FreedomPop has been offering consumers 500MB of free 4G hotspot usage each month since late 2012, utilizing Sprint's 3G and 4G WiMAX networks to serve up megabytes to its users. Today the company announced that it's making a major change to its service, and before anyone worries, it doesn't have to do with the free monthly data.
FreedomPop has revealed that it's making the move to Sprint's 4G LTE network, which is currently available in 151 markets across the country. In order to access the LTE network, FreedomPop customers will need to pick up a FreedomSpot 5580 LTE mobile hotspot, which is currently being sold for $149. The FreedomSpot 5580 hotspot, which looks to be a rebranded version of Sprint's recently-launched MiFi 500 LTE hotspot, sports a 1.54-inch OLED display, 10 hours of battery life, GPS over Wi-Fi and support for up to 10 simultaneous connections.
Once a FreedomPop user snags a FreedomSpot 5580, he or she will be given 500MB of free data usage each month. Additional data can be earned connecting with friends on FreedomPop or completing partner promotions and special offers. Customers that'd rather just pay for more data can do so by signing up for a data plan, which start at $3.99 per month for 500MB of 3G/4G access and go up to $89.99 for 10GB of 3G/4G usage.
Finally, FreedomPop says that it's got more Sprint LTE-compatible hardware coming later this year. That includes a smartphone that'll be offered with its Freedom Phone plans that include 200 minutes of voice, unlimited texting and 500MB of data each month for no charge.
FreedomPop's 500MB of free monthly data access has been a pretty enticing offer ever since it launched, but the not-always-speedy WiMAX network and its 71-market footprint may have turned some people off of the service. That's why the switch to Sprint LTE is a big deal for FreedomPop. Not only is Sprint's LTE available in more than double the cities than WiMAX, but it's also much faster, with FreedomPop saying that its FreedomSpot 5580 can provide average download speeds of 6 to 8Mbps and top speeds of 25Mbps.
If you're interested in learning more about FreedomPop's service, you can check out the company's website right here.
