Just read online that Red Pocket has bought Freedompop. I don't know how or if this will affect us so stay tuned!
A couple of things are surprising:
- That FreedomPop would sell FP purely on the speculative nature of acquiring Boost. It doesn't seem certain that Boost will even become available, much less that FreedomPop's backers would be the accepted buyer.
- The (admittedly speculative) price for the sale to Red Pocket. Either FreedomPop is more profitable than many suspect, or Red Pocket is investing heavily in a customer base anticipating conversion to plans closer to Red Pocket's existing price structure/model.
Of course, there have been plenty of guesses that FreedomPop's real business model has always been building a big enough customer base to make it an attractive sale to someone.
I wonder how Unreal Mobile fits into this, too.
We picked up their CDMA customers in this transaction. SEC filing here.
The highlights are that we expect no service interruption for FP CDMA customers, there will be a special rate plan communicated to these customers via their FP CDMA email address, as well as instructions on how to port out or cancel if they don't want to become a part of Ting.
We will not be adopting the Freemium model.
We're beyond excited to have this opportunity.
Well it was a good run, guess I'll have to go try FreeUp.
Interesting-- so the Unreal Mobile/CDMA customers will transfer along with FreedomPop CDMA to Ting. I'm assuming the GSM side will be similar, and Unreal/GSM will transfer to Red Pocket.
I'll be watching for that email to see Ting's transition plan. I have FreedomPop CDMA, both MiFi and phone, using both as data-only, with our cellular voice form other providers. I imagine I'll have to do some thinking around how to, or if, to reposition our existing plans..
LiterallyUnlimited, I know it isn't fair to ask a specific question before general info is out. (But I'll ask for your thoughts, anyway......)
If a FreedomPop CDMA customer moves to Ting, would it likely be possible to shortly thereafter port another number "over the top" of that line? I have a feeling lots of FreedomPop customers, like me, are not using their FreedomPop-issued numbers as real contact numbers..... I'd likely have to drop a plan with another provider (that is being used as a real contact number) for a move to Ting to make sense.
My Unreal/CDMA plan had already increased from $10 to almost $13. I really don't want to pay a $6 line charge on top of that.
I'll be interested to see how my two CDMA hotspots get transferred. One has 15GB of rollover data that I've paid for.
This effectively seems to mean that FreedomPop is going out of business. And selling their customer base to RedPocket and Ting. RP and Ting will then try to convert them to their existing pricing structure. FP will probably earn a commission for however number of customers agree to convert.
I wonder how this will affect FP data-only lines (i.e. MiFi), as afaik neither RP nor Ting offer such service.
A fair question, but one I don't have an answer to yet.
I feel dumb now for purchasing 3 annual 1GB plans from Target [at least each was only $15].
My Questions
- So if I am understanding correctly GSM Freedompop plans will now be with redpocket?
- Currently on the 1GB annual GSM plan, will my service be shutoff soon or if whomever is taking FP GSM will honor it?
Great thread, and thank you for letting us know.
Updated: Here are the best options I could find for people like in my situation
"Somewhat" updated list of Data Only Plans
RedPocket Ebay Plans HERE
Good question. As of today, Best Buy, Target, and FreedomPop still seem to be selling the 3-month and 12-month SIMs. At the normal price (49.99), the 12-month SIM isn't that far off from Red Pocket's 100/100/500 annual plan at $60. Maybe RP will honor the plan, and offer to transition it to their own rate when it needs to renew? Maybe they'll offer to transition it to their 100/100/500 plan immediately?
Just like Ting, Red Pocket has got to be looking at this as customer acquisition for something similar to their existing plans. Within reasonable boundaries, it seems they may opt to keep transitioned customers in the fold rather than ticking them off.
"SEC - FreedomPop had 150,000 Sprint Customers
Posted 7 June 2019 | 11:12 am
Ting paid $3.6 million ($24/customer) for FreedomPop's 150,000 Sprint Customers. 100,000 were on free plans. That seems like a lousy deal."
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/909494/000143774919011556/tcx20190531_8k.htm
I forget what the industry average is for customer acquisition, but it's many multiples of the $24 that Ting paid.
They could probably lose 4 out of 5 and still come out ahead.
I'm sure someone did the math. I thought the "lousy deal" statement was interesting because there was no mention of who said it and no support for the statement. Did Dennis B. say that or someone else?
I'm guessing it might've been Karl. 
Just saw this discussion on Twitter: must click on the tweet to see full discussion.
When does Ting expect to communicate their special offer available to FP CDMA customers?
I thought rp bought fp. Not ting???
Red Pocket bought the GSM customer base, the FreedomPop name, and FP's retail business.
(We'll have to wait to learn if Red Pocket intends to do anything with the name and retail business, or if it was just bought as protection.)
Ting bought the CDMA customer base.
I think LiterallyUnlimited advised us that we'd likely hear some details near the end of the month from Ting. No clue from Red Pocket on timing.
The weirdest thing is that the FreedomPop and Unreal websites are still taking orders for new service (apparently both CDMA and GSM) as if nothing happened.
Yes, that's strange. I'm reminded that FreedomPop kept selling Global SIMs right up to the announced demise of that plan, and I think was still selling WiMax devices past the announced shutdown of that network.
I