Helium Mobile (MVNO)

Telecom
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It came up on the FreedomPop thread that perhaps it would be nice if conversations about Helium stopped taking over a thread that was supposed to be about Freedompop. Which Helium also had done at one point on the BoostOne thread. So I thought I'd try to be helpful.

There is a previous Helium thread, but it's originally from 2023 and refers in the title to a plan you can't get anymore. Which is the one I have, which somewhat limits how useful the information I can provide is. A couple of us have also put our Helium referral codes in the appropriate place - I used one from there when I signed up to replace my Boost plan, although unfortunately I apparently did so during one of the least advantageous versions of the referral program for either of us. As JVV pointed out, they've offered more attractive promotions on several occasions - October to February was the best time to have people use you as a referral, provided you'd been a subscriber for at least 6 months; late March / early April was apparently both the second best time to get referrals, and the best time to be one. So if you're not in a rush, you might want to consider waiting to see if you can get a better deal. The current one appears to be this, which might preclude using a referral code. From looking at the promotion page, I can't tell.

I'll give a brief account of my understanding of how it started: The original plan was unlimited everything, initially restricted to a few Florida counties for $5/mo and eventually available in most places for $20/mo. On the legacy plan, by giving the Helium app precise location permissions, you can participate in Discovery Mapping to earn cryptocurrency rewards and then pay your monthly bill with them if you have enough.

That changed in February 2025. Their plans at the time of this writing are Zero, Air, and Infinity. Zero is the one that tends to be of the most interest around here: 100 minutes, 300 texts, and 3GB data for free. In exchange, they want your "anonymized location data." Air is unlimited talk and text with 15GB of data for $15/mo, and Infinity is unlimited everything for $30/mo. Meanwhile, you can earn "Cloud Points" to redeem for...stuff.

Again, I'm currently on a legacy plan (debating whether I want to stay on it), so I can't offer much relevant discussion for the new plans, except to comment on one thing I saw mentioned in the Freedompop thread: I think it is likely, though I can't say for sure, that the way these new plans and their new "Cloud Points" reward structure operates are why @JVV wound up offering this comment:

Apparently, it is common now for users to pass ID verification without the need to give them an ID or selfie.

The legacy plans received cryptocurrency tokens directly as their rewards, and I suspect that caused Helium to have to meet certain Know Your Customer regulatory requirements that may not apply to customers on the new plans who are rewarded in Cloud Points (as compensation, if I'm reading the FAQ correctly, for delegating to Helium Mobile the cryptocurrency tokens they would otherwise earn for their mapping events)...because the Cloud Points themselves aren't cryptocurrency. The plan terms seem to indicate that customer verification is still via the Persona service, but the requirements may be less stringent.

I could be wrong about that; I'm entirely speculating. It sounds a little smoke-and-mirrors, but based on my limited understanding of those kinds of regulations - as of several months ago; they might have changed since - this seems like a possibility.

Anyhow, hopefully if this bears more discussion, this will be a better place for it than...well...a thread about a different VMNO.

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A quick take on my first 24 hours with the Helium Free Zero plan:

I inserted the SIM card at 5:00 AM yesterday Friday morning into my MOTO G Pure which already had the Helium mobile app installed

Activation was easy and immediate and the Helium mobile app was clean, simple and easy to navigate. I agreed to all the permissions requested by the Helium app including precise location and location always on. And during the 24 hour period I never changed the settings and I never turned my phone off (Except for a 10 minute period)

During the 24 hours I placed several calls and texts on the native phone app. I also placed several calls and texts on Google Voice, Everything went smoothly with no problems

During the 24 hours, I used 1.3 Gigabyte of data, mostly doing speed checks.

On the Moto G Pure LTE data came in constantly between 40- 50 Gbps. However I took the SIM out for 10 minutes and inserted it into a Moto G Power 5G phone, and this phone did not have the Helium App. Additionally, I turned off all location permissions . Three speed checks showed I was connected to 5G at between 70-80 Gbps. I also made a call and all worked fine.

