Sprint jumps in with republic wireless for the bandwidth.com kill!

[AndroidFoneFan]

Do you know something? In the photo on their page it looks like an Optimus S, and I can assure you GPS works on them. The courier industry focused on them because they are cheep and work well. I'm not a Samsung fan, but sometimes you gotta make sacrifices.

But you could be rite, there's not a lot of room inside for another chip, so that leaves a switch out, but I know nothing about UMA! LOL

Yes that does look like a Optimus. But go to their page http://republicwireless.com/preview/ and scroll to the right and look at the whole picture. I am sure that stripped out optical drive, the Allan wrenches, jumper cables, hammer, yellow magic marker and baby are not in that phone.
My point being that the items in the add should not be taken as any indication on what kind of phone will be used. They have not said much about what they are doing, ie where this will be released on a national level, what kind of phone, possible percentages of use (so many percent has to be wifi and somany cell or you get billed extra etc). No one knows yet. Or no one has said.

[CA]

You mean you're not a fan of LG, right, since the Optimus S is made by LG.

I stand corrected, my bad.

[CA]

What isn't published yet is these is a discount code to get what looks like an Optimus S, modified with a UMA chip. For 99 bucks!!!

http://republicwireless.com/preview/...eceJRIqA%3D%3D

[realdreams]

So does it have the same coverage as VM/Boost? No roaming? For $6 more a month, not really worth it to buy a new phone that is unlikely to be as powerful as Triumph..

[CA]

So does it have the same coverage as VM/Boost? No roaming? For $6 more a month, not really worth it to buy a new phone that is unlikely to be as powerful as Triumph..

I really don't like the triumph, but if the UMA improves voice QoS inside I do like that. And I don't understand your math, the 19 bucks a month is unlimited voice also. My grandfathered 25 dollar plan (is 30 now) is only 300 min.

[Extraordinary]

I guess we will see very soon.

I would be shocked if it did allow unlimited usage over Sprint's network... or any network.

[CA]

I guess we will see very soon.

I would be shocked if it did allow unlimited usage over Sprint's network... or any network.

Did you read the text?

Update: GigaOm reports that the service will be $19 a month, which will include unlimited voice, text, and data.

And in fact will use Sprint at first, but are taking with other carriers too.

I suggest you read the link in first post.

[Extraordinary]

Did you read the text?

And in fact will use Sprint at first, but are taking with other carriers too.

I suggest you read the link in first post.

Unlimited usage on WiFi is fine but I find it hard to believe they will let people use the SPRINT NETWORK for unlimited everything when "WiFi isnt available"

Do you know how many people can burn up 5,000 minutes in a month and use 10GB+ of data?

They can't force people to use WiFi if its password protected or they are not willing to connect. Is the phone capable of picking up signal from 20 miles away on a WiFi network? Can it force itself on to any secured network? Doubt it.

If Sprint could not profit @ $25/mo (now $35) for 300 minutes on Virgin and $50/mo (now $55) for unlimited Minutes on boost HOW can they possibly share profits with RepublicWireless and make money for unlimited everything at $19?

If this is true, then don't expect it to be around too long.

Maybe they are fooling people with a picture of an Optimus. Maybe it will be a $10 dumbphone they sell for $200. Maybe they allow unlimited WiFi calling but only 100 minutes of non-wifi calling as "backup". Have all the details been sorted out yet? It looks like nobody knows what phone is going to be $100 ($200 reg price) people just assume its an Optimus?

If it's $19 and you can get unlimited talk over Sprint's network I am sold. I will be picking up at least 10 lines before the end of the year and they will most likely wish they never sold a single one. I am sure MANY users will dump all their Virgin plans and Boost plans and come over here too, especially if you can get an Optimus for $99 with unlimited everything for $19/mo.

Its just way too cheap. It cant last forever. Even if it were double the price that would still be considered cheap.

It makes no sense why Boost and Virgin would take away their own direct business and let a MVNO that they don't own take some of the profits [if there are any].

And since it's prepaid they can technically pull the plug at any time, raise the rate, or change the included features.

EDIT:

Looks like their site is up and has no mention of any fallbacks on Sprint or 3G cellular network? I tried to order one but it said come back later.

EDIT AGAIN, here it is.

How much cellular usage is too much?
It depends. Even assuming 0% wifi usage, for example, you could consume 550 minutes, send 150 texts, and download 300 megabytes of data without crossing the community’s fair use threshold. Everyone's usage patterns will be different, but we're confident you’ll be amazed at how little cellular you actually use when you have a phone that makes it easy to leverage the power of your Wi-Fi networks.

