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.
Last Updated 8:19 AM PDT 1/14/17
Current & Upcoming RingPlus Free Plans
None Currently
"Rules of the road" for all RingPlus Free plans:
- Must make an outgoing call at least once every 60 days. This is critical, RingPlus is enforcing this rule.
- 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".
Member+:
Member+ is a subscription "club" that costs $18.99/month for 6 months ($159.92 total) for a "Lifetime" membership or $99.99/year, $59.99/6 months or $39.99/3 months. Member+ membership has the following benefits:- 3% top-up bonus
- Priority customer support.
- RingPlus Store discounts.
- Exclusive Member+ only promotional plans and data add-ons.
- Member+ subscribers will have two extra days to sign up for some promotional planss
- Free ESNs (device) swaps
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. 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.Effective April 17, 2016, Sprint will no longer allow new never activated Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Sprint Prepaid phones to be activated on MVNOs. Phones from these prepaid brands must be used for 12 months on the service they were sold for before they can be activated on Sprint MVNOs, including RingPlus.
Tethering (on plans that include it) generally only works "out of the box" with postpaid Sprint phones that have a Hotspot menu item.
RingPlus Tips:
Phone activation:If your phone is brand new, turn it on and off and allow the Hands Free Activation process to complete.
If your phone is used, perform a network reset to wipe out the previous network settings and prepare the phone for activation. To perform a network reset:
- iPhone and iPad: Open the dialer and dial ##UPDATE## (##873283#) and tap Call.
- Most Android phones and feature phones: Open the dialer and dial ##SCRTN# (##72786#) - if prompted for your passcode enter your phone's six digit MSL which can be found in the Your Device section of your my.ringplus.net account page. After performing a network reset the phone will restart and run Hands Free Activation to complete the activation process
- Google Nexus Phones: Open the dialer and dial *#*#72786#*#* - if prompted for your passcode enter your phone's six digit MSL which can be found in the Your Device section of your my.ringplus.net account page. After performing a network reset the phone will restart and run Hands Free Activation to complete the activation process
- Virgin Mobile Android and feature phones: If ##72786# doesn't work to bring up the network reset prompt, dial ##VIRGIN# (##873283#) and choose Edit. If prompted for your passcode enter your phone's six digit MSL which can be found in the Your Device section of your my.ringplus.net account page. Then change the MDN to 0000001234 and the MSID to 0000005678. The restart the phone and Handsfree activation should run. If it doesn't click or tap the Activate Phone option on the home screen.
RingPlus Resources:
RingPlus Social ForumRingPlus on Facebook
RingPlus on Twitter
Don't bother with anything but a "Mad" plan if you're ever going to make calls with it. The 1 second latency R+ has given up on fixing is a nightmare. Their unreliable voicemail is a joke. And their service outages are all too frequent. Expect some or all these problems with data on their "Surfing" research plans, but it might be more tolerable there than in calls.
ReplyDeletemad plan + experimental surfing data???
Deleteso they are moving their rinky dinky servers from voice calls to internet surfing. their rinky dinky server outages are going kill their internet. and users will all be whining and crying.
The latency IS a real PITA, but can be avoided by using a VoIP app such as Google Hangouts - this uses data instead of minutes (at a rate of about 1MB/min), but has worked well for me (I just make a single regular call every once in a while to ensure I meet their 1 call every 60 days requirement). Since data doesn't really go through any RP servers (that I can tell), I've been able to use that when RP is having a service outage. Voicemail has always worked fine for me, delivered as an email once you set it up properly.
DeleteI got in on the unlimited offering last time and it works fine for me - using Opera Max as a VPN seems to bypass their throttling when it gets too much. I *DO* try to avoid abusing the plan by using WiFi whenever possible - I want my unlimited RP plan to stick around as long as it can. When I can't WiFi, I download videos rather than streaming them because I sometimes have to go back a bit in the video to catch something I missed and that seems to cause excessive usage. I was watching a ~300MB video once and had to skip back in the show a few times and I checked after I was done and found I had consumed nearly 2GB for some reason. Ever since I've been downloading first - doing what I can to keep this nice plan going.
