T-mobile or Republic Wireless?
November 5, 2014 10:22 AM
I am getting a smartphone for my mom this Christmas. Help me decide how to proceed.
The current situation: spouse and I have Samsung Galaxy smartphones on T-mobile's $30/mo plan with 100 voice minutes, unlimited texting, and unlimited data. My mom has a 11-year-old flip phone (yeah, I don't know how it has lasted that long either) on Verizon and is paying $65/mo. She is not tech-savvy.
I asked my mom if she was interested in getting a smartphone for Christmas, on a much cheaper plan. She said yes. I told her I'd help her set it up while she was out here visiting for Christmas, and teach her how to use it.
So I was originally thinking of getting her the $99 Moto E on Republic Wireless, with the $25/mo unlimited 3G plan. It is definitely the cheapest option. But, now I'm thinking it might be hard to provide tech support for a phone I am not familiar with, long distance (we are on the West Coast, she is on the East Coast).
But, she talks on the phone way more than we do, so our $30 plan wouldn't work. We could do the $100/mo family plan though, which gives everyone basically unlimited everything (the 3 of us would not burn through 10GB data). That's basically $33/person which is not bad. But of course the upfront phone cost would probably be more, because the appealing thing about T-mobile is we could get her a Galaxy S4, which we are familiar with and could troubleshoot long distance, but they're spendier phones.
Added wrinkle: I was thinking of maybe switching to Republic Wireless when my Galaxy Note II dies. If we go with the T-mo family plan, that wouldn't really be an option anymore. But, I do really like the bigger screen, and would have trouble going to something smaller, so I may or may not actually want to do this.
If you were me, what would you do?
The current situation: spouse and I have Samsung Galaxy smartphones on T-mobile's $30/mo plan with 100 voice minutes, unlimited texting, and unlimited data. My mom has a 11-year-old flip phone (yeah, I don't know how it has lasted that long either) on Verizon and is paying $65/mo. She is not tech-savvy.
I asked my mom if she was interested in getting a smartphone for Christmas, on a much cheaper plan. She said yes. I told her I'd help her set it up while she was out here visiting for Christmas, and teach her how to use it.
So I was originally thinking of getting her the $99 Moto E on Republic Wireless, with the $25/mo unlimited 3G plan. It is definitely the cheapest option. But, now I'm thinking it might be hard to provide tech support for a phone I am not familiar with, long distance (we are on the West Coast, she is on the East Coast).
But, she talks on the phone way more than we do, so our $30 plan wouldn't work. We could do the $100/mo family plan though, which gives everyone basically unlimited everything (the 3 of us would not burn through 10GB data). That's basically $33/person which is not bad. But of course the upfront phone cost would probably be more, because the appealing thing about T-mobile is we could get her a Galaxy S4, which we are familiar with and could troubleshoot long distance, but they're spendier phones.
Added wrinkle: I was thinking of maybe switching to Republic Wireless when my Galaxy Note II dies. If we go with the T-mo family plan, that wouldn't really be an option anymore. But, I do really like the bigger screen, and would have trouble going to something smaller, so I may or may not actually want to do this.
If you were me, what would you do?
Ting.com is probably worth looking into.
My biases on contract-free phones are firmly rooted with the Nexus 5 from Google, and possibly the new and interesting oneplusone.
posted by mcstayinskool at 11:13 AM on November 5, 2014
My biases on contract-free phones are firmly rooted with the Nexus 5 from Google, and possibly the new and interesting oneplusone.
posted by mcstayinskool at 11:13 AM on November 5, 2014
2nding ting...also, for the phone itself, check out swappa.com (it's like ebay for phones) You'll need a sprint version of whatever you choose for ting. Also have the note 2 here...you might want to get the same for your mother to make troubleshooting easier.
posted by sexyrobot at 11:18 AM on November 5, 2014
posted by sexyrobot at 11:18 AM on November 5, 2014
Sorry, I should have mentioned that wifi calling is a must-have so Ting is not an option. I have used Swappa before so that's what I was intending to do if we go with T-mo.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 11:40 AM on November 5, 2014
posted by rabbitrabbit at 11:40 AM on November 5, 2014
Here's the ongoing discussion of wifi calling via Ting, if you want to keep an eye on it.
posted by gnomeloaf at 11:48 AM on November 5, 2014
posted by gnomeloaf at 11:48 AM on November 5, 2014
But, she talks on the phone way more than we do, so our $30 plan wouldn't work.
Have you looked into VoIP apps that'd let you make your phone calls from the unlimited data side of the plan instead of the 100 minutes Voice side of the plan?
