Republic Wireless

[Reyes]

MMM recommends Republic Wireless. I see that have a $10/mo. plan for unlimited phone (and text, but I don't text). I currently pay $30 for Sprint (200 minutes). Do you or have you used Republic? Do you recommend it as far as service and coverage? A downside for me is that I would have to get the new kind of (fancy) phone ($99) and I prefer my five-year-old flip phone.

[simplelife4me]

They want most of that unlimited use to be over wifi. Did you know that? I would rather use a smartphone on tracfone at this point.

[kib]

DH switched over to RW about three months ago and really likes it. Most of our calls and data use are at home (where we need/already have wifi), and we live in a city with lots of free wifi, so that hasn't been a problem at all. DH decided he wanted a smartphone, so while the upfront cost was noticeable, it was "inevitable" that we were going to pay in some way. When I compare my smartphone experience, going with Verizon and paying $250 upfront plus $60 or so per month for service (including fees) for 2 years = $1700, vs. $150 upfront plus $12 per month with fees for 2 years = $438, I'm really super annoyed with myself. Not to mention as long as I am with Verizon I will have this inflated service cost forever, it's not like I will ever "pay off" the phone.

There is a recent discussion on here somewhere about this, other people have also come up with good alternatives that seem to be in the $20-$30 a month range and can use a reconditioned phone. I personally like the concept of lowest per month cost for the service and the phone clear and paid for up front, the only reason I might try something other than RW when my interminable contract finally expires is because I've already paid through the nose for a phone I really really like and I'd like to go on using it.

ETA: a bonus that's huge for us is that with a "wifi phone" we can call the US from anywhere in the world that has wifi, at no extra cost. We are often in Mexico and Verizon was charging me $30 extra a month, god bless em for finding a niche, for a Canada/Mexico package. Greedy a**h***s, I will literally do a dance for joy when I finally get out of this contract.

One more ETA: in re computer telephone service, we have tried vonage and magic jack and neither one of them worked well for us, but DH says that there is no difference for him between the RW wifi connection and his former Verizon phone.

[Alan]

There is a recent discussion on here somewhere about this, other people have also come up with good alternatives that seem to be in the $20-$30 a month range and can use a reconditioned phone.
When my wife decided she wanted a smartphone, we paid the up-front cost for an iPhone and attached it to the Virgin Mobile service at a monthly cost of $30. I think it was about $400 for the iPhone 4 (shortly after the 5 was introduced) which brought our first year expense up to approximately $760, although the next year dropped to $360. I'd rather pay up front for hardware and be done with it and the recurring monthly expense seems reasonable.

[SteveinMN]

For what it's worth, certain T-Mobile phones also can make calls over Wi-Fi. And T-Mobile offers phones for either retail or paid in installments. Not an endorsement necessarily. Just a data point.

[kib]

I just wanted to clarify, when I say that Verizon makes you pay for the phone "over time" I don't mean installments, I mean the service package cost is inflated (PERMANENTLY) to make it seem like the phones are a good deal. I wouldn't pay for a phone in installments, but frankly this inflated service cost is worse, because it's vague and it's forever. I never knew there were real savings to be found with cellphone costs or I would have shopped much harder.

[Reyes]

I ordered the $99 phone and will go with the $10 plan. I'll report back:)

[Gardenarian]

I have Republic wireless and love it.
I got their early model phone (Defy XT) which doesn't have a lot of memory or a great camera, but suits me just fine. I paid $99 for the phone over 2 years ago and have no problems. My daughter has the high-end Moto X, which is comparable to an iPhone (some say better -certainly much more sturdy.)
As an early user, I locked into a $19/month unlimited everything plan for my phone; my daughter has the $10/month wifi plan. She can still make unlimited calls and texts anywhere; she just need the wifi for data.
The monthly phone bill for both of us is around $30, and that is not part of some larger internet/TV/phone plan. That's the total price, no hidden extras. We gave up our landline. (Of course you need to have wifi at home for this to make sense.)

My DH still has a tracfone and really wants an iPhone, as he has all the Mac stuff (iMac, powerbook, ipod touch, iPad) and all his data is in the cloud, he worries that he won't have the seamless experience if he goes with an Android phone. But I've seen stand-alone accounts for iPhones advertised at $125 a month as a bargain (!!!) so I'm trying to steer him to Republic as well.

