
Republic Wireless, You Have a Strange Definition of 'Unlimited' - boh
http://www.pcworld.com/article/243471/republic_wireless_you_have_a_strange_definition_of_unlimited.html
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marcomonteiro
I don't see anything misleading in Republic's marketing. I think they've made
it pretty clear. This isn't a cellular company, it's a VoIP company that
relies on wifi and happens to fall back on Sprint's CDMA network when there
isn't wifi available. Their service is unlimited but the fallback cellular
network isn't.

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sbarre
This reminds me of the old days of "unlimited" dial-up connections.

I worked for an ISP that offered such a plan. You were never charged any
overage fees, and there were no hard caps on your monthly hours, but we
reserved the right to limit access on a per-case basis for heavy users, and to
prioritize usage (back when we had user-to-line ratios) to limit heavy users
during peak hours to ensure all customers could use the service. We were very
clear about this in our signup sheet too (it wasn't buried in the T&C).

It works well for the 90% of the people who have "regular" usage patterns
("regular" being defined by the provider) and just don't want to have to keep
an eye on their usage.

It doesn't work for the 10% of heavy usage customers, or the folks who think
the provider should be held to their own personal definition of "unlimited"
(i.e. "unlimited means I should be able to stay connected 24/7 all month
long!!").

All that said, I think Republic Wireless should be a little clearer about what
unlimited means. They're trying, but I think it's still a bit vague at the
moment.

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jtreminio
(i.e. "unlimited means I should be able to stay connected 24/7 all month
long!!").

Yes, that sounds like unlimited to me.

A buffet is unlimited. A small 90lb old lady will eat maybe half a plate. Then
come some big 400lb fellas who clean off 8 or 9 plates full. Either one should
be accommodated when it's called "unlimited". Otherwise, call it what it is:
service with a high limit.

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sbarre
Nope that's what YOU think it means. See my answer above. We never charged
anyone for extra hours, but we did not _guarantee_ that you could get online
and stay online as much as you want.

Take your buffet example: You can eat all you want from what is on the tables,
no matter how much that is, but there's no guarantee of an infinite supply of
food. If you eat all the pancakes, they are not _obligated_ to supply you with
more.

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sounds
I didn't upvote this article, because Unlimited is truly Unlimited -- as long
as you're using wifi.

That's the point: you have a cell network available, seamlessly. The old
incumbent carriers with their caps and rates and bag of tricks.

But if you can find a wifi connection, you're home free.

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wccrawford
The one advertisement is very misleading, but other than that... This is
actually quite a tempting plan.

Well, it would be, if I could use my current Android phone.

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InclinedPlane
Correction: they have an _industry standard_ definition of unlimited.

(Doesn't make it any better though.)

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squeee
Their limitations make sense, you just have to look at your own usage and
decide if it will work for you. I don't feel like they are hiding anything, I
read through their entire site yesterday and it was all there in black and
white.

The only concern I do have is how well will actually work? Does it switch
seamlessly when I leave the range of my wifi like the site claims. A co-worker
signed up and has one on the way, so we will find out soon.

At least they are more upfront about the "unlimited" rules than other carriers
like say AT&T. Even Sprint is close to killing off their unlimited plans.

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mikeash
I thought AT&T didn't have "unlimited" plans anymore. At least with my iPhone,
the data limit is right there in the plan name, with overages being charged a
reasonable amount extra.

Here's a crazy idea for the carriers: if there are limits, don't call your
plan "unlimited".

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tatsuke95
Now lets see some of these mainstream tech media outlets comb through the
terms of use for the major service providers looking for "gotchas". I'll bet
there are quite a few there.

Republic isn't the be-all solution to our shitty carrier woes, but it's
progress. A rag like PC World should be on board promoting this sort of
advancement, rather than spreading FUD.

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earle
Airplanes were an amazing invention, but turns out its hard to run a
profitable airline!

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drivebyacct2
Sounds like it's comparable to "unlimited" cheap web hosting resellers. For
most people who get suckered in by "unlimited", it's probably fine. For the
people that might actually need many resources, it will run into a wall
quickly.

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betterth
That's actually an incredibly poor analogy: Republic is upfront about their
limitations, cheap web hosts by default are not.

Republic is saying "We're a wifi company that uses Sprint 3G as an unfortunate
but necessary safety net, so you always have access".

For users that require a cell network 24/7 and have little to no access to
wifi -- Republic isn't for them. They admit that up front and say that they'd
love to help you find a traditional 3G/4G network.

Hosting companies are openly deceiving you by making promises that they
knowingly won't keep for certain users.

Republic isn't deceiving anyone -- they say right up front that they're a wifi
network looking for wifi customers.

It's not deception if it's literally your business model.

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drivebyacct2
It's comment thread on an article all about the double-speak occuring with
relation to the word "unlimited", when it's anything but. I don't think it's
wrong to call that deceptive.

Besides, it's not that "unlimited" providers don;'t provide unlimited
services... it's just that they are not reliable or consistent.