Google recently introduced an app called Hangouts Dialer, which offers free calls to the US and Canada, and seems pretty simple to use.
posted by radwolf76 at 12:22 PM on November 5, 2014
Have you looked into VoIP apps that'd let you make your phone calls from the unlimited data side of the plan instead of the 100 minutes Voice side of the plan?
Google recently introduced an app called Hangouts Dialer, which offers free calls to the US and Canada, and seems pretty simple to use.
posted by radwolf76 at 12:22 PM on November 5, 2014
radwolf76, do you happen to know if the Hangouts Dialer works better than GV? As in, does the correct phone number show on others' caller ID and texts? I gave up on calling/texting with GV because GV would always show some weird random number and everyone was always like, who is this?? I don't want my mom to have to deal with that.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 12:57 PM on November 5, 2014
posted by rabbitrabbit at 12:57 PM on November 5, 2014
Hangouts is what google voice has turned into...just got Viber myself, and it's really awesome(and free)...easy to use and figure out and it's got free calling, video calling, txt (sms and mms) audio messages, video messages, plus smileys and stickers and send-a-doodle and all sorts of fun stuff...it autoloads your contacts and tells you who else is on it etc...much easier to figure out than any of the other things I tried (hangouts, line, whatsapp, etc)...it also switches to 3g/4g when u are out of wifi range.
posted by sexyrobot at 1:26 PM on November 5, 2014
posted by sexyrobot at 1:26 PM on November 5, 2014
radwolf76, do you happen to know if the Hangouts Dialer works better than GV?
I'll be honest, I haven't tried Hangouts Dialer myself, I was just suggesting it based on reviews I've read. I do know that in the years I've been using Google Voice from my desktop, I've never once had any problems with my number showing up strange on people's caller IDs. If she's had problems with that in the past though, then yeah, that might not be the best solution.
posted by radwolf76 at 3:29 PM on November 5, 2014
I'll be honest, I haven't tried Hangouts Dialer myself, I was just suggesting it based on reviews I've read. I do know that in the years I've been using Google Voice from my desktop, I've never once had any problems with my number showing up strange on people's caller IDs. If she's had problems with that in the past though, then yeah, that might not be the best solution.
posted by radwolf76 at 3:29 PM on November 5, 2014
We have a Republic Wireless phone and love it. My wife is definitely not tech-savvy, but she hasn't had to ask me for advice using anything on it.
posted by tacodave at 4:59 PM on November 5, 2014
posted by tacodave at 4:59 PM on November 5, 2014
If you were me, what would you do?
OK, I'm not going to be very unpopular. If I were you, I would not mess with Ting nor Republic Wireless. Both of them are Sprint resellers which mean they have poor Sprint coverage on their network. Depending on the area, it might have an inferior coverage vs Verizon coverage.
I was a Ting customer for two years. They've got the best customer service in the cell phone industry but network coverage was terrible. Ting's innovative pricing structure is no longer competitive anymore.
I paid $26 on Ting for
500 minutes
1000 text
100 mb.
I found myself limit my cell phone usage to not bump to next price bucket. This self limiting really defeat the purpose of a communication device.
Ting would only make sense if:
1. Sprint coverage is acceptable in your area. Supposedly Ting also has Verizon roaming but it never works for me.
2. You are a ultra low usage user, < 100 minutes, < 100 texts, < 100 mb data
3. You have multiple users on your account.
I really want to like Ting but their Sprint coverage is unacceptable.
I never liked Republic Wireless's business model. Republic Wireless whole business model requires their user to make majority of their phone calls, texts, and data over WiFi. Why am I paying a cellphone company for service that require me to not use it?
I also urge you to not mess with WiFi calling, especially for user coming from a flip phone. WiFi calling will never be as reliable as a flip phone. I tried Google Hangout on my Galaxy SIII, it ended up slow down and lag my phone. Voice quality on Google Hangout is fairly good though.
For minimum interruption in service, I recommend you look into Verizon reseller, Page Plus. They have a $30 plan for 1200 minutes, 3000 texts, and 500 MB of LTE data.
Customer service at Page Plus is not good, get your service from Page Plus's dealer Kitty Wireless. Kitty's website looks very amateurish but they're legitimate company with many happy customers. Browse their forum.
For phone, the default recommendation I gave people is Moto G. There are multiple models of Moto G. If you want to go cheap route, get this $99 Verizon Moto G then activate it on Page Plus. It's a first generation Moto G, so you won't be able to do LTE data. In turn of Moto G's capability, it's better than iPhone 4s but it's not as good as iPhone 5. Camera is not as good as iPhones.
