Author Topic: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance  (Read 9899 times)

pdean

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Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« on: January 18, 2016, 06:12:51 AM »
Hi friends,
I'm trying to figure out whether Republic is a good fit for me. I have had AT&T for years. My wife and I have two iPhone 4s (bought for .99 each, good) and a monthly bill of $120 (bad). I'm in a location where the map on the Republic website shows some Republic coverage, a good bit of 3G and 4G, and a portion of roaming.

I use wifi a lot (work from home) but I'd just be guessing about whether the change would be good. How can I get more data?

Thanks, all!

alsoknownasDean

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2016, 06:37:59 AM »
Maybe you're better off suited with an AT&T MVNO rather than switching to Republic (after unlocking the iPhones).

That way you can continue to use the phones you already have, with the same coverage that you already get, just for less moolah.

If you buy a Republic phone, and decide the coverage is shit and you want to change, you'll have to buy another new phone, because Republic phones can be used only on Republic (not even on other Sprint MVNOs).

Maybe Airvoice or H2O Wireless? Check out I.P. Daley's guide :)

minority_finance_mo

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2016, 10:23:44 AM »
Yeah, I never really got the appeal of Republic Wireless. The lowest plan is basically the same service you get from Google Hangouts for free - except now you're paying $5. The rest of their plans are fairly competitive with other MVNOs until you take into consideration it is the only one that doesn't let you transfer devices.

minority_finance_mo

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #3 on: January 18, 2016, 10:24:40 AM »
I went with FreedomPop for my phone (terrible customer service, great product), and PTel for my family. PTel is a great service all around.

Exflyboy

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #4 on: January 18, 2016, 11:05:46 AM »
We have PTEL for me and Republic for my Wife.

My Wife dislikes (almost hates) technology. RW is a one stop shop, she gets unlimited talk and text for $11/month and the phone was a hundred bucks, she's happy, I'm happy but it took a lot of painful negotiation to get her off of her $60/m Verizon plan so I never want to go through that again.

She likes the fact we add the data plan for when we travel ($25/m I believe) and she has since learned to use Skype on the phone which is awesome for when abroad. RW of course defaults to your home router on wifi so you don't need fantastic Sprint coverage at home.. but it needs to be good enough outside.

In your case as you already have iphones then PTEL or Airvoice wireless are two that I have experienced. PTEL is much less hassle and it works out to about $6/m for me. I run it on a cheap ($20) flip phone.

Of course everybody wants data these days but unles your running a business I think that is more of a "want" than than a "need" for most people.

PatronWizard11

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2016, 12:15:02 PM »
I love Republic and have had them for almost a year now. I have wifi at home and work and most big business have free wifi too. It keeps me off my phone when I'm out and about (i was starting to become a phone addict). My bill from Verizon was near $165 for 3 lines and now it's $24.99 for 2 lines.

Since my Verizon lines are month to month and unlimited data still, i rent 2 of them out for $140 each. (people use the data in a mifi for home internet in rural areas)
I'm left with a free basic verizon phone for emergencies, no data but with a surplus cash per month and 3 free phone lines 2 of them republic wireless.
plus my verizon bill, I get 5 points back for each dollar with Chase Ink Plus.
So i went from paying $2k a year for phones to paying negative $1,380 a year plus 10,000 chase points
So maybe i love Republic more than i should because it got me out of a pickle but their service is fair and the small hiccups we deal with once in awhile is SO worth it.

katsiki

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #6 on: January 18, 2016, 12:23:21 PM »
As someone else said, check out ATT MVNO's.  I have 2 lines with Consumer Cellular and have been very happy (about 8 months now).  Both phones are low usage, so average bill is $35.

thepokercab

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #7 on: January 18, 2016, 12:28:51 PM »
I had Republic for over a year but once my job offered to pick up my cell phone bill i switched to Verizon. (if they hadn't though I would have gone to another MVNO)   

Overall the Republic phone (MotoX) was fine, but the call quality was pretty bad.  I can't count how many times I had dropped calls, or people on the line saying they couldn't hear me, or the bizarre problem of not being able to log onto conference calls sometimes. I also live right in the middle of an urban area, so it wasn't a lack of service or anything like that. 

