Beating Broke

Republic Wireless: The Future of Cellular?

October 3, 2013 By Shane Ede 18 Comments

Disclaimer: I was given a free Motorola Defy XT and three months of service with Republic Wireless in exchange for an honest review of the service here.

Cellular service has long been dominated by a select few carriers who are essentially free to charge whatever they please for the service that they provide. Depending on which of the better known carriers you go with, a smart phone with a data plan will cost you anywhere from $50 to $100 a month. Several months ago, I cancelled my account with one of those carriers and started a trial of Republic Wireless.

What is Republic Wireless?

I think, as part of reviewing the service, that we discuss what it is, exactly, that Republic Wireless is. The service they offer is something that I like to call Hybrid Cellular. Traditional cellular service pushes every call off of the carriers cellular towers. Data, if you have a data plan does the same thing. If you connect to a Wi-Fi router, some of that data goes over that connection instead, but the calls always go over the cell towers. Republic’s hybrid cellular system pushes everything over the Wi-Fi signal if you’re connected. What that means is that both calls and data usage go across your Wi-Fi internet (or whomever’s connection your connected to) whenever you’re connected. The only time you use a traditional cellular signal is if you’re not connected to a Wi-Fi network.

If you think about how often you’re near a Wi-Fi signal, it makes some sense. And, you’re already paying for your home internet, and you likely have a Wi-Fi router installed. Starbucks has one. McDonalds has one. You probably have one at work. I do. Anytime I’m near any public Wi-Fi, I just connect my phone and my calls and data go over that signal instead of the cellular network.

What Phones/Plans does Republic Wireless Offer?

Here’s one of the catches to the service. There isn’t much for selection on phones. When I first signed up for the service, the only phone available was the Motorola Defy XT. It was a bit better than the previous phone that they had offered, but it’s still a bit of a budget phone. I’ve constantly run into issues with it’s small internal memory size, and had plenty of issues with it freezing up and needing to be hard reset (pull the battery). In November, they’ll begin offering the Motorola Moto X, a significant upgrade to the Defy XT. As with other non-contract cellular providers, you’ll have to shell out a bit for the phone itself, but you win in the end without a contract.

Plans are a bit of a mixed bag. When I first started on the service, there were two plans. The first was a $19 a month plan that offered unlimited everything, and a price tag on the Defy XT of about $200. The second plan was $29 a month for the same service, but the cost of the phone was about half. Until the Moto X is released, the only plan is the $19 a month plan with a price on the Defy XT of $99. Still a pretty good deal. The Moto X will be released, in November, with four available plans.

$5 a month — Unlimited data, voice and text on Wi-Fi only. You must be connected to a Wi-Fi network for the phone to work.
$10 a month — Unlimited data, voice, and text on Wi-Fi plus unlimited voice and text on cellular.
$25 a month — Unlimited data, voice, and text on Wi-Fi plus unlimited voice, text and 3G data on cellular.
$40 a month — Unlimited data, voice, and text on Wi-Fi plus unlimited voice, text and 4G data on cellular.

You can change plans at anytime during a month (up to 2 times a month), so if you’re planning on going on a long trip and will need the faster data speeds, you can bump the plan up. Or, if you’re finding that you’re on Wi-Fi everywhere, you can bump it down to a lower plan. The phone, with all of the plans is going to have a $299 price tag on it.

What’s the Verdict on Republic Wireless?

If you’re like me, you’re thinking that all that info above is really nice, but how’s the service? Turns out it’s a bit of a mixed bag. If you’re on a Wi-Fi network with a strong signal, you’re unlikely to be able to tell the difference between the service and any other cellular phone. It’s when you’re on the cellular network that you might see some issues. Republic Wireless uses the Sprint network for it’s cellular service, which means that their cellular signal is only as strong as the Sprint signal is in your area. For me, that means the cellular signal is spotty to non-existent.

The town I live in is the last town, heading west in my state, with any Sprint towers at all. They’re remainders from the Nextel buyout. What that means, for me, is that if I head west, I lose all access to data over the cellular signal for at least 1000 miles or more. Considering I head that direction at least a couple of times a year, it’s almost a deal breaker for me.

