Author Topic: Republic Wireless Cost Me New Job? Alternatives?  (Read 7389 times)

jml2307

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Republic Wireless Cost Me New Job? Alternatives?
« on: November 21, 2015, 12:31:34 PM »
I've had RW for about 8 months now and I am not too happy with it. The voice functionality leaves a lot to be desired. I am considering switching back to a major carrier (ATT, Verizon) and I wanted to get the community's thoughts on whether they are justified or if there are alternative RW-like carriers out there with better call quality.

My "justification" for paying major-carrier rates is the following personal though anecdotal story. The other day I had a second-round telephone interview for a new job that would have yielded an effective $15k / year pay raise (COL + raise) and a HUGE increase in quality of life. The telephone interview seemingly went extremely well and after a half hour it switched to my turn to ask questions about the position. A few minutes into this portion of the conversation, I get a rapidly degraded call quality. I informed the interviewer that the call quality was degraded, and that I may need to call them back. They replied with something like "<static> Not a <static> problem, I'll have <static> X call you <static> for a follow <static> up." Then the call ended... Great way to close out an otherwise excellent technical phone interview. I got no response from immediate return call or courtesy email follow up and have heard nothing the remainder of last week (3 days since interview).

I experience poor call quality on nearly every RW call I make, but I always just call my friends, family, or coworkers back, and its not a big deal. This time, however, I am kind of frustrated. I purposely sat in the same room as my modem/router so I had strong wifi signal and did not move. Dropped or degraded quality calls occur 100% of the time during RW calls that I have made.

Is the potential loss of a $15k / yr raise due to a poor interview ending caused by call quality a valid excuse to switch carriers (and pay about $60 / month more)? I could do some statistical analysis based on the probability that not getting job is influenced by dropped call and the expected raise versus the savings of a RW plan, but my guess is that the RW plan based savings will never break even with even 1 year of better job.

Is the additional cost of a professional-quality carrier justified by the occasional need to use the voice functionality of a phone in a professional manner?

Any recommended alternatives to RW plan or major carrier plan with good quality?

Thanks again MMM community!
--Edited to specify it was a 15k/yr raise, not job
« Last Edit: November 21, 2015, 12:51:08 PM by jml2307 »

Exflyboy

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Re: Republic Wireless Cost Me New Job? Alternatives?
« Reply #1 on: November 21, 2015, 12:48:36 PM »
No it isn't or doubtful at least.

Even if you have problems with RW there are a number of MVNO's in the $5 to $10 a month range that work perfectly well on cheap (like less than $20) flip phones.

Paul der Krake

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Re: Republic Wireless Cost Me New Job? Alternatives?
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2015, 12:51:37 PM »
Why don't you just kindly nudge them by email?

"Hey the phone quality was horrible and I was told someone would call me back, what's up."

And yes, you should go with an MVNO.

Frankies Girl

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Re: Republic Wireless Cost Me New Job? Alternatives?
« Reply #3 on: November 21, 2015, 01:08:11 PM »
I've been with Ting MVNO for almost a year, and it's been great. We can use wifi at home/out for data, pay for small buckets of usage otherwise (there are levels of voice, text, data). They use the Sprint network primarily, and float to Verizon if the Sprint coverage is spotty. For two phones that like to talk a bunch, we average about $27/month. The quality is very good in my area (suggest you check their maps to see what the coverage is like, and ask around about any friends/family that have Sprint coverage as they'll be similar)

Ting.com

They have a referral program - if you use a person's referral code (like this one for me: https://z0p1rd31m89.ting.com/) then you get $25 and I get $25.
« Last Edit: November 21, 2015, 10:32:15 PM by Frankies Girl »

MrSal

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Re: Republic Wireless Cost Me New Job? Alternatives?
« Reply #4 on: November 21, 2015, 02:18:34 PM »
I never understood this love affair people hgave with RW and how people go "it allows Wifi Calling and you pay only 10 USD per month" ...

Heck my phone allows wifi calling even without a carrier.

To me wifi calling is only a backup when i dont have more minutes left on my plan or when I am at home and instead of wasting my normal minutes I use wifi.

You can easily use a MVNO for 10$ per month... without any locked phones to RW which means if youre disatisfied you dont need to buy phones after phones...

