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My understanding (I signed up for their beta but opted not to sign a contract) is that their service switches over to cellular network when wifi isn't available

My understanding (I signed up for their beta but opted not to sign a contract) is that their service switches over to cellular network when wifi isn't available. I seem to remember them saying that they could maintain a telephone conversation through that switch, but I've not used their service so have no real-world data. In a car, I'd assume you'll be using a cellular network (Sprint if I remember correctly). They use some heuristic to determine when you're using the cellular network "too much", because their whole pitch is that traffic over a cellular network is more expensive than traffic over the existing ISPs. If you use their cellular network too much, they will terminate your contract - but again, I'm not a customer so I don't know where that line lives.

evandena 14y ago
I'm pretty sure they switched their stance on "too much" termination. Also, I believe while on a call you can transfer off of wifi, but not on to it.
- jerf 14y ago
  "I'm pretty sure they switched their stance on "too much" termination." Here's the most recent statement on that matter, I think: http://republicwireless.com/blog/unlimited http://republicwireless.com/blog/unlimited (Also, I think they made the wrong call, and they should have "stepped back from unlimited". It won't be unlimited, they shouldn't call it unlimited. But I'm not planning on abusing it either way.) I'm sitting in their Wave G, patiently waiting. I refuse to pay for both a nice home connection and a cell data connection, so I still have a dumbphone. Buying a smart phone that primarily uses local Wifi (which I am in about 90% of the time) but can use cellular networks as a backup when there's no Wifi, and thus only charges for that "backup" contingency, is something I'm willing to pay for. I'll recover the cost of purchasing the phone in something like 6 months, even ignoring the fact it'll be a much better phone in the meantime.

evandena 14y ago

I'm pretty sure they switched their stance on "too much" termination. Also, I believe while on a call you can transfer off of wifi, but not on to it.

jerf 14y ago
"I'm pretty sure they switched their stance on "too much" termination." Here's the most recent statement on that matter, I think: http://republicwireless.com/blog/unlimited http://republicwireless.com/blog/unlimited (Also, I think they made the wrong call, and they should have "stepped back from unlimited". It won't be unlimited, they shouldn't call it unlimited. But I'm not planning on abusing it either way.) I'm sitting in their Wave G, patiently waiting. I refuse to pay for both a nice home connection and a cell data connection, so I still have a dumbphone. Buying a smart phone that primarily uses local Wifi (which I am in about 90% of the time) but can use cellular networks as a backup when there's no Wifi, and thus only charges for that "backup" contingency, is something I'm willing to pay for. I'll recover the cost of purchasing the phone in something like 6 months, even ignoring the fact it'll be a much better phone in the meantime.