The truth is, I don’t travel often. When I do, the cellular signal is sort of spotty anyways, so it’s not that much of a downgrade. And, when I’m not traveling, I’m usually at home or at work. And I have Wi-Fi in both of those places. 90%+ of the time, Republic Wireless gives me just as good of a service as any other carrier for a fraction of the price.

One of the other sore spots for me, at the moment, is the Defy XT phone. It’s been a bit of a lemon from the word go. It’s got terribly low amounts of internal memory, which cause all sorts of issues with the phone. Some apps, unable to be moved to the external memory card, hog up the resources and cause the phone to freeze, halt, and overall perform poorly. The Moto X, to it’s credit has 16GB of internal memory, which should be about enough for anyone.

I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet. For sure, I’ll be testing out the Republic Wireless service for a few more months, until the Moto X comes out and deciding if I want to do the upgrade or not. It seriously pains me to think that I might have to go back to $100 a month service, especially after having paid only $19 a month for the last month or so.

The Bottom Line (TL;DR)

The bottom line is that your results with Republic Wireless will largely depend on how strong the Sprint network is in your area. If it’s a little weak, like it is in my area, you might find yourself in your grocery store with no way to pull up an electronic coupon (true story). It it’s a strong Sprint area, you probably won’t have any issues with it at all. Make sure you check their coverage map before you commit to over $100 in phone costs. In any case, I think you’ll likely want to wait until November when the current release date for the Moto X is scheduled.

Get Yourself and the Kids in the Halloween Spirit for Less

October 1, 2013 By MelissaB 7 Comments

Halloween is right around the corner. While the stores seem to like to skip Halloween and Thanksgiving and shoot right to Christmas (in September!), the majority of us like to embrace each holiday as it comes.

Halloween is one of those holidays that is fun for both kids and adults. However, it can also be an expensive holiday, if you’re not careful. Kids’ costumes alone can run upwards of $50. Here are some ways you can enjoy the holiday and get a little Halloween spirit for less:

Costumes

Costumes don’t have to cost a fortune. Using these tactics, you can get what you need for less than a Benjamin (or a Ulysses, as the case may be).

1. Shop resale stores.

National chains like Once Upon a Child or Goodwill have plenty of costumes for $10 or less. At our local Once Upon a Child, costumes were about $6.50 each. That beats paying $25 or more.

2. Put out the word.

Let your friends and family know you’re looking for a costume. When my son was 18 months old, we borrowed an adorable, homemade Robin Hood costume. We paid nothing, and my son received many compliments while trick or treating.

3. Check Craigslist.

Many parents also listed outgrown costumes on Craigslist. Remember, you’re free to negotiate on Craigslist, so you may be able to haggle for a lower price.

4. Make your own.

Pinterest is filled with adorable costumes for both those who sew and those who don’t. You might be able to make a costume from items you have around the house or that you can buy cheaply. Don’t forget that items can do double duty. If your son has a fireman raincoat, there’s no reason that can’t be a costume. Does your child have skeleton pajamas? Great, there’s a costume. Does your daughter take ballet? Her recital costume or her dance leotard and tutu can be her costume.

How to Decorate on a Budget

Part of the fun of Halloween is not only dressing up the kids, but dressing up your home. If you go all out, decorating your home can be pricey, but it doesn’t have to be. Try these tips.

1. Buy on clearance.

As soon as Halloween is over, go to the stores. You’ll find Halloween decor on sale for 50 to 80% off. Now is the time to buy decorations for next year. The same is true for next year’s Halloween costumes.

2. Pinterest to the rescue again.

Pinterest (Beating Broke on Pinterest) has tons of low cost decor suggestions. I saw a cute pumpkin decoration for a table top that used old canning jar bands. If you have those around, your decoration is free. You can also have the kids create Halloween themed crafts and decorate the house that way.

Halloween is a fabulous holiday for kids and adults. Decorating and dressing up can be so much fun, but it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. By using these techniques and taking advantage of the many frugal crafts and ideas on the web, you can have a great Halloween while keeping your hard earned money where it belongs, in your wallet.

