How Beakom Works: From Checkout to Online, Step by Step

Most internet signups involve an application, an approval, an appointment, and a four hour window during which a technician may or may not appear. Ours involves a checkout page and a box.

This post walks through the entire Beakom experience in order: what happens at checkout, what arrives, how setup works, what the monthly bill looks like, and how you leave if you ever want to. Nothing here is hidden anywhere else on the store. We just put it all in one place for people who like to know the whole plan before they start.

The thirty second version

1. Pick a plan. There are two.
2. Check out. You pay the first month and a $100 refundable modem deposit. Shipping is free.
3. We ship a modem with the SIM card already inside.
4. You turn it on near a window. It creates a wifi network.
5. You connect your devices. You are online.

No credit check. No address eligibility check. No install appointment. No contract. If that is all you needed, pick your plan. If you want the details, keep reading.

Step 1: Pick a plan

There are two plans and no add ons, tiers, or bundles.

• Residential, $74.99 per month. Unlimited data, one modem, works anywhere with signal.
• Business, $149.99 per month. Unlimited data, one modem, plus a static IP, priority support, business invoicing, and expedited replacement.

Both are month to month. Neither has an activation fee, a promotional period, or a price that changes in a year. If you are not sure which plan fits, our Residential vs Business guide settles it with two questions.

Step 2: Check out

Your order total is the first month of service plus a $100 refundable modem deposit. That is it. The deposit shows up as its own line so nobody has to guess what it is.

Here is what checkout does not include:

• A credit check. We do not pull your credit, soft or hard. The deposit is the only qualification. More on that in our post on internet with no credit check.
• An address eligibility check. We need an address to ship the box to. We do not run it through a system that decides whether you deserve internet. See internet with no address check.
• An activation fee, install fee, or equipment fee. The modem is free to use while you subscribe.

The one number we repeat until it gets annoying: if you cancel and the modem does not come back within 30 days, or comes back broken, we bill $150 to the card on file. You see that before purchase, at checkout, and on every receipt. The full story is in the $100 modem deposit, explained.

Step 3: The box ships

Shipping is free. You get tracking by email, and you can check the order any time from Track Order.

Inside the box:

• The modem, with the SIM card already inserted.
• The charger.
• A prepaid return label, for the day you cancel. Put it somewhere you will remember. You will not remember. We also email one when you cancel.

There is nothing to activate. The SIM is in, the line is live, and the modem is ready to go when it arrives.

Step 4: Turn it on

Setup is one step long. Turn the modem on. It connects to the cellular network and creates a wifi network for your home, RV, shop, or wherever you are standing.

Where you put it matters more than anything else you will do. The short rules:

• Near a window.
• Up high.
• Away from metal and big appliances.

Spend ten minutes trying two or three windows on the first day. It is the single best thing you can do for your connection. Our modem placement guide has the full method, including the ten minute test.

Step 5: Connect your devices

Join the modem's wifi network from your phone, laptop, TV, tablet, and whatever else in your house has opinions about being online. There are no per device fees and no user limits to buy your way past. The plan is unlimited and it covers everyone on the network.

The Business modem also includes an Ethernet port, so point of sale terminals, cameras, and recorders can plug in by cable.

What your monthly bill looks like

One line. $74.99 or $149.99, depending on your plan. The plan renews monthly and charges the payment method on file.

What is not on it: equipment rental, a broadcast fee, a regulatory recovery surcharge with a name designed to sound like a tax, or a line that appears in month 13 because a promotion ended. There is no promotion. We decoded what those lines look like on other bills in the hidden internet fees guide.

Managing your plan

Everything lives in the Customer Center. Update your payment method, view orders, or cancel. If you need to switch between Residential and Business, contact us through Support. There is no fee to switch in either direction, and the modem and deposit stay the same.

Taking it with you

This is the part the big providers do not sell. The modem is not tied to your address. Take it to the lake, the RV, the job site, the new apartment, or your in laws' guest room where the wifi password is a forty character secret nobody wrote down.

You do not need to tell us. You do not need to update anything. It works wherever there is signal. That is what "internet that goes where you go" means, and it is why we call this portable internet instead of home internet. We make the full case in portable internet vs home internet.

If something goes wrong

Weak connection. Move the modem. Then restart it. Then read our troubleshooting checklist.

The modem stops working through no fault of yours. Contact Support. We replace defective modems at no charge, and your deposit is not affected. Business customers get expedited replacement.

There is no usable signal where you need it. It happens. Cellular coverage is wide, not infinite. Cancel, send the modem back within 30 days, and your deposit comes back. Our Coverage page is upfront about this.

Step 6, someday: leaving

Cancel from the Customer Center. No phone call, no retention offer, no exit interview. Service runs through the end of the month you already paid for. A prepaid return label arrives by email. Send the modem and charger back within 30 days, and the $100 deposit returns to your original payment method within 10 business days of the modem arriving.

We wrote the whole exit out in how to cancel and return the modem, because a company that makes leaving easy should be willing to explain how.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a technician?
No. There is nothing to install. If you can turn on a device and join a wifi network, you are qualified.

Do I need a phone line, cable outlet, or dish?
No. The modem connects over the cellular network. It needs power and signal.

Can I use it somewhere other than my shipping address?
Yes. Anywhere in the USA with signal. That is the point.

Who owns the modem?
We do. You use it free while you subscribe, and it comes home when you cancel. The deposit is how we skip the credit check and still get it back.

Is there a contract?
No. Month to month, always. Details on the No Contracts page.

Whose network is it?
We are a reseller. We buy wholesale access to a national wireless network and sell it under our own name. We will not say whose. We explain how that works in what an internet reseller is.

The bottom line

Pick a plan, pay the first month and a refundable deposit, open a box, turn it on. No application, no appointment, no contract. The modem works wherever there is signal and goes wherever you go.

The store version of this page is How it Works. It is shorter. It says the same thing.