Author Topic: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over  (Read 19877 times)

lightmyfire

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Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« on: October 09, 2015, 11:57:00 AM »
I'm mostly venting, I guess, because I don't think there's much to be done at this point.  I switched over to Republic a little more than a year ago and mostly have been very pleased with the experience.  I got a Moto G phone with the most basic $12 plan.  About a month ago, I started having a lot of problems with the phone, such as texts not going through or needing to reboot often.  Recently the outbound audio on calls went out.  I did all the troubleshooting (and I will say that their customer service was responsive to that issue), but could not get the problems resolved.  Since I bought the phone more than a year ago, they told me I have to purchase a new phone.  Okay, fair enough.  I ordered one of the new Moto E phones and said I'd be transferring over an existing number.  I haven't received the new phone yet, but suddenly on today's bill I was charged for 2 plans.  I just talked again to customer service, and they said I ordered 2 lines, even though I specified I would be transferring a number.  Apparently they will not reimburse me for what I definitely see as their error.

So...with the combination of a crappy phone that pooped out after little more than a year, errors in billing and refusal to make it right...I'm feeling disillusioned.  Anyone else have similar experiences with them?

Daley

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #1 on: October 09, 2015, 12:09:44 PM »
Sorry to hear that you went through what you did, but stories like these are only one of many reasons why I don't recommend Republic in the guide. Unfortunately as you've discovered, it can get pretty expensive dealing with such a cheap and proprietary phone service, wiping out any real savings long term.

My best advice? Cut your losses and switch out as soon as possible. If you still have your old pre-Republic phone, get it carrier unlocked (if needed - this is more a GSM/AT&T/T-Mobile phone requirement, not CDMA/Sprint/Verizon), and activate it with an MVNO from the guide on the network you used to use.

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2015, 12:23:51 PM »
errors in billing and refusal to make it right
Holy shit, I didn't know that was even a thing anymore. If you clearly requested one thing and were charged for another, there should be no question of making it right in the end.
Have you exhausted all ends? Ask to be elevated to a supervisor, or just call back and see who you get next time? Because... NO.

innkeeper77

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2015, 12:49:55 PM »
Did they bill you through a credit card? If so, this is a candidate for a chargeback, they would never win it. Even threatening a chargeback may get you to the right people who can fix it. Ill try to remember to check back on this thread, I work in the credit card industry. You can also PM me for more info.

Jags4186

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #4 on: October 09, 2015, 01:02:59 PM »
Did they bill you through a credit card? If so, this is a candidate for a chargeback, they would never win it. Even threatening a chargeback may get you to the right people who can fix it. Ill try to remember to check back on this thread, I work in the credit card industry. You can also PM me for more info.

I would be careful about the chargeback on $12.  Do the best you can with customer service and if they don't help I might just cut my losses.

I had a similar experience with New York Sports Club several years ago where I got double billed when switching my home base club.  Needless to say they were not helpful, I filed a charge back, and 3 months later I got sent to collections over $40.  Many hours on the phone later I eventually prevailed but if I had known what it would have involved I would have paid the $40 and then just campaigned against the company online.

lightmyfire

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #5 on: October 09, 2015, 01:18:47 PM »
Hoo boy.  Thanks for the advice, guys.  Being the defender of justice (and my hard-earned money) that I am, I'm tempted to go the chargeback route, but yeah, definitely don't want to get sent to collections over a $12 screwup.  The crummy thing about Republic customer service is that you can't do the whole "call and ask to talk to a manager" thing.  It's all online chat and submitting tickets.

charis

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #6 on: October 09, 2015, 01:20:07 PM »
I have been using RW for a couple of months and haven't had any issues to contact them about yet.  I will say that my bill for this month was $19 for unlimited talk and text and 1G of data due to their refund for unused data. 

The service itself is much chunkier than Airvoice, which I just switched from.  You can't get any data service when it is searching for or trying to jump onto WIFI, which of course only happens during the most inconvenient times (trying to get directions while in the car).   I never had that issue with Airvoice, and I would like to switch back, but my iphone 4 wasn't working well with the AV service for somethings (namely picture and group messaging non-iphone users).

jprince7827

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #7 on: October 10, 2015, 12:24:00 PM »
I too switched and had a terrible experience. The phone was of low quality, with terrible call quality. I could barely use pandora or RunKeeper, and certainly not at the same time(it would cause the phone to brick.)

