Republic Wireless Review: Cheapest Smartphone Family Plan

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I originally posted this on my personal blog (http://blog.jwashburn.com ), but I’m cross-posting here because I know many of you will be interested.

A couple weeks ago, I signed up for Republic Wireless.

If you haven’t heard, they’re a cellular provider that offers unlimited calling and texting for just $10/month. Also, it’s not a contract, so you can quit at any time.

How do they offer such ridiculously low prices?

Republic Wireless uses a new hybrid service that makes calls on WiFi when possible. And most people make about 95% of their calls (I made that stat up) while they’re in WiFi range. Making calls through the internet is nothing new. But Republic switches seamlessly between WiFi and cellular—which hasn’t been done before. For example, let’s say you make a call at home (on WiFi) and then you hop in your car and drive off. You won’t even realize when your Republic phone makes the handoff to cellular—it’s that smooth.

What phones can I use on Republic Wireless?

You only have one option really. You have to buy their phone because it has a customized version of Android. Their phone is the Moto X (and you know I have a thing for Eckses). They’ve subsidized the cost so that it only costs you $299 (it’s usually $549)—so it’s a steal of a deal. If you average the price of the phone over the 2-years of a typical contract, their Moto X costs you $12.50/month (but you do have to pay it all up front). That means my plan costs me $25 a month for unlimited calling and texting plus internet on one of the best phones available. Yes—it’s a top-notch phone with some really awesome features. I explain more about it in this post.

What if I want cellular internet too?

You can add unlimited 3G as well by moving from the $10 to the $25 plan. The unlimited 4G plan is $40/month. It’s not a bad deal, but it doesn’t beat the competition quite as soundly as their $10 plan does. One particularly nice feature is that you can switch plans up to twice a month! That means I can go cheap and pay only $10/month most of the time. But then when I’m taking a road trip, I can move up to the $40 plan for a week or two and back down to $10 when I return home! It’s a great way to save money!

Republic Wireless supports 3G and 4G wherever Sprint offers the service. This is solid in most major metropolitan areas. I’m currently living in Boise, Idaho, (a bursting metropolis of 600,000 people), and 4G is a bit spotty here. It connects occasionally, but not always.

Also, several people have asked about whether they throttle their internet. They do not. I haven’t tested this personally, but they’ve stated as much on their user forums. Republic does not throttle their 4G speeds. That’s a huge one.

How well does Republic Wireless work?

That’s the big question.

But before I answer it, you should know that I’m not a big phone-talker. I use the smartphone features way, way, way more than I use the calling. So having a great phone for apps and YouTube is more important to me than having it for the phone-call aspects. And the smart capabilities are really awesome, as I said.

I’ve been using Republic Wireless for just over a month now. I have made or accepted around 425 calls so far. And I have to say that the WiFi call quality isn’t super awesome. It works, but it’s just okay.

One problem I’ve experienced is that there’s some lag in the WiFi phone calls. So I’ll say something, there will be an awkward pause, and then we’ll both speak at the same time—caused by a few hundred milliseconds of delay. I’m not sure why this happens, but I have my suspicions: My DSL gets 21.8 MBPS DOWNLOADS but only 0.72 MBPS UPLOADS. And I think that upload speed is what’s killing the call quality. If you have faster upload speed than this, I think you can expect to get better call quality. So check your internet speeds. Oh, and by the way, I’ve noticed that my call quality is better if I get closer to the router. (But sometimes it’s a pain to move into the other room.)

As I said, Republic uses the Sprint network. I’ve used it around here, and it seems to work fine—I haven’t had any trouble with regular cellular calls. But the majority of my calls are made at home on the WiFi. You can manually force it to go off the WiFi and onto the cellular network (but I’ve purposefully avoided doing that because I wanted to test call quality).

I also understand that when you wander off the Sprint network, Republic will switch you to Verizon’s network for roaming. I haven’t tested this out yet, but it’s great in theory because Verizon has a very wide reach (good for road trips when you’re in the middle of nowhere). That’s another point in favor of the cellular part of Republic’s service.

In conclusion…

  1. If you want to save a ton of money on your phone bill…
  2. If you don’t want to be locked into an overpriced contract…
  3. If you don’t spend too much time talking on the phone…
  4. If you want a really great smartphone…

Republic Wireless is a great choice.

I’ve mentioned a few caveats, but overall I think it’s a solid option. I’m satisfied with my choice. And I expect to be with them for a year or two, if not longer.

BUY IT WITH THIS LINK (to support MLH – these are affiliate links throughout the post)

9 comments
  1. Thanks for the first hand info, I enjoyed it! My family and I are looking to switch here in a few months, and we’ve looked at several options, including Republic Wireless. My brother is with a company called Ting (and really likes it), which also runs off of Sprint’s network. If Republic Wireless’ plans/phones don’t work for you, Ting might be another good place to look to save money, especially if you aren’t a really heavy user.

    1. My in-laws are on Ting, and here’s the downside: no roaming on Verizon’s network, which Republic does. Since VZ has the best coverage of any network, and wifi calling gives you coverage in buildings and such where even Verizon’s towers can’t penetrate, Republic really put to have the best coverage of any network, by far.

      1. Ting roams onto Verizon, just not for data, they only roam for voice. If your in-laws aren’t able to roam at all, they probably just need to enable roaming to take advantage of that feature. https://help.ting.com/entries/28128686-Roaming-Coverage The second coment on the article further explains that.
        As for the wifi calling, yes, Republic has the best native solution for that, which is nice. While there are plenty of VOIP apps that could do it, I’m not aware of any that are able to hand it off between wifi and cell like Republic does, which certainly adds a lot of value to what they offer.

      2. That’s good to know Skyler. I’m pretty sure it didn’t, when my in-laws signed up. I wanted to see how it compared to our Straight Talk service and found on their website where it very specifically said it only used Sprint’s network and didn’t roam on anyone else. So I assume that’s changed since then. Thanks for correcting me. Tin is a great option, I’m just not a fan of still having to be concerned about, and think about how much I’m using. I like unlimited because it keeps things simple. I also like inexpensive. Straight Talk is a pretty good option for that, Republic seems like an even better one.

  2. Thanks for the review, J. I’m on the Republic marketing team, and it’s great for folks to hear about another first hand experience with the Republic service. We’d definitely encourage you to hit up our Help team for troubleshooting your WiFi call quality. It might be something as simple as changing a few settings. We’re glad you made the switch to Republic!

  3. I signed up for Republic about a month ago. So far I’m liking it. I have the 3G plan. Once we move I will probably setup one for my wife as well.

  4. I have been using Republic for about a month now and I have to say it has been smooth sailing so far. I have the Moto G and the operating system seems thus far to work flawlessly. The handoff between wifi and cell service works great. I have started calls on cell, then arrived home and I didn’t even notice until later that the service switched over to wifi. My first bill arrived and with tax, it was only $29. Less than $30 a month for unlimited phone, text and data. Gotta love it! If you need a referral code to save $20 on signup, feel free to use my link below. Cheers!

  5. I’m in Boise too and was wondering if you’ve had a chance to use the Verizon roaming yet? Do you know what the blue/gray area labeled simply “Roaming Area” indicates on their coverage map? Thanks, Andy

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