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Carrier RingPlus (Free Phone Service)
- Thread starter Channan
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It was "upgrade year" for us so for the first time ever we splurged and went for LTE models (iPad Pro and iPad Mini 4). RingPlus makes me feel so stupid for doing that because with their plans then I would get 6GB of tethered data for only $2/mo. Lesson learned....Hope you're able to get it(it's really an amazing plan, especially the $1.99/mo tethering!)
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So upgrades from 6:30 to about 6:30:30 if previous plans are anything to go by. :/Sorry to hear Channan
On the plus side though it looks like RingPlus is going to be offering the BLT plan again for new activations on the 23rd, and a # of upgrades on the 24th (6:30-9:30pm pacific time) based on how many new activations sign up the previous day : https://social.ringplus.net/discussion/7425/blt-free-plan-august-23-2016#latest
Hope you're able to get it
Good to know, though. Thanks. I might try doing a new line to guarantee I get this plan. It's too good. I'd definitely pay for tethering every month at that price.
Apple Store gives it away for Free if you ask.
I just walked in, asked the concierge for a SIM ("I want to use my Verizon SE on Sprint now. Can I have a Sprint SIM?") and he had someone bring one from the back. The UPC said $0.00 on it so I guess its no big deal.
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Because of the way Sprint deals with IMEIs and SIM cards, nope. You can't swap the SIM card to a new device and use it, even another phone. I have two lines on two phones with two SIM cards on RingPlus and I can't swap the SIM cards between phones. It just doesn't work.
Have you tried an ESN swap? Ring plus offers it as an option on the dashboard but charges $2/swap. I was wondering if I can swap it to my iPad Pro but I'm too cheap to try it myself.
Yes. I had to do that once when I wanted the better plan on my iPhone SE. Cost me $6 in account credit between the two lines because I had to swap the first plan to a temporary phone, then swap the second plan to the first phone and then the first plan to the second phone.Have you tried an ESN swap? Ring plus offers it as an option on the dashboard but charges $2/swap. I was wondering if I can swap it to my iPad Pro but I'm too cheap to try it myself.
But RingPlus doesn't allow the free plans on data-only devices like tablets. You might be able to do it if the system doesn't pick that up, but you risk losing the line if RingPlus finds out.
So does using your "temporary" phone now disqualify it from ever being a "New Line Activation"?
I just got an SE as a backup phone and want to try it on RP. I was going to swap my line to it but I don't know if doing so will register it to RP and disqualify me from promos. (Or cause problems down the line if I ever sell it)
Thanks a lot for the heads up. Someone in this thread said you can do it if you put a fluid call client on the iPad. I put my tablet IMEI in the checker and it said I qualify so I was expecting to sign up today for a BLT tablet.
I guess you can trick the system but their service is already "too good to be true" so I don't want to try bending any of their rules and policies.
New line activation just means no upgrades. It doesn't mean phones that have already been used on RingPlus don't qualify. If you cancel a plan on RingPlus, whatever phone that plan was tied to has to wait 30 days before signing up for a new free plan. If you transfer a plan from a phone to another one, that phone can be used to sign up for a new free plan almost immediately.
If you want to use your iPhone SE on RingPlus and don't already have a plan for it, I would recommend not swapping your current line to it (unless you already have a really good plan or just don't have about $40 to spend) and signing up for the BLT plan with your iPhone tonight. Other than the beta test research plans RingPlus offered a while back, I don't think they offered a better free plan than BLT.
You can use a fluid call client to make VoIP calls using your R+ number, which uses your R+ minutes and should be good enough for RingPlus, but using a free plan on a tablet is still against their TOS and they can/probably will terminate your line if they find out you're doing this.
Hope you're able to get BLT or something comparable soon.
@Hal~9000 I officially have three lines on RingPlus now. Lol I need to find another phone that I can use to transfer the plans around with, but I'm going to wait until tomorrow to see if I can upgrade my Phoenix plan to another BLT. Tomorrow I'll either have a 2750 plan or a 4000 to give up. I know my dad wants one but his current phone is locked.
If you're looking for a cheap compatible Android phone then the Moto G4 with Amazon Ads is a decent device for $150 (it went down to $125 a few times).
Anyway, after two more subscriptions yesterday my setup looks like this
Moto G4 - Ringplus BLT (Free)
IPhone SE - Ringplus BLT (Free)
IPad Pro - Ringplus BLT (Free)
IPhone 5 - Freedompop (Free)
IPhone 6S+ - Sprint Framily Plan ($30)
Pretty insane price to keep a family connected.