Text messages also got lost and eventually I switched back to an iPhone 5s that my company offered to buy and pay for. Overall, it was the worst cellular experience I've ever had. You get what you pay for, though.

The Beacon

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #8 on: October 10, 2015, 02:06:49 PM »
I bought a Moto G in Jan 2015.  So far so good.  The coverage is good where I live.  I have not had a need to contact their customer service yet.  One minor issue is that the phone on WIFI does not always ring the first time I receive a call.

Kaikou

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #9 on: October 10, 2015, 06:31:44 PM »
garbage company

Thinkum

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #10 on: October 10, 2015, 08:01:32 PM »
One minor issue is that the phone on WIFI does not always ring the first time I receive a call.

This has been my ongoing issue as well. Sometimes my phone will not even ring while on WiFi at home. Instead I'll hear a message tone and see that I missed a call and the person left me a voicemail, even though the phone was within 3 feet of me the whole time. Another issue is the constant pop up of "WiFi" spots. Not too big a deal, but annoying when it is irrelevant since it is a printer network.

I am considering moving to another carrier myself. Not sure if I'll make the switch since I still have the $25 plan. The new plans are rubbish for me though since I use about 1.2GB of 3G data a month and under the new plan I'd pay more money.

thedayisbrave

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #11 on: October 10, 2015, 08:33:19 PM »
Hmm.  I've had my Moto X since January 2014 - so almost 2 years.  Sometimes it will freeze if I'm doing too much or if it's running low on battery, but I usually just re-boot and it'll be fine.

My bill last month was $21.  No, it doesn't run as smoothly as my iPhone did, but for a savings of almost $70 a month, I don't really care.

Daley

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #12 on: October 10, 2015, 08:49:23 PM »
My bill last month was $21.  No, it doesn't run as smoothly as my iPhone did, but for a savings of almost $70 a month, I don't really care.

Maybe give this a read, take note of the plethora of quality MVNO options from the guide as well as what $20 gets you these days (unlimited talk and text with limited data from no less than two recommended MVNOs - P'tel and Airvoice, one of the consideration list - H2O Wireless easyGO, and one that isn't bad enough to be warned away from like Republic is - Ultra Mobile), and then consider the fact that you can use nearly any phone you like with these options.

Are those glitches and problems still worth the price you're paying when the alternative could have potentially been your iPhone for $20 a month?

horsepoor

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #13 on: October 10, 2015, 10:15:09 PM »
Hmm.  I've had my Moto X since January 2014 - so almost 2 years.  Sometimes it will freeze if I'm doing too much or if it's running low on battery, but I usually just re-boot and it'll be fine.

My bill last month was $21.  No, it doesn't run as smoothly as my iPhone did, but for a savings of almost $70 a month, I don't really care.

Pretty much this to a T, though I had an Android with Verizon before.  I haven't had any problems with the MotoX.  Sometimes it refuses to send MMS texts, but that doesn't really bother me.  Haven't had any cause to contact customer service since switching over and have saved about $757 after phone purchase vs. staying with Verizon (assuming I hadn't paid for a new phone with them in that time).  I've had the $25 3G package the entire time and find it fast enough for my casual data usage habits. Savings will increase once I switch over to the new metered data plan. Hoping this phone holds up for a few more years!

charis

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #14 on: October 11, 2015, 06:43:38 AM »
My bill last month was $21.  No, it doesn't run as smoothly as my iPhone did, but for a savings of almost $70 a month, I don't really care.

Maybe give this a read, take note of the plethora of quality MVNO options from the guide as well as what $20 gets you these days (unlimited talk and text with limited data from no less than two recommended MVNOs - P'tel and Airvoice, one of the consideration list - H2O Wireless easyGO, and one that isn't bad enough to be warned away from like Republic is - Ultra Mobile), and then consider the fact that you can use nearly any phone you like with these options.

Are those glitches and problems still worth the price you're paying when the alternative could have potentially been your iPhone for $20 a month?

The glitches are certainly not as bad as not getting picture or group messages on Airvoice with my iPhone.  And no one has been able to explain why that happens or fix it.  I would rather  have mild annoyances than not get certain communications.