S

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Re: Republic Wireless Cost Me New Job? Alternatives?
« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2015, 06:24:08 PM »
tl;dr - keep RW, or some MVNO

Reach out to the recruiter if you haven't heard back, and push for a decision rather than silence. They are people with a lot on their plates and something might've slipped. Second, if they decide against an offer, there's no guarantee the phone did it. Interview experiences range widely, and unfortunately a recruiter can't tell you why a decision happened to go one way vs another, but if they're looking at your profile and see comments like "phone broke up, couldn't finish interview", that's usually a signal to re-schedule. If that doesn't happen, either there was another deciding factor (since you did finish the technical questions) or the company may not be worth working for.

Bearded Man

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Re: Republic Wireless Cost Me New Job? Alternatives?
« Reply #6 on: November 21, 2015, 09:03:30 PM »
Check my thread. I switched to a $40 a month att pre paid plan unlimited everything, smart phone. I wouldn't risk these mediocre services. They are great if you don't need reliable service but I use my phone for work....I need it to work...

Daley

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Re: Republic Wireless Cost Me New Job? Alternatives?
« Reply #7 on: November 21, 2015, 10:01:07 PM »
There's already an entire guide on the subject you're after, JML.

Although I'm not entirely sure the phone call quality is responsible for whatever happened with the interview if you lost it, I don't disagree that putting up with consistently crappy phone service you're paying good money for is a bad idea. It's why I never recommended Republic in the guide to begin with, and never softened on doing so. It's also why I don't encourage mVoIP service in general. If you need mobile service and reliability, pay for it. That said...

Check my thread. I switched to a $40 a month att pre paid plan unlimited everything, smart phone. I wouldn't risk these mediocre services. They are great if you don't need reliable service but I use my phone for work....I need it to work...

Pay no heed to this advice. Sometimes people don't seem capable of understanding that it's actually quite possible to get quality, reliable service with an independent wholesale MVNO - if you're selective. In fact, dealing directly with a main carrier's discount and prepaid brands like Bearded Man is doing frequently include even worse customer service experiences than being under postpaid contract with the same carrier, provides no more reliable phone service than one of the other wholesale MVNOs on the same network, and people who choose these plans almost always continue to pay far more than they actually need to. As for the bulk of the crappy and mediocre MVNOs he supposedly speaks of, most are owned by only one specific company, they hardly represent the entirety of the market, and I don't recommend any of them. You want reliable service with good customer support at a reasonable price? Read the guide, choose one of the recommended MVNOs on a network that best works for you, and learn to pay for what you actually need instead of just blindly chasing after empty marketing promises of the cheapest "unlimited" services available.

jml2307

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Re: Republic Wireless Cost Me New Job? Alternatives?
« Reply #8 on: November 22, 2015, 08:44:46 AM »
Thanks all for the great responses. To be honest, I was completely unaware of the larger MVNO market out there. I guess once I switched to RW, I kind of got lazy with my background research. Thankfully the MMM community has come to the rescue once again!

I currently pay around $19 / month for my RW plan, which I don't anticipate getting too much cheaper for voice / text / data and smartphone, however I will be switching away from RW once I hear whether I get the job (so I can choose the MVNO with the best reception in the new or current area).

As far as the job goes, I certainly hope the company wouldn't hold poor phone reception against me, especially after spending 30+ minutes in the interview. Its just one of those things that adds to the stress of the interview, especially since it will impact their first impression and should not be a problem in the first place.

Bearded Man

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Re: Republic Wireless Cost Me New Job? Alternatives?
« Reply #9 on: November 22, 2015, 12:24:22 PM »
There's already an entire guide on the subject you're after, JML.

Although I'm not entirely sure the phone call quality is responsible for whatever happened with the interview if you lost it, I don't disagree that putting up with consistently crappy phone service you're paying good money for is a bad idea. It's why I never recommended Republic in the guide to begin with, and never softened on doing so. It's also why I don't encourage mVoIP service in general. If you need mobile service and reliability, pay for it. That said...

Check my thread. I switched to a $40 a month att pre paid plan unlimited everything, smart phone. I wouldn't risk these mediocre services. They are great if you don't need reliable service but I use my phone for work....I need it to work...

