A reader comment alerted BestMVNO that UNREAL Mobile is now available online at Best Buy. UNREAL Mobile confirmed to BestMVNO that their SIM cards and devices will also soon be available in stores at both Best Buy and Target. A launch at Amazon is also pending with inventory for a GSM SIM card temporarily out of stock.
What UNREAL Mobile Products Will Be Available Online And In Stores
UNREAL Mobile, much like its sister brand FreedomPOP operates on both the AT&T (GSM) and Sprint networks. Also like FreedomPop, UNREAL Mobile's in store offerings seem to be focused on its GSM based plans and devices.
Available At Best Buy
There are currently 5 products available online at Best Buy at least some of which should soon become available at a local Best Buy near you. A SIM card is being sold, a mobile hotspot device and 3 phone plans. The items being sold with pricing are as follows:
- Monthly Plan 4G LTE 3-in-1 SIM Card Kit - $2.99
- NETGEAR Unite 4G LTE Prepaid Hotspot - Pre-Owned for GSM networks- $49.99
- 3 months of unlimited talk, text and data with the first 1GB of data each month at 4G LTE data speeds - $19.99 or an average cost of $6.66/month.
- 3 months of unlimited talk, text and data with the first 2GB of data each month at 4G LTE data speeds - $29.99 or an average cost of about $10.00/month.
- 3 months of unlimited talk, text and data with the first 5GB of data each month at 4G LTE data speeds - $59.99 or an average cost of about $20.00/month.
To use talk and text on UNREAL Mobile's GSM based plans an app is required. Talk is by way of VoIP, not over a traditional cellular voice network. The phone plans do not allow you to use your phone as a mobile hotspot.
What's At Target
At the moment there is nothing being sold online at Target. However, Wave7Research has noted that at least one plan is now available in select stores. The $19.99 plan with 1GB of monthly 4G LTE data has been spotted on shelves. I would imagine that other offerings become available both in store and online relatively soon.
What's At Amazon
UNREAL Mobile's $2.99 SIM card will soon be sold through Amazon with PRIME shipping. The company told me that it has not officially launched there yet. That is why the SIM card is currently listed as temporarily out of stock.
Editor's Take
Having UNREAL Mobile plans be available for purchase in stores nationwide will go a long way to help with public awareness of the brand. Most major prepaid brands including Straight Talk, Boost Mobile, and Cricket Wireless are available for purchase at major retail locations. Now shoppers will have one more low cost provider to choose from.
After purchasing a SIM kit online, I got the message: “There are no available phone numbers at this time for undefined.” So now what?
Beware! Is there some SCAMMING going on? Unreal Mobile advertises great prices for their plans but their billing is confusing and could cost you more than it’s worth. I decided to try the $10 plan for a month to see if it would be a good fit for me. The first month for the $10 plan was $22.40 ($10-plan; $12.40 for Sim card and shipping). When I was checking out on line, it asked if I wanted a second sim card for 99 cents so I took it. They said it was a $20 plan sim with a 14 day free trial. I thought, great, I can use that if I like their service and decide to port my phone number over. Nothing was said about the card being active. Then I noticed yesterday on my credit card bill there was a $20 charge from Unreal Mobile. There was nothing in my Unreal Account on line that indicated I had a second account. In fact there was very little information at all in my account on the first transaction, the $10/mo plan. I asked for my money back on the $20 plan but they said “no!” They said there was no one that could authorize that. They said I would have to “write a letter” to their main office in L.A. and I asked for that address. Then I asked that they cancel my plans, which they did right away. They did not offer me the remainding 10 days of my $10 account or to use the $20 they charged for the $20 plan I did not know I had. When I checked my account an hour later, all billing information had been erased, only leaving my logon information and a notice I did not have an account. Now I’ve paid $43.39 for twenty days of a $10 plan with them. There is definitely something wrong going on here?? And the calling plans for Unreal Mobile involve calling through a separate app you have to download to your phone. When I did some searches online, UnrealMobile.com was tagged as a “Suspicious” site by Webroot Antivirus. What is going on here??? Please Beware when dealing with Unreal Mobile. It truly may be “unreal.”
Sharing this on my blog. Any word on how the prepaid cards will work if you have an UNREAL Mobile account already? It’s a bit cheaper for the 3-month card ($10 vs. $15) than what I’m paying directly to them. I switched after Boost dropped its Boost Dealz rewards program. I figure $15 for 2 GB LTE was a much better deal than $30 for 3 GB LTE.