Daley

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #15 on: October 11, 2015, 06:59:41 AM »
The glitches are certainly not as bad as not getting picture or group messages on Airvoice with my iPhone.  And no one has been able to explain why that happens or fix it.  I would rather  have mild annoyances than not get certain communications.

This is actually a well documented issue, and one I've gone over repeatedly with others on these forums for years... and it's not Airvoice's fault or problem. One needs to blame both Apple and AT&T for locking their customers out of basic network configuration with both AT&T postpaid and nearly all of their MVNOs unless you throw caution to the wind and jailbreak the OS. The only AT&T MVNOs that don't have this problem are AT&T's own Cricket Wireless, Consumer Cellular and StraightTalk, IIRC - and that's because they've kowtowed to the forced auto-configuration and been blessed by Apple as an approved carrier. However, the MMS configuration problem is not an issue on the T-Mobile MVNO end or with any other phone on the planet not manufactured by Apple or permanently carrier locked.

But this is what happens when you buy stupid expensive proprietary handsets. At least the iPhone has the saving grace of not being locked into only one sub-par provider and can be taken to other networks.
« Last Edit: October 11, 2015, 07:09:03 AM by I.P. Daley »

charis

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #16 on: October 11, 2015, 09:12:15 AM »
It doesn't matter to me whose fault it is.  I didn't buy the iphone, I got it for free. 

purplish

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #17 on: October 11, 2015, 09:25:58 AM »
My SO switched to RW, trying to save money.  The phone sucks though!  His texts are all wonky, the phone will randomly start autodialing people, if I send him a picture over text it freezes his phone, and he has to delete the entire text conversation for it to work again.... yeah, plenty other issues as well, he's just getting a new phone, and will be using the new Google Fi.  It's $30 a month, and should be really good service.

TechMike

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #18 on: October 11, 2015, 09:52:32 AM »
Text messaging issues and audio issues are why I dropped Republic. It used to be okay when I could turn WiFi off on the phone and force everything through the CDMA network (on CDMA I had no issues), but a software update at some point would just turn the WiFi back on right afterwards.

With frustrations trying to get it to work over WiFi, I gave up and switched to Ting. I had an old Sprint phone that activated on it, and I've been happy since. I also was really tired of RW's online chat only tech support. Ting is great, if I want to talk to someone I can call them and they almost always pick up right away. With Ting now doing both Sprint and T-Mobile for cell service, it opens up a whole lot of choices with what I can buy if I need a new phone.

There are other cheap phone plans besides RW, so there's no excuse to put up with their service.

ETA: I was able to sell my old Moto-G on swappa for $120. Considering I bought it new for $199 (?) and I had it over a year, I think I made out pretty good.
« Last Edit: October 11, 2015, 09:54:04 AM by TechMike »

WildJager

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #19 on: October 11, 2015, 10:36:46 PM »
I've had RW for a few years now, and I'll admit I'm a pretty easy going customer, but I haven't had many complaints.  It can be clunky trying to send picture texts without WiFi, but otherwise it works great. 

My favorite aspect is the WiFi though.  Normal calls to anyone in the US when traveling abroad is pretty great.

I've been using a moto g, and can't complain about the tech.  If you're having serious issues, have you tried doing a factory reset recently?

The way I see it, is that for $10 a month I get fairly reliable service.  If you need 100% reliable service, you get what you pay for, but from what I've found it gets the job done.

Daley

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #20 on: October 12, 2015, 08:17:33 AM »
The way I see it, is that for $10 a month I get fairly reliable service.  If you need 100% reliable service, you get what you pay for, but from what I've found it gets the job done.

You and the other Republic apologists keep going back to the "it's good enough for the money" argument, especially the "it's only ten bucks a month". It's funny, I actually have reliable service at less than $10 a month and don't have to put up with any of the problems you and other Republic users have, and I'm not the only one on these forums and in the world doing so. Spending ten bucks doesn't preclude the ability to get quality, reliable service like you assume it must due to your own experiences.

Now let's address this whole "it's only ten bucks a month" defense, shall we? Do you understand that for the average 30 year old in the United States, the minimum amount of time worked to pay for that $10 recurring bill every month for the rest of their life is over five weeks of labor? And that's assuming a 100% income investment rate! We're on the MMM forums here, should you not have a better respect for what $10/month in spending actually represents in both your own lifetime and the approximate labor lifetime of everyone around you?

