Republic Wireless
By Athima Chansanchai
With more people buying smartphones, which require costly data plans, a new service is hoping to snag business by offering an Android handset with unlimited data, text and minutes for $19 a month, plus tax.
But there's a catch: it's only unlimited so long as you stay in Wi-Fi zones. Otherwise, there are limits to relying on cellular networks.
Republic Wireless?launched in beta mode Nov.8 with a member-based system that doesn't tie them down with contracts, but it does tie them to Wi-Fi.
As explained on its site under "What's the catch?":
Chances are, yes. Research shows that most people are around Wi-Fi networks 60% of the time, and growing. If that?s you, then all you have to do is set up your phone one time to access the Wi-Fi you have at home, work and wherever else you spend time. Our technology takes care of the rest.
Republic Wireless' "Hybrid Calling" will enable their phones to automatically switch over from Wi-Fi to cellular if there's no Wi-Fi around.
Live Poll
Are you going to try out Republic Wireless?
166958
Heck yeah. $19/month! And I'm around Wi-Fi most of the time.
43%
166959
No thanks. I'm happy with what I have.
17%
166960
Not until they get more phones.
7%
166961
Not unti they get the iPhone.
7%
166962
No thanks, I use cellular networks much more than Wi-Fi.
26%
VoteTotal Votes: 122
Members can track the previous seven days' worth of their minutes, data and texts using Republic's Cellular Usage Index (CUI). Under the Republic "fair use" rules, each member is entitled to?550 minutes, send 150 texts, and download 300 megabytes of data without crossing the community?s fair use threshold.
The company considers this to still fall within an unlimited plan, as it won't charge for overages, limit download speeds, or restrict members to calling circles. But, because "membership here is a privilege,"?it will kick you out of the "community" if you "don?t bring your CUI back into a reasonable range." But there may be a reprieve, in that allowable cellular usage could increase with demonstrated, consistent Wi-Fi use.
So, if you make most of your calls at home, and you have Wi-Fi there, you should be able to stay safely within those boundaries. But if most of your calls are say, on the go, in the car (hands free, of course), out and about, this plan may not be for you.
Right now, the only phone Republic offers is the $199 (plus tax) LG Optimus, a 3G, 3.2-inch touchscreen device that runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). It comes with a 3.2 megapixel camera/camcorder (so don't expect the photos to give you the same wow factor as others), is Bluetooth-enabled and a talk time of about five hours.
But on its blog, Republic promises more handsets are on the way, and it looks like they'll continue to be Androids. (Although already, there is a clamor for iPhones.)
For those who want to dip their toes in this idea, there does seem to be a trial period, and members will be able to port over their existing numbers. From the comments on the blog, it looks like many are willing to give it a go, with some citing that the same plan at Sprint would cost $100 a month. Other carriers are comparable, and would cap the data after a certain point (2 GB, for instance) or throttle down the speed.?
There is certainly a demand for unlimited, as mobile consumers in the U.S. are an active, chatty lot, using?1.15 trillion minutes in the first half of 2011 (or more than 6 billion per day), according to the CTIA (the International Association for the Wireless Telecommunications Industry). in 2008, Nielsen called the U.S.?home to the most mobile Internet users than any other country.
Response has been positive, and going by Republic's Facebook page, overwhelming, as the company had to quadruple its capacity. It's also been having problems with its billing system, which it looks like it's trying to fix as fast as it can.?
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Check out Technolog on?Facebook, and on Twitter, follow?Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the?Google+?stream.
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