FreedomPop IMW-C910W Freedom Spot Photon IEEE 802.11b/g/n - Free 500Mb monthly Free Internet access

Pros: So-called 4G cell phone based device Wi-Max 4G, not anything else Sprint service Easy to configure Bridges 4G to your wifi devices Possible to use monthly amount for free!!!

Cons: Sprint 4G Wi-Max only FreedomPop support not exemplary

Overall Review: The thought of internet service for free is pretty cool. All you have to do is buy this device. Carrier requires you to have a credit card on file in case you need to top up, and they work hard to convince you to $pend. Getting the free service takes careful attention to what you click because FreedomPop is all about selling you something and getting you to pay every month. Cannot really begrudge that, but do understand they are a not a charity and they have to sell enough service to make a profit in order to survive. FreedomPop will regularly remind you that either you are fixing to leave some megabytes behind "Upgrade to Rollover now!!!" or "Watch out you are using more than your allocation and may run out and need more so Upgrade now!!!" Back to the 4G... I would have to drive 25 miles to get a signal. Have to take it to town to use it. Requested upgrade and they put me on list to upgrade to 3g/4g device. That was many weeks ago. After a month I asked status of my upgrade and they responded that they could not tell me when I might get it, but I was welcome to continue to use this unusable device.

Pros: none

Cons: This company does everything they can to mislead about the pricing. Be sure to read the fine print and the exception to the exceptions and positioning of commas etc. I personally will never do business with a dishonest person or company.

Pros: it connects.. finally

Cons: I have to go with only 1 star due to a few shady things about this company and the packaging / condition of the devices. 1) First item I received was used and had scratches on the back chips in the plastic near the lcd and fingerprint smudges on the top.. the packaging was crumbled up, all the twisty ties were undone and just tossed in the box.. This was definatly a USED item repackaged and sold as NEW. very shady. so, I sent it back. 2) The "new" one came. although not as bad the packaging on the first, it also did not look new. nothing was shrinkwrapped, there was no plastic protective tape/sheet over the item like unboxing video's show. it had a lot of room to bounce around. it was missing at least one piece of accompanying literature that was shown in the other videos. also the password would not work and i could not log in to the router and join the network (i tried from several devices). I noticed the ssid was slightly different then what was listed on the back. so i did a restore.. the SSID changed to same as on the back and the password then worked. which tells me someone else already owned this and had changed the password and SSID. so again, this one was NOT NEW either. I have not decided if this one is going back as well. just on principle. I got it for really cheap though so I may just keep it. lastly, keep in mind this uses WiMax. not sprint 4g LTE.. The Wimax network is scheduled to shut down in late 2014/2015 so when that happens.. this item will be a door stop. so expect maybe a year out of it. Ill let the other posters cover the companies shady billing practices. needless to say Id use an old prepaid card lying around that has like a dollar on it when you setup your account so you don't get phantom charges or charges from items they pre selected for you.

Overall Review: mind you I don't fault newegg. I think they are told the items are new... I blame freedompop. so i closing... The item you receive may not be new but may be refurbished or even just a used return they threw in a box when the person figured out they didn't get a signal. prob manufactured over a year ago. The network will be shut down in a year or so. and it will become a brick unless freedompop offers you an upgrade path. You may get charges for your free service.so don't use your no limit amex to link to the account. read up on this company first and any complaints. ONLY buy at a deep discount price if you really want it for a year or so.

Pros: It does what it say. Interface is simple and I had it up and running in probably about a minute.

Cons: The only con so far is how tricky FreedomPop is about their fees. It always makes me question the quality of a company that feels it needs to trick people into spending money rather than just sell services based on the merits of the product.

Overall Review: If you don't read EVERYTHING, including every licensing agreement, product and services agreement and every other piece of fine print, they WILL trick you into spending money you didn't mean to spend. Then they WILL NOT refund your money. This is repeated by every honest reviewer on every website that this product is sold. Be very careful if you are expecting a free service. You can get it, but you are playing with fire by giving them your CC number.

Pros: If it worked I may have come up with something. see cons...

Cons: You have to sign up (which requires giving them your credit card info) just to activate this "free" device to even see if you have coverage... My device arrived but will not take a charge, so never able to see if I have coverage. No intelligent support response other than to call them during business hours M-F - you cannot cancel your account except by calling them. Only able to reach message when calling. cons - all the time spent to cancel and return this. The time it takes to comment on every site that mentions this company - esp the tech reviewers, the time it takes to complain to my credit card company.

Overall Review: Just trying this device is a huge gamble - are you ready to gamble on it based on the total lack of info on their website? The sign-up is a maze trying to confuse/trick you to pick a subscription account rather than the free/trial. and I hope you have better luck than me trying to cancel. I think they are somehow connected to a company that used to send you a disk weekly to join their internet. Had I known that - would never have even tried this. newegg - don't sell this company's products.

Pros: I bought this device the day they went on sale. October 1, 2012. I didn't have a smart phone at the time and it was all I needed to go with my flip phone and iPod touch. I get the free 500mb plan which I have not paid for service since as I also have not gone over my allotment of data. I always tell people about it.

Cons: Yes they try to persuade you to buy a plan but just say no.

Overall Review: They just (10-01-13) released a free smartphone plan. Which I took advantage of.

Pros: Ultimately none

Cons: Unit battery was defective, hard to get information from the site, FAQs onsite were contradictory, web pages seem to reset check boxes for services that charge a fee so it is challenging to really try the service for free, limited availability of customer service, need to be assertive for refund of fees. Spent a lot of time and effort to set it up, go through the inadequately detailed web site, and the confusing instructions, to determine that the unit was defective and then begin the long process to return it all and get the personal data I put in removed.

Overall Review: Though what they say about making internet more available is appealing, the company pulls up short in actually letting the customer experience the service without trying to ensnare them in fees for services whose benefits are hard to evaluate without experience.

Pros: almost free, small, lights are pretty

Cons: doesn't work, no signal

Overall Review: map shows 4g, but no signal to device