Complaint Review: FreedomPop - Internet

Please be sure to contact FreedomPop with your results. We are more than happy to look further into this issue with you.

In response to the company's usage clarification:

I had renamed the hotspot and changed the password prior to use.  Nobody else has access to the password and I only use it with the iPad. It is my habit to turn the device completely off when not in use, therefore I do not think that there was any data leakage that way.

Since the incident described in the original report I have started logging the usage time and checking on the amount of data used.  Initially, it appears that normal usage is about 1MB a minute for my purposes.  I have used the hotspot consistently as I did during the 30 minute period which resulted in a 748MB data usage.

I cannot explain how using it basically the same way during a 30 minute period resulted in a 25 times increase in data flow from what I believe as normal.  At this point I will be logging every usage until I am comfortable that data consumption reports are correct.

I paid a $53.99 "refundable" deposit on a device to connect to the Internet. The service was slow and customer service was horrible.  I returned the device by mail. (The company advertises that the device can be returned within a year of receiving it for a refund of the deposit.)  The company acknowledges receipt of the the device and now two member of customer service have given me two different stories on why they will not return my deposit.  Antoine insist that I have an outstanding balance and that they will only refund my deposit after I pay my balance.  I told him okay deduct the balance ($10.00) from the balance.  He said he was unable to do it.  Then Ryan contacted me via email on 2/1/2013 informing me that I did not follow "proper procedure" in returning the device and that they will test it and "may" refund my deposit.  This company has slowly drained my bank account with extra charges on their so-called free Internet provider site.  I expect this company to either announce that the device does not work in order to keep my deposit or fabricate charges on my account that will nullify any refund I may have gotten.  FreedomPop are a bunch of cheap scammers.  

They offer 500mb of "free" bandwidth to surf the Internet but nickle and dime you and charge exorbitant prices for more bandwidth and services when that time soon runs out.  Next, their customer service is a joke.  They are slow and unresponsive when you try to contact them.  Lastly, they have a rewards program that does not reward you.  The program is set on the site so that you can "earn" more surfing data by fulfilling offers by their partners.  The problem is they only reward you a tiny percentage of the offers you complete.  They only "rewarded" me with about 10 percent of the offers I signed up for.  Now I have a ton of spam coming to my email that I am not interested in and these creeps are trying to swindle me out of my deposit. Stay away from this con. 

The device comes with a default password, and it's possible you had other devices connected to our device, resulting in additional data usage. Did you secure the network with a new password and ensure your iPad was the only device attached?

To do this:
You can change your Network ID and wireless password from the device utility.
To access the utility:
Connect to your Sleeve's WiFi (default password is "freedompop")Open your web browser and type in "192.168.1.1" (or "192.168.14.1" if using a Freedom Stick)Go into wireless settings. (the default password for settings is "admin")


According to our FAQ, "My device is idle and using data, Why is this happening?"

When charging your Freedom Spot Photon on your computer with your computer on, it will be used as a modem and will use data despite being idle. If this is happening to you, consider charging your Photon through another source.  We also recommend that you turn off your Photon when you are not actively using it to make sure background programs or applications are not using your data.

Could this be the case? Please update us on your usage numbers and we will gladly help.