FreeUP Mobile is a newcomer to the market. The MVNO launched in April of 2018 using AT&T's network to provide service. It is run by Rod Nakjavani, who co-founded Simple Mobile in 2009. Thanks to a BestMVNO reader inquiry, I've learned that FreeUP Mobile now has some new phone plans. After a little bit of research on Twitter, I discovered the new plans were quietly announced back in July.
FreeUP Mobile's New Phone Plans Explained
FreeUP Mobile's new phone plans are really straight forward. The company is now offering a starter plan with some add-on options and an unlimited plan.
Unlimited Plan
The unlimited plan starts at $15/month for unlimited talk and text and international text messaging. Data is priced at $5/GB and is hard capped, so if you run out of data your data will be completely shut off unless you add more to your account. Unused data does not rollover from month to month. The plan also comes with unlimited access to 4 million hotspots which may help you to save on data costs.
FreeUP Mobile's unlimited plan also has a PayGo add-on. Subscribers can add $5 to their account for global calling. The balance does rollover from month to month.
Compared to the old unlimited plans which you can review in full here, the new unlimited plan is cheaper. Prior to the release of the new plan, FreeUP Mobile charged $25/month for unlimited talk and text with 1GB of 4G LTE data.
Starter Plan
The starter plan costs $10/month for a maximum of 500 minutes or 500 texts messages plus 100MB of 4G LTE data. The plan minutes can be used for international calling to Mexico and Canada. Global text messaging is also included.
There are a few add-on options available with this plan and they are as follows:
- Additional 250 talk or text for $5 with no rollover
- Additional 200MB 4G LTE data for $5 with no rollover
- Additional 500MB 4G LTE data for $10 with no rollover
- Add $5 PayGo balance with rollover for international calling
This plan remains largely unchanged since launch.
FreeUP Mobile Rewards Program
FreeUP Mobile continues to offer its customers a rewards program. The idea behind it is to try and help customers earn free cellular service. Subscribers can earn by completing surveys, shopping online, referring friends and family and even by watching videos and playing games. FreeUP Mobile says that you can spend about 15 minutes per day engaging with the action category in their rewards app, and they'll match the first $10 you earn in rewards to make the $20 unlimited talk and text with 1GB of data plan free. Spend more time engaged and you can earn up to $40/month.
Editor's Take
FreeUP Mobile's new unlimited plan allows the MVNO to compete favorably in the marketplace. At a cost of $20/month FreeUP is now one of the cheapest providers that you can go to for unlimited talk and text with at least 1GB of data on the AT&T network. Many of the other AT&T based providers that may offer better value at that price point come with caveats. For instance, some like Red Pocket Mobile require you to pay for service many months in advance to get a discount. Others like UNREAL Mobile don't offer true cellular voice service and require you to use VoIP for voice calls.