Ting vs Republic Wireless

[a.g]

So, for those who are familiar with both, which is better? From my limited research Ting seems like it can be cheaper although Republic wireless seems to have the edge with the unlimited plan. Thoughts?

[Daley]

I'll just leave the following links here for you as a little reading and understanding of what you're actually dealing with should answer any remaining questions or doubts:

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/communications-tech-isps-voip-cell/msg21151/#msg21151
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/this-is-only-beginner-level-badass-but/
http://mreverydaydollar.com/a-review-of-ting-disrupting-the-mobile-phone-market/
http://www.techmeshugana.com/2013/06/may-31-in-oklahoma-city/

[a.g]

Thanks for the links I'll check em out! If anyone wants to add to the discussion here though, feel free :)

[mindaugas]

I have Ting for both my wife and I. She still uses her old Spring Evo 4G and I use a Evo LTE I got off eBay. Both of us love it, our cell phone bill averages about $36/month including taxes. That's for BOTH phones, not per. We use google voice for text/call as much as possible and wifi. both our phones have mobile data turned off and it is only used in an emergency. The highest our bill has even been is $60.

Ting is generous with credits and referrals. The one time I had an incident with delivery of a phone they completely reimbursed me without haggling.
Great customer service and cell service.
Inexpensive.
You can use modern phones.

If you decide on Ting it would be awesome if you used my referral. https://zbr4qgelj.ting.com/
PM me if you have any other questions or post to this thread.

[MakingSenseofCents]

I've been using Republic Wireless for a couple of months now but we still have our AT&T phones. I wanted to test out Republic Wireless before I made the complete switch, and it has worked well so far.

[cdub]

I tried RW but I ended up stopping and going to T-mobile. My work's wifi was just not reliable enough and it had some glitches.

Granted I was using the phone from the original beta period.... and I wanted to be able to run Android 4.2 which you can't on their phone.... unless that's changed now.

[carrborette]

It looks like it has been a while since anyone posted here, but I wanted to chime in because I have had good luck with Ting. I switched from Verizon a few months ago and didn't want to buy a new phone (I have an iPhone 5S from 2014) so Ting was a better option for me than Republic. Initially Ting provided me with the T-mobile SIM card but, when that did not have good service in my area, they provided a Sprint SIM card free of charge. I've also found their online chat folks to be very helpful.

I appreciate the clear view on current usage and the ability to set alerts and caps for data, minutes, and texts. I will say that the Spring cell service is still not quite as reliable in my area (near Chapel Hill, NC) as Verizon but as it is pretty good, and my cell bill has been cut in half, it is worth it for me!

If you need a referral code, you can use this one (you will get $25 off, as well I)
https://z873q3606oh.ting.com/
And feel free to get in touch with any questions!

[CheapScholar]

I compared the two and went with Ting about 4 months ago.  I love it.  I don't use my phone much, and I wanted to be even less tethered to it when going out and enjoying life.

I hardly ever use actual minutes.  I text most of my friends through FB.  My bill is usually about $20 per month.  Work gives me a $30 monthly cell phone stipend.  Winning.

[wordnerd]

I've been with Republic Wireless for 3ish years. I looked at switching to Ting when my phone broke in December (I liked the RW price, but the phone had things that drove me nuts, like not getting group or picture texts). It seemed like if you were an occasional user, Ting was better financially. If you use a lot of minutes (which I do) or data, Republic is better. I got a new phone with RW and love it. It's still a great deal, and all the things I hated about the old phone are gone.

[SirSavesaLot]

I haven't used Ting, so can't speak to that, but if you can get one of the Republic Refund phones/plans, it can be quite cheap indeed.  I have that and am averaging about $15/mo.  Have good wifi at home and work and don't use voice much anyway.  Be advised the Republic Refund is no longer being offered for new phones, so you'll have to get one off ebay.  But, hey, it's cheaper that way anyway!

[Mustache ride]

I know this about republic vs ting, but instead of making another thread, do any of you use cricket wireless? I'm seeing 35 a month for unlimited texts and 2-4gbs of data. I rarely use my phone for calls, mostly texts. I also use a decent amount of data since I do not have wifi at work, although I am leaving and turning in my company phone, hence the need for a new carrier.  I'm worried with the data amount I'll potentially be paying more on Ting then the flat rate cricket.

[cube.37]

I use cricket and haven't have any problems with it. Would recommend with the caveat that I live in a big city.

[mindaugas]

Still using Ting today, still love it. We switched from the Sprint network to T-mobile for better coverage where we live now, but that's the only big change. Averaging $40/mo for both phones.

Referral link if you decide to use Ting. https://zbr4qgelj.ting.com/. You get $25 off and I get $25 in credit. Win win, woohoo
Offer friends $25 off a new device or as Ting credit. For each successful referral, we'll credit your account $25 to say thanks.

[moonpalace]

I've been with Republic Wireless for 3ish years. I looked at switching to Ting when my phone broke in December (I liked the RW price, but the phone had things that drove me nuts, like not getting group or picture texts). It seemed like if you were an occasional user, Ting was better financially. If you use a lot of minutes (which I do) or data, Republic is better. I got a new phone with RW and love it. It's still a great deal, and all the things I hated about the old phone are gone.

I'm having those same issues with picture and group texts on RW and it's driving me nuts (I'm on 2d gen Moto X). What new phone did you get that solved the problems?

[Daley]

I've been with Republic Wireless for 3ish years. I looked at switching to Ting when my phone broke in December (I liked the RW price, but the phone had things that drove me nuts, like not getting group or picture texts). It seemed like if you were an occasional user, Ting was better financially. If you use a lot of minutes (which I do) or data, Republic is better. I got a new phone with RW and love it. It's still a great deal, and all the things I hated about the old phone are gone.

I'm having those same issues with picture and group texts on RW and it's driving me nuts (I'm on 2d gen Moto X). What new phone did you get that solved the problems?

It's not the phone that "fixes" this exactly (though it technically is in Republic's case), it's the fact that they stopped using flaky, proprietary, hacked together stupid VoIP tricks and Sprint as their mobile carrier and started using decade-old GSM technology that actually works. Their latest "generation" of handsets are just a small handful of higher-end Android handsets that supports UMA/GAN/VoLTE/VoWIFI phone service on T-Mobile, the same way Google Fi works, and technically the same way T-Mobile has done it for a decade now, and Ting and Consumer Cellular (well, CC's T-Mobile SIMs, anyway) are able to offer it - but you'll note that T-Mobile, Ting and Consumer Cellular will support WiFi calling on any T-Mobile handset that offers it, not just a half dozen Android handsets (excuse iPhone). Their prices reflect that change. They're just yet another mediocre T-Mobile MVNO with datamining and WiFi calling, now.

I've been using WiFi calling and paying less per month on a-la-carte with T-Mo MVNOs now since 2014. You have options. Options with a lot more handset choices. Options that can potentially cost less if you don't need talk and text quantities approaching "unlimited" numbers. Options with better support. Options that aren't sold by a company with a history of using cargo cult marketing tactics to get customers to tolerate service and support problems they otherwise wouldn't encounter with nearly any other provider.