FreedomPop Freedom Phone? Update from San Francisco Bay Area

Summary

Pros

• Works as advertised
• FreedomPop now has access to both Sprint and Clearwire networks

Cons

• Many extra fees
• Limited options for devices
• Apparent contrast between advertised philosophy and actual practices
• Company still does not seem to be at same level as competitors

O RLY?

Introduction

I have been using FreedomPop for three months now, and while there are both good and bad things about the devices and company, my overall impression is a negative one. This is true for both the Freedom Hub Burst (home internet) and Freedom Sleeve Rocket (for the 4th Gen iPod). I am therefore skeptical regarding FreedomPop's upcoming offering of a Freedom Phone, and will go over my reasons below.

Free 500 MB, 200 min, and unlimted texts per month; too good to be true?

Discussion

I had really high hopes for FreedomPop. And I will admit, they seem to follow the letter--if not the spirit--of their claims. However, I am generally disappointed with the company and devices.

For example, while they claim to want to revolutionize the mobile internet space, they seem to be using a lot of tactics to nickle and dime users. There are a lot of extra fees associated with FreedomPop that I don't like. Usage alerts for $2.99/month? Speed Plus for $3.99/month? They even had a monthly maintenance fee of $0.99/month if you did not use at least 5MB per month that they only recently removed.

On a related note, mobile devices are refundable for up to a year, but home internet devices are only refundable in the first 30 days. I feel that there is so much advertisement regarding a year-long return policy and FreedomPop's own rebel image, that it's so easy to not check the fine print as you would with 'big bad corporations.'

Also, I have used both FreedomPop's home and mobile internet devices, and while they were OK, they weren't spectacular, and I would hesitate to even call them good. There was just so many problems, with connectivity issues, overheating, short battery life, etc., that I ended up returning what devices I could, and canceling my account

Doesn't seem to be lot of difference from a UI perspective. FreedomPop had a great idea to essentially turn an iPod into an iPhone that unfortunately didn't work for me.

Conclusion

Based on the FreedomPop coverage map, and the fact that I live in a world-class city next to Silicon Valley, I suspect that problems I experienced with FreedomPop products were not strictly due to network or connectivity issues. The company's stated philosophy also seems to clash with many of their practices, and as stated

In the end, I can neither recommend FreedomPop as a company nor as a service provider, and if you get the Freedom Phone, my advice is to be sure to save the packaging in case you need to return it.

I'm a big fan of new ideas and technology, but FreedomPop doesn't seem to be at the level of other similar companies at this time. Stick with traditional home internet offerings, or look into options such as Virgin Mobile, Republic Wireless, or Ting.