Big fans of this company. Fantastic service at an incredible rate and a pretty amazing backstory to boot! Would love for @AaronCBaker or @davidmorken to jump in here to answer some questions on it's inception and how it got launched inside of Bandwidth.com?
@eriktorenberg Our CEO @davidmorken came up with the idea for Republic Wireless after he promised his kids (he has 6 of them!) smartphones if they got straight A's on their report cards. Well, David's kids are really smart so soon he was out $1K+ per month and he knew there had to be a better way. The better way turned out to be to allow Republic members to utilize the WiFi network that surrounds most of us throughout most of the day. With Republic's plans ($5 - WiFi only; $10 - Cell Talk & Text + WiFi; $25 - 3G Data, Talk & Text, + WiFi; and $40 - 4G LTE Data, Talk & Text, + WiFi) we were looking for simplicity and wanted to deliver as much value as possible. Here's a story from Forbes with more of our backstory: http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruc...
@BlendahTom We came out of Beta last November so we are just getting started! We get motivated hearing about the impact that we have made on our members' lives and are fired up about the potential of RW. We think there is an incredible market opportunity for a WiFi first carrier that delivers remarkable value each and every day.
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We're thrilled to be part of Product Hunt! Any questions - would love to answer them!
@aaroncbaker sweet .. Would love to hear how you guys started this inside an established company i.e Bandwidth.com and explain the dynamics of that relationship sets you guys apart from the Straighttalks and Crickets of the world.
@BlendahTom Bandwidth, our parent company, is a VOIP network that powers Skype, Google Voice, and Pinger (among others). Republic is able to utilize that network when our members are on WiFi, enabling them to talk, text, & use the web from their mobile device. When not around WiFi, we provide our members with access to a nationwide cellular network, including seamless handover (read: no dropped calls) between WiFi and cell. In the end, we're able to deliver significant value back to our members with plans starting at $5/mo (unlimited WiFi) and going up to $40/mo (unlimited talk, text, & data on 4G LTE data).
@BlendahTom We believe the fastest, cheapest, and best network is the one that surrounds you the majority of your day --- WiFi. That said, we are very excited about the investments that Sprint is making to their network. And, of course, we're always looking for new ways to add value to our members.
Republic Wireless
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