S3 for $200 + $0 per Month??!

[SiempreTuna]

Seems that, this summer a company called Freedompop will be offering a 'massively disruptive' service in the US: a subsidised phone - S3 for $199 or HTC Evo for $99 - plus FREE line rental that includes unlimited texts, 200 minutes and 500MB of data. All running over the Sprint network (don't know how good that is).

Apparently, they're hoping to make money from people who sign up for 'premium' services like unlimited calls ($10/month) or 2GB data ($18/month).

Sounds like an unbelievably good deal to someone as tight as me - needless to say I would get by on the free service

I'm guessing that for many on here, the data side could be an issue, but otherwise, how is this not going to be massive .. before failing coz of freetards like myself?

 

[LilBit]

The comments at the end of the article are interesting.

 

[tastycaramel]

Quite a good deal. Unfortunately, it will never happen here

 

[SiempreTuna]

Err .. no. Can't see the Sing government allowing that! It would hurt SingTel far too much!

BTW, how does it work in Sing now? Used to be each party on a call paid 10 (or was it 20) cents. Has that changed?

Re the comments at the end of the article, I'd never heard of this Ovivo in the UK .. I may have to check it out

 

[tastycaramel]

Err .. no. Can't see the Sing government allowing that! It would hurt SingTel far too much!

BTW, how does it work in Sing now? Used to be each party on a call paid 10 (or was it 20) cents. Has that changed?

Re the comments at the end of the article, I'd never heard of this Ovivo in the UK .. I may have to check it out

For my youth plan currently, incoming calls are free but outgoing are capped at 100 minutes. After that, it would be 16.05/min (not exactly sure because I don't call )

The worst part is that my carrier capped new contracts with mobile data at 2GB if you have the cheapest plan (Superlite Flexi). It used to be 12GB, and they changed for the worst

 

[Bob Maxey]

I'll believe it when I see it here. Then I'll ignore it because cheap is after all, cheap.

 

[tastycaramel]

I'll believe it when I see it here. Then I'll ignore it because cheap is after all, cheap.

Lol I understand what you mean.

 

[SiempreTuna]

For my youth plan currently, incoming calls are free but outgoing are capped at 100 minutes. After that, it would be 16.05/min (not exactly sure because I don't call )

That's pretty good! I think my off-plan minutes cost around S$0.60 per minute.

The worst part is that my carrier capped new contracts with mobile data at 2GB if you have the cheapest plan (Superlite Flexi). It used to be 12GB, and they changed for the worst

12GB?!

Wow!

Most 'unlimited' plans that we used to have in the UK had 'fair usage' clauses of around 1GB. Unlimited plans have all but gone and these days, you have to pay a small fortune to get over 1GB/month.

I'll believe it when I see it here. Then I'll ignore it because cheap is after all, cheap.

Does sound too good to be true, don't it?

Apparently, it claims it will keep costs down as it will use VOIP for calls. Don't quite know how that works .. or how well.

 

[tastycaramel]

That's pretty good! I think my off-plan minutes cost around S$0.60 per minute.



12GB?!

Wow!

Most 'unlimited' plans that we used to have in the UK had 'fair usage' clauses of around 1GB. Unlimited plans have all but gone and these days, you have to pay a small fortune to get over 1GB/month.

My carrier notice that a lot of people have been using Whatsapp as their main form of communication instead of standard SMS thanks to the 12 GB. That is why they reduce it to 2 GB and made many people overshot that limit...

Lucky me, I rarely use my mobile data because I am always paranoid of overshooting unless I have unlimited data plan

 

[Bob Maxey]

Does sound too good to be true, don't it?

Apparently, it claims it will keep costs down as it will use VOIP for calls. Don't quite know how that works .. or how well.

I always let 10,000 or so people become unwitting Beta Testers. I am all for new tech, but I still want to see how many Lemmings walk off the cliff before I decide.

For many people, cheap is all they see. I want to be sure a service will be around for awhile before I go for it. I live and die by email, SMS and phone calls and I hate to see problems.

As for VOIP, not sure. I think good old cell service is the better choice, at least for me.

I do wish them luck, however.

 

[tastycaramel]

I always let 10,000 or so people become unwitting Beta Testers. I am all for new tech, but I still want to see how many Lemmings walk off the cliff before I decide.

For many people, cheap is all they see. I want to be sure a service will be around for awhile before I go for it. I live and die by email, SMS and phone calls and I hate to see problems.

As for VOIP, not sure. I think good old cell service is the better choice, at least for me.

I do wish them luck, however.

That's true. You wouldn't want to waste a single cent on something that is unreliable and not stable.

 

[SiempreTuna]

That's true. You wouldn't want to waste a single cent on something that is unreliable and not stable.

To be fair, at $0.00 per month, you wouldn't be wasting a single cent

What's holding me back is that I have a legacy plan that gives me unlimited interweb (plus some calls and sms) for US$16 / S$20 a month and I'd have to give it up if I wanted to try out the new service while keeping my existing phone number (that I've had 10 years).

 

[kevincott]

Reading the comments it seems that they access your data, meaning 'user-authorized' malware.