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How does it know that you watched the ad? Does it quiz you or what? It actually sounds terrible. I can get a minimal prepaid sim for $30/year (200MB/mo + bas

How does it know that you watched the ad? Does it quiz you or what? It actually sounds terrible. I can get a minimal prepaid sim for $30/year (200MB/mo + basic voice and text) and that sounds preferable to this thing with ads. https://www.ebay.com/itm/133196831828 https://www.ebay.com/itm/133196831828

diggan 3y ago
It seems like it's your network provider so they have access to your network activity, seems like enough to know if you've watched a video or not. And sure, you can pay and get a better experience, but not sure that's a fair comparison, this is free after all. If you can't afford to pay anything (sometimes people end up in shitty situations), then maybe watching a video for free internet isn't that big of a deal, when the alternative is no internet at all.
- rglullis 3y ago
  Unless this company is targeting the "homeless people who are denied entry at public spaces" market, how hard is it to get access to a free wifi hotspot? Also, if you are such a bad situation that you can not afford to pay for phone service, what is the point of having this offered as a global solution? Seriously, what is the audience here?
  - universa1 3y ago
    having this as a backup sounds nice to be honest. getting a sim card in the traveled to country was sometimes a bit of a hassle in the past... nowadays probably not so much. anyways, this might provide the time to get a sim card locally, as those often times used to be a lot cheaper, than some travel sim... and also might provide different coverage provider / network wise, depending which network they roam on...
  - diggan 3y ago
    > Unless this company is targeting the "homeless people who are denied entry at public spaces" market, how hard is it to get access to a free wifi hotspot? There are plenty of places where there are no "free wifi hotspots", like many places that fulfill the extreme "not a city" criteria. Maybe it looks differently where you live, but if I go with my car one hour inland I'll end up in places where I'm sure I wouldn't be able to just find free wifi hotspots everywhere. > Also, if you are such a bad situation that you can not afford to pay for phone service, what is the point of having this offered as a global solution? I don't know, ask the company if they're planning to offer a global solution and if they say yes, ask them why? Not sure how that's an argument against the service in the first place...
    - rglullis 3y ago
      > if I go with my car one hour inland I'll end up in places where I'm sure I wouldn't be able to just find free wifi hotspots everywhere. What is the intersection of people who "have a car and are able to drive one hour inland" and "are so cash strapped that will subject themselves to a 'free' phone service that makes them watch ads every hour"? Also important: who would be interested in advertising to these people?
      - diggan 3y ago
        > What is the intersection of people who "have a car and are able to drive one hour inland" and "are so cash strapped that will subject themselves to a 'free' phone service that makes them watch ads every hour"? I'm talking about the people who live in those places already... The part about "if I go with my car" part is just to help you visualize that there are places outside of cities.
        rglullis 3y ago
        Again: what is the TAM for this, and if you are talking about North American exurbs/rural areas, why is this being marketed for international travelers? What I am trying to say is that, while I am certain that you can fund this useful for a segment of the population, how big this segment needs to be in order to become valuable for (a) advertisers and (b) investors willing to sink money into it?
Kudos 3y ago
This isn't supposed to replace your domestic carrier.
oarsinsync 3y ago
The eSIM offered works in multiple countries. The eBay listing is limited to the US. This is a similar thing that is comparable to your eBay link, but also doesn't feature roaming. 100MB a month for 5 years, for £16 one off: https://www.rwgmobile.wales/webshop/buy-forget/5-year-sim-data-only-100mb-per-month/ https://www.rwgmobile.wales/webshop/buy-forget/5-year-sim-da...
- chaboud 3y ago
  The cohort Venn diagram is world travelers who can’t afford a global service? People who can pay for a flight but would rather watch an ad than pay for service? And the value of that ad inventory of people unwilling to pay is? I’m all for the effort, and I am fond of business models that more directly convey the revenue from ads to customers, but I have some concerns for this business. It all could fade pretty quickly.
  - logifail 3y ago
    > The cohort Venn diagram is world travelers who can’t afford a global service? People who can pay for a flight but would rather watch an ad than pay for service? At this point I laughed, as I don't have global service, yet have flown round the world in the last fortnight. > And the value of that ad inventory of people unwilling to pay is? Yeah, I'm never going to click on your ads. Don't build a business model on me!
    - chaboud 3y ago
      Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think it’s nonzero. I just don’t know if it’s enough to overcome the tonnage cost (bulk rate for IOT/B2B cellular), and the business development challenges for global cellular and advertising are no joke when we’re down to a freemium-ad-supported revenue model. Striking at the eSIM moment is a slick move, though. This would likely have been a hard non-starter in the physical SIM era (which still applies in some cases).
      - logifail 3y ago
scosman 3y ago
You expect too much for free. This looks amazing. Keep it installed, use it when I land (even if just to buy a better eSIM from Airalo). Don’t need to plan ahead, shop eBay, carry extra sims around. If I cross the border for an hour (live in Canada) might just use it for texts/slow web, or pay $2 for a day. Connivence factor is amazing.

