Freeup has gotten rid of free plan
Surgephone has gotten rid of free service
Cellnuvo went out of business
I will stick with Freedompop
Seems a free plan is elusive to get right.
Seems no way to make it work.
Need to go back to my seventies phone stashed in the drawer and with landline service. Tired of all the rigamarole of these lying bs wannabe companies. Poorly run. An old saying goes “If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.”
Aby idea how long has FP been offering their free plan?
My first account was opened April 18, 2015. That one was a CDMA (Sprint) line, which has since been discontinued.
4.5 years. That's like a century in the world of free/very low cost cell plans. Maybe they found the right recipe!
It is indeed a long time. I got it before finding RingPlus, so it's outlived RingPlus, CellNuvo, Surgephone, and perhaps FreeUP.
Too bad I've never found it a viable 'phone' for my needs. I do like having a little extra data available, perhaps on a tablet, for emergency hotspot use, or on the phone serving as GPS in my vehicle..
The truth is I always found the call quality very good, even using the FreedomPop app. (This can depend heavily on the particular phone you're using, though.). Reliability was where it fell down, and the absence of voicemail on the free plan.
I think using Google Voice instead of the FreedomPop calling app probably increases the reliability-- I've read thoughts both ways. (It definitely solves the voicemail issue.)
Either way, it can extend the minutes available on a traditional plan. When I'm running close, I'll use a FreedomPop SIM/VoIP for things like calling a service desk, help line, etc.
My first freedompop account was in Oct 2012. 4G wimax. I believe that is around when Freedompop began!
I am surprised to hear the free plan is gone on FreeUp being that I activated a SIM I had laying around for my spouse... with the free plan two days ago. Mind you its only 250 minutes. The goal was to have her keep an old number just in case someone calls there for now. The website correctly reads the free plan as well.
What the heck is going on here, is FreeUp adding and removing the free plan from the website every six hours or what?!
Has FU officially announced the end of offering the Free plan other than removing the option from their website? Perhaps people who bought sims prior to the removal of the plan from the website will still be entitled to activate the plan and those who purchased sim cards after the removal will not be able to activate the plan. The FreeUp t&c and FAQs still mention the free plan, but failure to update the t&c is par for the course at FU.
Free Service: Google Voice for home phone service has been free for several years and has also been free on internet-connected pcs.
I saw a mention in Isamorph's link that someone reported having the free plan in their cart, from when they ordered a SIM directly from FreeUP-- even though not previously activated, they were able to complete activation on the free plan.
As it happens, I had an online account that I'd set up originally just for looking at FreeUP, that didn't order a SIM (and thus had no plan 'reserved'). I do have a spare SIM sitting here, sourced via Amazon or Ebay. If I start through the process of activation, I do not see the free plan as an option.
I also saved the last appearance of the plans page showing the free plan as an HTML file, and just for fun tried clicking through to the free plan via that saved page. (I thought I might post it to show that some folks might still be seeing a cached version of the plans page.) Alas, none of the plans are accessible from the saved page. (It was a browser-cached page, saved just after learning that the free plan was missing, but still showed on my browser.)
So it seems that the possible path to the free plan is limited to a very small subset of folks who have already established a log-in, during the process of purchasing a SIM directly from FreeUP.
I have about 5 days until the renewal options appear in my dashboard-- fingers crossed.
Strange. Mine was an Amazon card and there was never an account with them with that email had to go through the full new user experience and registration for that line. I guess my wife got lucky.
Seeing the replies here - especially the one made by KentE, I remembered that there was a FU FP SIM sitting in the cart over at their site - had a look, and sure enough, there it was, so...
I figured WTH, why not try it to see what happens as it specifically mentioned their free plan in the header & the only reasons I didn't get it before were the cheaper price via amazon & hesitation to give FU any CC info.
Filled in the form - at 1st tried an amex card - which it refused (?) then another card, which it took, and after hitting 'submit' it just sat there at 'processing' endlessly without completing.
After waiting maybe 15 minutes I refreshed that page...and...all gone.
So, whatever the unannounced truth of the situation may be, we'll all just have to see what happens going forward.
As I have deadlines for both our existing GSM phones running out of services and the phone I used to have on Redpocket that is now on the FU FP (which I do not trust very much), I will have to move forward with -something- that is AT&T based relatively soon and unless there is some amazing sort of miracle - it will NOT be with FU.
Consistency is not a FreeUp forte when it comes to its website protocols. So until more people weigh in with their successes and failures attempting to activate unactivated sim cards on the Free plan, activation will remain a crapshoot.
Edit: I just logged into my FreeUp account and got the popup message to renew my Free plan, which I did and which is now good for the next 30 days. Good news I suppose. Also, on my paid plan there is no longer the option to change the plan back to the free plan, fwiw.
Re: FreeUP... I e-mailed their support team specifically to inquire as to whether or not they will continue to honor their existing free plans. Here was their response:
Thank you for contacting us. The PROMO FREE Starter rate plan is no longer being offered for new customers, but you can still renew your account each month on the PROMO FREE Starter rate plan. If you have any trouble with renewing your account, just let us know.
Based upon that, it seems that @Isamorph's renewal experience should be the norm, at least for now. I'm sorry that those who didn't sign up for a free plan in time won't be able to do so, but happy for those who have one more "grandfather" in their (cellular) family for a while longer.
Does anyone happen to have saved the main page of their Free plan? I just logged in now and I see my Free plan (the top of the page) says: "NEXT PAYMENT: Dec. 31st" and "NEXT PAYMENT AMOUNT:$0.00". I think that used to say something like 'Plan Renewal: Dec. 31st'. Has anyone else noticed this or am I mistaken?
I think it has always said: "NEXT PAYMENT: Dec. 31st" and "NEXT PAYMENT AMOUNT:$0.00".
Same here. I've seen that (for as long as I can remember) on my account summary page, and my "custom free plan" below that, including its scheduled renewal date. So it looks like no change, at least for now...