OK. Sigh.
So - either a misinformed rep - or the usual FP trickery seems most likely here...
Meh.
Well, a user on Howard Forums had a conversation with FreedomPop, and the agent said there was a free plan available-- but no info on exactly what that free plan was. (Hoping it's better than the free plan offered with the Premium AT&T SIM....)
It doesn't sound like agents are really familiar with this product yet.
How hard is it to just explain it in the listing
... or at least somewhere, before purchasing & activating.
The optimist in me says Freedompop will soon issue a release a press release stating they have a new T-Mobile-based free plan consisting of 300, 1000, 100. Customer reps who previously knew almost nothing of this sim will now be able to answer questions with certainty.
The pessimist in me says Freedompop is a waste of time. Either there is no free T-Mobile plan or is like the AT&T version of only 10, 10, 25.
The realist in me says 30, 1000, 100 will be a monthly plan for about $5. A free plan will also exist consisting of something like 30, 60, 50.
I like your optimist/pessimist/realist analysis.
Even 30/60/50 would make this a relatively low-risk glovebox/emergency phone, dedicated to 2FA, or something similar.
re: realist: Red Pocket offers the $30/annual ($2.50/mo, t-Mobile) plan on Ebay with 200 minutes/1000text/200mb, and last I know it can still be bought by-the-month for $4 on a pretty hidden Red Pocket/FP page (It was $3, until a recent price bump.) At $5, it would still be attractive (and a good deal) for store shoppers, but wouldn't draw much interest from cellphone forum folks.. {EDIT: well, it would only draw interest for a $5 plan if there was somewhere they could actually see it existed....]
Great points KentE - Thanks for sharing them !!
If...totally -IF- the TMob coverage is truly as depicted on their map and is really now usable here, then changing the AT&T phone to TMob may be our best & most affordable option.
After testing the kooky FP deal & service I may either also try the .99 Mint deal as follow-up if the FP deal is too tricky, or even try the RP GSMT alternative.
Since that SIM is still days away from arrival here, I will wait & try that out 1st & tell folks here how that worked out...or if it didn't.
OK, now I can update this:
The short version is=>
Much to my amazement - it works.
Longer version:
Since I had several devices which passed the Tmob checker I tried the new SIM in them and it did not work in any of those - only in my Moto E6 which I've been using for Visible.
(Now I wish that I had grabbed another of those when they offered that deal !!)
The packaging DOES stay consistent with 100% free services & so does their site.
No app required.
To make it work you visit here:
Enter the ICCID - make an account - verify your email - choose to port or get a new #.
In that process, for me - it refused my home zipcode as not being covered, so I used another from my 'office' ~100 miles north, and it took that one OK.
When I finally stuck that SIM into the E6, it did some updating automatically, and then the phone was ready to use - and it DOES have signal here at home - truly a first for Tmob services !!
An important detail which is shown via this page:
Is that you MUST make your 1st call to a NON-VOIP number and also send & get SMSs for it to fully activate.
Visiting here:
It became quite obvious that they bill in full minute increments, and I was also able to find where it says this:
And this:
The only real snags in this (so far) are that getting the SIM by itself from wallyworld does cost nearly twice as much due to their 'minimum order fee' and that it is shipped via Fedex - which (around here) is in total disarray.
I heard that from a supervisor, in person, when he stopped to deliver it, but found it had not been loaded onto his truck, which he was only driving because they are so short staffed, leaving his normal position there unmanned.
Apparently it was on another of the 3 trucks cruising around in this tiny town & did eventually get dropped off - with dirty footprints on it.
Of course the usual FP concerns must apply, and YMMV !!!
As of this minute - it remains quite the happy surprise here.
So.... Is it at all clear to you that it will renew, without payment, after 30 days?
Just as I already said:
At all, Aye ??:
FP in my attempts at using them has always played funny games, changed things around (often with zero warning or notice) and tends to seem like it considers its users to be more than a bit stupid.
Certainly you and/or others may have had much better experiences in using them - but I must add That I have the dead SIMs & accounts showing that I've given them a fair shake too many times already.
Yes - this is a great deal, and if I could magically make another of the (Visible...) Moto E6 phones appear somehow I'd even work at getting a 2nd of these SIMs so that we could each have a phone from them.
Only time will tell how long this sticks around for MINUS charges and having ZERO VOIP.
EZ, have you tried putting the now active SIM in another phone, maybe one of the ones it would not activate in to see if it now works?
Looks like I was not specific or clear enough here, sorry:
The steps I mentioned were brief, simple & exact.
The actual activation is done at their site and NOT on the phone(s) - so...
When that already activated SIM was installed into the other several phones I tested with it that the tmob checker had approved, including the Moto G Pure - they could not connect to the network, BUT:
When placed into the Moto E6, it connected, the updates were pushed, and it went online right away.
Then I made that 'important 1st call' as required, and another call right after - both of which being only maybe 30 seconds long, and it subtracted 1 minute each.
What else can I tell you which I may have missed ?!?
I'll probably place an order for 4 of these to qualify for the shipping, as I can always return some or all of them in person to a Walmart that's less than a mile from me. However, the main thing I want to know is if this really free, and if not, how much are you going to need to pay in a month.
So this part:
Added together with this statement from the 'line details' page:
Seems to create the impression that both the service & the new number are totally free - at least until they ain't !!
A user on Reddit sees this when looking at Line Details (I assume in the online account management):
"" you cannot have a recurring subscription on the free plan. when on the free plan, you must manually renew your free service every time it expires" https://www.reddit.com/r/freedompop/comments/r6muni/new_walmart_free_plan_unboxing/
Thanks for the details, Et_Z! You've filled in a lot of the blanks.
Glad to hear, and surprised, that T-Mobile service is working in your location.
I wonder if you might be able to get the SIM working on your other phones by manually entering the APN info?
So this is basically the same as how the 10/10/25 GSMA free plans work, except that the allotments are a lot higher. It's PITA but you get much better return for the inconvenience.
That is a deal breaker for me. I like how my freeup plan auto renews these days.
For me, it depends on how much I need the service. Right now, I don't really have need for another free plan that comes with a requirement to re-up monthly. But I've been on the other side of that fence sometimes, too. (And I still renew my FreeUp plan manually each month, because I do depend on that one.)
I will not mind the manual renewal a'tall -IF- and -ONLY IF- their coverage really is as good as claimed.
What I really need to do is some moving around - and especially to visit a friend who has (until now ??) been in a VZ-only area with weak signal - but he is ~100 miles away from here & with fuel inching up to $4/gallon lately that travel will be postponed even if I must renew it a couple of times to keep it going.
As to FU - I don't have that, or it could easily replace the $pendy RP AT&T for my partner - and since the cheapest deal of theirs now is $180/yr if paid annually - it is more than the $100 RP deal via fleabay that we cannot afford right now.
The shame of all this is that there is no VZ coverage at my partner's new place of work, so we MUST do something to replace or re-up that RP within days from now as it is expiring very soon.
I may have to send my Truphone with her if we are forced to allow that expiration rather than having her terrified of maybe getting stuck in the boonies in-between home & work without any ability to even call for help.
Being able to add some sort of free AT&T service somehow would come in very handy until we get somewhat back on our feet financially.
I suppose it might be overly optimistic to think the FreedomPop/T-Mobile line would have service for the route of the trip, and your partner's work location, but worth checking. (Unless I missed that, and you've already tested it for that.)