Freedom Phone Samsung Galaxy SIII

Deal Chatter Electronics
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Hi Woot! So glad to be back here to present another deal for our Free Phone Service with a selection of Android phones. If you have any questions about FreedomPop, I’ve included our top FAQs below (along with a link to a more expanded set). I’ll also 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 my phone? **
After you get your FreedomPop phone, please go to Activate | FreedomPop. Enter in the MEID of your phone, along with your desired email address to be associated with your FreedomPop account. Follow the steps to get fully activated. You will select your FreedomPop phone number during the activation process.

To see an even more expanded FAQs, please check out this page of the FreedomPop Community Forum! Hope everyone has a great day!

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I bought one of these on “sale” for a hundred dollars on Freedompop’s site. And now they’re selling the S3 for less than $70 shipped? Freedompop, what dafuq?

WARNING about my Freedompop S3: Bluetooth and USB tethering don’t work, videos don’t play back properly, Bluetooth audio stutters whenever the screen is turned on and off, the data connection occasionally breaks up even when Sprint customers around me have full bars, call randomly either don’t receive or don’t send out, again in areas with excellent Sprint coverage.

Let me repeat this again: any video over 480p stutters. How the hell am I supposed to watch my full HD porn, Freedompop? HOW? My sub-720p GALAXY TAB 2 had, like, half the specs of the S3 and still scaled 1080p videos wonderfully. It’s a sign of how badly the carrier skin fucked the S3’s guts up. Bare Touchwiz would be a blessing from the gods.

My first phone had these SAME issues, so I got it replaced…after more than a MONTH of waiting! I begged them to put a hold on my CC and ship out a new phone ahead of my return but the Indian tech support would have none of it.

The service is free, kids, but time is money - and these people will make you pay through the nose for it

I’ve got half a mind to file a CC chargeback for my phone and all of the service fees, and pony up for Ringplus or a MVNO that isn’t a complete clusterfuck.

But…then I’d have to pay T-Mo $30 a month, and as a college student that’s $30 I don’t have.

Disclaimer: I set up Hangouts with my Voice number as my default texting app, as opposed to the default Freedompop messaging app. Why? Because Freedompop can take its MMS, voicemail, value added services, shitty messaging app, and fuck themselves. That still may be a reason for the calling issues, though.

Unless you are poor as hell run the FUCK away from these people.

EDIT: And the S-fucking-4 is going for only ten bucks more than what I paid for my S3? Okay now I’m downright livid.

EDIT #2: The “feasts” in my post automatically replaced the forbidden rhymes-with-duck bad word, for those that are a tad confused. Hat tip to the forum moderators.

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I bought the Samsung Galaxy SIII (S3) last time. I’m actually fairly happy with it.

I’m using it as a spare backup phone. I leave it in my car in the center console armrest cubbie. It’s always plugged into an always-on USB port, so battery isn’t a concern. I could also use it to track my car if someone jacks it.

So far the “free” part has remained free with no hidden charges. It’s a VERY basic plan, and everything more has charges, but that’s okay in my book.

Yes, it’s so cheap because it’s data only. As far as I can tell, even the texts and voice go through the data part of the signal. So if your speeds are poor, your call quality is also poor. Think of this as a glorified Skype phone. Again, that’s fine for me.

Conclusion: it’s great for a backup phone, a kid, or someone on a SEVERE budget.

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I got this phone and service for my wife some months ago. She wanted it for audio books, but never tried it for that.

She only tried to use it a couple of times and never got it to make a call. We are in a totally green area on their map. I even shelled out an extra 3.99 so she could use the 3G part of the system.

The last time she tried to use it, the car was not starting and she wanted to call AAA to get the car towed to KIA. Car finally started and she came home and slammed the phone face down on our new Silagranite counter top. It looks fine but does not work, I cancelled the service.

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I’ve purchased both the Nexus 5 and the LG G2 from Freedom Pop. The Nexus 5 looked brand new, the LG G2 looked OK, screen was perfect but back was a little scratched (including camera lens) using Novus products I was able to take most of the scratches off of the Camera lens. There is an update that keeps draining data on The Nexus 5 (that won’t go through). If you want to manually install a new ROM (off of the forums), that’s a workaround that I have not committed to yet. The LG G2 updated fine.

I have been lucky with service/reception- I live in Fort Wayne, IN and the signal is decent. Unfortunately, there are customers that do live in areas that are “covered” but do NOT have good service- so it’s kind of a gamble.

The call quality is not all that great, it’s kind of like 1st generation VOIP over a cell signal. Apparently if you do google hangouts, it’s better- my kids have not tried that yet (most of the time they’re texting). On the free program the MMS is a little weird. I can’t send a picture (in text) to a Freedompop phone, but they can send me one (but it comes as a link, not the picture itself). I guess I could email the person the picture as a workaround.