My wife still has her Republic phone, but rarely talks on it, so its fine. But since I do a lot of work related stuff on my phone (I also work from home)via 1:1 calls and conference calls, I just needed something that was more reliable. So I guess if you talk on the phone a lot, I wouldn't necessarily discount how important call quality and reliability is.  I did and after a year I had to get something better. 

PatronWizard11

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #8 on: January 18, 2016, 12:53:33 PM »
I had Republic for over a year but once my job offered to pick up my cell phone bill i switched to Verizon. (if they hadn't though I would have gone to another MVNO)   

Overall the Republic phone (MotoX) was fine, but the call quality was pretty bad.  I can't count how many times I had dropped calls, or people on the line saying they couldn't hear me, or the bizarre problem of not being able to log onto conference calls sometimes. I also live right in the middle of an urban area, so it wasn't a lack of service or anything like that. 

My wife still has her Republic phone, but rarely talks on it, so its fine. But since I do a lot of work related stuff on my phone (I also work from home)via 1:1 calls and conference calls, I just needed something that was more reliable. So I guess if you talk on the phone a lot, I wouldn't necessarily discount how important call quality and reliability is.  I did and after a year I had to get something better.

I've found that if I turn off wifi before or during my call. It works 10x better. i cannot explain but if i have an important call I always turn wifi off and it works perfect

chubbybunny

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #9 on: January 18, 2016, 01:17:26 PM »
DH has a republic phone, and when you are in the car it tries to connect to every wifi network that you pass.  This ends up resulting in dropped calls and crappy service.  That's probably why turning off wifi fixes the issue.  Other than that problem, the service works fine for him.

Think

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #10 on: January 18, 2016, 02:05:06 PM »
I couldn't stand republic wireless.  The phone was unreliable.  I would have never held a conference call or an important call from my phone. Plus you have to buy the phone. It isn't that much cheaper than a standard carrier.  Back in the day it was much less expensive.  Not anymore.  You've been warned. 

funcomesfirst

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #11 on: January 18, 2016, 03:30:43 PM »
I have had a great experience with Republic Wireless.  Even with buying the phone at full price, I am saving money after 6 months of usage compared to when I had a single account on Verizon.  The only "need" I have for data is for Maps but I do use the data for other things as well.  I'm on the 1G plan and rarely use half of it so I've got a "what's the least data I can use" game I'm playing with myself.  The rebate makes it fun.

Think

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #12 on: January 18, 2016, 05:34:47 PM »
DH has a republic phone, and when you are in the car it tries to connect to every wifi network that you pass.  This ends up resulting in dropped calls and crappy service.  That's probably why turning off wifi fixes the issue.  Other than that problem, the service works fine for him.

I found this to be extremely frustrating.  I think republic is best for folks who never leave the house.  I take the bus or walk to work and couldn't handle the dropped calls and lack of service all along the way.  Even if I turned the wireless service off it would only stay off for a certain period of time and would again try to hop on a network if nearby.  It literally drove me crazy and I had to switch carriers for my sanity. 

david51

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #13 on: January 19, 2016, 12:13:22 AM »
     I'm on my 3rd year with Republic.  I have never had the problems others testify about. 11$ a month. I am an avid supporter. And I know somebody that has 2 lines with ATT. She pays 290$ each and every month. I saw the phone bills.

FIRE me

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #14 on: January 19, 2016, 12:55:28 AM »
Hi friends,
I'm trying to figure out whether Republic is a good fit for me. I have had AT&T for years. My wife and I have two iPhone 4s (bought for .99 each, good) and a monthly bill of $120 (bad). I'm in a location where the map on the Republic website shows some Republic coverage, a good bit of 3G and 4G, and a portion of roaming.

I use wifi a lot (work from home) but I'd just be guessing about whether the change would be good. How can I get more data?

