[Q] Another Freedompop Question topic

Alright so... try to bear with me, I'm revisiting a project I stepped away from at least a month ago.

First of all, if you have no idea what Freedompop is, it's a Sprint MVNO. They are a data reseller essentially, and from there they provide VoIP services.

So.. I have an originally Sprint Galaxy S3 on Freedompop and a Freedompop refurbished Galaxy S4.

The S3 as stated is a Sprint byod, it is currently activated on Freedompop, it currently runs Cyanogen (HighonAndroid OnePlus One mod).
The S4 as stated is Freedompop refurbished, that means it was bought directly from them and came preloaded with their custom ROM, but it is otherwise on their stock rom.

I like AOSP. I was never a fan of just how many tendrils google managed to wrap around a given phone. When I tried to load the messaging app in cyanogen, it complains. First it'll complain and say it needs google play services in order to run. I call 50/50 bull$hit. This was a change implemented later because earlier versions of the messaging app didn't require it. When I originally got the device I was using messaging app v14.xxx on Cyanogen just fine. After awhile, messaging stopped working properly (I could send and make calls and messages, but could not receive them). So I upgraded the messaging app. First thing it does is complain "the app needs google play services in order to run" Fine. So I installed google play. The app stopped complaining, but still won't send or receive messages. After a fairly agonizing search (there's not much data available really) I found other people having the same problem and low and behold the suggestion was "make sure you are logged into your google play account". I tried it, sure enough, victory. In a manner of speaking. For me, thats a loss, kinda defeated the original purpose.

So fast forward. I ordered the S4 directly from Freedompop. What they sent me was a pre-rooted, and (fairly, not completely) debloated phone, custom freedompop boot screen, custom recovery, it's clearly their own custom rom.
It's clearly a stock variant, but clearly their own custom variant.

So I skip google login, and low and behold, no issues with messaging, send/receive/calls/everything, it works just fine without logging in to a google account.

I had the S4 dual booted with cyanogen. now same issue, it wants that google login when running from another rom.

I would submit that it's not a cyanogen only issue. It is possible to get it to work on cyanogen, but only by installing and thusly logging in to google.

So... I'm trying to get the S3 like the S4, not requiring a google login to function.

Does anyone have the stock rom that Freedompop uses on the S3. I figure thats the simplest way to go. Freedompop just refurbishes Sprint phones, so it really should flash. But its impossible to find (if someone wants to help me extract the stock S4 freedompop rom I can do that, if anyone needs it or simply to make it available)

Any other ideas because I'm most open to them? Are there any thoughts as to why google login is necessary one way but not the other, and is there anyway to duplicate that scenario.

I'd love to see a bypass of the play services detection but I'm not really expecting a bite there.

Cheers, to anyone with an idea, and sorry if the question is kinda hard to understand.