Karma (WISP)
Karma is a freemium Internet service provider based in the United States.
Karma Mobility, Inc. was launched in 2012, receiving $1.2 million in funding.[1] Like FreedomPop, Karma has partnered with Clearwire and Sprint to provide 4G wireless data to users.[2]
Services
In December 2012, Karma began providing free and paid wireless Internet services in the United States through wholesale Internet carrier Clearwire. Subscribers connect to Karma's services with a $99 mobile broadband modem.[3]
Karma provides 100 MB to new guest users for free while selling data at the rate of $14 per non-expiring gigabyte, and reward users who bring in more users by wirelessly advertising the service.[4] This freemium revenue model is similar to that of FreedomPop, Dropbox and Spotify, companies that also offer free and premium services. When purchasing a Karma device, the first GB of data is included for free.[4]
On Jan 7th 2016 CEO Steven A. Van Wel sent an email to Karma users that would be lowering speeds and making changes to the service. The reason for this change was Steven's surprise that people would actually use a service advertised as "There are no data caps on Neverstop. Instead, your upload and download speeds will max out at 5Mbps, which is enough to do just about anything online, including streaming music and video. While downloading large files will go more slowly than you're used to on Refuel, 5Mbps will give you a good enough connection for 99% of your internet tasks."
On Jan 18th 2016, Van Wel sent out an email to Neverstop users stating "We made a mistake...Usage this high is something that won't work today". He announced the following changes:
- 5Mbs up and down speeds are coming back (Speeds were reduced after the January 7th email)
- A cap of 15GB of data per month at 5Mbs speeds
- After 15GB, speeds will be throttled to 64-128Kbps
- Earn $1 credit for each unused GB
A refund was offered for dissatisfied users.
Many users have gone to social media to complain about the bait and switch tactics used by Karma Mobility, Inc.
References
- ↑ O'Brien, James (2013-06-23). "Karma Wants To Make Peer-to-Peer Wi-Fi a Thing". Mashable. Retrieved 2015-04-01.
- ↑ Velazco, Chris (2012-07-10). "FreedomPop Teams With Sprint To Broaden Reach Of Its Freemium Internet Service". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2015-04-01.
- ↑ "Karma Store". Karma Mobility. Retrieved 2015-04-01.
- 1 2 Fitzgerald, Thomas J. (2013-05-15). "Keeping Wi-Fi Always Within Range". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-04-01.