One thing you should know is that Republic Wireless recently put in limits on the amount of data you can use off-wifi. I only used .5% of my allotment, but it could be an issue if you're streaming video or constantly using social media. I'm not sure what the penalty is if you exceed the limit - something to look into.

[SteveinMN]

he worries that he won't have the seamless experience if he goes with an Android phone. But I've seen stand-alone accounts for iPhones advertised at $125 a month as a bargain (!!!) so I'm trying to steer him to Republic as well.
Those $125/mo plans are a bargain only if one's last name is Walton or Gates. :0! I have an iPhone 6 and a GoPhone account and I pay a whopping $40/mo for AT&T service and many more minutes and data than I use in a month. I don't spend much time watching video or streaming music on my phone, so I don't use tons of data, but I don't think twice about using cellular data as opposed to Wi-Fi. No one should think that $125 is a "baseline" plan.

[EDIT: I could push the monthly to $30 if I didn't care about tethering legally. Maybe even $15 if I was vigilant about watching when my allotment expired.]


One thing you should know is that Republic Wireless recently put in limits on the amount of data you can use off-wifi. I only used .5% of my allotment, but it could be an issue if you're streaming video or constantly using social media. I'm not sure what the penalty is if you exceed the limit - something to look into.
I'm a little surprised that limit did not exist before. Maybe they just hauled it down from where it was or actual experience proved their models wrong. Anyway, the penalty (as described in their FAQ) is getting data throttled for the duration of the billing period unless you have what they call a "free pass" -- little treats they toss your way to encourage staying within the limits. "Throttled" is far better than just plain "cut off" -- it will still work for email and light Web browsing and even occasional audio streaming. But videos and the like will be painfully slow.

[Reyes]

Received our phone last week and so far so good. We have the $10 a month plan (unlimited phone and text and access to wi-fi). We only use the phone (I've never sent a text) and have no desire to use the phone as a computer so I'm thinking this $10 plan will be a good fit for us. (We have one between the two of us.)

[Gardenarian]

Thanks Steve! $40/month would be doable. He drives a lot (40+ hours / month) and would use it for navigating; also podcasts on the road. Do you think your sort of plan would work out?

[Dhiana]

Alan & Steve,
I'm moving back to the states and am thinking that purchasing an iPhone 6 along with a pay-as-I-go plan such as Virgin/GoPhone.
Do I have it right that this system uses a sim card I can change out as I'll be doing a lot of traveling to other countries?
My other question is if this is a good idea for me as a heavy data user; google maps, apartment hunting, car searching, soc med for my artwork, texting, etc. Due to my hearing difficulties, I usually spend no more than 45 minutes/month on verbal phone calls. Mostly my husband calling to find out what's for dinner :)

Thanks in advance,
Deanna

[Alan]

Alan & Steve,
I'm moving back to the states and am thinking that purchasing an iPhone 6 along with a pay-as-I-go plan such as Virgin/GoPhone.
Do I have it right that this system uses a sim card I can change out as I'll be doing a lot of traveling to other countries?
My other question is if this is a good idea for me as a heavy data user; google maps, apartment hunting, car searching, soc med for my artwork, texting, etc. Due to my hearing difficulties, I usually spend no more than 45 minutes/month on verbal phone calls. Mostly my husband calling to find out what's for dinner :)

Thanks in advance,
Deanna
I'm a little fuzzy on this so hopefully Steve will chime in to correct me if necessary. Your ability to use it overseas depends upon your carrier and the network infrastructure they support. The iPhone is configured to use either CDMA or GSM, with GSM being the world standard and CDMA limited to pretty much the United States. Virgin operates on the Sprint network which is CDMA and GoPhone operates on the AT&T network which is GSM, although you may need to purchase an international plan in order to use it outside the US.

[rodeosweetheart]

My old iphone (4s) is the first model that contains the ability to go with either CDMA or GSM, as there is a physical place for a sim card for the other.

Not sure with the new ones, how that plays out.

[pcooley]

We all have Republic Wireless phones, and we've been very happy with them. I'm not a cell phone person - actually, I'm not a phone person - so paying a lot for service would really gall me. I do use the phone for YNAB, and I listen to podcasts with it. Admittedly, in spite of my professed love for film, I take pictures with it from time to time.

My kids text a lot, mostly from home when we're on WiFi. They usually communicate with me via text.

