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Free Global Sim plan turning into a $5/month plan?

shinyraindropsshinyraindrops FreedomPop Newbie Posts: 2 ✭
in Plans and Services #1
I haven't received any notification, but people are reporting getting emails saying if they don't cancel their global sim by February that FP will charge them $5/month. Is this true for all global sims or only for people who got the email. Please respond with the official word on this FP.

Here's the email.

"Keep your FREE plan and get 5x faster speeds by upgrading your account today with a FREE LTE SIM powered by one of the best mobile network in the US. Keep your existing number and just pay 99¢ for shipping!

Alternatively, you can choose to continue using your Global SIM and plan now that we've reached agreement with our current carrier to continue service. If you elect to keep your existing Global SIM and plan, starting with your February billing cycle, we will charge you $4.99 per month until you decide to change plans, upgrade to LTE or cancel service.

Please be sure to place your LTE SIM order by Jan 31st!"

Answers

  • Chris ColemanChris Coleman FreedomPop Newbie Posts: 55 ✭
    #2
    @shinyraindrops
    Wow, that really sucks, I have 5 FPop Global SIM and was hoping to use them forever, on the free plan, roaming on the global T-Mobile network, as I agreed to with FreedomPop, when I bought them in 2016. I've hardly used them at all, just for emergencies and when service is down on other internet access methods. This is really terrible news and big thumbs down to FreedomPop for making a $4.99/month charge. It looks like just a cash grab to try and take all the $5 account credits people have added to each SIM account, in order to disable Auto Top-up, and play by the rules. BOOOOOOO on Freedompop for changing the rules on us, it's unfair! At worst, FreedomPop should send us the LTE SIM for free, no 99 cents each, why should we pay even more money because FreedomPop broke the deal on us?!
  • DijutulDijutul FreedomPop Newbie Posts: 2 ✭
    #3
    i have a youtube video that kind of explains how to get nearly unlimited data for just a few cents. watch at your own risk.
  • Rich Sias (16th)Rich Sias (16th) FreedomPop Newbie, FreedomPop Master, FreedomPop Expert Posts: 3,069 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 29 #4
    One of my accounts got the email and I see the 99c upgrade choice.
    The other account did NOT get an email from them. Only upgrade I find is $6.99 Uggh. not sure if this one is subject to the $5 thing or not.

    The upgrade may be a way to avoid just buying a penny SIM and downgrading to FREE. The $15 credits requirement in this path dampens my spirit. Maybe for 99c I can bypass that $15. That might be ok.
    Be my Valentine ZTE, Victory, LG Volt, 803S, & 4 SIMs
  • TINA ZHOUTINA ZHOU FreedomPop Newbie Posts: 3 ✭
    #5
    I never received this email and I have 2 global SIM cards. I notice that those two cards are not working at all without wifi. Now I know the reason. Looks like no choice to switch to LTE sim even the LTE sim doesnt' work well as well. From time to time the LTE SIM could make calls without Wifi. It is hard to get the recent updates from FP.
  • AlejandraGAlejandraG FreedomPop Newbie Posts: 3,302 admin
    #6
    TINA ZHOU said:

    I never received this email and I have 2 global SIM cards. I notice that those two cards are not working at all without wifi. Now I know the reason. Looks like no choice to switch to LTE sim even the LTE sim doesnt' work well as well. From time to time the LTE SIM could make calls without Wifi. It is hard to get the recent updates from FP.

    Please be aware you can still use the global sims but they do not offer a free plan anymore. You can keep them active by paying $4.99 on a monthly basis for each or if you want to have a free plan, upgrade to the LTE sims instead.
  • Eli ShererEli Sherer FreedomPop Newbie Posts: 7 ✭
    #7
    AlejandraG said:

    TINA ZHOU said:

    I never received this email and I have 2 global SIM cards. I notice that those two cards are not working at all without wifi. Now I know the reason. Looks like no choice to switch to LTE sim even the LTE sim doesnt' work well as well. From time to time the LTE SIM could make calls without Wifi. It is hard to get the recent updates from FP.

    Please be aware you can still use the global sims but they do not offer a free plan anymore. You can keep them active by paying $4.99 on a monthly basis for each or if you want to have a free plan, upgrade to the LTE sims instead.
    I too received the email about charges for Global SIM.... But I am not clear whether I would be able to use LTE when traveling internationally! Am I correct to say that keeping the Global SIM will soon cost $4.99 per month BUT if I upgrade to an LTE SIM I will NOT be able to travel and use either call or data services internationally? Please confirm, for me this might be a dealbreaker. I travel to Europe periodically and have no problem paying for data services when I do... but I'm not sure I want to pay every month for a service I only use for a week or so every 4-6 months (it can be cheaper to just buy a SIM for the week I am there).

  • AlejandraGAlejandraG FreedomPop Newbie Posts: 3,302 admin
    #8
    Eli Sherer said:

    AlejandraG said:

    TINA ZHOU said:

    I never received this email and I have 2 global SIM cards. I notice that those two cards are not working at all without wifi. Now I know the reason. Looks like no choice to switch to LTE sim even the LTE sim doesnt' work well as well. From time to time the LTE SIM could make calls without Wifi. It is hard to get the recent updates from FP.

    Please be aware you can still use the global sims but they do not offer a free plan anymore. You can keep them active by paying $4.99 on a monthly basis for each or if you want to have a free plan, upgrade to the LTE sims instead.
    I too received the email about charges for Global SIM.... But I am not clear whether I would be able to use LTE when traveling internationally! Am I correct to say that keeping the Global SIM will soon cost $4.99 per month BUT if I upgrade to an LTE SIM I will NOT be able to travel and use either call or data services internationally? Please confirm, for me this might be a dealbreaker. I travel to Europe periodically and have no problem paying for data services when I do... but I'm not sure I want to pay every month for a service I only use for a week or so every 4-6 months (it can be cheaper to just buy a SIM for the week I am there).

    Hi! Unlike global sims, the 4G LTE sim only has coverage within the US. It can be used abroad but only while on wifi or using data from an overseas data provider.
    If you need to have roaming every once in a while when you visit Europe, I would recommend to keep the global sim instead with the $4.99 monthly cost.
  • limeylimey FreedomPop Newbie Posts: 674 ✭✭✭
    #9
    Well, I have to say that this is a very disappointing development.

    I haven't received any emails about this on my Global SIM accounts & no notifications when I login to those accounts - the first I knew about it was reading this thread - so the Jan 31st deadline came & went.

    Frankly, I find myself somewhat begrudged to be forced to pay even the nominal LTE upgrade fee for what is an effective downgrade in service, given the loss of the international capability that I originally enthusiastically signed up for. That was a golden feature, since it provided some basic coverage for both occasional US & international use, without any need for changing SIMs. Unless you spend significant amounts of time overseas, paying $60 a year for something you may only use for a couple of days, doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

    Make Globals a pay as you use service with no recurring fee & you might still have a viable product - otherwise it's likely back to picking up a local SIM.
  • AlejandraGAlejandraG FreedomPop Newbie Posts: 3,302 admin
    #10
    limey said:

    Well, I have to say that this is a very disappointing development.

    I haven't received any emails about this on my Global SIM accounts & no notifications when I login to those accounts - the first I knew about it was reading this thread - so the Jan 31st deadline came & went.

    Frankly, I find myself somewhat begrudged to be forced to pay even the nominal LTE upgrade fee for what is an effective downgrade in service, given the loss of the international capability that I originally enthusiastically signed up for. That was a golden feature, since it provided some basic coverage for both occasional US & international use, without any need for changing SIMs. Unless you spend significant amounts of time overseas, paying $60 a year for something you may only use for a couple of days, doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

    Make Globals a pay as you use service with no recurring fee & you might still have a viable product - otherwise it's likely back to picking up a local SIM.

    We understand where you are coming from but the provider that we use for global sims made some changes which lead for us to have to make it to. However, I will make sure to relay your feedback.
This discussion has been closed.