No longer recommended to refer to the content of this article
New users can no longer register for the Free Plan, and existing users must manually renew through the App once a month. Although the bill amount is 0, credit card information still needs to be entered, and the magical risk control system may always prevent your operation. It is recommended to use the new free mobile plan
Introduction#
When using services in the United States, a U.S. phone number is always necessary. There are countless articles introducing how to obtain a U.S. phone number, but these either belong to VoIP numbers (such as Google Voice), which a considerable number of websites do not accept; or require a monthly fee. Although there is a plan like T-Mobile Legacy PAYG, which has no monthly fee and charges only based on usage, it still requires regular top-ups to maintain the number, and currently, the success rate of switching to this plan by tricking customer service is relatively low.
As a website established with the goal of outputting random meaningless content, we naturally will not rehash these old topics. What we bring you is a virtual operator with a notorious history of providing free services for many years but constantly using tricks—FreedomPop.
Overview#
Searching for Chinese articles related to FreedomPop on Google can also yield several blogs, but after careful reading, it is found that this content is outdated. This is because FreedomPop's free service has gone through several stages, and this content describes earlier periods, which do not reflect FreedomPop's current situation.
FreedomPop was originally known for providing free data, allowing everyone to get 200 MiB of data for free each month. At the same time, you could invite friends to your team, and FreedomPop would provide up to 500 MiB of additional free data each month, totaling 700 MiB. As an accessory to data, FreedomPop offered unlimited free calls and texts, but this had to be done through FreedomPop's dedicated App, which had a poor user experience.
As of today, FreedomPop has been acquired by Red Pocket (another low-cost MVNO in the U.S.), thus expanding its network to T-Mobile (initially only AT&T); and due to the popularity of Wi-Fi Calling technology, using voice and text no longer requires a dedicated App, which is very good news for many cloud residents.
Getting and Activating#
There are two and a half ways to obtain the FreedomPop Free Plan, each with different costs or time investments. Additionally, note that all FreedomPop plans do not provide international roaming, including voice and text.
- Obtain through the FreedomPop official website: Click here to purchase a SIM Kit. It provides 10 minutes of voice and 10 texts on the cellular network, as well as 25 MiB of data, and unlimited calls and texts while in Wi-Fi Calling mode. This plan is on the AT&T network.
- Purchase through Walmart: Click here to buy a SIM Kit that includes a Walmart exclusive plan. It provides 300 minutes of voice and 1000 texts, as well as 100 MiB of data on the cellular network. In Wi-Fi Calling mode, it shares the aforementioned voice and text quotas. This plan is on the T-Mobile network.
- Any unactivated Red Pocket GSMT SIM Kit can also be used to activate the FreedomPop Free Plan. It is said that GSMA's Red Pocket card can also be used, but it is recommended to use GSMT.
The Walmart version is as follows:
The SIM Kit itself is a completely unbranded white Kit:
After receiving the card, enter the ICCID to activate at here.
Activation requires providing a credit card number. We strongly recommend readers with BofA / Citi / Capital One / American Express Business & Corporate cards to create a virtual card for payment. Given FreedomPop's previously notorious status and the author's personal experience, one might accidentally incur additional charges. Using a virtual card with spending management can effectively mitigate losses.
Additionally, during activation, a Billing Address must be provided. The FreedomPop Free Plan itself is free, but in most areas of the U.S., mobile network fees include various taxes that pay for local emergency service call centers (911) and other public facilities. However, this contradicts the main purpose of this article, so we also provide you with two truly 0 additional tax zip codes. Registering with either of these zip codes will achieve a true 0 monthly fee.
Do not confuse the concept of "tax-free states." "Tax-free states" generally refer to areas exempt from "Sales Tax," not exempt from all taxes!
- 89011
- 26251
During activation, you can choose to port in a number or get a new number from FreedomPop. Due to FreedomPop's nature, most of the numbers it has are already heavily used. If you wish to receive less SPAM, it is advisable to obtain a relatively clean number from elsewhere for porting.
After activation, please immediately cancel "Automatic Payments" in "My Lines." Although the number is on the Free Plan, it will automatically recharge $10 every month by default. We need to cancel this automatic payment, and then after cancellation, re-add payment information, at which point you will see the monthly payment change to 0.
The bill will then show:
Activating FreedomPop Plan with Red Pocket SIM Card#
As of now (2023-05-23), it seems that the special version SIM card of FreedomPop at Walmart is no longer restocked, and the SIM Kit provided by FreedomPop for the free Plan only has the GSMA (AT&T network) version. AT&T's Wi-Fi Call is blocked in mainland China, and using it requires additional magic. However, the previous content of this article has already mentioned that FreedomPop has been acquired by Red Pocket, which provides GSMT (T-Mobile network) SIM cards. So, can a Red Pocket GSMT SIM be used to activate FreedomPop?
Undoubtedly, the answer is yes. However, Red Pocket's SIM card is not registered in FreedomPop's SKU, so it will prompt "GSMT SIM without a plan," and cannot be directly registered as a free plan; you need to purchase a plan first and then downgrade.
The method of purchasing a plan will not be elaborated here, as readers of this site should be able to complete it independently.
After purchasing a plan, go to the My Lines page and click "Change your plan" in the left sidebar.
Click "See Details" on the current Plan.
On the new page, click "I would like to downgrade to the free plan."
In the pop-up window, click the gray small text "I am sure, take me to the Free Plan."
You can downgrade to the free plan. Note that you still need to check for any automatic recharge settings, just like mentioned above.
Wi-Fi Calling#
All FreedomPop plans do not provide international roaming, so when using outside the U.S., you must register for Wi-Fi Calling.
However, FreedomPop does not have any self-service options to enable Wi-Fi Calling. If you try to enable it directly on your phone, you will find that it cannot be activated. At this point, you need to contact customer service to add an e-911 address and enable the Wi-Fi Calling feature.
Click here to contact online customer service (by the way, FreedomPop's support page is almost identical to Red Pocket, and of course, enabling Wi-Fi Calling also requires contacting customer service, which is completely consistent with Red Pocket). FreedomPop customer service hours are Monday to Friday from 8 AM to 5 PM Pacific Standard Time, which is midnight to 9 AM China time.
Inform customer service that you need to enable the Wi-Fi Calling feature. They will ask for your FreedomPop number, name, and email, and then request you to provide an e-911 address. You can provide any address you like (but avoid something too outrageous, like 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500).
Customer service will quickly inform you that the activation is complete, and at this point, you just need to open your phone to see the Wi-Fi Calling icon. Since FreedomPop is quite obscure, you may not even see the FreedomPop brand name on your phone.
To test whether Wi-Fi Calling is indeed effective (in some cases, only the signaling server may connect while IMS data does not, which may show Wi-Fi Calling but not actually work), you can call the free 611 number (the short number designated by the U.S. to reach your mobile carrier's customer service) for testing.
Keeping Your Number#
Since it is a free plan, to reduce waste, FreedomPop will require you to go to the official website every 30 days for a "confirmation." You just need to open "My Lines" to see the banner, and you need to click the button to confirm that you are still actively using that line; otherwise, the entire plan and number may be reclaimed.