I'm sorry for being so blunt, but if anyone says $10/month is their threshold for "good enough" to tolerate ongoing problems and shortcomings of a service, they either don’t actually need the service they’re paying for or they don’t sufficiently respect their own time and resources.
« Last Edit: October 12, 2015, 08:56:16 AM by I.P. Daley »

Fireball

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #21 on: October 12, 2015, 09:01:25 AM »
Seems pretty much all of these low cost carriers have some sort of funky issues and Republic will be no different. I've used Straight Talk, Cricket and H2O and they all had messaging issues or calling issues of some kind and the reviews on other providers show similar. Nothing has worked as seamlessly as the big carriers for me, but it comes at a price of course.  I've been on Republic for several months with a MotoX and haven't really had any issues to speak of. 800 minutes of calling, 300 texts and 160MB of 4g LTE data cost me $15.00 last month.  Used 6GB on WIFI. Very low fiddle factor IMO.

The wife signed up for Google Fi recently and we'll see how well it works in comparison.     
« Last Edit: October 12, 2015, 09:26:42 AM by Fireball »

realityinabox

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #22 on: October 12, 2015, 10:00:35 AM »
Hmm.  I've had my Moto X since January 2014 - so almost 2 years.  Sometimes it will freeze if I'm doing too much or if it's running low on battery, but I usually just re-boot and it'll be fine.

My bill last month was $21.  No, it doesn't run as smoothly as my iPhone did, but for a savings of almost $70 a month, I don't really care.

My MotoX has been getting a little sluggish lately.  I have been tempted by the idea of switching to Google FI to get a fancy new phone, but just now when I pulled it out of my pocket, I was greeted by a notification saying Republic refunded me $6 for unused data.  $13 total bill for the month.  I can deal with a few quirks for that.

ChaseJuggler

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #23 on: October 12, 2015, 10:06:11 AM »
Very few complaints on RW here. I've been with them from day 1.

The signal sucks where I work, but that's true for all the carriers in that area.

Kaikou

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #24 on: October 12, 2015, 10:07:36 AM »
I pay $3 a month on tmobile prepaid

cars+FIRE

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #25 on: October 12, 2015, 10:13:21 AM »
Seems pretty much all of these low cost carriers have some sort of funky issues and Republic will be no different. I've used Straight Talk, Cricket and H2O and they all had messaging issues or calling issues of some kind and the reviews on other providers show similar. Nothing has worked as seamlessly as the big carriers for me, but it comes at a price of course.  I've been on Republic for several months with a MotoX and haven't really had any issues to speak of. 800 minutes of calling, 300 texts and 160MB of 4g LTE data cost me $15.00 last month.  Used 6GB on WIFI. Very low fiddle factor IMO.

The wife signed up for Google Fi recently and we'll see how well it works in comparison.     

What problems did you have with Cricket?  We've just switched over to them (had it about a month at this point) with no issues so far but am interested to see what could potentially crop up.

FIRE me

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #26 on: October 12, 2015, 11:11:54 AM »
Hoo boy.  Thanks for the advice, guys.  Being the defender of justice (and my hard-earned money) that I am, I'm tempted to go the chargeback route, but yeah, definitely don't want to get sent to collections over a $12 screwup.  The crummy thing about Republic customer service is that you can't do the whole "call and ask to talk to a manager" thing.  It's all online chat and submitting tickets.

Vote with your wallet, and consider Ting or Google Fi.

Fireball

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #27 on: October 12, 2015, 12:43:30 PM »
What problems did you have with Cricket?  We've just switched over to them (had it about a month at this point) with no issues so far but am interested to see what could potentially crop up.

It was a few years ago, maybe pre-AT&T days or in the early days of that transition.  Coverage was poor and when it roamed towers you had to dial the same phone number 2-3x just to get a call out.  It was about a 5min process assuming it went out at all.  If I was in an area with good cell coverage it worked pretty well.  Hopefully they've resolved those issues since then.

Bob W

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #28 on: October 12, 2015, 12:53:12 PM »
I would definitely be unhappy with the customer service you received.   I think I've had my phone for about a year now.  Yep, there are quirks now and then but nothing special.