Thanks, all!

You might want to look at Ting and Google Fi.

Ting has a large selection and price range on phones. Fi would be cheaper if you use a lot of minutes, data, and texts.

https://ting.com/

https://fi.google.com/about/

alsoknownasDean

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #15 on: January 19, 2016, 02:04:30 AM »
Hi friends,
I'm trying to figure out whether Republic is a good fit for me. I have had AT&T for years. My wife and I have two iPhone 4s (bought for .99 each, good) and a monthly bill of $120 (bad). I'm in a location where the map on the Republic website shows some Republic coverage, a good bit of 3G and 4G, and a portion of roaming.

I use wifi a lot (work from home) but I'd just be guessing about whether the change would be good. How can I get more data?

Thanks, all!

You might want to look at Ting and Google Fi.

Ting has a large selection and price range on phones. Fi would be cheaper if you use a lot of minutes, data, and texts.

https://ting.com/

https://fi.google.com/about/

But both of those require the purchase of a new phone. Why not use the phone the OP already has?

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/10/11/our-new-10-00-per-month-iphone-plans/

:)

https://www.airvoicewireless.com/

https://www.h2owirelessnow.com/mainControl.php?page=index

https://www.puretalkusa.com/cell-plans.php
« Last Edit: January 19, 2016, 02:07:10 AM by alsoknownasDean »

Think

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #16 on: January 19, 2016, 03:45:08 AM »
     I'm on my 3rd year with Republic.  I have never had the problems others testify about. 11$ a month. I am an avid supporter. And I know somebody that has 2 lines with ATT. She pays 290$ each and every month. I saw the phone bills.

Good for you.  I wanted it to work. 

Jacana

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #17 on: January 19, 2016, 05:55:26 AM »
I had RW for several years and loved it, very few issues. Then a few months ago we moved to an area where their maps say little coverage and I constantly had problems. So now I am on Google Fi and my service is great. The phone was really expensive though, even half off. If you are looking to save the most money right away, I second Ting and bring over your own phones.

FIRE me

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #18 on: January 22, 2016, 10:53:57 AM »
Hi friends,
I'm trying to figure out whether Republic is a good fit for me. I have had AT&T for years. My wife and I have two iPhone 4s (bought for .99 each, good) and a monthly bill of $120 (bad). I'm in a location where the map on the Republic website shows some Republic coverage, a good bit of 3G and 4G, and a portion of roaming.

I use wifi a lot (work from home) but I'd just be guessing about whether the change would be good. How can I get more data?

Thanks, all!

You might want to look at Ting and Google Fi.

Ting has a large selection and price range on phones. Fi would be cheaper if you use a lot of minutes, data, and texts.

https://ting.com/

https://fi.google.com/about/

But both of those require the purchase of a new phone. Why not use the phone the OP already has?

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/10/11/our-new-10-00-per-month-iphone-plans/

:)

https://www.airvoicewireless.com/

https://www.h2owirelessnow.com/mainControl.php?page=index

https://www.puretalkusa.com/cell-plans.php

[edit for typo]

New to them, yes. New as in never used, no.

MMM has moved to Google Fi, new phone and all:

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/09/20/google-fi-review/

Is the 2012 price in your link still good? If so, you're right in that it might be the lowest cost.
« Last Edit: January 22, 2016, 12:29:37 PM by FIRE me »

Merrie

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #19 on: January 22, 2016, 06:14:30 PM »
I've never had a problem with Republic and we have had them for more than 2 years now. I have found calls get dropped when I place them as pulling out of my driveway, because it doesn't handle the handover from wifi to cell very well. But I simply work around that by waiting a minute to place the call until out of wifi range. We didn't come in with smart phones; we had flip phones before. If you already have a smart phone I'd look for a plan compatible with it.

pdean

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #20 on: January 22, 2016, 06:36:00 PM »
Wow, cool! I get to display my ignorance again because I have now learned about MVNOs. As I like ATT's coverage and my iPhone, I think I'll investigate that route. Thanks so much, all!