I did run into a similar problem that you had in that I have to do a few line swaps. I've got the lines I want but since the two extra BLT's were unexpected then I need to swap around phone numbers and port in a nice Google Voice number I had been holding on to. And that requires a $2 ESN per swap per transaction.
I've actually found Sprint to be pretty decent. Not as good as Verizon or AT&T, but good enough to use as my main line if I had to.
I already have two phones on RingPlus. I don't need another. Lol if I can't find a device to swap it over to, I'm just going to dump the last plan.
So I just wasted about $43 on the BLT plan yesterday since I was able to upgrade both of my current lines to the BLT plan today. Now I have three lines with the BLT plan and only two compatible phones. Lol
I'm going to try to sell one of the lines so I can make my money back. If I can't find anyone to sell it to, I'm just going to try to activate the extra line on my iPad. If RingPlus finds out and suspends the account, oh well. Not like I can use it for anything else anyway.
I'm going to try to sell one of the lines so I can make my money back. If I can't find anyone to sell it to, I'm just going to try to activate the extra line on my iPad. If RingPlus finds out and suspends the account, oh well. Not like I can use it for anything else anyway.
Two great new plans are being offered tomorrow, Sunday, from 4-7 Pacific. Upgrades for current members, which will match the number of new sign-ups, are available at 7 until sold out.
The first plan includes unlimited everything, though data is part of the research beta test, so it's frequently throttled and they're working on including ads somehow through data. Still, unlimited data. The cost is $38 for the first month, and each month after costs $7.60 less until the plan becomes free (after 5 months) which means this plan will wind up costing you $114 total plus taxes and fees.
The second plan is basically the BLT plan, which includes 4750 minutes, SMS, MMS, and MB plus an additional 250 of each every month until you hit 6000 (also after 5 months) but the differences in this plan are that there are no RingBack ads when placing outgoing calls, so calls are routed directly over Sprint and don't have the extra latency like most RingPlus plans do, but data is also part of the research beta test as mentioned above. Cost is $38 plus taxes and fees one time. Tethering available for $1.99/month.
So you're looking at either:
Unlimited minutes
Unlimited texts (SMS and MMS)
Unlimited data
Grand total of $114 + taxes and fees unevenly spread out over five months, then completely forever after
Or:
4750 minutes (6000 after 5 months)
4750 SMS (6000 after 5 months)
4750 MMS (6000 after 5 months)
4750 MB (6000 after 5 months)
One-time $38 top up + taxes and feels, and completely free forever
Optional tethering add-on available for only $1.99/month
The first plan includes unlimited everything, though data is part of the research beta test, so it's frequently throttled and they're working on including ads somehow through data. Still, unlimited data. The cost is $38 for the first month, and each month after costs $7.60 less until the plan becomes free (after 5 months) which means this plan will wind up costing you $114 total plus taxes and fees.
The second plan is basically the BLT plan, which includes 4750 minutes, SMS, MMS, and MB plus an additional 250 of each every month until you hit 6000 (also after 5 months) but the differences in this plan are that there are no RingBack ads when placing outgoing calls, so calls are routed directly over Sprint and don't have the extra latency like most RingPlus plans do, but data is also part of the research beta test as mentioned above. Cost is $38 plus taxes and fees one time. Tethering available for $1.99/month.
So you're looking at either:
Unlimited minutes
Unlimited texts (SMS and MMS)
Unlimited data
Grand total of $114 + taxes and fees unevenly spread out over five months, then completely forever after
Or:
4750 minutes (6000 after 5 months)
4750 SMS (6000 after 5 months)
4750 MMS (6000 after 5 months)
4750 MB (6000 after 5 months)
One-time $38 top up + taxes and feels, and completely free forever
Optional tethering add-on available for only $1.99/month
I disnt get a sim in time for the blt plan (truth is I kind of forgot to do this one the way home since I got distracted with other things lol).
Can you explain more about this truly unlimited plan. What does frequent throttling mean? Will it be borderline useless? Is it based on time of day? Amount of data used?
I'm considering getting that but if they're just always throttling I'd rather just have the blt plan.
BLT promo is over and I doubt they will offer it a third time in the future, but there will still always be other good free plans. Go ahead and get the SIM card ASAP. The thing that was so awesome about BLT is there is a huge amount of MMS included and tethering is $2/month.