If you need another motox you can buy them barely used for half the price.   

I show may $10 a month phone off all the time.   No one,  family or friends,  seems to want to give up their $50 a month plans.   

A satisfied Republic user. 

cars+FIRE

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #29 on: October 12, 2015, 05:28:45 PM »
What problems did you have with Cricket?  We've just switched over to them (had it about a month at this point) with no issues so far but am interested to see what could potentially crop up.

It was a few years ago, maybe pre-AT&T days or in the early days of that transition.  Coverage was poor and when it roamed towers you had to dial the same phone number 2-3x just to get a call out.  It was about a 5min process assuming it went out at all.  If I was in an area with good cell coverage it worked pretty well.  Hopefully they've resolved those issues since then.

I see.  We were with AT&T before switching to Cricket, so both from a phone transfer standpoint and a coverage standpoint, it's been completely transparent.  Only change is our bill went from $140 to $70.

WildJager

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #30 on: October 26, 2015, 11:53:09 AM »
The way I see it, is that for $10 a month I get fairly reliable service.  If you need 100% reliable service, you get what you pay for, but from what I've found it gets the job done.

You and the other Republic apologists keep going back to the "it's good enough for the money" argument, especially the "it's only ten bucks a month". It's funny, I actually have reliable service at less than $10 a month and don't have to put up with any of the problems you and other Republic users have, and I'm not the only one on these forums and in the world doing so. Spending ten bucks doesn't preclude the ability to get quality, reliable service like you assume it must due to your own experiences.

Now let's address this whole "it's only ten bucks a month" defense, shall we? Do you understand that for the average 30 year old in the United States, the minimum amount of time worked to pay for that $10 recurring bill every month for the rest of their life is over five weeks of labor? And that's assuming a 100% income investment rate! We're on the MMM forums here, should you not have a better respect for what $10/month in spending actually represents in both your own lifetime and the approximate labor lifetime of everyone around you?

I'm sorry for being so blunt, but if anyone says $10/month is their threshold for "good enough" to tolerate ongoing problems and shortcomings of a service, they either don’t actually need the service they’re paying for or they don’t sufficiently respect their own time and resources.

Again, my favorite part about RW is the WiFi function.  I travel around the world a lot for work, and being able to call anywhere back home from anywhere for free is awesome.  I realize that this doesn't apply to everyone, but it should still be considered.  Built in VoIP.

Daley

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #31 on: October 26, 2015, 12:42:08 PM »
Again, my favorite part about RW is the WiFi function.  I travel around the world a lot for work, and being able to call anywhere back home from anywhere for free is awesome.  I realize that this doesn't apply to everyone, but it should still be considered.  Built in VoIP.

...because free (or otherwise) VoIP services for smartphones over WiFi that can be used anywhere in the world is so difficult to find.

zephyr911

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Daley

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #33 on: October 26, 2015, 12:50:19 PM »
Holy crap.

And that wasn't even me trying.

Guses

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #34 on: October 26, 2015, 01:52:24 PM »
What does MVNO mean?

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #35 on: October 26, 2015, 02:02:37 PM »
This week marks my last week with RW.  I've been with them since the beginning of 2014. I have two phones, Moto X and Moto G.  Over the past few months, the service has been in the pot.  Texts not sending/receiving, delayed dialing, and the latest has been collectors calling our phones. 

Delayed Dialing/ No Dialing has been more and more frequent.  Once this starts even a reboot doesn't help.  I've gone 30+ minutes without being able to make a call.  Neither WIFI or Cell.

Interesting thing on the collectors calling.  They were calling a number in TX and I am in WV.  The number they are calling is a backdoor number that RW uses to handle the cell side of their traffic.  I had to talk to several of these collectors to get the actual number and tried it myself.  Calling up RW required a bit of explaining to get this other number re-assigned, which why don't they tell you upfront about this and give you the number so you will know.

My biggest concern with RW has been the delayed dialing/no dialing issue.  I've looked at their forum and see many people complaining about this same issue and 'fixes' that just don't work.  I am at the point that worrying if the delayed dialing/no dialing will occur during an emergency.  I agree with I.P. Daley that saving money shouldn't affect reliability and I'll add that it sure as heck shouldn't put people at risk.