If you decide to stick with T-Mobile or ATT prepaid, get Moto G's more capable sibling Moto X. Brand new 2013 Moto X is selling for $225 on ebay. Verizon version is around $250.
posted by Carius at 5:28 PM on November 5, 2014
OK, I'm not going to be very unpopular. If I were you, I would not mess with Ting nor Republic Wireless. Both of them are Sprint resellers which mean they have poor Sprint coverage on their network. Depending on the area, it might have an inferior coverage vs Verizon coverage.
I was a Ting customer for two years. They've got the best customer service in the cell phone industry but network coverage was terrible. Ting's innovative pricing structure is no longer competitive anymore.
I paid $26 on Ting for
500 minutes
1000 text
100 mb.
I found myself limit my cell phone usage to not bump to next price bucket. This self limiting really defeat the purpose of a communication device.
Ting would only make sense if:
1. Sprint coverage is acceptable in your area. Supposedly Ting also has Verizon roaming but it never works for me.
2. You are a ultra low usage user, < 100 minutes, < 100 texts, < 100 mb data
3. You have multiple users on your account.
I really want to like Ting but their Sprint coverage is unacceptable.
I never liked Republic Wireless's business model. Republic Wireless whole business model requires their user to make majority of their phone calls, texts, and data over WiFi. Why am I paying a cellphone company for service that require me to not use it?
I also urge you to not mess with WiFi calling, especially for user coming from a flip phone. WiFi calling will never be as reliable as a flip phone. I tried Google Hangout on my Galaxy SIII, it ended up slow down and lag my phone. Voice quality on Google Hangout is fairly good though.
For minimum interruption in service, I recommend you look into Verizon reseller, Page Plus. They have a $30 plan for 1200 minutes, 3000 texts, and 500 MB of LTE data.
Customer service at Page Plus is not good, get your service from Page Plus's dealer Kitty Wireless. Kitty's website looks very amateurish but they're legitimate company with many happy customers. Browse their forum.
For phone, the default recommendation I gave people is Moto G. There are multiple models of Moto G. If you want to go cheap route, get this $99 Verizon Moto G then activate it on Page Plus. It's a first generation Moto G, so you won't be able to do LTE data. In turn of Moto G's capability, it's better than iPhone 4s but it's not as good as iPhone 5. Camera is not as good as iPhones.
If you decide to stick with T-Mobile or ATT prepaid, get Moto G's more capable sibling Moto X. Brand new 2013 Moto X is selling for $225 on ebay. Verizon version is around $250.
posted by Carius at 5:28 PM on November 5, 2014
Nthing Ting if your coverage is good (and if they get wifi calling set up). Sprint absolutely sucks here, too, Carius, but in some areas, I know it's the best there is.
posted by getawaysticks at 5:54 AM on November 6, 2014
posted by getawaysticks at 5:54 AM on November 6, 2014
if you end up going with a used phone (or even considering it) i highly recommend that you use Swappa -- you are way less likely to get a phone that is either stolen or that has been locked by the company
The Moto G is a really solid phone if you end up going that direction...
posted by knockoutking at 10:35 AM on November 6, 2014
The Moto G is a really solid phone if you end up going that direction...
posted by knockoutking at 10:35 AM on November 6, 2014
I'd highly suggest the t-mobile family plan. Not only will she be able to get support for the device that does not always have to come from you, but you get -real- customer service. If you or your significant other have a work-supplied discount with t-mobile it could even it out down to compete with the $30/100Minute/5gb plan.
posted by ulteriormodem at 9:57 AM on November 11, 2014
posted by ulteriormodem at 9:57 AM on November 11, 2014
Ooh, thanks for reminding me, I'd forgotten that my employer does have a discount plan. Sweet. Think I'll go with that.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 9:29 AM on November 12, 2014
posted by rabbitrabbit at 9:29 AM on November 12, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
1. Tech support is basically DIY. They maintain a bulletin board where questions and answers are posted by the Republic user community, but there is no call-in customer service. They have recently started an online chat service with tech people that works well enough, but it's not the same as calling tech service.
2. Republic Wireless phones use a custom firmware that allows their phones to switch back and forth between voice- over-WiFi and normal (Sprint) cell service. The reason RW is cheap is because you, as a customer, promise to use WiFi instead of cellular whenever feasible. It's relatively easy to get used to, but it takes a little learning for most people.
3. That said, Republic Wireless rocks.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 10:40 AM on November 5, 2014