As far as the throttling goes, I'm not exactly sure. I saw someone mention 512Kbps, but I'm not sure if speeds never go faster than that or if that's what speeds are like when they do throttle. I know they're testing data compression and throttling speeds for videos sort of like T-Mobile and Sprint are doing, so you may not get HD video when you stream.
But even if you're always throttled at 512Kbps, that's not that bad. That's a few times faster than what you'd get from the other carriers if you were throttled on their plans. You can still stream music and SD video at that speed. Browsing the web will be a little slower, but not painful. And if you get the unlimited plan, you can use as much as you want.
Honestly though I wouldn't trade my BLT plan for either of these. Obviously not the second one since it's the same thing but my data isn't throttled. The first one is just too expensive for a spare line like I've been using RingPlus, but if I really needed a lot of data and it was for my only phone, I'd probably spring for the unlimited plan.
@lordofthereef I was wrong. Lol
Three "free" plans being offered on Monday, Labor Day from 9am-10pm Pacific or until sold out.
1. BLT again. $38 one time top-up.
4750 minutes
4750 SMS
4750 MMS
4750 MB
+250 of each every month for five months until you have 6000 every month. Tethering available for $1.99/month.
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2. Mad Surfing BBQ Brisket. $38 one time top-up.
Same as BLT except data is throttled but outgoing calls don't have ads while the phone rings. This plan is better if you use minutes more than data as there's no additional lag on phone calls. BLT is much better for data and still fine for phone calls.
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3. Surfing Rueben. $38 first month minus $7.60 each month until (after 5 months) the plan is free. $114 total.
Unlimited everything, but data is throttled. No tethering.
Three "free" plans being offered on Monday, Labor Day from 9am-10pm Pacific or until sold out.
1. BLT again. $38 one time top-up.
4750 minutes
4750 SMS
4750 MMS
4750 MB
+250 of each every month for five months until you have 6000 every month. Tethering available for $1.99/month.
______________________
2. Mad Surfing BBQ Brisket. $38 one time top-up.
Same as BLT except data is throttled but outgoing calls don't have ads while the phone rings. This plan is better if you use minutes more than data as there's no additional lag on phone calls. BLT is much better for data and still fine for phone calls.
______________________
3. Surfing Rueben. $38 first month minus $7.60 each month until (after 5 months) the plan is free. $114 total.
Unlimited everything, but data is throttled. No tethering.
Can you tell me/us the steps needed to activate the iPad Pro with RingPlus? The BLT is running again today and Saturday (9/10-Sep-2016).
Can I do this with only the iPad Pro or is there a swap to the iPad Pro from a previous phone required???
thanks!
qb
You're pretty much setting it up with RingPlus like its a phone. So you need compatible hardware, Linphone to make your REQUIRED phone call every 2 months, and the Info to set up the account and then set up the software.
Hardware:
- IPad Pro LTE Model
- Sim Card: SIMOLW436C (FREE at any Apple Store. JUst tell them you're getting Sprint)
Software:
- Linphone (In AppStore)
Info
- IMEI (Settings - General - About)
- Phone Info (Ringplus.net After Signing Up look at bottom icon called Fluid Call)
So far having such a large bucket of data on an iPad with no hassle of teething has been great.
@urkel - well I've tried for 75 minutes and two iPads with cellular (both Apple SIM cards).
The new iPad Pro 12.9 inch I bought today yields an error:
Device could not be activated: 990004007 - No paired ICCID
An iPad Mini 3 gives my an error that the ICC ID is too short (must be 20 characters - I've verified it is 19 characters only in iTunes)
The Mini is registered for T-Mobile Free For Life plan but I thought it would transfer (this is an LTE like Sprint).
I've also popped out each SIM card and tried the 20-character code printed on these. Each begins with an A so these might be an Apple part number).
I guess I'm out of luck unless anyone has suggestions to try quickly.
thx
The new iPad Pro 12.9 inch I bought today yields an error:
Device could not be activated: 990004007 - No paired ICCID
An iPad Mini 3 gives my an error that the ICC ID is too short (must be 20 characters - I've verified it is 19 characters only in iTunes)
The Mini is registered for T-Mobile Free For Life plan but I thought it would transfer (this is an LTE like Sprint).
I've also popped out each SIM card and tried the 20-character code printed on these. Each begins with an A so these might be an Apple part number).
I guess I'm out of luck unless anyone has suggestions to try quickly.
thx
I really need to get to the Apple Store and get a Sprint SIM card soon. I have an extra BLT line I'm not using because I only have two phones compatible with Sprint, so I really want to try getting that third BLT line on my iPad Air 2.