Republic Wireless Adds New Phones But Boosts Price

Our readers love Republic Wireless. Because of the company's $10-per-month, Wi-Fi-only smartphone plans, they've loved it enough to give it a Readers' Choice award or honorable mention for several years running, even though it's traditionally had a very slim selection of phones.

Both the $10-per-month rate and the slim phone selection are coming to an end today, as Republic kicks its lowest-cost plan up to $15 per month, introduces nine new phones, and adds a T-Mobile network option to its existing Sprint network.

The new phones range from $179 to $799, and include (in order of price) the $179 Samsung Galaxy S3, the $199 Moto G4, the $299 Moto G4 Plus, the $349 Moto X Pure Edition and Nexus 5X, the $499 Nexus 6P, the $549 Samsung Galaxy S6, the $699 Galaxy S7, and the $799 Galaxy S7 Edge.

You'll also be able to bring one of those phones to the service next month, if you have an unlocked, T-Mobile compatible model. Until now, Republic didn't offer a bring-your-own phone option, but moving some of its custom VoIP software from phone firmware into the SIM card helped make that possible.

That's the good news. The not-so-good news is that Republic's popular $10 plan is no more. It's been replaced by a $15 plan, offering the same unlimited talk and text, but Wi-Fi-only data. All of Republic's other plans have become functionally a bit more expensive, too. While their base prices are lower—a 2GB/month plan dropped from $40 to $30, for example. Republic is also getting rid of its "refund" scheme, which paid people back for unused data. Existing Republic subscribers can keep their phones and plans.

What's going on here? Republic's super-low rates, in part, were tied to its very slim selection of phones with custom firmware. Fifteen dollars per month is still pretty low, and Republic decided it needed a broader range of phones—with a different software approach—to survive.

So that's the news: phone selection going up, but prices going up, too. Will that make you more or less likely to choose Republic?

About Our Expert

Sascha Segan

Former Lead Analyst, Mobile

My Experience

I'm that 5G guy. I've actually been here for every "G." I reviewed well over a thousand products during 18 years working full-time at PCMag.com, including every generation of the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S. I also wrote a weekly newsletter, Fully Mobilized, where I obsessed about phones and networks.

My Areas of Expertise

US and Canadian mobile networks
Mobile phones released in the US
iPads, Android tablets, and ebook readers
Mobile hotspots
Big data features such as Fastest Mobile Networks and Best Work-From-Home Cities

The Technology I Use

Being cross-platform is critical for someone in my position. In the US, the mobile world is split pretty cleanly between iOS and Android. So I think it's really important to have Apple, Android and Windows devices all in my daily orbit.

I use a Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon X1 for work and a 2021 Apple MacBook Pro for personal use. My current phone is a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, although I'm probably going to move to an Android foldable. Most of my writing is either in Microsoft OneNote or a free notepad app called Notepad++. Number crunching, which I do often for those big data stories, is via Microsoft Excel, DataGrip for MySQL, and Tableau.

In terms of apps and cloud services, I use both Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive heavily, although I also have iCloud because of the three Macs and three iPads in our house. I subscribe to way too many streaming services.

My primary tablet is a 12.9-inch, 2020-model Apple iPad Pro. When I want to read a book, I've got a 2018-model flat-front Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. My home smart speakers run Google Home, and I watch a TCL Roku TV. And Verizon Fios keeps me connected at home.

My first computer was an Atari 800 and my first cell phone was a Qualcomm Thin Phone. I still have very fond feelings about both of them.

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