"so they are moving their rinky dinky servers from voice calls to internet surfing. their rinky dinky server outages are going kill their internet. and users will all be whining and crying."
DeleteYes, I think that RingPlus is no longer run on Commodore 64s, but now an array of 7 "IBM PC Jr's" purchased from North Korea "Great People's Missile of Friendship" nuclear weapons program surplus.
OK, stepping back. I've had RingPlus for more than a year.
DeleteI've upgraded 2 or 3 times. I've spent probably a total of $40 for the entire period.... about $3 a month.
(I've also used only a fraction of my monthly data allotment.. and yes, trolls, that is just for a single plan in the entire family. And I will call out said trolls for blustering about it when I, or anyone, uses my maximum data)
And perhaps it is worth more than $40 for the entertainment of the cavalcade of proposterous silly plans that have been rolling forth all this time.
I can't complain... Well, I can complain, because the company is so goofy. But I'd rather laugh.
Correct me if I'm wrong but the "hot pastrami sandwich" deal (7k mins, 7k texts, 7k MMS, and 7k mb of LTE data) is the best free plan on ring plus so far. I was - and still am - concerned about the TOS changes, but I upgraded to this plan anyway. The data alone (putting aside issues with voice) make this a no brainer).
ReplyDeleteVoice quality is a problem for me too but data is fine. Ringplus' data is better than Freedompop.
ReplyDeleteRingPlus and FreedomPop are both Sprint. Data on RingPlus is the same (speed, coverage) as on FreedomPop.
DeleteRingplus better than Freedompop: I should clarify that better means a lot more data. Freedompop's free plan for whatsapp should come to google voice, so texting from google voice is a no brainer. I can see why hangouts video chat can consumer too much data, thus, a problem for a free plan.
DeleteRingplus pretty good in the East Coast. Not much latency, LTE speeds most places..just remember to make one call a month for a minute atleast to keep account active
ReplyDeleteYep, I have not noticed any latency recently.
DeleteJust reporting a possible error in this post. As far as I can tell, RingPlus doesn't charge any taxes on plan activation fees that are charged directly to your credit card. They seem to charge taxes only on top-ups and add-ons.
ReplyDeleteIs this true?
DeleteNo
DeleteTime for a new graphic for this article.
ReplyDeleteMichelangelo has been CANCELLED!
Time for a new graphic for this article.
DeleteAll Non Mad Plans going back to August 2013 CANCELLED!
They need a graphic showing the Mad Hatter, the Mad Magazine mascot, and Madelyn Albright.
DeleteUpdate/Corrections:
ReplyDelete1. Mad Pops includes 200 minutes, not 100. 100 Cellular, 100 VOIP.
2. Mad Plum inludes 200 Cellular minutes, 300 VOIP minutes.
And neither include voicemail or call waiting/3-way calling, they cost $1.50 & $2 per month respectively.
DeleteI've updated the post with the new cellular and VoIP minutes amounts and the voicemail and call waiting/3-way calling fees.
DeleteUpdate/Correction:
ReplyDelete3. Data add-ons renew every month according to the current Plans page, not every 3 months.
The special "recommended" add-ons for the Thanksgiving plans last 90 days according to the both forum post announcing the plans and also when I choose to upgrade to one of the plans from my Dashboard.
DeleteI see that too, even if I add a NEW line with a Thanksgiving plan. However, the RingPlus main page says:
Delete"ADD ONS
Any of our Free and Premium Plans can be combined with the following Add Ons, which can (be) directly purchased during sign-up and will renew every month"
Is the monthly allowance used first, before any Add-On data that rolled over?
Logically (not that RingPlus does things logically) the statement you quoted from the main page refers to the add-ons listed on that page, which are different than the recommended add-ons for the Thanksgiving plans.
DeleteI don't know whether plan data or add-on data is used first.
I locked in the Mad Plum Upgrade for my flip phone line; 200 cellular minutes included.
ReplyDeleteMy cash balance was $10, so there was no fee or top-up required. The change is scheduled to change on Dec 4, so it should survive the expiration of Mad Plum on Nov 28 (Mad Pops expires then too).
BTW Mad Pops still requires an Add On as part of the order, so it's not really a free plan.
