Tobias S.

I have been with Freedompop for over 2 years with 4 different phones for my family. I stay with them because the cost works with my budget and after learning how to work with them I can actually maintain a somewhat decent service. But my advice to you is that you need to be better than their customer service in order to make this work for you. Here is what you need to know if you dare to venture in with Freedompop services:

* Money: you need to watch your account page under billing overview and on your credit card. They will charge you for services that sometimes were in the terms but not advertised well and sometimes they make mistakes but if your not quick to catch it they will be reluctant to refund. Always review your credit card charges. Ofter what you are charged will not show up on your account overview and you need to submit a billing question claim or better call them and challenge them aggressively.

* Customer Support: They are in India and with heavy Indian accents. Many times they are very difficult to understand and are very annoying with their polite manners. Often they do not record the information correctly because of the language barrier. They have improved by having their representatives repeat back to you a summary of what you asked. Pay attention closely because often you will catch wrong information.

*Technical Support: The people at Freedompop technical support vary in knowledge and willingness to help. Some are limited to what their computer tells them to do. Some are savvy to use their experiences to actually find a solution. Expect to put on hold often when a greenie finds someone more qualified to fix the problem. They have 3 levels of technical support: expect to get transferred. The service is poor to great. Calls can either be crystal clear or cutting out to dropped. They offer a diagnostic app that basically provides a method to reset the connection. It helps sometimes. But if your app locks up or your account gets suspended for going over data usage then expect do a factory reset. Save pics and music often and keep your phone contacts on your gmail account because you will loose them on the reset. The 4 phones I have will either have 4g or 3g in the same house at the same time. We live in high coveraged area and no reason with weak coverage.

Billing: If you don't use your phone much away from your wifi router and can escape mobile service I suggest you select the annual service of $79 (plus $19.99 activation) for unlimited voice and text and 500mb data per month. The voice is actually capped, not sure how much though and text is capped at 5000. They offer a extra 500mb on the data for the first month but mine continue to be at 1g data per month endlessly. If you buy a freedompop phone they give you the first month service for free than they automatically put you on their monthly service of unlimited everything for $25.99 per month. You can dispute this and get your money back if you switch to the annual plan. On your phone and on your account page you can control extra charges for data by clicking no auto top off and alert me when close to limit. I set my phone to alert me at 350mb when limited at 500mb. The charge is $10 for each 500mb which can get spendy.

Extra Services: Freedompop offers extra services like MMS, Better coverage (if you live in remote areas) voice messaging. They offer better coverage as if it will improve the quality. It does not if you live in the city. The annual plan seems to include the voice messaging but then they say that its separate and you need to pay extra. Check your account page under accounts then services to see if you automatically or mistakenly signed up for any of their services. Each one is a few dollars but it adds up every month.

Lessons Learned: I signed up for basic free services for my daughters phone and Freedompop changed it to 'value added services' at $9.99 per month. Since the phone was never used and only for emergencies I never checked the account. The credit card charges do not associate the phone numbers and with 4 phones it went unnoticed. When I discovered it they blamed me for not checking. Their policies do not allow them to refund more than 5 months. Getting angry does not work. They will elude you. I ended up with 200mb data and $19.98 refunded (2 of the 13 months). Freedompop offers an address in their terms to write to them your dispute before you file suit.

When buying a new phone to replace your old phone can be tricky. Requesting your phone number, email account and annual plan to be transferred to your new phone can take hours on the phone. Some will tell you it can't be done but others say no problem. This is evidence of the varying level of skills and experience of each Freedompop representatives. You will get transferred a lot and hear frustration in the voice of the person trying to help you. But it can be done. Make sure they completely cancel your old phone. They seem to want to keep it working because they can make money off it. They did this to me and I caught it and had charges refunded. Once I paid for my annual plan and they recorded it as a phone purchase and a upgrade in services. I started getting monthly charges after paying for my annual plan. They admitted they messed up but I am still in dispute of getting a refund. After you change phones and update your account pay attention to your account and billing charges.

I hope this information helps in navigating the treacheries of Freedompop. Remember to guard your pocket book and know how to fix technical problems on your own is the bottom line with this company.