A couple of weeks ago, RingPlus, the Sprint freemium MVNO, abruptly stopped activating new customers on any of its plans. There was a massive amount of confusion on the forums as the formerly talkative RingPlus employees and moderators suddenly went completely quiet. Now, it has been confirmed that RingPlus is officially shutting down its operations, and customers need to port out before February 11, 2017.
From what it looks like, RingPlus has sued Sprint for a wellspring of issues including breach of contract, extortion, trade dress infringement, patent infringement, unfair practices and competition, and others. You can download and read the whole lawsuit here if you like.
Regardless, the important takeaway here is that RingPlus service will be ending sometime between February 12 – 18, 2017. The original notice placed the end date on February 11, but it was extended somewhat after RingPlus filed an injunction. Regardless, Sprint has a lot of money to throw at such a case, so I’d recommend users go ahead and jump ship before that date.
Porting Options for RingPlus Customers
From what it looks like,
Ting and RingPlus have partnered together to allow customers to easily migrate their number. Users who move to Ting will gain a $35 account credit immediately. For users with more than $35 in their RingPlus account, Ting has agreed to provide an additional $5 credit per month until it equals the RingPlus balance as of February 5, 2017. Ting should be contacting customers soon with more information.
For customers who are looking to avoid Ting, there are a handful of operators offering deals to RingPlus customers.
CellNuvo will be waiving its $29 activation fee for all RingPlus users who port their number over using the code
RPFree when activating. This newer MVNO also uses Sprint and offers an ad-supported freemium service which requires users to earn credits by watching ads. I personally have no experience with the service, so jump here at your own risk.
TPO Mobile is offering RingPlus customers 20-35% off the first three months of service (the discount varies based on then plan chosen). In order to get this discount, customers need only port over before February 19. TPO is a Sprint MVNO which donates 10% of every customer’s bill to the charity of their choice. Plans range from $13 – $50 per month. For more info on the porting discount, click here.
FreedomPop has stated that it will waive the $20 Sprint BYOP activation fee when you activate using this link. FreedomPop is a Sprint MVNO with free service, but it cannot port over numbers from RingPlus, so customers will have to get a new number.
Twigby is now offering RingPlus customers a free month of service when they port over. Twigby offers customers the chance to build their own plans based on how many minutes/texts and how much data is required. Plans range from $9 – $48 per month. The service uses Sprint’s network. Customers will have to follow a couple of steps to port in and get their free month of service.
Learn more here.
Republic Wireless has stated that it will be offering RingPlus customers who switch to its Wifi service a $50 credit. However, before you get too excited, make sure that you check if your device is compatible or else this might not be that good of a deal. Republic’s plans range from $15 – $60 per month and use both wifi and cellular coverage.
We’ll keep an eye on this, and let you know if there are any new developments in the RingPlus lawsuit, or anything else of note. For now, I advise all RingPlus customers to go ahead and start making plans for porting over.]]>
