ALERT BUYER BEWARE: Helium Mobile

[tycho]

Exactly why Ward labeled the thread as "Buyer beware."

I don't disagree a bit, but Ward's thread from this past Monday is about water long, long over the dam.

If Ward is saying "don't buy this service now," I 100% agree, but can't imagine who would at this point. The good stuff is long gone.

The Helium "scam" has been churning since '24? (I wasn't aware of Helium until early '25). If someone is willing to offer me something for free, I might take it. But I work to understand the risks: that I'm the product, that it can be revoked without notice, that my data will be used, etc. I have been super happy with Google Voice since 2009. It is my primary DID/can-be-reached number and has saved me toms. But I have long had "Plan B" in place for when Chicken Little is actually correct about the sky falling.

Helium gave me good service for almost a year for free and I took it. They asked for almost nothing (I worked around the ID issues), and I gave them virtually nothing. When they changed the rules I just moved on. No hard feelings, no whining here. But I watch other seemingly entitled to free folks do so incessantly.

Free is free. Take it when you can, when it works for you, and don't complain when it goes away. We all love a bargain. Just know what strings are attached and where they end up...

 

[wardmundy]

The "free" part was never the concern. You get what you pay for. It was the attempt to flip "free" folks to a paid plan without their express consent that was problematic. The only hook they had was what now appears to have been a pretense requiring credit cards to collect taxes and then morphing that into a for-profit plan.

 

[tycho]

Perhaps more to the story:

Helium Mobile is Being Acquired by Andrew Yang’s Noble Mobile

Today we have some big news to share. Helium Mobile is being acquired by Noble Mobile. Noble Mobile has also committed to use the Helium Network, giving Noble Mobile subscribers access to even more coverage across the US.

blog.heliummobile.com