Republic Wireless $19 unlimited voice, SMS and data service

Quote from dieselman8 : i'm going to bet that the phones are sold at a premium to subsidize the low monthly price.

Virgin's phones are priced very reasonably despite their low monthly cost (even when they still had their $25/month plan)

I guess we can use Pdanet or something to tether for FREE.

im kinda worried about the cell phone coverage, when wifi is not available.
granted, i can go to a Starbucks or McD for free Wifi. but that seems kinda retarded
when u r in a emergency.

Anyone have more info on their coverage and such?

Quote from TransTeam : im kinda worried about the cell phone coverage, when wifi is not available. granted, i can go to a Starbucks or McD for free Wifi. but that seems kinda retarded when u r in a emergency. Anyone have more info on their coverage and such?

Sprint coverage is not bad, but 3G data is pretty slow tho.
This is why they want you to use WiFi at home and at work.

What about us Democrats?

You guys realize that Google voice does this for free right...

sounds confusing. Are we sol if there's no wifi where ever you tempt to make a call?

Quote from PotmeetKettle : You guys realize that Google voice does this for free right...

I have tried Google voice + Groove IP app, but the call quality wasn't that good.

Quote from sdexperter : First of all, what's the incentive to ever use wi-fi? ... What's my incentive to ever enter a wi-fi password to allow the phone to use wi-fi?

The incentive for some, like me, is having crappy service coverage where I live (I'm with VZW and they are the strongest in my area). Using my wifi gives me better connectivity so I don't have to stand by a window in my kitchen to make calls.

Quote from GIRay : I have tried Google voice + Groove IP app, but the call quality wasn't that good.

I use Groove IP and the call quality is great on my Optimus V.
My son however has issues with it on an Optimus T, I'm not sure what his issue is but he has issues with everything.

Republic wireless sounds perfect for me. Being retired, most of the time I am at home and I bought a prepaid phone to use when I am out.
Now I could just use one phone.
But like others have said if they charge too much for the phone, then maybe it is not a good deal.

Quote from DXM31 : I use Groove IP and the call quality is great on my Optimus V. My son however has issues with it on an Optimus T, I'm not sure what his issue is but he has issues with everything. Republic wireless sounds perfect for me. Being retired, most of the time I am at home and I bought a prepaid phone to use when I am out. Now I could just use one phone. But like others have said if they charge too much for the phone, then maybe it is not a good deal.

Mine is Optimus T too. The sound quality is really bad.
Republic is good for me too! I have WiFi access most of the time.

Quote from debteb : Excellent points. I would be surprised to see if one can just initiate a call on wi-fi and then seamlessly continue the call on a cellular network. The call on the cellular network is circuit switched, a completely orthogonal technology to packet switching (that is the core of Wi-Fi operation). Additionally, for those pesky airport pay-per-use Wi-Fi connections, there is now way to know if you are on one without pinging the network. The 19.99 plan looks seductive though.

Apparently it works just like that and very well too according to jeepbrew a few posts above yours

Quote from robertsm : The incentive for some, like me, is having crappy service coverage where I live (I'm with VZW and they are the strongest in my area). Using my wifi gives me better connectivity so I don't have to stand by a window in my kitchen to make calls.

I can see how it could be convenient to have one device that switches off, but if in a specific case, your wi-fi is better than the phone service you're paying for, there are plenty of other ways to do VOIP. You could use Google Voice for free on your computer. You could pick up a like-new magic jack for $20 or a new one that doesn't require an internet connection. If you wanted to get closer to a switch-off device, You could get a starter android phone for $99 that does voice calls and get Groove IP for when you want your calls to go over wi-fi. There is also the option of getting the Palm Pixi phone for 35 bucks, unlocking it for 99 cents, and doing voice over wi-fi without any phone plan.

This company's device is on Android, so the first thing I see being done on XDA is a hack to force mobile phone service at will (as opposed to forced VOIP).

Quote from sdexperter : Even aside from that issue, how often will most people be within range of an unsecured wifi while making their phone calls? What about fleeting calls where the consumer initiates a call within wi-fi range but then moves outside the range of a wi-fi connection? Automatic dropped call? My incentive as a consumer would be to always keep myself on a dedicated cell carrier.

Your first paragraph points concerning secure WiFi are valid.

As far as hand-off is concerned, that seems to be the "gem" of their "tech". There are several public and private companies who offer a WiFi to cellular network hand-off protocol. This solution probably uses one of them. Obviously, if you're connected to WiFi and do not have access to a Sprint signal, you're going to get dropped if you leave the WiFi service area. If you DO have a Sprint signal, that is your 'dedicated carrier' and you will either hand-off to it if you initiate the call on WiFi or set up the entire call on the Sprint network.

Part of the announcement they make on the 8th SHOULD include information on agreements with big access point providers, such as ATT. Agreements with existing access point providers will negate the need to provide passwords, ect on those networks. However, my expectation is that there will not be any details and we will be left wondering exactly HOW this whole thing works and WHY we should give them any of our $$