diggan 3y ago

It seems like it's your network provider so they have access to your network activity, seems like enough to know if you've watched a video or not. And sure, you can pay and get a better experience, but not sure that's a fair comparison, this is free after all. If you can't afford to pay anything (sometimes people end up in shitty situations), then maybe watching a video for free internet isn't that big of a deal, when the alternative is no internet at all.

rglullis 3y ago
Unless this company is targeting the "homeless people who are denied entry at public spaces" market, how hard is it to get access to a free wifi hotspot? Also, if you are such a bad situation that you can not afford to pay for phone service, what is the point of having this offered as a global solution? Seriously, what is the audience here?
- universa1 3y ago
  having this as a backup sounds nice to be honest. getting a sim card in the traveled to country was sometimes a bit of a hassle in the past... nowadays probably not so much. anyways, this might provide the time to get a sim card locally, as those often times used to be a lot cheaper, than some travel sim... and also might provide different coverage provider / network wise, depending which network they roam on...
- diggan 3y ago
  > Unless this company is targeting the "homeless people who are denied entry at public spaces" market, how hard is it to get access to a free wifi hotspot? There are plenty of places where there are no "free wifi hotspots", like many places that fulfill the extreme "not a city" criteria. Maybe it looks differently where you live, but if I go with my car one hour inland I'll end up in places where I'm sure I wouldn't be able to just find free wifi hotspots everywhere. > Also, if you are such a bad situation that you can not afford to pay for phone service, what is the point of having this offered as a global solution? I don't know, ask the company if they're planning to offer a global solution and if they say yes, ask them why? Not sure how that's an argument against the service in the first place...
  - rglullis 3y ago
    > if I go with my car one hour inland I'll end up in places where I'm sure I wouldn't be able to just find free wifi hotspots everywhere. What is the intersection of people who "have a car and are able to drive one hour inland" and "are so cash strapped that will subject themselves to a 'free' phone service that makes them watch ads every hour"? Also important: who would be interested in advertising to these people?
    - diggan 3y ago
      > What is the intersection of people who "have a car and are able to drive one hour inland" and "are so cash strapped that will subject themselves to a 'free' phone service that makes them watch ads every hour"? I'm talking about the people who live in those places already... The part about "if I go with my car" part is just to help you visualize that there are places outside of cities.
      - rglullis 3y ago
        Again: what is the TAM for this, and if you are talking about North American exurbs/rural areas, why is this being marketed for international travelers? What I am trying to say is that, while I am certain that you can fund this useful for a segment of the population, how big this segment needs to be in order to become valuable for (a) advertisers and (b) investors willing to sink money into it?

Kudos 3y ago

This isn't supposed to replace your domestic carrier.

oarsinsync 3y ago

The eSIM offered works in multiple countries. The eBay listing is limited to the US. This is a similar thing that is comparable to your eBay link, but also doesn't feature roaming. 100MB a month for 5 years, for £16 one off: https://www.rwgmobile.wales/webshop/buy-forget/5-year-sim-data-only-100mb-per-month/ https://www.rwgmobile.wales/webshop/buy-forget/5-year-sim-da...

chaboud 3y ago
The cohort Venn diagram is world travelers who can’t afford a global service? People who can pay for a flight but would rather watch an ad than pay for service? And the value of that ad inventory of people unwilling to pay is? I’m all for the effort, and I am fond of business models that more directly convey the revenue from ads to customers, but I have some concerns for this business. It all could fade pretty quickly.
- logifail 3y ago
  > The cohort Venn diagram is world travelers who can’t afford a global service? People who can pay for a flight but would rather watch an ad than pay for service? At this point I laughed, as I don't have global service, yet have flown round the world in the last fortnight. > And the value of that ad inventory of people unwilling to pay is? Yeah, I'm never going to click on your ads. Don't build a business model on me!
  - chaboud 3y ago
    Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think it’s nonzero. I just don’t know if it’s enough to overcome the tonnage cost (bulk rate for IOT/B2B cellular), and the business development challenges for global cellular and advertising are no joke when we’re down to a freemium-ad-supported revenue model. Striking at the eSIM moment is a slick move, though. This would likely have been a hard non-starter in the physical SIM era (which still applies in some cases).
    - logifail 3y ago

scosman 3y ago

You expect too much for free. This looks amazing. Keep it installed, use it when I land (even if just to buy a better eSIM from Airalo). Don’t need to plan ahead, shop eBay, carry extra sims around. If I cross the border for an hour (live in Canada) might just use it for texts/slow web, or pay $2 for a day. Connivence factor is amazing.