http://republicwireless.com/

This seems intriguing.

11/10/2011 7:11:37 PM

riveting

11/10/2011 8:56:15 PM

i love this idea. after mortgage and car payment, my cell phone bill is by far my largest monthly bill. i only occasionally make calls, but having mobile internets is crucial nowadays. i can't wait to join a plan like this

11/10/2011 11:09:56 PM

if you exceed their "cellular use index" for too long, you get kicked off and they "help you find a more suitable, traditional carrier"

11/10/2011 11:19:42 PM

Over the course of a year, including the purchase of the phone, you pay more than you would with straight talk

11/10/2011 11:41:33 PM

^really? seems like straight talk would be $500 and that's if you pay it all up front. republic is $240 + $100 for the phone. and no contracts, etc. what makes straight talk better?

i'm keeping an eye on republic, hoping they add some more choices for what phone you get. seems pretty interesting though.

11/10/2011 11:50:36 PM

Heard about this the other day. Just another reason that my 8 year loyalty with Sprint is being tested.

Oh, our 3G network is completely in the trash right now because we're oversubscribed and barely have the resources stockpiled to maintain and repair the towers let alone upgrade them?

LET US WHOLESALE MORE OF OUR BANDWIDTH TO OTHER PREPAID CARRIERS AND HYBRID STARTUPS IN THE AREA!

[Edited on November 11, 2011 at 7:06 AM. Reason : ]

11/11/2011 7:05:57 AM

yeh... republic looks to be $408/yr and straight talk appears to to be $499+device cost (and to be fair, it will be one of the $150+ devices).

man, if they would get a worthwhile phone I'd be all over this shit.

[Edited on November 11, 2011 at 8:19 AM. Reason : .]

11/11/2011 8:16:23 AM

Will definitely be keeping an eye on this. I'm one of the few who don't have a smart phone simply because I don't want to pay a hundred bucks a month for a data plan to have one

11/11/2011 8:58:42 AM

Really intrigued by this, I dont use my phone a ton and most of the time when i do im around wifi. If they get more phone options (galaxy 2!) i would switch. Currently on sprint sero so it might not be worth it.

11/11/2011 9:02:49 AM

Promo code for 100$ off - welcome19

11/11/2011 10:21:04 AM

This would be great for someone that is stationary most of the time. But for people like me that typically use my phone the most when I am on the road, i don't really see the benefit

11/11/2011 10:25:28 AM

this is interesting... do you just get the choice of the one phone?

11/11/2011 10:50:13 AM

yeah, looks like it's limited to that LG Optimus.

Quote :

"Even assuming 0% wifi usage, for example, you could consume 550 minutes, send 150 texts, and download 300 megabytes of data without crossing the community’s fair use threshold. Everyone's usage patterns will be different, but we're confident you’ll be amazed at how little cellular you actually use when you have a phone that makes it easy to leverage the power of your Wi-Fi networks."

Could probably stay under that but I'm not willing to give up LTE.

11/11/2011 10:53:46 AM

Quote :

"you could consume 550 minutes, send 150 texts, and download 300 megabytes of data without crossing the community’s fair use threshold."

It would take me about 2 weeks to go through the 550 minutes
Less than a week for the texts
And probably 3 days on the data

Although, i wouldn't be texting or using data while on the road, so I would assume the majority of that side would be on wi-fi.

[Edited on November 11, 2011 at 11:07 AM. Reason : a]

11/11/2011 11:01:49 AM

I'd be all over this if my phone plan wasn't company paid.

11/11/2011 11:19:01 AM

Quote :

"download 300 megabytes of data"

That doesn't seem like much.

11/11/2011 11:24:41 AM

It's not really but assuming you don't try to stream or download a lot of stuff, then it should be fine. Hell, you could buy one of those mifi hotspots with 5GB and still stay under the total amount you pay for most plans. Not sure I'd want to rely on one for phone calls with the flaky connections most of them have.

And confirmation to the above question about phone selection

Quote :

"Only one phone? What’s that all about? The LG Optimus is our first phone, and there will be more to follow. Affordable and well reviewed, we assure you this first phone is very well endowed with our Hybrid Calling technology and “Gingerbread,” Google’s code name for Android version 2.3. What phone should be next? Tell us with an email to yourvoice@republicwireless.com."

11/11/2011 11:27:49 AM

what phone should be next, really? they have to ask people that? step up to today's technology and software and start batting with the bigboys to get the latest phones.

11/11/2011 11:41:56 AM

You don't know their full business model. As cheap as this stuff is its possible they are getting a break on the phone price to make all the numbers work and they aren't able to get those numbers on other phones.

11/11/2011 12:04:04 PM

I'm intrigued. Sounds like a really good idea though, especially consiering I have crap coverage in my house. I could get rid of the vonage plan and talk overseas via skype or google.

11/11/2011 12:13:46 PM

^^ this. Pretty typical of the prepaid world. You make up for the cheap monthly cost with the higher mark-up on the phone.

I am getting a pretty good grasp on this concept now that Clear switched to prepaid on 11/1

[Edited on November 11, 2011 at 12:20 PM. Reason : a]

11/11/2011 12:19:21 PM

if i switched would i be able to use my same number?

11/11/2011 1:26:02 PM

Local Number Portability (LNP) is the law, especially in wireless, so i would assume the answer is yes.

That is of course, unless you have a contract with or owe money to the previous provider. Just make sure you don't cancel the old service before you start the port process to the new provider

[Edited on November 11, 2011 at 4:01 PM. Reason : a]

11/11/2011 3:59:38 PM

Can't wait for a bunch of rednecks who kick and scream about "socialism" to join this shit.

11/11/2011 4:38:05 PM

I don't think I understand the connection you are trying to make.

