He uses 750 min/month, so the per minute plans are not going to be a cost savings ($30, and he still can't text or use data). His current plan is 39.99/month, but with taxes and random fees it ends up being $53/mo. A savings of $10/mo won't be enough to get him to move. I don't get the Republic thing, I spend $25/mo and get a lot more than he does for half the price, and haven't had any issues with customer service. The TOS seems very comparable to other providers, and feels a lot less slimy than the other low cost providers I've been looking at for him.
Again, the AT&T MVNO Puretalk USA. $20 plus sales tax out the door. 1000 minutes a month. With your husband's average of 700-750 minutes a month, that leaves up to 750-900 text messages to send and receive with texts billed at 1/3rd minute. I could always be wrong, but I have a hard time believing a guy texting with T9 and happy with a feature phone would be hitting message numbers approaching quadruple digits... but this is why you always need to do the math and know what sort of actual usage numbers are involved across the board. There's also really no need for data on a feature phone. This is a $30+ savings per month.
Unfortunately, it looks like you're more interested in trying to give him something other than what he actually needs, and cheap out in the process. You appear hung up on justifying the whole Republic price and unrealistic expectations that come with it, defending spending more money for the illusion of "unlimited" which nobody ever needs or delivers on, the whole data access thing, and probably upgrading to a smartphone... instead of just trying to find an actual plan that fits his needs on a network that serves his purposes with the phone he already has, and paying the price for the service actually required. I could be wrong, but that's how you're coming across on my end.
His employer should also be footing at least part of the bill if it's work related, and if he's his own employer, it should be a deductible business expense. Be frugal, not a cheapskate. PAY FOR WHAT IS NEEDED!
Now, if you don't understand the difference between the first tier recommended MVNOs from the guide (Page Plus doesn't count anymore, they're being downgraded shortly) and the "slimy...low cost providers" you're looking at or the differences in the terms of service between them (let alone fail to see how Republic could qualify as such with a $500+ termination clause for undefined "service abuse" on an "unlimited" plan, the datamining, or the difference between paid customer support that you can physically call versus dealing with a community of laymen on the internet doing free support for the company they're paying money to), and none of what I have said actually makes sense to you, then I would implore you to just ignore the advice given here and make peace with the money he's paying.
Why? Because he's probably not ready to change, and your leading thus far has set a bad example by using a low-quality phone with poor service coverage. He probably hasn't expressly said as much, but he likely now has the expectation set that it's impossible to get good mobile service at an affordable price because of your Republic handset. I've seen it happen before, repeatedly. The refrain becomes, "This is what a $100+ smartphone and $25 a month with promises of unlimited usage gets you? I get better service with a flipphone on AT&T. Forget this noise, you clearly get what you pay for." Spouses usually dig in on giving up their expensive mobile plan because the frugal leader in the relationship went with some low-tier, cut-rate provider like StraightTalk or Republic instead of an outfit like P'tel, Airvoice or Ting. Again, I could be wrong, but I suspect that's the resistance being met with. Even a $10/month savings shouldn't be a hard sell, but it becomes one if they're worried about service or reliability issues after being soured with some el-cheapo, bargain basement plan.
