Optimum Mobile, looking to aggressively grow its subscriber base, has just launched a new offer. The offer is for new lines only and gives customers 12 months of free wireless service.
Optimum Mobile's Free Phone Plan Offer Details And Fine Print
The plan that Optimum Mobile is giving away for free is its base plan, which normally costs $19/month or $14/month if you are an Optimum or Suddenlink Internet customer. The plan includes unlimited talk and text with 1GB of monthly high-speed data. Data speeds are reduced to 2G for the remainder of the billing cycle once the high-speed allotment has been passed. High-speed data top-ups are available and priced at $6 for an additional 1GB. Video streaming is limited to SD quality or about 480p. Hotspot is available but tethering data speeds are limited to 600Kbps.
Optimum Mobile's free phone plan offer does have some other fine print attached to it. For starters, it's only available in select markets where either Optimum or Suddenlink Internet is available. It's also only available to you if you are already either an Optimum or Suddenlink Internet subscriber, or you sign up to become one when you select the free plan. Update: One reader left a comment down below showing that you may not have to be an Optimum or Suddenlink Internet subscriber to get the plan. A customer support chat representative told me an internet plan is not needed. I am looking to further confirm this. You can check out the comment threads on this here.
Optimum Mobile doesn't seem to make checking availability in your area all that easy. When I used their coverage checker, it showed that I'm covered with 4G LTE and 5G in my area. However, when I attempted to go through the check out process to buy a plan, I was told it's not available in my area, which was to be expected. I don't live in a location serviced by either Optimum Internet or Suddenlink.
The free plan offer is available for new lines of service only and a maximum of five lines are allowed per account. There is also a $20 activation fee charged per line, so service isn't 100% free to signup. Bring your own device is supported, but you can also purchase a phone from Optimum if you need one. After the 12-months of free service is up, customers will pay the plan's regular rate. An end date for this offer has not been specified. Update: An end date of 5/15 is now showing on the Optimum website. Update: 5/16 - The free phone plan offer has been extended at least until 6/5/2022.
Optimum Mobile uses the T-Mobile network for coverage.
In early January of 2022, Optimum Mobile began offering phone and internet plan bundle discounts. The free plan offer appears to be the first promotional deal available involving the new plan bundles. Bundle deals are popular offerings from cabled based MVNOs. Spectrum Mobile and Xfinity Mobile, both have been accumulating subscribers at a rapid pace also offer bundle options.