Free Broadband Internet Access!
So you're looking for free broadband Internet access? Join
the club! There's been a lot of discussion over the years
regarding broadband Internet being a basic human need in modern
society. In other words, it should be considered a public
utility. Arguments that public libraries offer free high
speed Internet only meets with resistance. Many people feel
that having mobile broadband has become a basic human right.
This point can surely be

debated, and certainly becomes very
controversial.
As this site gets a tremendous volume of visitors looking for
No
Contract Wireless Internet, it only makes sense for me to
include information about how to get free mobile broadband, right?!
There's a link at the bottom of the page that will take you
to information about getting a free cell phone and service for
qualifying households via the Lifeline program. So it fits
nicely into the general
spirit of informing visitors to this site of all available options to
discuss free broadband as well. Also, unlike the free
wireless phone service programs, the free broadband Internet access
programs that have emerged are not government subsidized programs.
They are completely new business models that seek to gain
people's share of mind. Let's take a look at how they work,
and summarizes their offerings! Note: Lifeline now offers
free broadband, though it's currently restricted to phone access.
In time providers will no doubt offer standalone mobile
broadband as well!
So How Is Free Wireless Internet
Possible?
The concept is actually quite simple. The first company to
offer
free service was FreedomPop. They offer a token amount of
monthly
data that is more than sufficient to browse the Internet and check
email. Of
course, if you stream videos from YouTube or watch NetFlix regularly,
you'll quickly run through your allocation. Arguably,
streaming
video, or playing online games is not yet considered a basic human
right, so the free allocation is definitely reasonable. So
how
can
a company with this model make
money and stay in business? What they do is sell usage above
the monthly free access. If they sell it at
reasonable, or
at
least competitive prices, the theory is that they can get enough paying
customers to support the free portion of the service.
Also, by using
MiFi
Mobile Hotspot modems as their main product offering
(although USB modems are also available), they keep things super simple
for anyone to connect. In addition, they also have a variety
of offers you can participate in to earn additional free data.
As some of these relate to referring other people, it helps
to spread the word to elicit new customers. As
they've been around for a number of years now, all signs point
towards a sustainable business model. In fact, their success
led them to launch free smartphone service as well. Hopefully
it will
continue to be
sufficiently profitable to endure over the long term!
Is Free Broadband Internet
Access A Scam?
Absolutely not! Will the business model work? Only
time will tell, however, so far so good! I expect that
FreedomPop has built a lot of
business models that show the minimum paying subscribership that they
need to be profitable. I also expect that its investors are
taking a calculated risk. If their base grows very large, the
company could end up selling to a larger carrier who wants those
customers. In other words, if it works really well, the
founders and investors could end up being very wealthy! It's
interesting to note that Skype's co-founder, Niklas Zennstrom, is
behind FreedomPop, so he's no stranger to turning free services
into thriving and profitable businesses.
Are There Other Free Broadband Internet
Access Providers?
What's interesting about FreedomPop is that this is their only
business (in addition to their newer smartphone offerings).
It's do or die for them, so you can expect very
careful management of their offers and programs. On the other
hand, NetZero also provides free mobile broadband
service. The big difference with them is that their
company has been around for decades. That could either help
them tremendously, or hurt them if they don't provide sufficient
resources and focus on building out this new business.
Note, also, that NetZero is taking a different approach in terms of
their offer. They are providing one year of free service for
a lower speed connection, which will be fast enough for
email and most Internet sites, but not fast enough for streaming video
or gaming.
If you want the faster data speed you'll need to pay for a
monthly plan (i.e. only the
slower speed is free). This is more of a trial period type of
offer, and a very different and far less risky business model.
If people like the service, it's very likely that you'll buy
a plan well before the year is up. Also, with NetZero, once
you
change to a paid plan, you cannot return to the free service, and you
can only get the free plan for one year. Compare that to
FreedomPop, which lets you use the free monthly service in perpetuity,
and simply purchase additional plans as needed. Lastly, note
that
neither
company is using an ad-supported model, which NetZero is famous for
doing in
the late 90s; it required users to watch ads in order to get the free
service.
The following table provides a general overview comparing the available
free broadband Internet access services. Clicking on the
provider's logos will take you directly to the company's website to
review the details of their offers to see if any of them meet your
needs!
Provider |
Free Offer |
Modems |
Speed |
Notes |

|
500MB/month |
MiFi
Hotspot |
4G |
- Free
service is not backwards compatible with 3G
- Extra data = $0.02/MB
- Speed is restricted compared to
available paid plans
- 4G/3G plans available: $4.66 for 500MB,
$16.66 for 2GB, $29.99 for 4GB, etc.
- Additional data can be earned for free
by referring friends or doing surveys
- Also offer Free
Cell Phone Service; check it out on the Monthly Plans Chart or go directly
to their site: FreedomPop.
|
 |
200MB/month |
USB
MiFi Hotpsot |
4G |
- The
free service is
limited to 1-Mbit/sec speeds (compared to 10-Mbit for paid service);
i.e. It's NOT 4G!
- If
you change to a paid
plan within the first year, you cannot return to the free plan.
|
There's also an FCC regulated program that offers free and subsidized
Internet via the
Lifeline
Broadband program. Are you interested in a free
phone and service to go along with your free
broadband Internet access? Learn more at
Free
Cell Phone Service.
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