”.
It is free, but there are many hoops you have to jump through, as well documented by this forum user. The user was referring to their internet modem service, but for the cellular phone service, it’s a little different. Still, just read the fine print.
Here’s how to get your free FreedomPop cell phone on your Unlocked Android or iPhone:
For $0.00 you get 200 minutes, 500 text, and 200 mb data… which is pretty good for free! You can pay $12.99 a month to get unlimited talk and text, but if you want data, you’re going to pay as much as $35 for 4gb of data. I suggest you pick the free service or the lowest costing service and just use Skype on WiFi (Skype is $60 a year for unlimited talk).
FreedomPop is hoping you will pay for unlimited talk or pay to get rid of advertisements on your text or the ability to send attachments.
The other good news is that the LTE chip will work on GSM phones. All smart phones produced in the past few years have gone GSM only. There are very few manufacturers still producing the old CDMA phone.
Having gone through the trouble of activating this phone, I am still keeping my other phone service… the reason is that FreedomPop might go away anytime… or they might have unreliable network issues. Who knows. It’s basically my free backup / emergency phone.
It is free, but there are many hoops you have to jump through, as well documented by this forum user. The user was referring to their internet modem service, but for the cellular phone service, it’s a little different. Still, just read the fine print.
Here’s how to get your free FreedomPop cell phone on your Unlocked Android or iPhone:
1. Get a Sim Card for a penny at freedompop.com or go to Target and pick up a Sim card for $5. Alternatively, you can pick up a FreedomPop phone, which has all the settings preconfigured and app preinstalled.
2. You must install the FreedomPop messaging application on Android or iOS. There are several different ones, just install the most popular one. If that doesn’t work, you need to uninstall it and install the correct one. You will need the app to make phone calls or use their network, no exceptions.
3. When you insert your Sim Card in your phone, it will popup and walk you through the activation process. Use your existing FreedomPop account to activate the card, or if you can’t get it work, create a new account with a different email. You will need a credit card or PayPal account to activate the service. There is an activation fee. I read it was $29.99, but they only billed me $0.99 (I think the $30 fee is for their phone, not the sim card).
4. Once activated, it will ask you to pick a phone number. Pick a less popular area code and it will give you more phone numbers.
5. If you are on WiFi, all the phone calls are made using their VOIP service… however if you are not on WiFi, you will need to access mobile cellular data to make phone calls. To setup your APN (access point names). APN name should be “ FreedomPop ”, APN Type should be “ fp.com.attz ”. Choose Freedompop APN as the default and now your Mobile internet should work.
They automatically sign you up for their “FreedomPop Premium Service” … which is a reoccurring $7.99 monthly bill. You must cancel this service right away if you don’t want it. I tried to cancel it and I’m not exactly sure it’s cancelled.
2. You must install the FreedomPop messaging application on Android or iOS. There are several different ones, just install the most popular one. If that doesn’t work, you need to uninstall it and install the correct one. You will need the app to make phone calls or use their network, no exceptions.
3. When you insert your Sim Card in your phone, it will popup and walk you through the activation process. Use your existing FreedomPop account to activate the card, or if you can’t get it work, create a new account with a different email. You will need a credit card or PayPal account to activate the service. There is an activation fee. I read it was $29.99, but they only billed me $0.99 (I think the $30 fee is for their phone, not the sim card).
4. Once activated, it will ask you to pick a phone number. Pick a less popular area code and it will give you more phone numbers.
5. If you are on WiFi, all the phone calls are made using their VOIP service… however if you are not on WiFi, you will need to access mobile cellular data to make phone calls. To setup your APN (access point names). APN name should be “ FreedomPop ”, APN Type should be “ fp.com.attz ”. Choose Freedompop APN as the default and now your Mobile internet should work.
For $0.00 you get 200 minutes, 500 text, and 200 mb data… which is pretty good for free! You can pay $12.99 a month to get unlimited talk and text, but if you want data, you’re going to pay as much as $35 for 4gb of data. I suggest you pick the free service or the lowest costing service and just use Skype on WiFi (Skype is $60 a year for unlimited talk).
FreedomPop is hoping you will pay for unlimited talk or pay to get rid of advertisements on your text or the ability to send attachments.
The other good news is that the LTE chip will work on GSM phones. All smart phones produced in the past few years have gone GSM only. There are very few manufacturers still producing the old CDMA phone.
Having gone through the trouble of activating this phone, I am still keeping my other phone service… the reason is that FreedomPop might go away anytime… or they might have unreliable network issues. Who knows. It’s basically my free backup / emergency phone.
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