Happy September, Woot! Thrilled that we were asked back to present another deal for our Free Phone Service with the iPhone 5. For those of you not familiar with FreedomPop service, I’ve included our top FAQs below. I’ll be around to answer any questions in this thread or through PM.
** 1. Is FreedomPop really free?**
Yes, by activating on the 100% free, you’ll be able to get 200 minutes, 500 texts, and 500MB of data for free each and every month. Just buy the phone and you’ll never have to pay another phone bill again. Upgrading to unlimited talk & text is only $10.99/month.
** 2. What network does FreedomPop use? **
FreedomPop uses Sprint’s 4G LTE and 3G networks. Calls and texts are made through FreedomPop’s VoIP messaging app, so you must have a data connection in order to send/receive calls and texts. Go to www.freedompop.com/coverage3g4g to view the full coverage. As a way to save your free data allotment, you can also connect to any local WiFi network, such as the one in your home or work.
** 3. What do I do after receiving the iPhone 5? **
After you get your iPhone 5, please go to Activate | FreedomPop. Enter in the IMEI of your iPhone, along with your desired email address to be associated with your FreedomPop account. Follow the steps to get fully activated. There was an activation issue with a select number of iPhones in the last deal, but this matter has been fully resolved.
To see an even more expanded FAQs, please check out this page of the FreedomPop Community Forum! Hope everyone has a great day!
I ordered from freedompop since Aug 18 or 19, haven’t got it my status still Device Allocated, hasn’t been kit and ship. I even tried email them, but never got replied. If I get from woot today, I’m wondering when will I get my phone??
These iPhone are ready for immediate activation on FreedomPop. If you wish to activate them on Sprint or other Sprint MVNOs, you’d first need to contact FreedomPop Customer Support.
Please PM me your order information (order #, email address) and I’ll check on the status of your order.
At first glance this seemed like a great deal, but after reading some of the various reviews, I think not. Why would someone have to pay extra to get decent voice quality. And even at that, it’s my understanding that the premium voice option isn’t even available for Apple phones. And why are people receiving phones with sim cards that aren’t compatible with this service. These might seem minor to most provided that there is decent customer support, but again, don’t count on it. Come on Woot, you guys can do better than this.
TheWilk, I think you are wrong. I’ve been on Freedompop for a couple months now and their data service is mostly good–its sprint so its as good as sprint is. I’ve switched how I use my phone and I don’t even use their phone service–I just use the data and talk using google hangouts. It works well. If you need a phone while driving and when you’re out and about, then this may not be the phone for you. But if you need the phone for “emergencies” (as if most of us have real emergencies) and you can talk when you’re on wifi, the phone is awesome.
I have to weigh in each time I see FreedomPop around here.
I’ve had FreedomPop for just over a year now, and if it weren’t free I wouldn’t recommend it at all. The thing is, FreedomPop does all they can to make it not free.
There’s a hidden billing setting that automatically buys more data when you’re at half of your allotment. They don’t monitor data usage but every few hours so if you go over they’ll just charge you for what you used.
They let you do shady “free” offers to get more data. None have ever worked for me and when I contact support I get responses a minimum of TWO WEEKS or more later saying everything of theirs works flawlessly and it’s somehow my fault, end of conversation.
I had an issue where all my calls were garbled in one direction for almost two months. Support was adamant it was because I hit my data limit one month even when I was well into the next billing month. Turns out they had to reset my account on their end. Phone was unusable on cellular and wifi for calls that whole time.
Sprint service (this isn’t really their fault) is awful in many areas. Don’t trust coverage maps, borrow someone’s phone with Sprint service to test the data throughput. FreedomPop gets such a good deal because they only lease Sprint’s data network, not their voice network. That means you’ll have slightly worse reception at all times.
I kept my old Galaxy S3 on FreedomPop service as an emergency phone. When I actually needed to use it outside of the T-Mobile (current phone provider) coverage area, it wouldn’t register on their network suddenly and didn’t work. Their service is not reliable enough to be counted on in emergencies.
If you want a cheap emergency phone find an inexpensive prepaid service from a reputable company. If you want a phone for regular use this isn’t for you.
The only way I can recommend FreedomPop is if you have an existing device you can activate on their service (limited number of old Sprint phones) and don’t need it for emergency or important uses. Other than that, stay away.
The iPhone 5 has an internal battery, so it is refurbished along with the phone itself.
The best ways to guarantee call quality are to sign up for the Premium Voice service (which uses Sprint Voice, instead of VoIP) and to make sure the Messaging App is updated to the most recent version.
If you have no received any of your earned data lately, please PM me and I’ll make sure it gets added.
It’s been 2 weeks since I ordered online a freedompop 5 iphone, up to this time I haven’t got my phone. I called up customer service & told me to wait another 2 weeks since it’s a promotional for 199.00 it was 7 days delayed! Nightmare customer service, I got a billing cycle in next 16 days, without the phone? I just don’t undertand how this company works. Stayaway, there are better options, I will get prepaid plan for more transparency & simpler cell service!
. Is the phone CDMA or GSM ?
. Several have complained about slow shipping and terrible customer services. Any improvement in place ?
. Do we need to provide credit card in order to activate the phone ?
Thanks
I was about to send someone a link to this deal, as they are looking to upgrade from a worn-out old-ish LG on Virgin Mobile. Thank you to all of the wooters posting their honest, real-world-experiences here! Doesn’t sound like something I want to recommend to anyone.
I was able to locate your case and I apologize for the wrong information that was provided to you by the Agent on the phone. I have brought this to the attention of our Customer Support QA Lead. I do see that your order has been cancelled.
This phone is CDMA. In regards to Customer Service, we are doing a large-scale retraining and increasing our QA efforts to make sure that all Agents are being properly monitored.
A valid credit/debit card is required when creating a FreedomPop account.
It’s Sprint’s network, so your experience will be that of the local Sprint Network (fair to bad, IME) I keep mine locked to 3G because I want the battery to last more than 4hrs and I don’t need a space heater in my pocket. Their 3G network sucks, LTE works pretty well.
FreedomPop’s VoIP phone service is “poor”. Even over wifi. But I rarely use it. (read: once. Anywhere my AT&T cellphone doesn’t work, Sprint absolutely doesn’t work!) But I doubt that’s why anyone is buying into FP – you can get the VoIP service for free through any internet connected device.
Referb… this means some 3rd party warehouse tested it, maybe cleaned it, loaded the FP branding on it, and stuffed it in a FP branded box with a non-certified Chinese cable and charger. These are old model devices, with old batteries. If they powered on during testing, the battery almost certainly wasn’t replaced – it’s tedious to replace. Even those under Apple’s recall probably haven’t been replaced. (mine wasn’t.)
Thanks for the reply.
Per info from ‘Features’ page: Plans - Including the world’s only 100% FREE mobile phone plan
. FREE - 100% Free talk, text and data: 500 texts, 200 voice minutes, and 500MB of data free every month for life
. $10.99 - Unlimited Talk, Text, and 500MB of data
. $19.99 - Unlimited Talk, Text, and 1GB of data
Does this mean there are three (3) plans ?
If plan 1 is FREE, why credit card is required to activate ?
If plan 2 or 3 is selected, service will stop when data usage reaches the limit ? FreedomPop would never automatically extend the selected data plan and charge without customer’s approval. Is that correct ?
Thanks
P.S. Just got a confirmation that my order was shipped. I hope to be pleased with FreedomPop’s service and quality. What I worry the most is about hidden charge that someone has claimed FreedomPop did to them.