Choosing Your Next Bank

September 23, 2013 By Shane Ede 16 Comments

In the last five years or so, the banking industry has seen some major changes. Interest rates have plummeted. We’ve had at least one recession, and a recovery of sorts. The stock market has dropped like a rock and soared like an eagle. We’ve also seen the rise of online banks become a new-fangled curiosity to something that most of us accept as a standard.

Online banks have made it normal to have services like bill-pay, electronic deposit, and easy to use online account management. They’ve also put the pressure on traditional brick and mortar institutions to revamp their services, lower their fees, and offer more for their users. But, they’ve also made it more difficult to decide on a bank. No longer do we just pick the best one of a handful in our town, or the one that mom and dad used to use. They’ve increased our selection, and made the decision a tad bit more difficult. So, how do we go about selecting our next bank?

Bank Location

Even in our super digital world, where our physical locations are becoming less and less likely to matter, the location of your bank might make a difference to you. You might like the ability to walk into a branch of your bank and make a deposit, or talk to someone face to face. You might just like the security of knowing that you have that ability should you really need it.

When you’re choosing your next bank, you really need to decide if having a local branch available to you is something that is important, or if it’s just something that might be nice. If it’s important, you’ll want to take most of the online banks off the list of eligible institutions right away. If it just might be nice, you can leave them on the list.

Bank Fees

There’s been a lot of talk about bank fees, hidden fees, and transaction fees lately. After the most recent housing market crash, and the new legislation on credit card transaction fees, many banks are trying to find new innovative ways of recouping the costs. They’re getting creative with their fees, and their fee structures. It should go without saying that you can have the best bank in the world, with all the shiny services, but if they’re adding on fees all over the place, they just aren’t that great.

When you’re choosing your next bank, take a close look at their fees and fees structure. Does their checking/savings account have a monthly fee if you’re inactive? Does it have other monthly fees for services? Are the fees they have significantly higher than what other institutions charge? Fees that you don’t, or won’t, end up being charged might not seem all that important, but they can be an indicator of the future of the institutions fee structure. Be sure to make note of, or cross off entirely, any bank that has a difficult to understand fee schedule, or higher than average fees.

Bank Services

Here’s where you can usually weed the really bad ones out. Maybe they have all the right locations, a huge ATM network, and better than average fees. All of that will be somewhat useless if they don’t have all the services that you want. Find out what services they offer.

When choosing your next bank, be sure to check to make sure what services they offer. Make a list of services that you must have. Bill-Pay would be top of that list for me. If it’s an online bank, having some way of depositing checks electronically through an app on your phone might be high up on the list. Does their debit card offer cash back? Do they offer any rewards? What other perks does the account have? What perks would you like it to have? The truly analytically minded out there, like me, might just choose to use a spreadsheet to tick off what each candidate has, and use it to compare.

There are plenty of choices out there. Decide on what it is that you want in a bank, and then go about finding one that offers it all. Chances are that you’ll find it. For me, I’m still using the Capital One 360 (used to be ING Direct) account I opened up years ago. I like that it’s easy to use, super simple to create sub accounts for categorization, and has very few fees. I’m also a fan of Ally bank, but their login process seems to lock me out about every third or fourth time I try and login. That’s not very convenient for me. 🙁 But, their rates are usually up there with the highest and their customer service is top notch. If you’re better at remembering your password than I am, they’re a good option as well. I’ve also heard good things about ~~Perkstreet (2% cash back debit)~~, and USAA, but haven’t used either to verify.

Here are some banks offering some great rates for online savings (rates are accurate as of 9/23/2013):

Capital One 360 — 0.75% APY — Apply Now
AMEX — 0.85% APY — Apply Now
Ally — 0.84% APY — Apply Now

I know there are plenty of other options that others rave about all the time. What is your favorite bank? What qualifications do you look for in a bank?

This post was first published in June 2013, but is being republished today, with updates (Perkstreet is closing, and rates updates)