Pay no heed to this advice. Sometimes people don't seem capable of understanding that it's actually quite possible to get quality, reliable service with an independent wholesale MVNO - if you're selective. In fact, dealing directly with a main carrier's discount and prepaid brands like Bearded Man is doing frequently include even worse customer service experiences than being under postpaid contract with the same carrier, provides no more reliable phone service than one of the other wholesale MVNOs on the same network, and people who choose these plans almost always continue to pay far more than they actually need to. As for the bulk of the crappy and mediocre MVNOs he supposedly speaks of, most are owned by only one specific company, they hardly represent the entirety of the market, and I don't recommend any of them. You want reliable service with good customer support at a reasonable price? Read the guide, choose one of the recommended MVNOs on a network that best works for you, and learn to pay for what you actually need instead of just blindly chasing after empty marketing promises of the cheapest "unlimited" services available.
Pay no attention to this "advice". Some people are incapable of understanding that when the majority of reviews for cheap services such as RW highlight poor service and other carriers provide normal service at a fair price that actually works and is favorably reviewed, that you are in fact getting what you pay for. After all, the op came here to complain about his unreliable cheap phone service, not to claim against all logic and evidence to the contrary, that these cheap providers are better than regular phone service at a fraction of the cost.
« Last Edit: November 22, 2015, 12:28:20 PM by Bearded Man »

stlbrah

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Re: Republic Wireless Cost Me New Job? Alternatives?
« Reply #10 on: November 22, 2015, 12:26:54 PM »
The same thing happened to me when I was on an interview with Google, with my pricey AT&T wireless coverage. I had to hang up and have them call back to try again, it was pretty embarrassing. I still made it to the next round of interviews, so I suppose they didn't hold it against me.

I have a question about RW. I had the understanding that you could use WiFi to make calls and texts when it is available, and automatically switches to sprint when it is not. Wouldn't you be doing your interview from home on your WiFi connection?

shadowmoss

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Re: Republic Wireless Cost Me New Job? Alternatives?
« Reply #11 on: November 22, 2015, 12:32:05 PM »
I have Consumer Cellular, actually recommended here.  It uses AT&T cell towers.  Wonderful customer service based in the US.  It is marketed to the AARP crowd, but is a good deal for anyone.  If you are a very large data user, the plans probably won't work, but they go high enough for my usage.  You can scale up or down with a log in to the site or a phone call.

Bearded Man

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Re: Republic Wireless Cost Me New Job? Alternatives?
« Reply #12 on: November 22, 2015, 12:45:30 PM »
The same thing happened to me when I was on an interview with Google, with my pricey AT&T wireless coverage. I had to hang up and have them call back to try again, it was pretty embarrassing. I still made it to the next round of interviews, so I suppose they didn't hold it against me.

I have a question about RW. I had the understanding that you could use WiFi to make calls and texts when it is available, and automatically switches to sprint when it is not. Wouldn't you be doing your interview from home on your WiFi connection?

Same thing happened to me on AT&T as well. Also when I was T-Mobile and Sprint. It's not a perfect technology, and usually you are in a bad area when it happens (usually in my case). But the reality of it is that this is more likely to happen to you on cheap plans. I was looking at switching to Metro PCS recently until I did some research and saw how many complaints there are, and how poor the review are.

http://www.cnet.com/products/metropcs/user-reviews/

Daley

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Re: Republic Wireless Cost Me New Job? Alternatives?
« Reply #13 on: November 22, 2015, 02:33:12 PM »
Pay no attention to this "advice". Some people are incapable of understanding that when the majority of reviews for cheap services such as RW highlight poor service and other carriers provide normal service at a fair price that actually works and is favorably reviewed, that you are in fact getting what you pay for. After all, the op came here to complain about his unreliable cheap phone service, not to claim against all logic and evidence to the contrary, that these cheap providers are better than regular phone service at a fraction of the cost.

