All the major cell carriers work in Big Bear area, but due to mountain terrain, there are some dead zones. If your house is in a cell tower dead zone there wasn't much you could do in the past. But today I heard about FreedomPOP wireless. You can either buy a phone for $99 or activate an old unused Sprint smartphone that you have lying around. I happened to have my old HTC EVO 4g phone from my last upgrade.
I logged on to FreedomPop.com/phoneactivate and within 10 minutes I had a new phone number and a 30 day free trial with unlimited cell minutes and txt.
Also you can try http://www.freedompop.com/byod
I logged on to FreedomPop.com/phoneactivate and within 10 minutes I had a new phone number and a 30 day free trial with unlimited cell minutes and txt.
Also you can try http://www.freedompop.com/byod
SIGNUP TIP: Even if the FreedomPop site says service is unavailable in your area, if you know Sprint works in the area, just signup with a friend's address in another area. FreedomPop site said it wouldn't work in my area, but it actually works fine. I think their site says, "Signup Anyway" and they will ship you the phone to your area even if their coverage map says no coverage. Its a 30 day free trial anyway, so give it a shot. Let us know if it works below!
After 30 days you can choose either from these plans:
Free Plan with 200 voice minutes, 500 txt
$8 plan with 500 voice minutes, unlimited txt
$12 plan with Unlimited voice minutes, unlimited txt
There is limited cell phone data with these plans, but if you limit your phone data usage you can save a ton of money. (internet browsing, email, and phone apps use data)
How do they do it. Well whenever your phone is on WIFI, your voice calls are routed through the WIFI instead of a cell tower. (Much like SKYPE on VONAGE)
This is where the cell phone dead zones come into play. If you have WIFI at home but no cell tower reception, your FreedomPop cell phone will work at home through your WIFI and when you are out and about it works through the Sprint cell towers.
If I wasn't still on a Sprint contract I would save a ton of money monthly and go with their $12/month unlimited talk/txt plan and just use WIFI for data.
How does FreedomPop make money? Well, they are hoping to up-sell you on higher data plans and phone features. I think you have to pay $2.50/month for voicemail with the free plan. And higher cell data plans like 2GB/mo for $19.99.
Their website is pretty good and you can switch plans or keep track of your usage online easily:
Setting up my phone was pretty easy, just a few settings updates and download the FreedomPop android app and I was online in minutes.
I made a few test calls and txts and everything works fine, but like any VOIP service, the call quality is limited by your internet connection speed. I will update this as the month goes on and let you know of any drawbacks I find.
I tested the phone calling over my Charter Internet WIFI by putting the phone in airplane mode, then turning on phone WIFI manually. This way you know the phone is not connected to a cell tower. You still use the android phones normal dialing process and the call is seamlessly routed over VOIP and your WIFI connection. TXT messages come in as normal even when you are on only WIFI. Pretty cool! And you can't beat the price. Did I mention there is NO CONTRACT and you can cancel quit anytime?
What do you think? Are you ready to ditch your expensive cell plan and get unlimited minutes for $12/month? Let me know in comments below!
I tested the phone calling over my Charter Internet WIFI by putting the phone in airplane mode, then turning on phone WIFI manually. This way you know the phone is not connected to a cell tower. You still use the android phones normal dialing process and the call is seamlessly routed over VOIP and your WIFI connection. TXT messages come in as normal even when you are on only WIFI. Pretty cool! And you can't beat the price. Did I mention there is NO CONTRACT and you can cancel quit anytime?
What do you think? Are you ready to ditch your expensive cell plan and get unlimited minutes for $12/month? Let me know in comments below!
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