Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

HOW TO GET IT SET TO $0 A MONTH (FREE): I ordered this from Amazon. When it's delivered, you get a Quick Start Guide. In the light blue bubble on the paper, it says that if you didn't get it directly from FreedomPop, like me, you get 2 options: 1. Activate your device online 2. Activate your device by calling Do NOT activate it online. Activate by calling. If you're interested to know why, read on. If not, skip to the next paragraph. By default, the free trial is picked in bright green. You can get over this by clicking the shaded out 500 mb plan all the way to the right, which is the truly free one. HOWEVER, when you get to checkout, you notice it has forced you into what's called "FreedomPop Premier." You cannot remove it from your shopping cart. It's free for 30 days, but then you pay $25 in advance every 3 months (at about $8 per month). Avoid the headaches of trying to cancel and trying to get your money back by not getting FreedomPop Premier in the first place. Call 888-701-1353, Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm. If you can help it, do not call during lunch hour. EVERYONE calls during lunch hour, so you have to wait hours! I called at 9am and only waited 2 minutes. Tell whoever picks up that you want to activate your device. They'll transfer you to a sales rep. See the video for the rest of the directions. It's a recording of me setting up my device after receiving it from Amazon and before turning it on for the first time. Just pause the parts in the video with text on them. Sorry that they're fast, I wanted the video to be around 5 minutes. I also apologize that it is a recording of a recording. After working hard to edit my original screen recording on wevideo, I couldn't download it unless I bought the application. So, I had to improvise! NOTE: You'll be charged 1$ on your credit card after this call. I called back and asked why, and was told it's to check to see if the card works. He said I would get refunded. I'll continue to keep tabs on my credit card, as should you. By the way, I recorded all my calls by video recording my web browser screen to have evidence that I disabled all of the extra features and added WIFI security on a certain day (on the screen recording, I Googled "date and time" to prove the date). I did this because I read a review of someone being charged for a feature that they had already disabled. According to him, when he called, the customer service basically just called him a liar. He could not prove otherwise without recordings. IMPORTANT: It only works on 4G, so there's no 3G service. Before buying, check to see if you can get service in your area. FreedomPop will not tell you. You can click on "Coverage" on their website, but then it will just prompt you to give out your email and address, Then it will ask you to pick a device and checkout and give them you billing info (wtf?!). So instead, Google search "clear wimax" click the 1st link and put in your address. If you're in the green, you're good to go, even if they say "We're sorry...we can't sell you service." That's because Clear and Freedompop both use the Wimax network. Freedompop is the one selling you service. REVIEW: All in all, the device works well. I live in DC and get good reception. It comes fully charged, so it's ready to go. Just don't turn it on until you have followed the directions above. I have read stories of people getting charged for not password protecting their device and not disabling the feature that automatically charges you for more internet after you are within 100 mb of finishing up your free 500 mbs. EDIT: I have read about people getting disposable pre-paid cards to put on-file with freedompop, so that might be worth a shot. Buy the freedompop from amazon using your regular card (amazon won't share your card info with freedompop) Then, when you call to activate your device, just give them the number on your disposable card. Just make sure you have more than $1 on it, since they test whether or not your card works by charging you 1$. It gets refunded later. You can buy a prepaid card of any major type, like mastercard, visa, etc, from a store or online (giftcards . com sells them). I haven't used this trick, but it might be worth a shot if you don't want to worry about any accidental charges (they can't charge you more than 2$ on gift card that only has 2$ in it!) EDIT #2: I have since been informed by the user Zerin that "if you don't have enough money left over in the prepaid credit card, the service will temporarily cancel until you put in a good credit card." So it would seem the prepaid card idea would only be good to test things out with Freedompop. In other news, I'm going on 3 months now and still no charges on my credit card. I have not paid a cent for the extra internet I get every month. I keep my Freedompop charged and turned off in my drawer, so that it can be ready when I need it. For example, right now my internet is down so I'm currently using my Freedompop to write this 2nd edit. Also, just last week my power went out due to a storm and I reported it to Pepco's website using my charged Freedompop and charged laptop. The internet speed is very impressive, as well. I'll post another edit if anything pops up, but so far so good.