Finally in this list, there's Republic Wireless... the little provider that could. Their gimmick is $20 a month unlimited usage with WiFi and Sprint network coverage. Theoretically, it's a great idea. A pre-configured Android phone that defaults to WiFi for calling and seamlessly integrates cell service and VoIP? Fantastic! Unfortunately, execution's left a lot to be desired. Long term, I want to see these guys succeed, but until then I recommend sticking with more worn paths.
I've been working my way through the blog posts and got to the cell phone post. http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/08/22/eliminate-ridiculous-text-messaging-fees-with-google-voice/
RW was mentioned there, so I came to the forums to see if there was anything here. Not much outside of this post. Anything change since then, or are things still kind of sketchy with Republic's execution?
Basically, all Republic is doing is providing a SIP account with SMS support and fallback Sprint CDMA coverage all tied up nicely through a unified interface, and custom SMS and SIP clients with a likely spoofed CID on the cell to hide the multiple numbers from your contacts when calling. This isn't to say that what they're providing for the money and hassle of configuration isn't worth it, I'm just pointing out what they're doing so you can better understand the weaknesses of the setup.
As for those weaknesses, they have finally gone truly "unlimited" so long as you keep cell usage low and fall within their CUI guidelines, but it doesn't fix the fundamental problem of hand-off. You can either make/receive cell calls or WiFi calls, you can't transition between. Their work-around on this is an auto-callback with dropped WiFi calls. Keep in mind too that Republic's price structure is specifically designed around you basically using this phone most of the time on a WiFi network. Call quality can be rough at times. Also, you have to pay for support.
With a little technical savvy, a Ting account with a decent WiFi Android smartphone that can handle CSipSimple, a Google Voice account, and a VoIP provider like VOIPo, you too can actually recreate for the most part the Republic Wireless experience for about the same as what they want to charge.
Here's the basic structure to pull it off (untried personally configured on whole, but
should work):
1) Set up a decent Ting Android smartphone with WiFi. (Ting is necessary if you want a singular unified voice mailbox.)
2) Set up a cheap VoIP provider and configure all calls when a VoIP device is offline to forward to your Platinumtel number and disable voicemail. (This is partly necessary to prevent "double ringing" with incoming calls while on WiFi with free GV VoIP solutions.)
3) Set up a Google Voice account with a new number and associate your VoIP and cell numbers with it, but only ring the VoIP number. (This is partly necessary to prevent "double ringing" with incoming calls while on WiFi.) Then set up your cell phone to forward to Google Voice for voicemail.
4) Install
CSipSimple and set to only receive calls/go online when in range of an accessible WiFi network, and auto-answer on calls from Google Voice.
5) Install Google Voice to integrate SMS messaging with the phone and set GV as the default SMS client.
6) Install
Voice+ and set to use your VoIP number to connect for all outgoing calls with GV, and set all outgoing calls to be dialed by Voice+.
7) Install an app that does auto-call answering for specific numbers and set to pick-up automatically for your GV number. (Cannot recommend an application for this, but know they exist.)
8) Only give people your Google Voice number.
This should give you single number point of contact for calls and SMS, VoIP call handling for all incoming and outgoing calls on WiFi, and forwarding to your cell number for all calls made while off WiFi. It's a little messy to set up and the UI wouldn't be quite as polished as Republic's, but you could easily get by spending on average about the same as them. It should behave about equally transparent once set up, too. Roughly the same call quality and caveats would also be experienced. Incoming calls received either on cellular or WiFi could even be switched between networks using Google Voice's "4" key call transfer, which is one up on Republic's setup where it auto-redials dropped calls. Of course, you know
my feelings on Google Voice.
You could switch the Ting phone out with Platinumtel and come in with a lower monthly price than Republic, but you couldn't do call forwarding for the voicemail, which means you'd basically have two voice mailboxes to contend with if you turned your phone off/no reception. You could also save the VoIP account costs by utilizing a PBXes account set up through Sipdroid or a Sipgate account or whatnot, but then there's the double ring issue where both the cell phone and SIP account will ring on incoming calls. This can be worked around (sort of) with something like
Google Voice Locations, but just complicates things further from a software usage perspective IMHO. This setup would be a bit easier and could avoid Google Voice entirely if I knew of a good US based VoIP provider that also provided cheap/free SMS support with monthly packages (know a couple Canadian outfits), but that's on a short list for research in the future. You could also take out the entire cellular carrier factor and configure similar with a WiFi Android handset or an Archos tablet running Android. There's likely a handful of variants on execution as well, but there you have it.
