So being the curious one I am about anything new and dealing with technology, I decided to check out Republic Wireless. I am always interested in new ways to do things and new ways to save money. So with their 30 day trial, with a full refund if you aren't satisfied, I decided to give it a go and write up a review or two.
Overview:
Republic wireless is a relatively new cell phone company that is truly trying to do things differently. They offer 4 plans ranging from $5 a month to $40 a month. They do this by using their own system of having your phone use WiFi instead of cell signal whenever possible. What this means exactly is that they are trying to offload a lot of the customers usage over WiFi, instead of having to rely solely on cell towers. This as you can imagine, can save them a lot of money and there by offer such low rates for their services. When it does use cell service it is using Sprints towers and their roaming partners. I was a bit skeptical about this part as I have for a long time read tons of horror stories on how bad Sprints service can be. I have however had no issues so far here in Kentucky (more on that in a minute.)
Plans:
Republic offers 4 different plans. The $5 a month plan is WiFi only. Which means this phone will only work over WiFi and will not work over cell service. This would be good if you are constantly in range of WiFi or for a kid to use while at home or at school. The $10 a month plan is unlimited WiFi and unlimited talk and text over Cell. This means that you have no data while not on Wifi. The people this is good for is obvious: anyone who doesn't use their phone outside of their own home for anything more than talk and text. I personally am thinking this would be a great plan for my mom. She really only needs a plan where she can talk and text on cell service. The $25 plan is unlimited talk text and data over WiFi and 3g service over sprint. This is the one that I am currently trying out. Finally the $40 plan is unlimited talk text and data with access to 4g Lte. This is for those that have to have the speed. Although I have to admit that the 3g service is really fast for checking web pages on my phone.
This is the most compelling reason to switch to Republic Wireless. Their prices are so drastically cheaper than any of the major carriers. For example. I currently have AT&T Family share plan with Unlimited talk text and 3 gigs of data. I also get a 23% corporate discount from work on my account. My bill runs about $96 after taxes. Now this is for two lines and I am the only one with a smart phone. So to compare with Republic wireless I have the $25 plan and I would get the second line with the $10 plan. So after taxes that comes out to be about $44.12! A difference of about $52!
You can also switch plans even before each month is up. So say you are almost 99% of the time on WiFi so you only use the $10 a month plan but this week you are going to go on vacation and may want to use Google Maps while you are driving. Simply hop on the Republic app on your phone and change your plan to the $25 plan, then change it back when you are ready to be back on the $10 plan. This is also a pretty useful feature as well.
Usage:
So far over WiFi calls are the exact same as if it were on cell service. My first call I was on my phone in my apartment using WiFi and while still on the phone walked outside to let my dog outside. While walking away from my apartment I heard a tiny click and looked at the phone and it had switched automatically to cell service without hanging up the call. The person on the other end didn't notice a single thing while we were talking. The phone basically uses an algorithm that determines when your WiFi is getting too weak to continue the call and switch it over to cell service to keep using the phone. Now this is super complex I am sure and I expected this to not go so well sometimes and drop the call. So far out of the dozen or so calls I have made I have had no issues an no dropped calls. Something I could not say about my AT&T cell service in the same area. Granted this is only day 3 of usage but it has started off pretty good so far.
My data while using the 3g service has been really good so far. Haven't noticed much of a difference at all from my AT&T Note 3 using AT&T's LTE service in Lexington. I did try and drive to a roaming area which is about 30 minutes from here and did notice a call drop when it transitioned from Sprint's towers to the Roaming Partner's tower. I am not sure if this is normal or the fact there just may be a small gap in coverage in this area. I say this because my AT&T phone doesn't have service at all for a mile or so in this same area.
Phones:
Republic only offers two phones as of the writing of this post. This may be a deal breaker for some but for me I am pleased with the Moto X that I received in the mail. Republics choices are the Lower end Moto G and the higher end Moto X.
Pricing. This may be a deal breaker for some, but Republic had put a lot of effort into offering quality phones at a low price. Yes you do have to pay for the phones outright as they do not offer contracts.
The Moto G costs $149 and the Moto X starts at $299( Price varies on storage size and if you decide to use Moto Maker to design your own custom phone.)
With most phones on contract costing at $199 I do not feel that this is a deal breaker at all and plus no contract so you aren't stuck for two years!
What comes in the box:
As you can see from the picture there is a current offer that gives you a free chromecast with the purchase of the standard black or white Moto X.
You get the phone charger and cleaning cloth in the box along with the simple instructions to get your phone up and running.
The Moto X is a really well built phone and has lots of great features like touchless controls and and an almost clean version of android. With a very crystal clear 4.7 inch screen.
Customer Service:
I put this section in as I think it is something you need to know up front. Republic wireless doesn't have phone customer support. Everything is done thru their webpage using the community link, help request, and soon live chat. So if you are not comfortable using a website or forum to help get anything resolved this might be a deal breaker for you. I sent in a help ticket on day one because my MMS (picture messaging) was not working. To be fair this was an issue because I simply didn't wait long enough for them to get the phone completely activated with the new number I chose. I received a response in about an hour via email and a message on my account tab of their website from their 24/7 online tech support. I also tried using their community page to get an answer. I got my answer with in 3 minutes of posting on this forum.
The community page is a really clever and useful idea on getting people service fast while not having a live tech you can call. There are plenty of well organized troubleshooting guides along with previous questions that have been answered that you can look thru. They give points to other users who answer the questions other people put on the forums correctly. Pretty good idea. But I feel that they need to get the live chat support on their site working ASAP in order to draw in any people who are hesitant to not have a live person they can contact for issues.
i have read online that it is very easy to get replacement phones via Fedex for defective units. Many coming overnight. So this again is a nice way of making the fact that they do not have local stores across the US yet.
Few Things that just aren't there yet:
So given it's complex way of working there are still a few things that do not work like a normal cell phone.
1. Short code does not currently work (this has been addressed and should be working soon.) Short codes are the less than 10 digit numbers you can text to enter contests or check your balance from your bank via text messages. Most people probably barely ever use these but if you do. Know that there is a fix coming but it is not ready yet.
2. Using the standard texting app you can not send or receive emoji. Again this is something they are working on fixing but it currently does not work. I use the hangouts app to talk to most of my friends anyway so emoji still works there and so I have not noticed this issue being a problem to me at all.
3. No live support. Again this is something that is coming.
Final Thoughts:
Republic is a game changer that is constantly growing, very upfront about what they are working on, and are rally fair to their customers. They are backed by their parent Company Bandwidth a leader in VOIP for businesses. They offer quality service with two very great phones. I hope that eventually they will increase their offerings for phones but the two that they have chosen are great phones. With the savings that you get over other carriers it is almost a no brainer if you are looking for a smartphone but need to save money. I so far highly recommend. I will do two more follow up articles on this in two weeks and a month to let you know how I am liking Republic Wireless.
