Free wireless broadband for the masses

March 29, 2012 | Source: Technology Review
freedompop

FreedomPop will offer an iPhone case that provides the user with about a gigabyte of free wireless broadband per month (credit: FreedomPop)

A new mobile broadband service called FreedomPop will give users roughly a gigabyte of free high-speed mobile Internet access per month on Clearwire’s WiMAX network and forthcoming LTE network.

It will roll out in the U.S. sometime between July and September and will eventually branch out to other countries as well.

It will follow a “freemium” model: users receive some aspects of the service for free and must pay for more. FreedomPop will also sell prepaid wireless data plans that Miller says will be priced “significantly lower” than existing prepaid and contract plans on the market.

NetZero recently rolled out its own free and low-cost plans, with 200 megabytes of free wireless data per month.