Freemium Sprint MVNO RingPlus runs frequent promotions that let you sign for free cell phone plans that include very generous allotments of minutes, texts and data.
There are so many of these promos with different eligibility requirements and availability windows that it's hard to figure out what's available when and to whom.
To try and make it a little easier to keep track of RingPlus promotions, this post is intended to be a cheat sheet of current and upcoming RingPlus offers. It will be updated frequently and will always be on the PrepaidPhoneNews desktop site's front page in the "Current Refill and Plan Deals" section.
Last Updated 8:40 PM PDT 3/14: Continuum Free Plan with 2000 minutes, 2000 texts and 1800 MB of 256 Kbps data now open for activations amd plan changes
Read on for important details about each promotion.
Latest RingPlus Promotions:
Name: Michelangelo Free Plan
When: From Friday 11/13, "while supplies last".
Where: ringplus.net/#plans
For: For new activations only.
Plan Details: 1000 minutes, 1000 texts and 500 MB of data per month for free. Overage rate is 2¢ per minute, text or MB of data. MMS are 4¢, Tethering is $1.99/day, $2.99/month. Overages and MMS and tethering charges are deducted from the plan balance.
Pricing: $10 (plus about 20% in taxes and fees) top up at activation (added to plan balance) and whenever the account balance reaches zero.
Special requirements: You must post about RingPlus on Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin and include the #ringplus hashtag. If you don’t use Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter, please post a comment on the RingPlus Forum at discourse.ringplus.net.
Sample posts:
Facebook: Ringplus.net rocks. They’ve got zero dollar cell phone service. You can find it on RingPlus.net 1000 min / 1000 text / 500 MB data free per month with no contract.
Twitter: FYI #ringplus gives cell service 4 free. Please retweet to support the free movement #dontgetmilked @ringplus
LinkedIn: RingPlus is offering completely free cell phone service as part of its innovative new business model driven by viral advertisement strategies.Promotional Paid Plans.
Name: Evermore Free Plan
When: From 5 PM PDT Sunday 3/13 until 11 PM PDT Friday 3/18, "while supplies last"
Where: ringplus.net/#plans
For: For new activations and plan changes by Member+ users only. A one year Member+ subscription costs $99.99, six month Member+ subscription costs $49.99, a three month subscription is $29.99. A Lifetime Member+ subscription is availablefor $99.99 as a special promotional now through 11 PM PDT Friday 3/18/15
Plan Details: 2000 minutes, 2000 texts and 2000 MB of 4G LTE data per month for free. Overage rate is 1.75¢ per minute, text or MB of data. MMS are 4¢. Tethering is available for $5.99/month. Overages, MMS and tethering charges are deducted from the plan balance.
1 GB of LTE data can be added to the Evermore plan for $8.99.
Pricing: $20 (plus about 20% in taxes and fees) top up at activation (added to plan balance) and whenever the account balance reaches zero.
Special requirements: After signup you are requested to post about your hobbies or other things about yourself in the About section of your social.ringplus.net profile.
For more information please see this RingPlus Forum post.
Name: Continuum Free Plan
When: From 3 PM PDT Monday 3/14 until 11 PM Friday 3/18, "while supplies last"
Where: ringplus.net/#plans
For: For new activations and current members wishing to switch plans (plan change will occur your current plan's renewal date)
Plan Details: 2000 minutes, 2000 texts and 1800 MB of 256 Kbps data per month for free. Overage rate is 2¢ per minute, text or MB of data. MMS are 4¢. Overages and MMS and tethering charges are deducted from the plan balance.
Pricing: $15 (plus about 20% in taxes and fees) top up at activation (added to plan balance) and whenever the account balance reaches zero.
Special requirements: During signup you review a competing mobile operator using a link provided by RingPlus.
For more information please see this RingPlus Forum post.
Free Port-ins
Porting a number to RingPlus is free until 11 PM PDT Friday 3/18, "while supplies last".
"Rules of the road" for all RingPlus Free plans:
Must make an outgoing call at least once every 60 days.
Only one free plan per physical user, multiple free lines on the same account are OK as long as used by different people.
Switching plans:
If you are a current RingPlus user here's how to switch plans.
Log in to your RingPlus Dashboard.
Click the box in the top right that lists the phone and phone number you want to switch plans on.
Click Upgrade Plan (under Account Settings)
Click Select this Plan for the plan you want to switch to.
If you are upgrading from one free plan to another free plan you must choose the upgrade at "Next Billing Cycle" option, immediate changes between free plans are not permitted.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Change My Plan.
If you are doing the upgrade in a phone browser there's a dialog box asking you to confirm the upgrade that pops up off screen. You must scroll around to find and click on the dialog or the upgrade will not happen. This is not an issue if you use a PC.
The most confusing thing for me is that if you are upgrading to take effect at the next billing cycle, there's no confirmation that the upgrade succeed. After confirming the upgrade you are taken back to a screen showing your old pre-upgrade plan with no indication that you have a pending upgrade scheduled. To confirm the upgrade you have to go back to your main Dashboard page where you should see a message like "You changed SAMSUNG DEVICE's plan to VIP Pepper, which will be become active on September 3, 2015".
Supported Phones:
RingPlus can activate most inactive Sprint postpaid phones as well as the unlocked iPhone 6s, 6s+, 6, 6+, or Nexus 5, 5X, 6 or 6P from T-Mobile, Verizon, or ATT; and the Verizon iPhone 5s or 5c.
Although not officially supported, brand new, never activated Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Sprint Prepaid phones usually, but not always, work. Check the seller's return policies before buying a prepaid phone for use on RingPlus. Enter the phone's MEID (on a label on the outside of the phone packaging) on the RingPlus Device Check Page to see if your phone can be activated on RingPlus.
Tethering (on plans that include it) generally only works "out of the box" with postpaid Sprint phones and prepaid phones that have a Hotspot menu item.
RingPlus Quirks:
RingPlus' plans are ad sponsored. Customers hear ads in place of the usual ringing tone before a call is answered. When a user hears an offer of interest to them they can press the five key on their phone and get a text message or an email containing a coupon or additional information.
RingPlus calls use traditional cellular voice, not VOIP so call quality is similar to that of Sprint. However, the ad injection makes RingPlus' call routing different than Sprint's and many users report increased latency (delay).
RingPlus Resources:
RingPlus Discourse Forum
RingPlus on Facebook
RingPlus on Twitter
PrepaidPhoneNews.com
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