I was looking at switching to Metro PCS recently until I did some research and saw how many complaints there are, and how poor the review are.

http://www.cnet.com/products/metropcs/user-reviews/

Please, oh infinitely wise and humble bearded know-it-all guru with access to Google, please explain to me and the hundreds of people just here in these forums alone over the past four years that I've steered towards Airvoice, P'tel/Giv, Consumer Cellular, Ting, Selectel, Puretalk USA, and Ecomobile exactly how crappy and failure-prone the services we're paying for really is and how incompetent we must all be for using them and recommending others do likewise! Because man alive! I've just been drowning in complaints since February 2012 and need someone to fix where I really went wrong with the guide. I think I'm up to six complaints, now? And three of those were human error? I mean, crap, I've been with P'tel five years now, and I don't understand why I keep giving them money and recommending others without taking a commission, what with them always giving me reliable mobile service. Don't make me beg, oh infinitely wise and humble bearded know-it-all guru with access to Google, show us all the error of our ways all these years! Show us foolish and mortal users of these smaller MVNOs that haven't given us any significant problems for years how wrong we are!

Listen, Republic is a crap-tier provider. That's no secret, and I've repeatedly explained the mechanics as to why it's lousy service, and it's not because it's an MVNO - in fact, it's not anything resembling a traditional MVNO at all - it's an mVoIP provider which is a whole other beast. It's also no secret that all of America Movil's brands such as StraightTalk, NET10, Tracfone, Page Plus, Simple Mobile, Total Wireless, etc., have terrible customer service, support, billing, and subsequently related issues. Also, you're only proving what I said about MNO owned "boutique" bands. Do you know who owns MetroPCS? T-Mobile. Do you know what brand isn't is the guide? MetroPCS. Nor is Cricket (owned by AT&T), Boost Mobile (owned by Sprint), GoSmart (another owned by T-Mobile), and Virgin (owned by Sprint) is only included purely out of virtue of Ecomobile not entirely filling in the mid-range - and yet I warn against Virgin's low-quality customer service anyway. There are good MVNOs out there, and a lot of people here use the good ones successfully on a daily basis without so much as a burp, but you have to know where to look and be willing to actually listen to people to find them. They are far and few between, but they remain bright shining jewels in a landscape of crap, and far better for the money than paying the major carriers directly.

You clearly know as much about the MVNO industry as you do landlording.
« Last Edit: November 22, 2015, 02:34:43 PM by I.P. Daley »

Mr. Green

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Re: Republic Wireless Cost Me New Job? Alternatives?
« Reply #14 on: November 23, 2015, 12:17:47 PM »
Look into Cricket. Was bought by AT&T but still offers great prices, compared to what we were paying with Verizon. $35 a month gets you unlimited talk and text and 2.5GB of data (w/ $5 discount for autopay). Not sure about your area but we've been up and down much of the Eat Coast and haven't had any problems so far.

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Re: Republic Wireless Cost Me New Job? Alternatives?
« Reply #15 on: November 23, 2015, 12:43:42 PM »
If you can be a no (or very very low) data user, I highly recommend Airvoice, an AT&T MVNO.  Been with them maybe 3 years now, and have been quite happy.  Much of my "texting" is imessaging, so I'm a fairly low use texter, and I really don't talk on the phone much, which makes their $10 a month plan nearly perfect.  I think about annually I end up having to refill the $10 earlier than it auto refills, but that's never caused a problem.  It's $10 for 30 days, texts are $0.02 each, minutes are $0.04 each, and I think a MB of data is $0.066.  I've used data in a pinch to look up directions with the maps app on my iphone, and that costs between 10 and 25 cents in data.  (I turn the data off after it has started the process of routing me to my destination, and unless you veer off course, the gps functionality will get you there!)  I think for $20-$50 a month through Airvoice it's unlimited talk and text with a varying bucket of data.

Fuzz

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Re: Republic Wireless Cost Me New Job? Alternatives?
« Reply #16 on: November 23, 2015, 03:02:38 PM »
ATT pay as you go with 1.5gb data is $40/month and you get same towers/everything.

You need good phone service. If RW, isn't doing it, and $40/month raises your bill by $360/year, I'd do it. I live in a rural state where I need ATT for roaming--I get reciprocity with some tiny carriers--when I had Airvoice, I didn't get any reciprocity. I pay for it, call it a business expense and focus on making more money. Focusing on boosting income is fine too. I prioritize that more than minimizing expenses.

StockBeard

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Re: Republic Wireless Cost Me New Job? Alternatives?
« Reply #17 on: November 23, 2015, 06:46:06 PM »
I never understood this love affair people hgave with RW
Unlike many other carriers, RW have an affiliate network, meaning they literally pay people who publicly praise their service. The result is a bias in their favor on the internet, despite them not necessarily being the best (or cheapest) offer around here.