Deceptive advertising always gets our feathers in a ruffle. While the Freemium MVNO FreedomPop has done some ‘interesting’ plays with marketing in the past, the new “free family plan” advertisements may be taking things a bit too far for our tastes. For those that aren’t aware, FreedomPop is an MVNO that began operating on the Sprint network about 5 years ago. Their premise was simple, utilize Sprint’s struggling WiMAX network to offer extremely low cost VoIP and internet service. Obviously, it has worked out for hundreds of thousands of people and even after the debacle of Sprint shuttering their WiMAX bands, FreedomPop is still very much alive and kicking. In fact, they’ve grown their offerings to rival some of the best carriers in the world. Today, FreedomPop offers service in the US, UK and Spain. Through their Global SIM program, they offer roaming free coverage in over 20 countries around the world. Their US coverage has also been stepped up with the addition of Sprint SPARK LTE and now a new GSM LTE program that is run through the AT&T network. Overall, things are looking very good for FreedomPop, including their new, incredibly low cost family plans.
This is where the “fuzzy advertising” kicks in. FreedomPop is touting their new 100% free family mobile phone plans just about everywhere right now. Their free plan includes 1GB of data and unlimited talk and text each month. The paid plans are then offered with 2GB ($14.99), 4GB ($34.99), 10GB ($74.99) or 25GB ($159.99) of shared data per month. So far so good, until you get to the fine print about the $5 a month line access fee for each device on the plan. This means that the “free” plan will actually cost a family of 4 $20 a month. This is still a remarkable deal, but it is difficult to understand why FreedomPop feels the need to state the the plan is free, when in fact, it is not.
Taking a quick look at the numbers, the FreedomPop family plan is still a complete steal, which is why we originally looked at the offer. For $20, a family of 4 can share 1GB of data and have unlimited talk and text service each month. For under $60 a month, the same family can share 4GB of data, while 10GB will still keep the family bill under $100. The savings over carriers like Verizon or T-Mobile will add up very quickly, especially when you work in the fact that a certified preowned device from FreedomPop will only cost about $30 out of pocket to get started. The total one year cost on the 4GB plan comes in at $779.84 verses $1887.60 for the same plan on Verizon. That’s a savings of over $1100 a month, or $2200 over the two years you have to stay with Verizon to get that ‘free’ phone. More loosely translated, that’s an extra house payment, a couple of car payments or even a family vacation.
The FreedomPop Family Mobile Plans are definitely worth checking out, especially if you and the kids will only need to have data access occasionally. The lower tier 1GB, 2GB and 4GB plans are serious money savers over the big boys. Hit the link below to find out more and grab this deal before it’s gone.
Free Trial Family Mobile Phone Plan + FREE Shared 4GB Trial and Line Access Fee
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