Beast Mobile

That's odd, I don't get a paywall, can see complete article.

I get the paywall too.

Really weird, never seen this before but if I turn off my pi-hole I do see paywall.
Strange.

It's been a month since I semi-permanently transferred the one SIM I did manage to acquire into my youngest daughters' kids smartwatch. So far it's good. In fact, all spam calls are now filtered because I've set it up so that only 5 numbers are available for incoming/outgoing. The device also utilizes VoLTE so it won't get kicked off the AT&T network when 3G gets shut down. My main concern is that the smartwatch isn't on AT&T's whitelist but so far I haven't received any nasty messages.

Just at 6 mo. mark now.

Actively used at least a few times a week.

No service issues other than a few spam texts a week.

THE issue is when does it end & how suddenly, how much notice, how orderly?

I finally followed up with them again about activation (with the info@ email address rather than support@ this time) on the 6th due to the FreeMii blue network issue causing me a bit of a shake-up.

Four exchanges back and forth (one on the 7th, the rest on the 12th), first to provide all the required information and then apparently for them to verify I'd actually purchased the sim, concluded with them telling me they are no longer offering free service and telling me I could pick a plan or they could process a refund.

I told them that if they can't provide me the service I signed up to get then I want the refund, but they may not be able to issue it to the original card since that account has been closed (other Privacy card users may recall the cancel-and-re-issue thing recently?)

Radio silence since then; I followed up again on the 19th.

I figured if Beast was still advertising the plan but not actually doing new activations I'd try Freemo directly, so I ordered from them on the 13th...the charge is listed as being from Beast Mobile, the sim hasn't been delivered yet, and I followed up today via the website to see whether they could give me a shipping update.

Thought I'd post an update on my part of this saga, since redrotors pointed out I had alluded to it on the FreeMii thread but hadn't posted here since several months ago, when I remarked that I should follow up again since several people had mentioned getting activated via email.

They actually had a "sim card activation" form the last time I looked, which says among other things not to submit it more than once.

I tried that, and it sent me an email thanking me for signing up, saying they'd get my SIM shipped as soon as possible, and giving me a link for activation...back to the same form.

As a software developer (formerly with a web development focus) I kind of have a suspicion that either their web devs aren't very good, or - this feels more likely to me, but I can't fully rationalize why; claiming in email that they're not offering the free service anymore when the website is still clearly advertising it is a contributing factor though - they contracted for the site and then didn't pay for ongoing support because they thought they could take it from there themselves, and they were wrong.

FYI, I sent them another inquiry with the request for refund at both of those addresses:

info@beastmobile.net

support@beastmobile.net

No response

Did anyone else get this text also?

I feel it's a scam cause like it is link to APK in Dropbox

I doubt that is authentic as APK's are Android only so that excludes iPhones.
If it was a valid APK, why wouldn't they link to Google Play store?

received the same text as well, don't think i'm going to install it

Also got it (went to spam). Sending # shows as 425-292-7954. That area code is for NE of Seattle WA.
Link leads to-

I'm not downloading that. If I lose the service, fine. I had three free lines for 7 months.

I did not get that text. However, when I signed up and activated, I gave Beast an IMEI for an iPhone SE. Maybe they are only asking app download for people they think are Android users.

There are some obvious issues here even assuming those texts are official:
Side loading APK's from unauthorized sources is not advisable.
Apple users are excluded.
48 hours warning is irresponsible and can create liability even for a "Free" service.
There better be a migration path/timeline for porting out or changing plans especially if there is no Apple App store option.

I had given my iPhone SE (2nd generation/2020) IMEI at time of activation also but still got the message.

Is your active phone still an iPhone? If they care to look, providers can see the IMEI actually in use. But I haven't seen any indication that Beast is really into putting in extra effort....

Perhaps because the Google Play store has requirements, and increasing restrictions against apps that are overly intrusive.

Yes, the Beast Mobile sim was always used in that iPhone SE. I never entered android IMEI when ordering SIM or activating SIM or inserted SIM in any android phone. Still got that message.

Yeah, just a random Dropbox. If the path to play store was too difficult at least submit to one of the reputable alternative APK sites, at least they do some minimal scanning for "virus"/malware. It could be totally harmless but we have no way of knowing.
Any Android devs here who can pick it apart?

May be a ploy to dump a good portion of free plan users. Whether intended or not it looks like that will be the effect if they follow through.

I'm wondering now if I didn't receive the text because the device on which my Beast SIM is used can only receive texts via SMS format (a kids smartwatch).

Anyway, if this isn't a third-party scam, it's basically SurgePhone dejavu all over again but even worse. At least SurgePhone told you upfront that you could only use their service on Android, and I think their app was on the Play Store.