Republic Wireless

Anyone using Republic Wireless? Ran into an article that referenced them so I started to do some digging. Unlimited talk, text, and web for $20 bucks a month. Work pays my cell phone bill so I'm not really worried about it, but thought it was pretty cool. Have to use the phone they have, but still interesting.

republic wireless - The Mobile Network that Runs on Freedom

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Comments

veritas_libertas

Hah! Funny. I just purchased a phone from them yesterday. It should be at my door today. I'll give my review after I play around with it for a while. I'm not a smart phone power user and this one will be used by my wife primarily. I'm stuck with work's Blackberry.

networker050184

Let us know how it works out for you veritas. I'm looking to get away from big wireless at the end of my contract and this looks interesting.

MSP-IT

Well based on the fact that it's mainly WiFi based I wouldn't use it.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/13/republic-wireless-opening-up-reservation-system-next-week-in-adv/

Engadget comments don't seem great either.

the_Grinch

Sweet definitely look forward to the review. I have FiOS at home (30/30) and the University has wifi everywhere (especially in areas with no cell coverage) so I thought it would probably be a nice choice. Plus root the phone and get rid of some of the crapware to speed it up a bit. Plus I like the idea of being able to use wifi in a no brainer fashion.

veritas_libertas

The only concern I have is coverage, but that should not be a problem since it can work over WiFi. I'm kind of in the country. I believe they use Sprint's CDMA network.

@MSP-IT: A lot has changed since April of last year. For one thing there is no requirement that you primarily use WiFi for a percentage of your calls/data. Also, from what I understand the latest software updates have fixed the majority of the problems users have seen.

I have over 30 days to test it, so we will see

Roguetadhg

I got away from the big wireless companies. Urgh. Nice to have that money in my pocket!

For 19 bucks, it's definitely interesting. There isn't a lot of wifi for me, so I'd use a lot of Sprint's network.

veritas_libertas

So far I'm loving it. The company is based out of Carry, NC so it arrived the day after I ordered it. The WIFI/Cellular mix works very well. I did a VoIP vs. Cellular test with a family member and they commented that WiFi call had more bass. The phone is DualBand, 1900MHz/800MHz, which is good since I live where Verizon is dominant. As I understand it, Sprint is a mostly 1900MHz cellular network.

I'll give a more thorough review (Yes Roguetadhg, with pictures) after my wife has had more time to test it out. We are currently fighting over it like two kids

Roguetadhg

Damn! You know me too well, Veritas_libertas! What can I say except "voyeurism?"

Two questions... One, really: if you don't have wifi available, how is the service contract and service usage?

veritas_libertas

Unlimited just like WiFi. Roaming is free as well unless the network you are trying to hop on is from without the US. The battery seems to have lasted most of the day, which is impressive considering it used WiFi heavily today.

the_Grinch

This is great to hear! I definitely might look into. How is the speed of the processor on the phone itself? Review I read said it was sluggish and not the best smartphone in the world.

About7Narwhal

Seems like this could go either way. I use Sprint right now and have a good plan with them, but at $19.00 a month it would be hard to beat. Keep us posted.

networker050184

Whats your opinion on the phone? Like the_Grinch I read some crappy reviews. Would be nice for them to get a better line up of phones.

veritas_libertas

It's not a Motorola MAXX or iPhone if that is what anyone is thinking. I'm completely new to the Android OS since I'm primarily a Blackberry user. It's not as fast as an iPhone, but it isn't so slow that my wife complains. The camera is lousy compared to an iPhone, but better than my BB.

Roguetadhg

Pix pls.

As far as quality. for 20 bucks a month, don't expect the best of the best phone. As long as it makes calls, and takes simple pictures with texting... It's a good thing. From when I had my iphone, this is easily 1/5 the cost. I expect 1/5 the performance cellphone wise

Bokeh

Id be interested in hearing more about this. We have a few users who's offices do not have phones and they have been provided company cell phones to use. All they are used for is phone calls, nothing more. This might be a cheaper alternative.

veritas_libertas

As promised I promised, her is my review. I didn't take much time to look for spelling or grammatical errors:

I want to start out by saying that you often get what you pay for. With Republic Wireless, I think it can be said that you get a good product for a good price. Not Excellent, but good.

Coverage

The wireless coverage is provided by Sprint and so far seems adequate for my needs. There are some places that the coverage just drops. I've found this to happen in the country and in steel buildings. I went to the back of our local Publix grocery store and the signal all but died. This struck me as odd since my AT&T phone had plenty of bars, then I remembered that Sprint is based on the 1900MHz cell network and not 800MHz like Verizon and AT&T. The phone is DualBand, 1900MHz/800MHz, so depending on the local agreement with towers this may or may not be a problem for you.

The Green bar indicates when your phone is connected Republic Wireless' VoIP network via. WiFi.
The far left blue bars indicate connection to a Wireless AP.
The middle Blue triangle indicated roaming. (This from inside my home) there are no roaming charges
The far right blue bars indicate your cell coverage. Mine bounces between zero to three bars at home. weird

Isn't it shocking surprising how many places now provide free WIFI? Grocery stores, who would have thought? I’m not even sure what the reasoning is behind providing it, but depending on what ports are blocked than you may be able to use WIFI. I tested this at Chick-Fil-A and Home Depot. It worked well at both locations. I can think of few places that don’t provide free WIFI any more. In fact, my company lets you use your own devices at work as long as security has it on their list of acceptable devices.

I read a thread on Republic Wireless’ forum by a university employee that mentioned how well the phone works on their wireless network. It was stressed that a properly configured network is needed, i.e. one that supports AP-to-AP handover. If it doesn't support it than you risk your calls being dropped as you pass between APs.
I should mention that GoogleTalk wi/Video works well over cellular. I was surprised by this.

I made separate calls using both WiFi and Cellular. I was told that the WiFi call had more bass and appeared to be better quality.

The phone is by no means an iPhone or a Motorola MAXX. It’s snappy enough that you are unlikely to complain. Only at one point did I notice how slow it was when I decided to try the NetFlix application. I wouldn’t recommend trying to use NetFlix on it. It would work fine for watching movies, but lousy for searching for them.

The phone feels like it was built well and I think it would endure a good amount of abuse, save the abuse of maybe my two-year old

The camera is lousy; there is really no other way to describe it. It’s equivalent to my BB or a typical LG/Motorola phone dumb-phone.

I may be blind.. but I swear it looks like that says Android version 2.X

the_Grinch

Thanks for the review man! Will definitely keep them in mind when my contract is up! Just to note, it does say Android 2.3.7, but the sales rep that was on here said they have an OTA coming out at the end of the month.

Roguetadhg

Can you show us a picture from the cellphone?