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Can someone explain to me why this is such great news? Is $19/month especially cheap for American carriers or are they offering some kind of special feature?

by soult 15y ago

ecdavis 15y ago
Their phones use WiFi where available and, as I understand it, offer unlimited calls, texts and data - which is apparently a good deal for $19/month.
jbseek 15y ago
It's several things but to your question on average people pay upwards of 50 dollars for phone service this is significantly cheaper.
skymt 15y ago
It's extraordinarily cheap, especially for an "unlimited" plan. For comparison: Republic Wireless uses Sprint's network, and Sprint's "unlimited" plan costs $99/month. (In theory, Republic gets away with this by using wifi rather than the cell network whenever possible. We'll see if it works.)
- arthurgibson 15y ago
  Its not "unlimited" cellular, there is a fair use policy, this article indicates: "Republic's fair-use limits are 550 minutes, 150 text messages, and 300MB when on a cellular connection" - http://www.mobileburn.com/17420/news/republic-wireless-launches-its-19-per-month-unlimited-service-strings-attached http://www.mobileburn.com/17420/news/republic-wireless-launc...
  - cshesse 15y ago
    They're not really clear, but supposedly it's unlimited as long as, say, 50% of your mintues/texts/data are done through wifi.
- sliverstorm 15y ago
  The price floor is about $39/mo. You can go cheaper if you never use your phone with some of the prepaid setups, but at that point you're talking a handful of calls a month, no data, and a couple SMS.
- cshesse 15y ago
  Oddly enough, you can get an unlimited plan on the Sprint network through Virgin Mobile for $55 a month.
  - whimsy 15y ago
    $35
    - cshesse 15y ago
      Only if you have limited minutes.
- smackfu 15y ago
  Or you can compare it to Virgin Mobile USA, which is owned by Sprint. They have a $35/mo plan with 350 minutes + unlimited data + unlimited texts. Probably a better choice for most, considering who Republic seems to have a lot of little gotchas. http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phone-plans/beyond-talk-plans.jsp http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phone-plans/beyond-talk-...
chris11 15y ago
It's cheap for unlimited talk, but it's not that great for data. It sounds like they are assuming most people will be using the phone in range of wifi. So if you compare it to plans with unlimited data, it's not incredible. I'm paying $25 a month (though they are charging $35 to new customers) to virgin mobile for unlimited data and 300 anytime minutes. The phone is a little overpriced too. Lg optimus phones are going for around 130 right now. Though the technology sounds interesting if it works. I don't know of any way that I could seamlessly change from wifi to cellular service with virgin mobile while making a call.

Can someone explain to me why this is such great news? Is $19/month especially cheap for American carriers or are they offering some kind of special feature?

by soult 15y ago

Can someone explain to me why this is such great news? Is $19/month especially cheap for American carriers or are they offering some kind of special feature?

ecdavis 15y ago

Their phones use WiFi where available and, as I understand it, offer unlimited calls, texts and data - which is apparently a good deal for $19/month.

jbseek 15y ago

It's several things but to your question on average people pay upwards of 50 dollars for phone service this is significantly cheaper.

skymt 15y ago

It's extraordinarily cheap, especially for an "unlimited" plan. For comparison: Republic Wireless uses Sprint's network, and Sprint's "unlimited" plan costs $99/month. (In theory, Republic gets away with this by using wifi rather than the cell network whenever possible. We'll see if it works.)

arthurgibson 15y ago
Its not "unlimited" cellular, there is a fair use policy, this article indicates: "Republic's fair-use limits are 550 minutes, 150 text messages, and 300MB when on a cellular connection" - http://www.mobileburn.com/17420/news/republic-wireless-launches-its-19-per-month-unlimited-service-strings-attached http://www.mobileburn.com/17420/news/republic-wireless-launc...
- cshesse 15y ago
  They're not really clear, but supposedly it's unlimited as long as, say, 50% of your mintues/texts/data are done through wifi.
sliverstorm 15y ago
The price floor is about $39/mo. You can go cheaper if you never use your phone with some of the prepaid setups, but at that point you're talking a handful of calls a month, no data, and a couple SMS.
cshesse 15y ago
Oddly enough, you can get an unlimited plan on the Sprint network through Virgin Mobile for $55 a month.
- whimsy 15y ago
  $35
  - cshesse 15y ago
    Only if you have limited minutes.
smackfu 15y ago
Or you can compare it to Virgin Mobile USA, which is owned by Sprint. They have a $35/mo plan with 350 minutes + unlimited data + unlimited texts. Probably a better choice for most, considering who Republic seems to have a lot of little gotchas. http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phone-plans/beyond-talk-plans.jsp http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phone-plans/beyond-talk-...

chris11 15y ago

It's cheap for unlimited talk, but it's not that great for data. It sounds like they are assuming most people will be using the phone in range of wifi. So if you compare it to plans with unlimited data, it's not incredible. I'm paying $25 a month (though they are charging $35 to new customers) to virgin mobile for unlimited data and 300 anytime minutes. The phone is a little overpriced too. Lg optimus phones are going for around 130 right now. Though the technology sounds interesting if it works. I don't know of any way that I could seamlessly change from wifi to cellular service with virgin mobile while making a call.