I came across a link today to republic wireless, it’s a new mobile phone company with a $19/month unlimited everything plan. Yes, $19 mobile plan with unlimited talk, text, and data. According to the site, it just launched today and it’s currently in beta. There’s no other company that offers a plan even close to this.
And the catch? The site would have you believe that there’s no catch, but there is a very big catch. This is more or less a Wi-Fi calling plan with a cellular network fallback. If you use the cellular network too much, they’ll warn you and eventually kick you off. It isn’t really a problem for those who have Wi-Fi at home and at work, but this isn’t for everyone. This service is definitely geared toward more tech savvy consumers who know their Wi-Fi.
There’s another drawback, they currently only have one phone available, and it cost $199. I don’t mind the phone since it’s a Gingerbread based LG Optimus. But I’m not about to put $199 down on an experimental service that I might get kicked off of. Maybe when they are out of beta and hopefully still $19/month.
