To the surprise of no one who’s actually owned a smartphone, it’s quite difficult to get excited about mobile service plans. Sure, some places you’ll pay more, and some less, or some will lure you with promises of deep buckets of data. But beyond a few shifting variables, after enough time they all start looking pretty similar. At least, that may be the case with the big carriers, but once we move into MVNO space, with other companies paying for the rights to access those large, established networks, the options start getting a lot more interesting. Google’s Project Fi may be the MVNO to watch these days, but for a while now we’ve been following the offerings of FreedomPop, a Sprint MVNO that’s gained attention for offering some 100% free basic smartphone plans. Today the company announces its next free-to-use service with the introduction of a globally-usable hotspot.

Users must pay about $50 for the hotspot outright, after which they’ll be able to enjoy 200MB a month in some 25 countries around the world. That may be fine for some light email and verifying travel plans, but you’re going to want to take it easy: data above that 200MB cap gets expensive, fast, to the tune of $20 a GB.

If hotspots aren’t your thing, FreedomPop also has a global SIM that will only cost you $10.

Today’s news arrives alongside word that FreedomPop’s scored another $50M in financing, nearly doubling investments in the carrier.

Source: FreedomPop
Via: TechCrunch