Look- the service is free. If your area supports it, this is a great phone to have as a backup, for kids, or if you’re on a tight budget. It’s NOT perfect…BUT IT’S FREE and it works decently in certain areas. I bought one for each of my 2 kids (9 and 10) and they love them.

My recommendation would be the Samsung S4 at $110 would be the most tech for the $$. The Samsung S4 still has a decent quad core processor, the same resolution as the S5, a really good camera. Another thing to consider is that Freedompop does not load your phone with the bloatware you get from Verizon/Sprint/ATT. So an older model like the S4 will perform reasonably well.

See this comparison between the S4 and S5. The very slight advantage the S5 has over the S4 is not worth the extra $130 by any means!

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I have a Galaxy SIII on FreedomPop. I tried using it as my only phone for a few months, but ended up going back to AT&T.

It worked ok, but sometimes MMS gets a little bit weird and sends a link instead of an actual picture. Other times it works as expected. I paid the extra money for “premium voice” and that helps when you make calls out but doesn’t do anything for inbound calls. It can also show a different outbound caller ID than your regular phone number, which can confuse people.

The unlimited data is throttled after the first GB, and the throttling is very slow.

By the time I added in unlimited call, text, and data along with premium voice and some other premium features pack to get voicemail and MMS, the cost was over $30 per month.

In the end I needed a phone that would work internationally for my job, so I went back to AT&T. I still have the FreedomPop phone and number, just on the free plan now. Figured I would hang onto it and if I ever need to significantly cut expenses I would go back to FreedomPop for sure.

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Question:

Is the firmware on the phone the standard SIII firmware? If not, can it be flashed back?

Review:

I have a few devices with Freedompop (including a BYOP SIII). The only service I pay for is “premium plus” which is about $6/mo. With that I get to:

o use Sprint’s 2g network for voice on out going calls
o get to wifi tether my phone
o get roll over unused data
o get voice mail
o get/send MMS messages

Service is “acceptable” for the price. Calls are pretty crappy outside of 4g. Premium Plus makes up for that serious lack of service outside of 4g/LTE.

Customer service is absolutely horrible. So bad it shouldn’t be called a “service”.

I supplement my usage with Google Hangouts and do much of my long-term phone conversations on wifi. Son has a sprint Iphone 4s on FP with their straight “free” plan and can’t be happier. Most of his “communication” is via text anyway (on his GV number).

Note: Had trouble receiving calls on wifi – had to disable Sprint’s Connection Optimizer. Worked like a charm.

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I purchased the Nexus 5 last time Woot had a FreedomPop sale. Couldn’t sign it up with FreedomPop, after a long time on the phone with their customer service they determined it was shipped without a SIM. They wouldn’t send me one and offered me two options: 1) go buy a SIM from a Sprint store or 2) take it to Woot support.

I wasted my time going to no fewer than SIX different Sprint stores. Some didn’t sell the SIM, one was out of stock and the last one wouldn’t sell it to me unless I signed up for a new contract.

Contacted Woot, they couldn’t do anything other than take the phone back.

Contacted FreedomPop’s rep on the Woot forums, he was very helpful and eventually offered to send me a SIM, but time was running out to return the phone and I felt it was just easier to get my money back.

Bottom line… Not impressed by FreedomPop.

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This comes with a custom FreedomPop ROM. You can flash it back to the stock ROM.

Very sorry that it didn’t work out. Please feel free to contact me if you ever wish to give us a shot again in the future.

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Does using WIFI count against your data use or is only if you use data on the Sprint network?

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I bought one and I just got it. It seems that battery is draining very quickly. I might be returning it soon…

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Bought 2 of these… One works fine, the other is crap. The battery will drain from 100% to 2% sometimes in less than 5 minutes sometimes you might get 30 minutes. Put a new battery in and it still doesn’t work. Biggest problem is trying to contact Freedompop The crap service they are known for is true… I have gotten zero help. Contacted them once got a generic email replay of you will be contacted within 48-72 hours but then less than an hour later I get a email that says the problem is resolved and the ticket closed… Avoid these people like the plaque.

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Sorry you’re having trouble. You’re welcome to email support@woot.com with your order info, if you need additional assistance.

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My very Non-Tech (nearly tech phobic) friend has been unable to get this to work as a phone… and was too embarrassed to tell me, assuming it was something she was doing wrong.
She told me she kept getting some message about ‘previously activated’ account…
I’m assuming whom ever “recertified” it, forgot to change out the SIM card … so I’m trying to get with Freedom to see if that could be the problem, and to get it corrected…
Anyone else run into this? was it just an unchanged SIM?