I have to stay connected due to my line of business. To that end I ensure I have redundant means of communications at all times (for e.g. I actually have a hardwired car phone in case I lose my cell phone) I was previously using T-Mobile prepaid SIM cards in my laptop and while cheaper than a monthly plan I would essentially get a $20 refill and use $3 of it and end up using the rest and having to refill the account constantly did not fit with my goal of always having a working backup service.
When I discovered FreedomPop it seemed like a good option. The $100 for the modem was about the same as I would spend in a few months and 500 mb a month was more than enough for my usage. However I have not had the service more than 3 months and it has suddenly become disconnected! When I login to their site it says my plan includes 0 mb a month. When I try to use the service (at a hotel while traveling) I get redirected to 4g.freedompop.com with a message along the lines of "There's an important account alert, press continue to view it" Pressing continue takes me to another page "Hello Chris, there's an important account update for you, press continue to view it" and when I press continue it takes me to the account page which says my plan has 0mb a month included, but otherwise no alert! My credit card was compromised exactly 10 days ago and I thought maybe it was related (even though that makes absolutly no sense for a free service that should not be billing me monthly!) so I updated the card and also sent a support message.
For the past 3 days I have been trying to use the FreedomPop service always with the same "account alert" messages and the same results of no alert being shown to me. I have also checked my email, including the spam folder, to see if any alert was sent to me and I have not received any alert or even a reply to my support request.
In conclusion, this service is worthless. I have spent $100 for what amounts to 1 month of service. I would have been better off buying another $10 T-Mobile SIM card instead! And now I read on this site that the "refundable deposit" I was charged will not be fully refunded! This is a very deceptive business practice. I understand no business could make money fully refunding your deposit and giving a free service, but I carefully read the site and the terms and trusted that they were providing accurate information. Had they charged me a $20 sign-up fee and an $80 deposit I still would have signed up and not have been upset about being lied to… which is beside the point because they still shut off a free service for unexplained reasons!