Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Helium Mobile plans to end its free Zero Plan for existing subscribers on June 11.
- Customers who take no action will apparently be moved to the $15/month Air Plan.
- After ending the plan for new subscribers last month, Helium told us at the time that existing Zero Plan subscribers were “not affected.”
The haters said the free carrier plan wouldn’t last — and they were right. Honestly, great challenge from the haters. Helium Mobile made waves last year with its Zero Plan, offering a limited amount of data, texts and calls for no monthly fee, at a time when even cheap phone plans typically still pay for them. Already last month it stopped offering the plan to new customersand now the free ride is ending for existing subscribers as well.
as detailed by Mobile ReportThere is Helium Mobile Zero Plan sent an email to its customers informing them that the plan will be discontinued on June 11. The company reportedly told subscribers that the free plan is “not sustainable long-term” and that customers who don’t take action will automatically be moved to Helium’s $15-a-month Air Plan. After Helium announced last month that it had stopped offering Zero Plan to new subscribers, the operator told us that “existing Zero plan subscribers are not affected.” According to this recent email, there are a lot of them.
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The Zero Plan was initially launched with 3GB of data, 300 texts and 100 minutes of free calls, always a bold proposition in the US carrier market. At the beginning of the year, Helium received k from customersput a card on file to pay taxes and fees. The carrier also ended its old $5 and $20 plans, despite earlier promises that it would keep customers as long as they remained customers. That context makes this latest change feel a little more ominous about what’s going on behind the scenes.
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Mobile Report also points to some of Reddit’s reaction to the move, including a screenshot showing a user being banned from r/HeliumMobile. Obviously, the change is landing poorly with some people who signed up for the free plan, and Helium may be in firefighting mode.
If you’re a Zero Plan customer, you have less than three weeks to act or risk switching to a paid plan. Free was fun while it lasted, but Helium Mobile now seems ready to find out how many Zero Plan users are still interested now that the price is already zero.
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