GodlessCommie

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #36 on: October 26, 2015, 02:07:35 PM »
...because free (or otherwise) VoIP services for smartphones over WiFi that can be used anywhere in the world is so difficult to find.
That is a pretty epic response :) But on a more serious note...

All these solutions seem to require a separate phone number to get VoIP calls. Is there a way to have a call be routed through WiFi when it is available, but otherwise through cell? In other words, emulate the way Republic works?

Daley

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #37 on: October 26, 2015, 02:16:07 PM »
What does MVNO mean?

Mobile Virtual Network Operator. They lease and resell bulk network access to the major mobile network operators (MNOs).

AT&T is an MNO, Airvoice is an MVNO that resells AT&T network access. Make sense?



All these solutions seem to require a separate phone number to get VoIP calls. Is there a way to have a call be routed through WiFi when it is available, but otherwise through cell? In other words, emulate the way Republic works?

Yup, you creatively use call forwarding between a VoIP provider and a mobile provider. You can use Google Voice (or something like it) as your primary mobile number, forwarding to and hiding the actual mobile number behind it. Alternately, you can use an MVNO that permits call forwarding to forward calls to another VoIP number that you connect to on WiFi when there's no network connection and setting the outbound caller ID to show your cell number instead. Details in this old post of mine. It's easier than it sounds.

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #38 on: October 27, 2015, 09:36:45 AM »
Again, my favorite part about RW is the WiFi function.  I travel around the world a lot for work, and being able to call anywhere back home from anywhere for free is awesome.  I realize that this doesn't apply to everyone, but it should still be considered.  Built in VoIP.

...because free (or otherwise) VoIP services for smartphones over WiFi that can be used anywhere in the world is so difficult to find.

I read your blog post on using support services along with a VoIP subscription to simulate the same service.  Nice post, it's obvious that you've spent a good deal of time learning about and understanding the alternative options.

Seeing as how this is the MMM forum and all, as you put it, how we use our free time is just as paramount as how we optimize our money.  Could I go through the motions and build a system of various moving parts (that will inevitably have to be refined over time as the individual providing companies change prices or terms of service) to eventually get similar functionality at a slightly lower cost?  Sure I could.  Would the service quality be better?  Perhaps, I'll take your word for it.  I can even do this for my wife's phone, and teach friends who are in a similar situation as me how to do it.

However, if I believe that the service I am getting from RW is acceptable for the price I am willing to spend... why would I?  The ease of functionality is a factor in play here.  Instead of following the steps referenced in your blog, and keeping current with the changing tech required to keep the balancing act stable, I simply pay my monthly bill of $10.  And it works.  So instead of spending my time researching and keeping current on phone tech, I instead can go out and do what is productive in my eyes.  I recognize that people have had issues with the service.  I've occasionally run into some of the bugs mentioned myself.  But you know what?  I'm ok with that, because it's a rarity from my experience. 

I have a computer science background, so when Apple started growing their market share tremendously I was flabbergasted as to why people would pay so much more for less functionality on their computers.  It was a solid lesson learned when people explained that the ease of use vs a PC was the motivating factor. 

I get it.  You're looking to optimize your phone (and in this case, VoIP) experience as cheaply as possible.  My interests lie elsewhere, so the level of commitment involved in your solution does not check out in terms of opportunity cost.  My phone is a tool to me... a hammer.  There's only so much time I'm willing to optimize my hammer vs the rest of my tools when what I really want to do is build a house.  My hammer gets the job done at a price I'm willing to pay without a tremendous energy commitment, so I'm content.

If your solution had a higher margin of gain (like when I went from $130 per month for two lines from AT&T to $20 for RW), I'd be all on board.  But saving a few dollars while relying on support software that has to be maintained over time doesn't really jive with me. 

Daley

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #39 on: October 27, 2015, 01:51:01 PM »
I get it.  You're looking to optimize your phone (and in this case, VoIP) experience as cheaply as possible.

No, you clearly do not get it. Otherwise, you wouldn't post this wall of flimsy excuses to defend being a cheap and stingy person paying the absolute minimum for a hammer that you yourself readily admit isn't good enough for your task at hand at times.