I know there are other deals out there. We had Kroger Wireless phones before the Republic Wireless phones, and they did fine, for about the same cost, but reloading them with time was a little kludgy.

[Weston]

Since the original posting mentioned that they heard about Republic through MMM, I must mention that my "go to" resource for all things involving cell phone plans is a gentleman nicknamed I.P. Daley who posts regularly on the MMM forum and who posted a "superguide" to that topic on that same forum. He also blogs extensively about saving money with cell phones on his own site techmeshugana.com.

I also recommend the podcast interviews he did on Radical Personal Finance http://radicalpersonalfinance.com/episode4/ and with even more detail at http://radicalpersonalfinance.com/35/.

Don't let his puerile screen name dissuade you. He is by far the most valuable straight shooting resource on cell phones I have read or heard.

[SteveinMN]

I'm a little fuzzy on this so hopefully Steve will chime in to correct me if necessary. Your ability to use it overseas depends upon your carrier and the network infrastructure they support. The iPhone is configured to use either CDMA or GSM, with GSM being the world standard and CDMA limited to pretty much the United States. Virgin operates on the Sprint network which is CDMA and GoPhone operates on the AT&T network which is GSM, although you may need to purchase an international plan in order to use it outside the US.
Alan's got it.

Your best bet would be to buy an unlocked "SIM-less" iPhone 6 directly from Apple. Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile all sell unlocked versions of the iPhone 6. But Verizon (and Sprint)(both CDMA carriers) are fussy about which phones may use their network. The SIM-less iPhone will work on any carrier that uses the radio bands in the phone (that's most of them; they are listed on Apple's Web site and a little digging will yield the bands specific carriers use). An alternative would be to buy an unlocked Verizon iPhone 6; these will accept a SIM for GSM carriers and still be able to be activated on Verizon's network (and MVNOs); carrier-unlocked phones from other carriers (not just iPhones BTW) may not be allowed by Verizon to use their network.

Frankly, I suggest you avoid Sprint and its MVNOs (Boost, Virgin Mobile, etc.) -- period. Sprint is very fussy about letting their phones be used on other networks and it's not like they have the greatest network to start with. If Sprint works for someone here; fine. But since the Sprint iPhone costs as much as anyone else's and really doesn't have much of a life off the Sprint network (even for resale), it seems un-frugal to buy that one.

There is the possibility to use an American-carrier phone outside the U.S. through roaming agreements the domestic carriers have made with other country's carriers. T-Mobile probably has the most -- err, liberal -- coverage. Some will limit the ability to use data or the speed of data and the phone may work in one country but not in the next one. Check the carrier's Web sites for the countries covered and the limitations. Otherwise, you could buy an unlocked iPhone 6 and just put in a local PAYGO SIM. It may be much cheaper to go one way rather than another; run the numbers for your likely usage.

Deanna, your idea can work -- with some qualification. All smartphones will be able to use Wi-Fi for data, at home or away. Wi-Fi data is "free" in that it does not take away from your data allotment. If most of your mapping/car & apartment shopping, etc., can be done on Wi-Fi, you should be fine with a lower-cost plan. One point to note is that public Wi-Fi is almost always not secure; a consideration for the way most people use their phones.

I'm not sure if it's still available, but T-Mobile used to offer a prepaid plan that provided 100 minutes of talk/text and 5 GB of data. They've recently changed their prepaid plans, so check if T-Mobile coverage is adequate to your purposes and you can still get that plan.

Users who don't plan to watch much streaming audio/video or upload large files (RAW images, etc.) could look at cricket, a prepaid part of AT&T, which offers a lot of data for not a lot of money -- but which does limit the speed you get from the first MB. There's also a (legal) "trick" with GoPhone that will double your data for only $5 more a month.

Another trick for navigation is to get a navigation app that allows you to download maps to your phone. This will let you chart routes with minimal data, as in-car navigation relies pretty much only on fixing where you are relative to the map, not downloading all the pieces-parts that map out your surroundings. I use such an app maybe 2-3 times a month and still fit well under 500 MB of data a month.


I must mention that my "go to" resource for all things involving cell phone plans is a gentleman nicknamed I.P. Daley who posts regularly on the MMM forum
I second that. I. P. shoots straight and does a good job of explaining tech. Well worth following, IMHO.