FreedomPop Hotspot now only $40

Two months ago I blogged about my FreedomPop Photon Hotspot. I've been using it every day since and it's great. There are definitely dead spots along my daily routes (see Wimax coverage map), but overall I am quite pleased. It works well in San Jose, Oakland Chinatown, and many spots inbetween. I paid over $104 for it, for which $99 is refundable if I return it within a year.

Today they announced the updated model for only $40! I'll let you read the articles below as that will save me from having to explain everything to you. Essentially it is the same, $0 for 500mb 4G coverage. If you also want 3G coverage (to overlap the dead spots), it's $3.99/month.

Fierce Wireless

Cnet

Gigaom

Sacramento Bee

Techcrunch

For me, other than the original purchase price, I don't pay any recurring fees for the 500mb monthly allowance. When I dipped to less than 100mb left, I automatically got charged $10 to buy credit in case I overuse my monthly allowance. That credit never expires. If you turn off "Auto Top-Off" then you will never get charged the $10, but you will also only get to use 400 of the 500mb.

I currently have five friends that I connect with. Each of them give me an extra 50mb every month. So now every month we all each get a total of 750mb (500mb + 50mb + 50mb + 50mb + 50mb + 50mb). Towards the end of my month, if I have extra mbs that I know I will not use, I can give them to my friends in 20, 50 and 100mb increments. That way I can use up all the data instead of letting it go to waste.

So if you're still sitting on the fence, this is a real no-brainer. Once you get one, I can add your email to our sharing list and Boom! we'll all be up to 750mb just like that! Get another one for your kids and we'll get another 50mb! This is my definition of friends with benefits!

Sign up here: FreedomPop