The guide is built upon the (modified) engineer's iron triangle of easy/cheap/good, and I am all about the cheap and good. I don't actually advocate ridiculously complicated methods, I recommend choosing higher quality, reliable services and paying for what you actually need. I don't actually recommend, as you put it, "a system of various moving parts". I advocate ignoring the piddly minor differences and choosing the best and most solid providers to do the job you need, that provides that service at the technical skill you're comfortable at, and to spend the money necessary to get it done well and reliably. Republic fails this criteria because the service is not good or reliable, and it's not easy to keep operational as many others in this very thread have pointed out.

Instead of following the steps referenced in your blog, and keeping current with the changing tech required to keep the balancing act stable, I simply pay my monthly bill of $10.  And it works.  So instead of spending my time researching and keeping current on phone tech, I instead can go out and do what is productive in my eyes.  I recognize that people have had issues with the service.

Again, this is not what the guide is about, and you're clearly confused about what I actually stand for. I recommend mature, stable providers and technology, and not sweating the minuscule differences in price point between the recommended, mature, and robust providers for your usage needs so it's set up once and forget it. The only difference is, I teach people the basics of how their technology works so they can see through the voodoo black box technology marketing BS that companies like your recommended carrier use to sucker people into thinking they're getting a good deal on the services being provided. As for the post you read specifically, did you fail to catch the part where I didn't actually recommend these sorts of set-ups and that the post was for cheapskates unwilling to pay for the services they actually needed?

Now, you actively chose to be stingy and cheap over being frugal with your spending choices. You have consciously chosen to spend only $10 a month for a low quality provider who actively screws their customers over the alternative of an unlocked smartphone with any number of solid MVNOs and maybe one pre-configured VoIP app that takes zero effort to configure or keep up to date with alternative providers where the price gap is maybe an extra $10 a month at most (at the high end) to get that no-fuss reliability and just as much flexibility (if not more). They offer nothing unique, and that's the point I try to reinforce. The fact of the matter is, even if you want to veer cheap and easy (as Republic clearly is), the post I linked on how to replicate their services is there to illustrate how overpriced it really is when you put in that extra thirty minutes of effort on education on how your phone actually works and are still willing to cut corners.

You want to keep telling yourself you made a wise investment with your money? Go for it, but stop trying to convince myself and others here - we know there's better for the money. FULL STOP. I have done and shared the research to make those options accessible and easy to use, and the reason why this forum is filled with so many Republic Wireless complaints these days is because of your type of mindset defending peddling a low-quality provider by choosing the bottom line (both monthly cost and referral kickbacks) over recommending a reliable provider. Eventually, this choice is going to burn you like it does others, because lousy providers always burn you in the end. I try to keep people from getting burned in the first place and having to learn first hand what others in this thread and elsewhere have discovered.

I don't have a problem with you personally, but there is a mountain of evidence showing that Republic deserve neither your loyalty or your money. You don't need to give them either.
« Last Edit: October 27, 2015, 02:11:52 PM by I.P. Daley »

Davids

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #40 on: October 27, 2015, 04:10:29 PM »
Wow, a MMM thread that is anti Republic Wireless, never thought i would see the day.

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #41 on: October 27, 2015, 04:45:50 PM »
Threaten to quit their service and see if they change their attitude.  If they don't, quit their service.

Daley

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #42 on: October 27, 2015, 05:28:50 PM »
Wow, a MMM thread that is anti Republic Wireless, never thought i would see the day.

There's actually been quite a few if you look around.

WildJager

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #43 on: October 27, 2015, 11:57:57 PM »
I don't have a problem with you personally, but there is a mountain of evidence showing that Republic deserve neither your loyalty or your money. You don't need to give them either.

Ok man, you win.  I feel like I'm arguing about how apparently my can opener has been inferior all this time and I didn't even realize it.  I'm content with my $10 per month phone service that meets my needs.  You're obviously not, so I'll let you carry the torch and expound to others the better alternatives.  Cheers, and I hope your blog and agenda continue to help make the future of wireless communication more productive and reliable for consumers.

Daley

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #44 on: October 28, 2015, 08:07:43 AM »
Ok man, you win.  I feel like I'm arguing about how apparently my can opener has been inferior all this time and I didn't even realize it.  I'm content with my $10 per month phone service that meets my needs.  You're obviously not, so I'll let you carry the torch and expound to others the better alternatives.  Cheers, and I hope your blog and agenda continue to help make the future of wireless communication more productive and reliable for consumers.

