“The Internet is a right, not a privilege.”

Those are the words that greet you when you visit FreedomPop’s site.  FreedomPop is Freemium Internet service provider which means that uses would only have to pay for a device that would give them Internet connection.  500MB of free data is offered to FreedomPop users each month.  If they exceed the allotted data, the overage fee is $10-$20 per gigabyte.  Or you can hunt down promos to get free data from FreedomPop.

Freedom has been targeting Internet service providers and their costly plans and data capping.  Now, the company has aimed its crosshair at mobile network carriers by announcing a mobile plan set to launch this summer that will give users 500MB of wireless data access, 200 voice minutes, and unlimited messaging. For an additional $10, voice minutes can be converted to unlimited.  This will all be possible with the release of a slew of WIMAX-friendly Android phones such as the Samsung Galaxy SII, which will be offered at a really low price.  The great thing about this is that users are not tied to any contracts so if you’re unhappy with the service you’re getting, you can easily have it terminated, but you might have to pay for the return fee of your device or if you want to keep it, pay for it in full.

FreedomPop uses free broadband service from Clearwire’s 4G network and just this April, Sprint has come on board.  Some people refuse to believe that the offer is real but FreedomPop CEO and co-founder Stephen Stokols states that, “It’s not a gimmick , it’s a new business model.”

Though FreedomPop refuses to divulge the number of people using its service, it hinted that it will soon reach its one millionth customer, and stated that it sold $1 million worth of devices last April.

The true cost of free data

Stokols believes that people will soon realize the value of their service, but some argue that you might actually be paying more compared to just getting an unlimited everything plan from a network carrier like T-Mobile.

Spencer Chen, the senior director of business development at Appcelerator, stated that what FreedomPop offers is suitable for people who do not consume large amounts of data and people on tight budgets.  It’s not for everyone.

It should be acknowledge though that what FreedomPop is promoting is a free service, it’s not full, not flawless, and if you want additional perks, you need to pay up.  If you want it to remain free, stick to your limit.

Joining Kristin Feledy in this morning’s Live NewsDesk Show is NewsDesk Head Writer Winston Edmondson with his Breaking Analysis on FreedomPop’s new Freemium mobile plan and the possible “catch.”

“Hopefully, this won’t be a bait-and-switch.  From what we’ve seen and what is actually available, there is no real downside other than you only get 200 minutes.  But those minutes are free, so it’s hard to complain about that.  It’s pretty exciting because you see the conversions of a number of trends that could add up to some pretty beneficial opportunities to consumers,” Edmondson stated.

For more of Edmondson’s Breaking Analysis, check out the NewsDesk video below: