I'd been wanting to try out Republic Wireless for a while. I'm glad I finally did …
I was tired of my dumb phone. It was dumb as in “not a smartphone” but also dumb as in dumb. I barely could see the keypad anymore. And I kept butt-dialing people because I could not lock the phone without shutting it off. It's like the software running the phone was out to lunch or something. (I had to enter my password twice when I turned it on, though.)
That, and I could barely use it as a phone! I kept opting to borrow my wife's phone when I called my parents.
Enter Republic Wireless into my pocket
It was way past time for me to get something better, but I wanted to try a no-contract arrangement this time around.
I had first chatted with the guys from Republic Wireless back in 2015 (or maybe 2014!) at the money conference extravaganza that is FinCon. The deals they had at the time were far better than what was offered from the big carriers: No contract, unlimited text and calls, and 1 GB data for like $20/month or something.
Plus, they issued a refund for the data you didn't use that month! Not only did the data not vanish, but it got credited — in cash — on the next bill.
At the time coverage to my area hadn't quite made it (we only got a Walmart a few years ago!) so I waited to pull the trigger until I got the green light from their coverage map that I was good to go.
Republic Wireless has overdelivered so far
After getting thumbs-up from the Mrs., I settled on a Motorola Moto G4 Plus. It wasn't anywhere close to the most expensive phone, but it wasn't the least expensive, either. The 32 GB model was $199 with discount (which is good until 30 March 2017).
At first they warned me that the phone was backordered and that it would take a couple of weeks to ship.
Despite this, it shipped in three days. “Whoa, it's here already?!”
As I unboxed it I was greeted with a bright orange card that alerted me that the phone didn't work yet and that I had to do a few things first.
In other words, they didn't make me think. No barely-legible instructions in poor English, no tinkering, and no searching the dark recesses of the Web to piece together a solution from anecdotes in forums.
Even though they do cater to people who look things up on the Web, they made it really easy.
Republic Wireless fixed hiccups in a flash
After getting the phone set up and running (I'm impressed with Android Marshmallow) I decided that I wanted to port the number from my old phone over to Republic Wireless. The tool on the site said that I could, and I initiated the process.
I filled out the transfer form and followed the directions on the screen. A little while later, I got an email stating that there was an issue: I had entered the wrong account/password information. When I clicked on the link in the email to fix the problem, it 404'd on me.
So, I went to the Republic Wireless website and clicked on the Help link on the upper right of the homepage. After explaining my issue within about 2 minutes or so they led me to the live chat area to work on the issue.
When I posed the question to the live chat guy, things went very fast. Judging by the quickness of his responses I suspect he could see me type in real time, and was forming the responses as I was doing this. (In other words, I felt like he was paying attention only to me. If he wasn't, he fooled me! On chat help with other companies like this sometimes there's a longer lag, so they may be helping 3-4 customers at the same time. I didn't feel that way here.)
After this, the transfer went smoothly and quickly. (Even from AT&T, which was where we were transferring the number from. They didn't give us a hard time about it, so props to them, too!)
Outfitting my Moto G4 Plus and parting words
Number in hand, I was still reluctant to take the phone out anywhere, primarily because my family calls me Captain Butterfingers.
I ordered a Diztronic full matte slim case and some Sparin screen protectors and I was good to go.
So far the phone has been a joy to use, and it really does go to “Wifi First” to limit the use of data (I have a 1 GB data plan which is only $5/month more than Wifi only). Tonight our cable internet was acting up. I closed down the app I was using and rebooted my modem. As the modem was firing up again, I saw the indicator on the phone go from cell tower to our wireless network. So the phone is constantly looking for networks to avoid chipping into the cell data allowance.
In any case, I decided to make myself the guinea pig in my family to try out Republic Wireless, and I'm glad I did. My wife's phone is several years old and it's starting to go, so perhaps this could be a family thing soon. I sure won't miss the contracts, and the high phone bills. 🙂
Interesting. Initially they were reliant completely on Sprint network, which we actually left last year because we have had nothing but poor coverage. But I see that they also use TMobile network as well. I don’t have enough experience with them to say whether it’s good or not.
We did switch over to Verizon which is a tad bit more than we were paying, but the coverage is completely rock solid.
Yes, they do use TMobile. I’m not sure how I’d investigate which network I’m on but it’s pretty solid where I am. I called out from the parking lot at work and it was nice and clear.
The first time we checked we could only use roaming data (25 MB/month hard cap) and that was why I held off.
The coverage in our area with RW has gotten noticeably better from the first time we looked into it.
Project Fi from Google is similar, but they only support certain phones, and there’s not a super affordable one in the bunch. Nexus 5x x2 for the kids (average 350 each), Nexus 6p x2 (450 each) for the wife and myself. I think the rates are 25 a month for the first user, 20 a month for each additional. Each includes nation wide calling, free texts, and 1GB of data for $10. Further data available at the same rate. Unused data is prorated back at the end of the month. Not for heavy data users, but pretty ok for our family. The rule for the kids is that they pay for anything over 1GB out of their allowance. There’s rumors of a new Fi compatible phone soon. Moto something. But until I see it, I’m only about halfway happy with the service.
I should probably change to the plan that allows a rebate. It’s more expensive than the flat-rate plan, but I rarely use even half of the data I have for a month.