Good luck to you, and I hope for your sake your "cheap" and "good enough" $6000+ lifetime cost "can opener" doesn't do too much damage to your fingers once it turns on you, like it has others.

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #45 on: October 28, 2015, 08:29:48 AM »
Ok man, you win.  I feel like I'm arguing about how apparently my can opener has been inferior all this time and I didn't even realize it.  I'm content with my $10 per month phone service that meets my needs.  You're obviously not, so I'll let you carry the torch and expound to others the better alternatives.  Cheers, and I hope your blog and agenda continue to help make the future of wireless communication more productive and reliable for consumers.

Good luck to you, and I hope for your sake your "cheap" and "good enough" $6000+ lifetime cost "can opener" doesn't do too much damage to your fingers once it turns on you, like it has others.

I'm not sure why you are actually hostile to people who disagree with you on this issue.   It's really not that big of a deal.  I have no complaints about RW so far.  Assuming I do at some point, I'll switch to something else.  Maybe back to Airvoice, from which I switched to RW.  And guess what?  It was really no big deal.

Daley

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #46 on: October 28, 2015, 09:28:04 AM »
I'm not sure why you are actually hostile to people who disagree with you on this issue.   It's really not that big of a deal.  I have no complaints about RW so far.  Assuming I do at some point, I'll switch to something else.  Maybe back to Airvoice, from which I switched to RW.  And guess what?  It was really no big deal.

Actually, it kind of is if you actually take the core values of what MMM preaches seriously. Doing so needlessly contributes further to the spiralling electronic waste problem in this country as well as the human rights issues tied in with the slave mineral trade in Africa. It also financially rewards a lousy service provider that distorts the truth of what they're actually providing and gives it market and mindshare in an industry where far more responsible and reliable providers can be used without your submission to a heinous legal terms of service or need for purchasing a new proprietary handset.

From a "mustachian values" standpoint, Republic Wireless is actually the Jeep Grand Cherokee of the cellphone industry. Excessive, wasteful, unreliable, and overpriced for what it actually does. I've seen others (justifiably) slagged far worse over far less than what I take Republic users to task for here as being hypocritical to the core values this community is supposedly structured around... but somehow it's okay to ignore this because they have MMM's $30 a referral seal of approval.

I don't fault Pete's need to keep the server lights on with this place, and it's low hanging and high revenue fruit... but it's counter to his own values, and it unfortunately causes a lot of collateral damage.

What we choose to do with the money in our lives matters, and it impacts more than our own bottom line. Just because it's "cheap" doesn't diminish its larger impact when measured against the alternatives.

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #47 on: October 28, 2015, 09:38:58 AM »

Actually, it kind of is if you actually take the core values of what MMM preaches seriously. Doing so needlessly contributes further to the spiralling electronic waste problem in this country as well as the human rights issues tied in with the slave mineral trade in Africa. It also financially rewards a lousy service provider that distorts the truth of what they're actually providing and gives it market and mindshare in an industry where far more responsible and reliable providers can be used without your submission to a heinous legal terms of service or need for purchasing a new proprietary handset.

I haven't experienced lousy service and I got my handset used.  So I don't see any ethical issues.  And I don't take the "core values" of what anyone group/person "preaches" seriously.  You do, apparently, and that's fine, it's your life.

Daley

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #48 on: October 28, 2015, 10:00:58 AM »
I haven't experienced lousy service and I got my handset used.  So I don't see any ethical issues.  And I don't take the "core values" of what anyone group/person "preaches" seriously.  You do, apparently, and that's fine, it's your life.

Buying used to replace a still functional device still helps drive further consumption and manufacturing, just not as much.

OP also gets screwed with a double billing issue that they won't correct by their own policies, and you waltz into her thread boasting about how it's ethically okay to give these people money, because you yourself haven't experienced any problems....

charis

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Re: Republic Wireless - the Honeymoon is over
« Reply #49 on: October 28, 2015, 12:10:33 PM »
Hmm, that's not how I remember it, but my waltz is a little rusty.  I do a much better foxtrot.