So this isn’t really an unlimited plan?
It is in fact an unlimited plan. We’ll never charge you overages, limit your download speeds, or restrict you to calling circles. Hybrid Calling makes it easy to stay within the community’s fair use guidelines.

What happens if I use more than the suggested guideline?
First, you’ll be reminded of the guidelines and to what extent you’ve crossed the fair use threshold. We’ll provide you with tips for reducing your cellular footprint and plenty of opportunity to get back on track. When we contact you about your usage, we’ll let you know how much time you have to correct your problem.

SO

it looks like

550 minutes
150 texts
300mb of data

May be the "fair use threshold"

If so,

PASS.

[CA]

It's on! Check it out.

http://republicwireless.com/

How much cellular usage is too much?
It depends. Even assuming 0% wifi usage, for example, you could consume 550 minutes, send 150 texts, and download 300 megabytes of data without crossing the community’s fair use threshold. Everyone's usage patterns will be different, but we're confident you’ll be amazed at how little cellular you actually use when you have a phone that makes it easy to leverage the power of your Wi-Fi networks.

http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/11...-need-to-know/

[tmotk]

How much cellular usage is too much?
It depends. Even assuming 0% wifi usage, for example, you could consume 550 minutes, send 150 texts, and download 300 megabytes of data without crossing the community’s fair use threshold. Everyone's usage patterns will be different, but we're confident you’ll be amazed at how little cellular you actually use when you have a phone that makes it easy to leverage the power of your Wi-Fi networks.

So this isn’t really an unlimited plan?
It is in fact an unlimited plan. We’ll never charge you overages, limit your download speeds, or restrict you to calling circles. Hybrid Calling makes it easy to stay within the community’s fair use guidelines.

What happens if I use more than the suggested guideline?
First, you’ll be reminded of the guidelines and to what extent you’ve crossed the fair use threshold. We’ll provide you with tips for reducing your cellular footprint and plenty of opportunity to get back on track. When we contact you about your usage, we’ll let you know how much time you have to correct your problem.

SO

it looks like

550 minutes
150 texts
300mb of data

May be the "fair use threshold"

If so,

PASS.

From their explanation, that appears to be the minimum cellular limit for no wifi. It appears you are allowed more cellular if you also use some wifi, but they do not tell the ratio required as total usage increases. How many percent wifi does a person need to use to allow unlimited total usage?

[CA]

Yea, the way I'm looking at it now is a Vonage like service that also uses carriers as a way to make it mobile.

[Extraordinary]

The only place I have reliable WiFi is usually at home, so this is like a no-go for me (right now). Will wait to see what others report.

[whatcoverage]

Its seems pretty straight forward, if you read between the lines.
1) you have to specify a WiFi network that the phone will have access to, home, office , whatever.
2) they'll track your useage and let you know if its above the threshold. Yes, that's a fuzzy number, but we're talking $19 a month. Almost worth it for texting alone for some people.
3) you only get the one phone as a choice

My cablevision phone works great, but its hardwired to the modem and then that's a regular house wireless phone using a different band. How much range this phone will have seems to be the bigger question.
As their website states, most of us have WiFi somewhere, much of the time.

[Extraordinary]

But if it's 1,000 units of usage where:
1mb = 1 unit
1 text = 1 unit
1 minute = 1 unit

then it's not that great of a deal. 1,000 texts for $19? You can go to pageplus and get unlimited for $19.95 or 2,000 texts for $10.95... minutes as low as 4 cents per minute. And then you still can use wifi for free on your android phone....

You can even get it under 4cpm if you use discounts and find promos. This also includes tax. Seems like tax is not included on the $19 plan either and for some it ended up near $25.

But I am very curious how this works out and I really want to see some reviews and videos.

[en4rcer]

So, this morning I went to the republic website and finally made it to the order page. Started placing my order and got to the point where I needed to enter my credit card. Noticed it was getting too late to finish, I closed the web browser & went to work.

A few hours later I received an email from phoneboothmobile.com:

Your Phonebooth Mobile invoice INV0000NNN is attached. Below please find a summary for your convenience:

Invoice Due Date: 11/09/2011
Invoice Total Amount: 110.14 USD

We will bill the credit card on file later today.

Thank you for your business!

. . . with a pdf invoice attached. Funny thing is I never entered any payment info and closed the page prior to submitting it. Wonder how long it will take for my 'order' to be cancelled?