FreedomPop Offers $99 4G Hotspot Built Into iPhone Case

[iSayuSay]

Quote from freedompop.com:

"....
What is mobile broadband?
Older 3G wireless Internet technology delivered slow Internet speeds in comparison to traditional DSL and cable Internet connections. However, today's wireless Internet technology including 4G Wimax and LTE deliver mobile broadband speeds equivalent and even faster than DSL and cable. Today, mobile broadband Internet connectivity can replace existing home Internet broadband."

Yeah. LTE is the new hype, and can totally replace home broadband.... IF they dont get throttled

 

[alphaod]

I think it would be very good to keep around for foreigners traveling to the US. They would pay $100 for the device, and then when traveling to the US, they wouldn't have to pay roaming charges or hunt to hotspots. For email and basic web browsing 500MB is plentiful.

"FreedomPop - Free Access for All". Not really, you're charging 100 dollars for it.

No, they're charging $100 for the device, not the service.

Also "free" does not always imply monetary terms.

 

[Defactomonkey]

They messed up by not creating this for iPod touch which could have meant the death of the cell phone as we know it

 

[Consultant]

The video in this post presents itself as a third-party review. The announcer says he "thinks" this is not available to the public yet and he "feels privileged" to be checking it out. At the end of the video, he says it seems pretty cool and he "thinks" he is a fan...

This is the very same video posted as a demonstration on FreedomPop's own website for pre-orders.

It seems very strange to me that they wouldn't have their own promotional video for this amazing new product, and they are instead apparently relying on some random guy's video review of it, presented as unbiased testimonial.

Equally troubling is the fact that there was a hard cut in between showing he was connected to the FreedomPop Wi-Fi signal, and then showing the speed test. How do we know he was still on the FreedomPop Wi-Fi network? There is no reason he couldn't have immediately launched the speed test app from the phone without an edit in the video.

Caveat Emptor?

Read their ToS. They will skim all your info, get access to all your social networking sites and other personal information.

Your information might be sent to 3rd parties for:

Email, telemarketing, SMS, etc.

http://www.freedompop.com/privacy.htm

Not a good deal at all for giving up all your information.

Oh wow that's shady.

 

[gwelmarten]

What a great idea. I wonder what terms their data deal is on? Who do you think is providing the coverage?

 

[unlimitedx]

What a great idea. I wonder what terms their data deal is on? Who do you think is providing the coverage?

clearwire. i'm guessing they have a lot of excess capacity. 1 cent per megabyte is actually more preferable than at&t's tiered pricing, IMO

 

[2 Replies]

Ordered one. Why not?

Um....because it's expensive? ($100 is still $100)
But if money is no object for you (since you're comment implies you consider it like an impulse item), how about sending a few Benjamins my way?

 

[alphaod]

Um....because it's expensive? ($100 is still $100)
But if money is no object for you (since you're comment implies you consider it like an impulse item), how about sending a few Benjamins my way?

Why would someone send money to you instead of buying, say a couple more of these?

 

[corywoolf]

Busted...

http://www.inflexwetrust.com/2012/0...ld-you-upgrade-your-iphone-to-4g-for-only-99/

 

[MacDarcy]

Ok....I'm a big voip user on my no contract iphone....so i'll bite.

Sounds great. $99 one time fee. Free monthly 4G access. Super. Sign me up!

Um....However. I got two big questions. How GOOD is the 4G coverage? And How fast does this suckers battery last? This video didnt touch on either of these...which leads me to believe that old adage "if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is" applies here.

I'm curious....but skeptical. Will wait for some real world tests before i pounce.

That being said, more and more I see the big telecom companies freaking out. Personally, i think this is a GOOD thing.

 

[treyjustice]

Ok....I'm a big voip user on my no contract iphone....so i'll bite.

Sounds great. $99 one time fee. Free monthly 4G access. Super. Sign me up!

Um....However. I got two big questions. How GOOD is the 4G coverage? And How fast does this suckers battery last? This video didnt touch on either of these...which leads me to believe that old adage "if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is" applies here.

I'm curious....but skeptical. Will wait for some real world tests before i pounce.

That being said, more and more I see the big telecom companies freaking out. Personally, i think this is a GOOD thing.

Apparently you get data for free because they sell all of your data lol

 

[spicynujac]

This is ideal for the iPod touch. I dont get the appeal for iPhone users. They are already paying for a data plan. The selling point of this is what, that it's faster? If you're doing a task that is bandwidth intensive i.e. Streaming video, you are likely near a wifi station which will provide fast speeds. Otherwise, will you really notice a speed difference checking the weather or playing WWF? besides if it's all that "fast" seems like you will burn through the 500 MB quickly.

On the other hand, there is a huge market for this with iPod touch users. I would love to see it combined with an external battery pack that would lengthen the operating period of the touch. it could be useful for iPad, but I feel that most places you pull out the iPad are going to have wifi. I am fine with wifi only for my touch 90% of the time, but it sure would be nice to google maps and stream audio when on the go.

I don't know how many iPhone users that care that much about speed are going to pay $100 for a device that best case will come out in August when the iPhone 5 with likely 4g data will come out a month or two later. Seems the only advantage is tethering which some carriers or jailbreak will get you. Update: google search first result shows article stating this *is* being developed for iPod touch, as well as USB dongle for laptops etc.

 

[aajeev]

Useless to iPhone users?

This is ideal for the iPod touch. I dont get the appeal for iPhone users. They are already paying for a data plan. The selling point of this is what, that it's faster? If you're doing a task that is bandwidth intensive i.e. Streaming video, you are likely near a wifi station which will provide fast speeds. Otherwise, will you really notice a speed difference checking the weather or playing WWF? besides if it's all that "fast" seems like you will burn through the 500 MB quickly.

Not sure what you mean by "they" are already paying for data. As far I as I can tell, I can already imaging several different situations that an iPhone user could use this product:
1. Tmobile iPhone user (most of them bought the iPhone at full price, but due to Tmobile limitation has to run at EDGE), this would be great for them. $100 and years of 4G speed data plan?
2. Any other cellular company users (ATT, Spring, or Verizon). Again purchase the phone at full price, go with their voice/text family share plan. Purchase this device and enjoy my $8/month data plan (assuming it's $100/year), vs. the typical $30 data plan (that's close to $360 a year).
3. Any 3Gs or iPhone 4 user who are currently not under contract anymore, that has the freedom to drop the data plan.

So, unless you have some specific situation in mind, I can see this benefit a lot of iPhone users.

 

[kovey]

VPN + Proxy for the win!

Still really sketchy of them though.

Fail. VPN + proxy does nothing for the fact that their privacy statement clearly says that the devices provides them with your name, address, mobile number, carrier , etc.

PASS on this unless you want your mobile number and personal info shared with spammers and wanybody else that freedompop pleases to sell it to.

Not worth it for 500MB of "free" data.

 

[chone253]

FreedomPop shipping soon!

I sent a support request to FreedomPop today asking about the ship date. I got a reply that they would be shipping at the end of August.

 

[jateelover]

I'm curious about this. I actually have an iphone 4s on sprint now...I like the ipod one better, just because the ipod is slimmer, cheaper, and the case isn't as bulky. But do you think you would lose GPS by using the ipod one over the iphone one? hmmm...

Seems too good to be true, but..I think what people are really missing about this is the hotspot ability. Basically, you are paying 100 dollars for a 4g hotspot that can attach to your phone or ipod...even if you have neither of these, i would think this would be worth the 100 bucks just to have the 4g hotspot in a pinch...

I'm gonna preorder one, just don't know if i want it for the iphone or the ipod...then consider cancelling my service with Sprint...