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Republic Wireless offers smartphone service plans starting at $20


Imagine an unlimited, all included, cell phone plan for less than $20 a month.

Think it sounds too good to be true? One new company is offering talk, text and web for just $19 a month, but there is a twist.

It's a new way to slash your cell phone bill.

Republic wireless is combining Wi-Fi with traditional cell phone to help you control costs.

Maggie Reardon of CNET explains, "The way it works is when you are in a Wi-Fi hotspot all of your calls and data are going to go over the Wi-Fi network instead of over a carrier cellular network. But since that is not available everywhere they also have a contract with Sprint so that calls can still be made over Sprint's 3G network so you can also access data and that as well."

Sarah Welch, a college student who spends most of her time near Wi-Fi, says the service works well for her.


There are some drawbacks. For example, the phone drops calls when switching from a Wi-Fi signal to the cell network.

“A lot of times I will be driving away from the house and it will drop the call and I will have to call back on the cell,” Welch adds.

It may not suit the more tech savvy consumers as the company only offers one phone.

“It’s the Defy XT. It's kind of a bulkier, clunkier android smartphone. The memory is pretty limited and it doesn't have a terrific camera, it's just a basic smartphone,” describes Reardon.

Republic CEO David Morken says the company will start offering several new phone models later this summer which address both of these issues. The new phones will seamlessly handoff between Wi-Fi and cell signals, meaning no more dropped calls.

This could be the perfect plan for many budget conscious consumers says Reardon.

“I think this is a great solution for people who don't want to pay that hundred, $120 phone bill every month, and that's a lot of people.”
Tech experts say this new way of offering low cost wireless phone service could be a game changer.

Officials at Republic Wireless won't say how many subscribers they have, but will say most of their customers have come from either AT&T or Verizon.

For a link to the company’s website, just click on the Big Red Bar.

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