I then immediately put the SIM back in the Moto G Pure)

After being on constantly for 24 hours, the Moto G Pure battery went from 98% to 67%. There were no problems with phone function at all during this period.

BTW, to my surprise the HotSpot function also worked

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I had actually been planning to write a shorter version of my post above on the thread that was extracted from the Freedompop thread a few hours after I posted it, and then delete this one. I just have had a busy and tiring few days and hadn't gotten around to it yet.

It is interesting that the hotspot worked. I believe, according to their website, all their plans (legacy and current) allow 5GB of hotspot data except the free plan, which allows none, and the "Navigator plan for businesses," which is:

offered exclusively to business customers for use with connected devices. The Navigator Plan includes 10GB of cellular data per billing cycle, and does not include access to voice calls or SMS text messages. The Navigator Plan allows for the full 10GB of monthly data to be used for mobile hotspot tethering.

Then again, I've seen evidence with other MVNOs in the past that suggests they either can't or don't always prevent hotspot usage when they say it's not allowed. I imagine in some cases if a provider suspects you're using hotspot when you're not supposed to be able to, they might suspend or terminate your account for it, but I also suspect that unless you're doing it a lot it may not be worth the combination of the effort required to do so and the potential lost...whatever benefit they get from having you as a customer, which admittedly might mean they'd be more likely to do it if you're not paying them anything.

As for moving the SIM around...their terms and conditions do say (emphasis mine) "By enabling location sharing when your device is connected to the Helium Mobile Network, you are eligible to earn Cloud Points and/or any other rewards as may be determined by Helium Mobile in its sole discretion" and "Cloud Points and other rewards are designed to reward materially positive contributions to Helium Mobile and/or the Helium Network, through, for example, enhancing either network performance, network utility, or both. Rewards are not intended to reward self-serving activity that has no material benefit to Helium Mobile or the Helium Network (“Gaming”). Helium Mobile is committed to identifying and preventing Gaming wherever and whenever possible." That's the only place I've noticed that seems to come close to addressing whether the device using the SIM has to be the same one sharing location data through the app...but it does seem to suggest that if they noticed your account was connected and sharing location on one device that barely moves (even though the fact that the free plan being advertised as good for "homebodies" implies that ought to be fine) while the associated SIM is connecting to towers somewhere else without giving them access to location data (which they may or may not be able to tell; not my area of expertise - I would assume t-mobile can, though), they might consider that "gaming."

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I found this article from last month particularly interesting as it relates to Helium's credibility,

And this from a few days ago:
The Web Summit Vancouver event just ended yesterday (it took place from May 27-30, 2025)
One of featured speakers was Amir Haleem, CEO and Founder of Helium .

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So - does all the info above confirm that free users of Helium can/will have AT&T cellular services, or only some sort of wifi stuff ??

If so, it is an even better choice than (paid, minimal) US Mobile 'Dark Star' services.

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From a quick skim, it looks like they're talking about AT&T customers being able to use Helium hotspots. I didn't see anything about Helium subscribers being able to use AT&T towers. But I only skimmed the article and don't care to watch the video for now.

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Helium sent me an email with the subject being: "Action Required: Turn on Location Sharing" and direct me to the following webpage. Location Sharing "Allow all the time" was already enabled on my phones, so I do not understand what the problem is.

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Anyone tried porting from FP to Helium? I would be interested in doing that. 3GB data should be great to have on the phone I carry with FP service.

...

Well, I guess we can't port out until they reactivate the free line or pay FP $10 to activate it on the lowest plan.

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My Freedompop GSMT line had expired a few days prior, and the customer rep could not manually renew the line. So rather than waiting to see if a renewal ever happens, I decided to port out to Helium.

Rep asked me to answer 3 of their questions to verify that I am the authorized holder of the account. Stuff they ask is name, address, email, last 4 digits of the sim card, last date of renewal, etc..

