Republic wireless is a unqiue cell service provider. They use an always on app to provide service through a combination of cell and VOIP. They only provide service to certain phone models that are listed on their site.

Cost

The prices are good if you use less than 2GBs of data, 2GBs and unlimited talk and text is $25.

Service

Coverage has been fine since they use brand name cell networks to provide coverage. They route all service through WiFi when possible so you always have good service at hotspots.

Gotchas

Republic tries to hide the magic they do behind the scenes to provide low cost service which has led me to run into some weird cases where I had issues.

• Phone numbers are classified as landline
  • venmo won’t allow you to register non-mobile number
• calls are routed through underlying numbers that serve multiple endusers
  • gotten multiple calls that seem meant for other people, unclear if for my number or the underlying number
• app controls your service
  • had the app crash one day(likely my fault) and calls wouldn’t go through even to voicemail and texts that were sent to me never showed up
  • weird interactions are possible see https://help.republicwireless.com/hc/en-us/articles/360024889393-Can-Security-Apps-Affect-My-Call-Quality-
• You must be on latest version of Android for your device for activation
  • running a version of android that is NEWER than what the manufacturer has released will be rejected, they verify this using build id property

Verdict

Service has worked well the majority of time for low cost. The problem is that other providers have plans for similar cost that don’t require dealing with all the weird gotchas that come with Republic’s service.