FreedomPop

FreedomPop was co-founded by Stephen Stokols, CEO and Steven Sesar in 2011. Prior to founding FreedomPop, Stokols served as CEO of Woo Media, a video-chat and entertainment startup. FreedomPop partnered with LightSquared in December 2011, but ended its partnership after LightSquared did not receive Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval to build out its network. FreedomPop began selling 4G only hotspots in October 2012. The company began offering mobile and wireless internet services in the United States using Clearwire's 4G network. FreedomPop converted 20% of its free user base to paid users in December 2012.

In July 2012, FreedomPop raised $7.5 million in a first round of funding led by Mangrove Capital and Doll Capital Management. In April 2013, FreedomPop partnered with Sprint to expand its coverage to include 3G and 4G with Sprint compatible devices. The company raised an additional $4.3 million in a Series A1 financing from Mangrove Capital and Doll Capital Management in July 2013. In October 2013, one year from its initial wireless broadband launch, FreedomPop launched its beta free mobile phone plan that included voice, text, and data service. In November FreedomPop launched a bring your own device for Sprint-compatible phones.

FreedomPop began supporting and selling Sprint-compatible iPhones in April 2014. The company also released an iOS app that offers voice, text and voicemail service to users within the United States. A month later, in May 2014, FreedomPop began supporting LTE Android smartphones. In July the company announced it would soon be offering SIM card-based plans in Belgium in partnership with Dutch carrier KPN. FreedomPop does not sell mobile devices outside of the United States. In July 2014, FreedomPop began offering its free 4G data, voice and text plans to tablet users, starting with the iPad Mini and the Samsung Tab 3. The free data, voice and text plan is offered to those purchasing a tablet through FreedomPop or other eligible bring your own device Sprint devices. In October 2014, FreedomPop announced its own branded-line of low-cost smartphones and tablets. The first release was a 7-inch Wi-Fi only tablet, the FreedomPop Liberty, which has free voice and SMS text messaging.

In June 2019, it was announced that the FreedomPop's remaining retail business and brand name had been sold to Red Pocket Mobile, alongside FreedomPop's GSMA customer base. Full terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In July 2019, FreedomPop emailed some of its customers to let them know it had transferred their numbers to the MVNO Ting: "FreedomPop and UNREAL Mobile have made a deal to move all customers currently on the Sprint network to Ting Mobile, an industry-leading service provider on the Sprint Network."

Services

Jared Newman, a Time reporter, reviewed FreedomPop's core service in June 2013. Newman reported that some service fees were not clearly noted on FreedomPop's homepage. FreedomPop responded to the criticism by waiving the active status fee for new users as of July 2013.

The service offered by FreedomPop is designed for "light users", while paid options include unlimited talk and text with an option to add high-speed data. The "Unlimited Everything Plan" introduced in May drops from 4G LTE data to 3G after 1 GB of data is used within a billing cycle. In June 2015, this drops to 256 kbit/s for users that signed up before June 2015 or 128 kbit/s for users who signed up after June 2015. The service is only available in select locations. The carrier reportedly has good coverage, though the call quality "can be an issue," according to Clark Howard.

In January 2016, FreedomPop added a roaming SIM, known as the "Global SIM", for free data abroad use in the United States and United Kingdom. Service is provided by a global mobile connection service Fogg Mobile which uses AT&T and T-Mobile as roaming partners in the United States. The company announced plans to expand roaming coverage to Southeast Asia and Latin America by the end of 2016. On October 17, 2018, Freedompop informed the UK users of the Global SIM that this service would be discontinued on October 20. It justified this on the grounds of poor performance of its service partner. The users were encouraged to switch to an LTE national SIM, which unlike the Global SIM, provides coverage only inside the UK. The Global SIMs were deactivated a few days later.

In November 2016, FreedomPop launched FreedomShop in the United States, Britain, Mexico and Spain, to sell refurbished smartphones at up to 80% off the manufacturer's suggested retail price.