Port block is enabled by default, so the rep had to deactivate that feature manually since the normal procedure is for the user to enter a verification code send to that line.

After the port block was disabled, they gave me the account number and a port-out pin without any resistance.

Next, I initiated the port from within the Helium app. Time difference between when I received an email stating that the porting process had begun and when the port was completed was about a minute.

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Interesting... I guess the next question is whether Helium Wireless also has port block to prevent your number from being stolen...

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It's a setting in the Helium app. They call it "Phone Number Lock."

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For those who might be interested, the Helium App works just fine on a Chromebook. (which is how I've placed several orders for family/relatives , as well as a couple of Chats with Helium Support)

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I'm now on my first full week of Helium Mobile Service.
I've been using it a as my main "out and about" phone. ( My main line is on Visible)

All my GV calls ( incoming and out going ) have been flawless and my Gbps download speeds are the same as my original post.

At this point, I'm more than impressed.

Originally I had planned to use Helium for my family's glove box back ups---Change of plans--we're now gonna use Helium as our main "out and about" phones., but we still need my Visible line for our home internet (via PDANET+ " WiFi Connect", which circumvents all the Hotspot limitations)

So, for a family of four my entire monthly phone and home internet bill is going to be $15 (i got the basic Visible basic plan @ $15 p/month for 5 years via a "port- in special" months ago)

Last thought , we're gonna play by all the Helium rules , especially "phone precise location on all the time".
And another last thought,,,, who knows? -- this could all change quickly, but right now it's great fun!!

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3GB data on the free plan definitely makes it a viable phone instead of just occasional use. I am waiting for my SIM. :slight_smile:

Note: Data stops after limit is reached, no 'unlimited 2g'.

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My acct got canceled, no idea why. AI Chatbot is useless. Will have to check human support tomorrow.

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Rep claims my account has been associated with fraud or illegal activity. ?!? All I have done was download the app and waiting for the sim. Seems to me Helium is just in this to harvest your personal info, including any info their app extracts from your phone. Beware.

Update: They 'rechecked' my account and said it was an error. I reactivated my free plan, still waiting on SIM card arriving today.

Update: Just got the SIM, installed in phone, ported my FP # ('Other') and it transferred in 1 minute. I sent myself a text via "Helium Network", it worked.

Update: Looks like they have a $5 plan that is the free plan but you also get unlimited talk and text. unlimited T&T with 3GB hard cap is probably fine for some of us here.

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Looks like that $5 Kids Plan does not required Location Sharing. Since there is no mention anywhere about an adult using this plan, maybe only kids are allowed to sign up???

For anybody interested in the regular Free Zero Plan which does require Location Sharing, the code NYCFORFREE (which is used when signing up) supposedly earns new users $25 in Cloud Points. Offers for free cloud points do not last long so, so signup as soon as possible if you want the incentive.

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Kids plan $5 + taxes/fees so YMMV, could be $9/mo. in some locations.

Helium Mobile Plan is subject to federal, state, and legal fees based on your provided service address.
FCC Regulatory Fee (Wireless)
Federal USF Cellular
E911 Fee
E988 Fee
State Wireless/Telecom Fees

Would be curious to hear what comes up as totals for people in various locations. Helium couldn't tell me, just said the total will show before you approve the first payment.

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How the heck did you get the app onto your Chromebook?
Play store, SAI, Total commander all failed.
Do you have a magic installer you can share?
I had to use Linux terminal (adb) commands install-multiple.
What a PIA!

ETA: And the app fails when asking for ID picture. Briefly flashes what I believe would be UI to take ID picture then loops to a try again or contact support screen.

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I installed the Helium app directly from Play Store onto my Chromebook with no problems at all (Chromebook OS version 136.0.7103.102).

( BTW, I've never been asked to upload picture ID, just names, addresses. and DOBs)