Has anyone seen the film the Kingsmen? [1]<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingsman:_The_Secret_Service#Plot" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingsman:_The_Secret_Service#Pl...</a><p>Seventeen years later, Professor James Arnold is kidnapped by unknown assailants, led by Internet billionaire Richmond Valentine and his henchwoman Gazelle. One of Hart's compatriots, "Lancelot," attempts to stage a rescue, but fails as he is cut in half by Gazelle. Valentine, known for his philanthropy, continues to meet with various heads of state and VIPs; some of whom go missing afterwards. <i>He also announces a giveaway of SIM cards, granting free cellular and Internet access.</i>
In Poland we had free data plans for a couple years now from company called Aero2 - they won the right to use a certain frequency,but only under the guarantee that they would offer free data usage on their network to everyone(for up to 5 years I think?). So I know a lot of people who bought cheap 3G modems and got their simcard with Aero2 just to have free internet at home, there are no usage limitations, except for the speed limitation(is limited up to 5mbps)). There is no contract either, you order the simcard online and can use it straight away.
From the Guardian coverage:<p>> FreedomPop is different to most mobile phone service providers because it only uses mobile data, employing an app available for Android and iPhone to send and receive text messages and make calls that are not carried over the traditional mobile voice network.<p>Still, free data is worthy of attention even if the calling/texting experience sounds iffy.
There have been plenty of these sorts of MVNOs in the past. For example, Ovivo tried to stay afloat by offering subscription plans above its free tiers. Still went bust.<p>When something is free there will always be huge uptake of it (see also: NHS). Some people will even get around the limits by having a collection of SIMs rather than pay for using the service (just like people will wait to go to the local GP to get an item for their child free on a prescription rather than get it for £2 from any pharmacy).
Freedom Pop, ugh my experience with them has been one of bait and switch. I bought a hotspot from them and I ended up canceling a couple of months after that due to unauthorized charges and suspicious account upgrades.
To add insult to injury you have to call them to cancel your account something that took me hours to finalize.
The one bright spot is that their customer service do not contest at requests to drop fees/charges it must be a common request from customers
After my teenage son manage to run up £389 pounds of calls in one month on a package with "Free" calls I've been a bit wary of "Free" anything... :-)<p>Mind you was all my fault - when he got his phone he didn't make calls, ever, so I didn't pay attention in the shop when they explained what "free" meant. However, teenage behaviour changes drastically at various points and suddenly vast amounts of calls were being made to girls...
I think the extra service of getting a phone number in a different country is almost better than the free allowance. Although more and more people I know abroad are using data bound services more than they are calling/texting.