Mad Pops Upgrade requires a Required Add-On, but there are none listed.
ReplyDeleteYou cannot buy Mad Pops Upgrade by just selecting a Recommended Add-On from the list (e.g., voicemail for $1.50).
Because of this, you cannot switch to Mad Pops Upgrade until they fix the order page.
There is no option to just pay the $5 activation fee.
The Mad Pops upgrade glitz has been fixed. Upgrades are free if you have a balance of $2.01 or more, otherwise a $5 + tax top up will occur.
DeleteRingPlus customers on free plans have two strategies if they are not on a Mad plan or scheduled to switch to a free one:
ReplyDelete1. Pick Mad Plum now. If a better plan arrives before their renewal date, choose it instead.
2. Do nothing. Gamble that R+ will announce better new free plans before their 7-day Holding Plan ends (Mad Plum expires after Nov 28).
Please correct your post: Mad Plum shows tether as costing $20 a month, and not included/free.
ReplyDeleteWhere are you seeing $20 for tethering?
DeleteI have plum. I look at the plan I have and see Add Ons below. I click on that. The first one is $20 tether.
DeleteThe Social post announcing the plans says tethering is included with Plum. So the fact that it's showing as a $20 add-on is either a glitch or bait and switch. Have you tried tethering? Maybe it works without the add-on.
DeleteTethering seems to work. Now, I hope I don't get automatically charged $20 to use it!
DeleteIf it really is free with Plum, I'd call it less a "glitch" than lazy careless web site creation. Like they forgot or don't bother to tailor the add-ons to show up only with plans they apply to.
"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. 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."
ReplyDeleteI upgraded my Sprint iPhone 5s to "Mad Plum" with no issue...
1) Should your list be changed?
or
2) There is really a problem with the upgrade because my phone is not listed, and RP will kill the account despite it having upgraded and working up until now?
What needs to be updated? Your Sprint iPhone 5s can be activated because it meets the criteria of being an "inactive Sprint postpaid phone".
DeleteJust switched to the "Mad Plum Upgrade." My current balance was at $$10.95, so that covered it and I wasn't charged any additional top-up. We'll see how it goes. Not a big change for me from Leonardo 3. Had 1200MB, tethering included, now 1000MB tethering included. No problems here. yet...
ReplyDeleteFamily Score on R+ Week:
ReplyDelete2 lines to Mad Plum Upgrade (iPhone, flip phone). No extra $ required. ($10.01, $24 balances).
1 line from Totally Free 2 to Mad Fiesta (iPhone): $23 for $19.99 top up.
1 line from Hot Pastrami to Mad Cocoa (iPhone). $4.99 from cash balance, plus $46 for 4GB/3mo.
1 line to Mad Pops (flip), after the glitch was fixed. No extra $ required ($2.09 bal.)
1 VIP Pepper line cancelled (dumb-phone, $1.38 balance).
Total Price Increase: $21.49/mo. average for Mad Cocoa only (unlimited data after 1.8GB avg./mo. LTE).
Not too bad. $74 paid+used to fix 5 lines, and only $1.38 abandoned.
5 lines now have normal latency, and no music or commercials.
The worst part? About 5 hours of reading angry/confused/provocative forum comments.
If you don't pay for voicemail, will it keep ringing or do they dump the call to a "we're sorry" message after a few rings?
ReplyDeleteI just tested calling my RingPlus number. After six rings, the caller hears a message saying "The party you have called is unavailable at this time. Please try again latter."
DeleteRingPlus has two new plans, 1c/day and 25c/day. Something different.
ReplyDeleteIf you have a low cash balance and were planning to let your R+ line die rather than top up, you now have an alternative.
DeleteMad Daily Cent only costs 50c tax plus the first day 1c to schedule. You can start it immediately, or wait until your plan renewal day like I just did.
All of my Ringplus lines switched to the free Mad Plum plan today and now none of them can make any calls. I know this isn't Ringplus support but does anyone know what's going on?
ReplyDeleteThey are changing the call routing to direct Sprint voice, and the line setup changes take a while to populate though the whole system. There is a whole thread on this on the Community site.