UPDATE 05/31/13: VOIPo provides SMS services, now. You can forgo even dragging Google Voice into the mess if you don't mind using e-mail as your texting interface. Google Voice is still the better and more seamless option on Android phones, however. Also, more modern builds of Android provide built-in SIP account support now. It's a sloppy and imperfect system, and Republic's refined their configuration a little more, but the general idea still stands.
UPDATE #2 05/31/13: As it's been a while since I visited the topic, and since
Mr. Everyday Dollar recently did a review... if you're comfortable using a service like
Talkatone (third party storing your Google credentials), the setup can be done even simpler using it and
AutoAP these days. He used Ting, but this can effectively be used with
any Android phone on
any MVNO carrier to keep costs lower.
This just shows that anybody can replicate the Republic Wireless experience for less if you just know how it works.UPDATE #3 08/08/13: Rereading this original post, I realized that I was wrongly under the impression that Republic was putting cellular voice into the mix instead of being a 100% VoIP data solution. Silly me. If it's 100% VoIP, the implementation is considerably simpler on your own, but with greater failure points. The method I outlined in this post actually has fallbacks for usage (as does Mr. Everyday Dollar's method) if data throughput and latency is insufficient for VoIP service... which technically makes it a superior solution to Republic for the same quirkiness and money or less. Also,
have a link detailing why this redundancy is good to have.
Republic's also added a $30/month plan for the same service with a more reasonable buy-in cost for the device. The only problem with this is, you can already get "unlimited" talk and text for $30 a month without any of the shortcomings, caveats, or restrictive terms of service and limitations from GSM MVNOs Airvoice and GoSmart Mobile, allowing you to pick whatever phone suits you best (most of which will likely be at the same price or cheaper than Republic's and won't leave you carrier locked with the hardware)... and an extra $5 a month adds a chunk of data onto that service as well. T-Mobile's prepaid division also has a $30/month plan with 1500 minutes talk or text and 30MB of data, which will probably cover most people's usage if they do the real math on their "unlimited" usage; or $30/month service with 100 minutes, unlimited text and 5GB of unthrottled data. If you
must do the full VoIP experience, you can still do so at the same price point as Republic with the same mentioned GV setup on
any pentaband Android smartphone of your choosing, and
still get that voice service fallback as well as a giant wad of data that would likely get you booted from Republic for using in a month.
Let me also note that there are alternatives to Republic now on this setup. FreedomPop and TextNow.
TextNow at least has the decency to not hide claims of "unlimited service" behind a surprisingly twee yet draconian terms of service on real wireless data usage, and has reasonable price points for what's provided. Still doesn't make these solutions all that much more cost effective over DIY or just bringing back a proper home phone line into the mix, but there you go.
UPDATE #4 09/11/13: I don't know if the person in question had read this post and took me literally wanting to do the
T-Mobile $30 5GB prepaid + Google Voice service deal mentioned on 08/08 or not, but let me reiterate that
it's a pretty lousy idea to implement and that there's better options for service for the price. If you're already willing to spend $30/month, and you actually
need both an excess of 250MB of high speed data and more than about 500 minutes of airtime a month with a GSM provider, is it really a bank breaking stretch to just spend an extra $10-15 a month to pay for what you actually
need?
Especially if the data service quality proves to be so terrible in your area that you find yourself spending an extra $10 a month on proprietary VoIP services just to make it work, thereby proving my point that VoIP over wireless is a bad idea? Is it even worth sticking with GSM MVNOs at this point when you can have those same usage numbers on the CDMA end (which you'd be using with Republic anyway) for around $30-40 a month via Page Plus or Ting?
Don't be cheap, be
frugal and
use the right tool for the job.