11/11/2011 5:25:09 PM

^^

11/11/2011 9:48:07 PM

Quote :

"I'm not willing to give up LTE"

Couldn't have said it better myself

11/11/2011 11:10:12 PM

If only this wasn't on the awful Sprint network.

11/12/2011 11:32:16 PM

^is sprint really that bad? i'm thinking of switching to them, their unlimited plan seems appealing

11/13/2011 12:37:37 AM

straight talk $40 for phone

$30 a month for 12 months

Total $400 a year

vs.

republic

$200 for phone

$19 a month for 12 months

Total $428 a year

11/13/2011 12:59:59 AM

who covers straight talk?

11/13/2011 1:19:53 AM

^^Whoo, then republic wireless is a better deal after 14 months instead of 12. Way to pick an entirely arbitrary point of comparison.

11/13/2011 6:48:24 AM

^ plus that first $199 includes first month's bill so it's really only $408 at 12 months

But yeah, it gets better the longer you are with them

11/13/2011 7:13:27 AM

Just read the wral.com article. Didn't realize this was a Cary company.

11/13/2011 9:28:00 AM

Virgin Mobile has a $45/mo unlimited text/data 1200 minute plan. It's $35 if you drop to 300 minutes (additional minutes are .10 I think). I'm seriously considering dropping my iphone and getting an Optimus V for $120 from Virgin instead.


Cell phone contracts are on the way out methinks. There's going to be more options between wifi phones and whatnot in the next few years that'll change up things. Hell, my first marriage didn't last as long as my cell phone contract

11/13/2011 9:28:01 AM

^ I've got a buddy who went that route. The phone doesn't work nearly as well as his iPhone, but it's also $60 less per month than he was spending before.

11/13/2011 9:38:08 AM

I've got a 3G running OS4. It can't be any worse than that. Damn thing is almost brick'd, but I need it to run the Square app I use all the time to process credit cards at gigs for merch.

11/13/2011 9:55:10 AM

Quote :

"straight talk $40 for phone $30 a month for 12 months Total $400 a year vs. republic $200 for phone $19 a month for 12 months Total $428 a year"

Because the 40 basic straight talk phone is the same as the Android smartphone on Republic?

Quote :

"^is sprint really that bad? i'm thinking of switching to them, their unlimited plan seems appealing"

In the Garner city limits, I got no service with sprint. Full bars w/ AT&T and Verizon.

[Edited on November 13, 2011 at 10:26 AM. Reason : ]

11/13/2011 10:25:39 AM

I saw this and I'm quite interested. Currently I carry no cellphone at all.

My wife has "my" phone. Its an LG Voyager 2 (I think) and I have it grandfathered in from my time at VZW. Its like $15/month for the plan and everything at employee pricing. I was very hesitant to drop $30-$50/month to buy her a phone when she starts working. I have tons of WiFi at work, so I am seriously considering picking up the Republic Wireless phone. Between work, home, and Chapel Hill/Carrboro having Wifi damn near everywhere, this would be a great plan for me. When we travel my VZW phone could be our primary line, but this could end up being a perfect option for a 2nd line for my family.

11/13/2011 11:56:14 AM

one thing that you surely have not considered, that may or may not make a difference to you, is that when your phone is set to constantly search for wifi the battery drains significantly faster than otherwise. i have an lg optimus v (on virgin mobile, which i love) and if i leave the wifi on the battery will be dead in 10 hours.

11/13/2011 5:46:34 PM

^

11/13/2011 5:49:05 PM

^Yes, but if it is somewhere that it has an established WiFi connection and that is the primary system of communication instead of the 3G connection, wouldn't it stand to reason that it would be more efficient? Additionally where I am at has WiFi everywhere, so I would assume maintaining the wireless would be a lot less of a drain than actively searching for WiFi. Between there and home, which is where I spend most of my time, I should be good to go on established WiFi connections, right?

11/13/2011 7:51:03 PM

stands to reason that you and i both spend similar amounts of time around familiar wifi networks, and will therefore have similar battery experiences.

11/13/2011 11:47:31 PM

Just turn wifi off whenever you're going to be away for extended periods or root and increase the scan interval. Whenever you're actually connected, it should help the battery since wifi is more stable than 3g. One thing I they don't seem to mention is handoffs. I'm guessing the call will drop if you leave a wifi area while on a call?

11/14/2011 7:28:40 AM

Quote :

"One thing I they don't seem to mention is handoffs. I'm guessing the call will drop if you leave a wifi area while on a call?"

This was my question also.

Quote :

"How much does domestic roaming cost? International? Domestic roaming is free. Although we don’t offer cellular service internationally at this time, your republic wireless phone can place calls over Wi-Fi from anywhere in the world to the U.S. "

This is a nice feature, call the US from anywhere in the world as long as you are connected by WIFI.

[Edited on November 14, 2011 at 8:10 AM. Reason : .]

11/14/2011 7:59:58 AM

ignoring the fact that you just summarized a single sentence for us, that is nice (if you go abroad, which i don't).

11/14/2011 11:24:56 AM

Also went the VM route. Sprint's network is okay - better then ATT, but way worse then Verizon. The GPS is completely unreliable.

11/14/2011 12:27:41 PM

^Uh, you realize Sprint roams on the verizon network.

It may be worse than Verizon for 4G/ mobile broadband, but it IS THE VERIZON NETWORK for voice.

This is exactly why I switched to Sprint.

11/14/2011 6:09:55 PM

Their service is still shit and you can be terminated for roaming too much. Too bad they don't just piggy back off of Verizon's network. Right now I have an HTC Thunderbolt with full bars on Verizon right beside a Samsung Epic 4G with 0 bars on Sprint. fail

11/14/2011 6:57:25 PM