ReplyDeleteIt took about an hour from my Mad Plum swap to change over for voice. If you can't stand to wait, you can try to force a profile and PRL update every hour or so until it works. Some people way swapping your phone off the line and back on worked for them, probably because it triggered an OTA programming action.
Bottom line is you don't have to worry unless you enjoy that. Just be patient. You can file a support ticket, but the issue will probably resolve itself before they respond.
BTW, this is NOT affecting all lines. 3 out of 4 of my line changes went through right away with no action on my part to be able to make outgoing calls.
My Mad Plum switch did not work last night either. Dialing ##update# several times over 3 hour period did not fix my iPhone, and neither did 'erase all content and settings' which forces reactivation. I put in a ticket this morning and within 90 minutes RingPlus CS had reset my account.
DeleteWorks fine now. No latency, ads or music.
VOICE MAIL IS FREE IN MAD AVATAR! I KNOW BECAUSE I'VE CHANGED MY PLANS TO AVATAR! SO FAR VERY HAPPY!
ReplyDeleteNew RingPlus Plan (I'm not making this up):
ReplyDeleteMad Up Side Down Banana ( 2 week plan ) 2 weeks Free Trial - afterwards $3.99
or down grade to: Free 200 Talk Text +550 MB
This Plan is the free entrance to your free or cheap cell service:
$5 activation Fee, Unlimited -Unlimited-Unlimited-2 GB a month (1 GB every 2 weeks
billing cycle) + Bottomless (Data Saving Speed) and no overages
For $3.99 every 14 days you get unlimited talk, text, mms and 1gb data at whatever add on you choose - so you get 32k data, good for nothing but email for $0 or full speed for $5 with some throttled speed choices in between for varoius $.
DeleteSo $18 every 28 days for unlimited everything with 2gb LTE. Ehhhh... meh.
Oh, also it does not include voicemail or call waiting/three way calling. The will cost you $1.98 ea. every 28 days if you want them, so now you are up to $20-$22 every 28 days.
DeleteYou have the math wrong. Banana is $3.99/mo. and voicemail can be ordered as $1.50/month.
DeleteNo, you don't understand banana. Addons are per ea. 14 days and voicemail is .99 for 14 days.
DeleteService is $4 for 14 days.
Data is $5 for 14 days if you want unthrotled data, free data is throttled to 32k, good luck using that for anything more than basic email.
No, you aren't keeping up with the RingPlus website, and haven't bothered to actually select the plan to see the different options available.
DeleteE.G., "2-week Free Trial afterward: $3.99 + tax/mo."
"Choose between one of the following Add Ons:
DeleteNone Free every 14 days Auto Renews
Voicemail in English $0.99 every 14 days Auto Renews
Voicemail (English) $1.50 every 30 days Auto Renews"
"2-week Free Trial
Deleteafterward: $3.99 + tax/mo."
If you actually go all the way to check out you will see that the base charge of $3.99 is per 14 days
DeleteThe per month is a typo in typical ringplus sloppy cut/paste fashion. By alleans please sign up and report back how it goes for you in a month.
"Mobile Data 2 GB a month (1 GB every 2 weeks billing cycle) + Bottomless (Data Saving Speed)"
DeleteRe banana
Deletethis is what it says once you click to sign up:
"$3.99 every 14 days thereafter "
Tethering $1.99 every 30 days Auto Renews
Activation Fee $5 $5.00 Does Not Auto Renew
Choose between one of the following Add Ons:
None Free every 14 days Auto Renews
3-Way Calling & Call Waiting $2.00 every 30 days Auto Renews
Choose between one of the following Add Ons:
None Free every 14 days Auto Renews
Voice mail in Spanish $0.99 every 14 months Auto Renews
Voicemail in English $0.99 every 14 days Auto Renews
Choose between one of the following Add Ons:
Data Saving speed 32k Free every 14 days Auto Renews
Data economy speed 64k $0.99 every 14 days Auto Renews
Data usage speed 128k $1.99 every 14 days Auto Renews
Data fast speed 256k Free for the first 14 days
$2.99 every 14 days thereafter Auto Renews
Full Speed - Free Trial - $5 after 2 weeks Free for the first 14 days
$4.99 every 14 days thereafter Auto Renews
Wow, lots of typos and lots of room for confusion, more than average even for ringplus.