thedayisbrave

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #21 on: January 22, 2016, 06:47:43 PM »
I had Republic for 2+ years and loved it, however recently dropped my Moto X and decided to replace it with a Moto E.  Things went downhill from there and I just got so fed up that I did something very anti-Mustachian and got an iPhone, with Verizon.  I use my phone for work and it's kind of a big deal if I can't make calls because the phone is trying to connect over Wifi when there is no Wifi in range (yes that happened).  Don't regret the switch and I can write it off.  Otherwise, I'd still be with RW.

ltt

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #22 on: January 22, 2016, 07:58:11 PM »
We have 3 lines with Verizon (one IPhone and two Samsungs)--it's over $200 a month (plus one of the Samsungs is broken)--ugh.  We have 1 line RW--which gets used very little because our dear daughter doesn't think it's cool enough, but it gets the job done for $12 per month.  Am also looking to do something with the broken Samsung and Verizon.  We will need a new phone and a different carrier.  I don't want to get wrapped into another two-year phone contract. 

Think

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #23 on: January 23, 2016, 08:22:45 AM »
I had Republic for 2+ years and loved it, however recently dropped my Moto X and decided to replace it with a Moto E.  Things went downhill from there and I just got so fed up that I did something very anti-Mustachian and got an iPhone, with Verizon.  I use my phone for work and it's kind of a big deal if I can't make calls because the phone is trying to connect over Wifi when there is no Wifi in range (yes that happened).  Don't regret the switch and I can write it off.  Otherwise, I'd still be with RW.

I did the same.  Republic wireless didn't work for me.  I found it very frustrating and unreliable. If anything, unsafe.  As a woman running around in a city I need a phone I can use in an emergency situation. Not one that will try and try to make a call on a wireless network that's password protected. 

Kwill

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #24 on: January 23, 2016, 11:38:07 AM »
I've been on Republic Wireless for about a year and a half. It's been mostly OK. If I spent more time on the phone, I might switch for the reasons given--dropped calls, etc. But it was a great improvement for me personally at the time I got it because my former phone with Virgin Mobile got almost no reception at all in the apartment I was living in at the time. So I went from great frustration and only being able to pick up calls when leaning toward one window in a specific angle when the weather was clear or else making all calls from parking lots to having good wi-fi reception anywhere in the apartment plus cell reception outside. I also really like being able to call home via wi-fi when traveling internationally. Most of my long conversations or work-related calls take place over Skype with video on the computer, so I'm usually just texting or using the web browser and email on the phone (via wi-fi with the no data plan).

pdean

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #25 on: January 23, 2016, 01:05:50 PM »
More ignorance alert...
I went to Cricket and found I can get 2.5GB data plans for 2 phones for $60/month. That's about half what I'm paying ATT. What am I missing? Why doesn't everyone choose Cricket?

alsoknownasDean

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #26 on: January 23, 2016, 10:16:17 PM »
More ignorance alert...
I went to Cricket and found I can get 2.5GB data plans for 2 phones for $60/month. That's about half what I'm paying ATT. What am I missing? Why doesn't everyone choose Cricket?

Because many people want a new phone included as well. Of course it's often cheaper in the long run to buy the phone outright and use a cheaper provider, but when plenty of people don't have $500+ in savings, they'll go for the carrier-financed option.

Buying an outright, unlocked cell phone and using the carrier of your choice is a more Mustachian option :)

APowers

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #27 on: January 24, 2016, 01:36:44 PM »
We've had Republic for over a year now. On the positive side, it's saved us enough money to pay for the phone. On the negative side, the call quality on wifi is horrid, and I'm in the process of switching to H20 Wireless, because it's so bad and I can't stand it anymore.

windypig

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Re: Republic Wireless: brazenly displaying my ignorance
« Reply #28 on: January 24, 2016, 02:00:46 PM »
Just fyi in case you are considering PTEL, they are going out of business.... so look elsewhere.