DeleteThat Spanish voicemail is a real bargain ;)
Hey Dennis, the free Avatar plan currently available DOES include voicemail for no added cost, not sure re 3 way calling, I did not test for it but voicemail works and when signing up there is no option or "add on" to select or pay for it.
ReplyDeleteThe Mad Avatar free plan now requires a member+ subscription. There are currently no free plans available without a member+ subscription unless you sign up for a paid plan and then downgrade to the Building block free plan which is otherwise unavailable. Therefore, the Mad Avatar free plan isn't much of a promo anymore.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that's true. I still see it as a free upgrade without Member+ named "Mad Avatar Upgrade", right below "Mad Avatar", which is the version that requires Member+.
DeleteI think current users can upgrade to "Mad Avatar" without Member+. Perhaps the Member+ requirement applies to new signups. That would make financial sense, something lacking in R+ previous offerings.
ReplyDeleteArticle contains great tips for using Ringplus! Well done in summarizing the plans! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI think RingPlus is giving up on the whole members+ gimmick. The only member+ plans left is the one and only free plan and three paid plans that are the exact same as the equivalent plans that don't require member+. The weekly free plan promos are also gone. The few free plans that remain are less than impressive and require you to jump through hoops to get them. The current paid plans are competitive maybe even attractive. the only plan that doesn't really make sense is the $8 plan, which also happens to be one of the member+ plans that is available with or without member+. Maybe RingPlus has decided to move away from all the gimmicks and become a traditional MVNO. The $10 to $40 plans are pretty attractive when compared to just about any other provider. And with the voice quality problems of the old routing system now gone, the paid plans might be worth the price. I wouldn't mind if RingPlus dropped member+ and all the free plans and offered just the current selection of paid plans.
ReplyDeleteAgreed! Just to piss off the ungrateful and shameful users who keeps bashing while using Ringplus free cell services! Shameful indeed!!!
Delete"The $10 to $40 plans are pretty attractive when compared to just about any other provider."
DeleteOnly compared to other Sprint-based plans. Outside of Sprint, you can get a much better network (and as much as three times the coverage) and experience while only paying a little more.
But yes, anything more than RP prices for the slow, "only good in a few states" Sprint network is vastly overpriced.
Avatar and all the "standard plans" are expired.
ReplyDeleteTo get a free plan sign up for a new year plan (weekly option for 1 week free trial) and then downgrade (select upgrade in your account dashboard). You can get mad free building block. $20 top up needed if your balance is $5 or under. $0.01 tethering a day needed to sign up but you can cancel right away.
ReplyDelete250 mins, 250 texts 250 mms, 250gb lte base allocation
add on 2000 voip + 150mb for free
250mb/month for existing members for free
Is there any Sprint MVNO with BYOP that is cheaper than ringplus paid plans? If so I would appreciate any advice. 2gigs of data would be nice along with unlimted phone/texting.
ReplyDeleteI'm not one of those moralizers that blubbers "Abuser!" "Data hog!" if someone uses more than 500mb of the data you pay for.
DeleteBut I will ask, have you calculated that you really need unlimited phone/texting? As opposed to just 500 or 1000 talk minutes? If you say you do need it, I will believe you (unlike the moralizers), but I am just wondering if you really need a super high amount of minutes.
The best options on Sprint right now are Tello, Text Now and Eco Mobile. But I'd stick with RingPlus until they burn out.
DeleteActually, I meant to say Boom Mobile not Eco Mobile. Unless you need international calling. In that case, Eco is the better option. Otherwise, you get more data with Boom.
DeleteWow! RingPlus now has an unlimited plan with 10GB of LTE for $18
ReplyDeleteNo thats a Bait and switch move that R+ uses to lure you.
DeleteWhen you checkout that $18 turns into $30...Try it!
Reply to AnonymousJanuary 6, 2017 at 1:21 AM
ReplyDeleteThat's a pricing mistake, if you try to select that plan it shows up as $30 + tax on the final confirmation page.