Cheapskate review: the Republic Wireless $10 phone plan is pretty sweet so far

(UPDATE 1/18: Reader George [not the TBB George, a different one] suggested in the comments that I sign up for the Republic affiliate program. I signed up, but then I found something better: with this link both you and I will get $19 off our Republic bills.)

Any time I’ve shopped around for cell phones I’ve been aghast at how much people pay for their plans. Yes, iPhones are awesome, but not at the price most people pay for them.

For the past few years I’ve been on a $25 per month plan with Virgin Mobile. It was okay–the data service was spotty but for $25 I’m not going to complain too much. The phone, on the other hand, was terrible. The LG Optimus V only had enough space for a couple of Angry Birds games (which it frequently  had trouble running) and that was pretty much it, plus it constantly ran out of space. I deleted apps mercilessly, moved everything I could to the SD card, and ran various utilities to free up space, but nothing worked. Toward the end I couldn’t even send and receive text messages because of space issues.

Its sole virtue: durability. That phone has been dropped about 50 times and just won’t die. I highly recommend it as a pacification device for small children.

I might have upgraded to a new phone were it not for the fact that the $25 rate was grandfathered in only for that phone. An upgrade would mean $35 a month, so it was time to go shopping for cell providers.

I already have a (free) data plan from FreedomPop and I considered trying out their phone service, but I didn’t like the fact that you had to pay extra to get voicemail. It’s a little too Spirit Airlines-ish for me. I had previously read about Republic Wireless and been intrigued, so I decided to give them a try.

Republic’s gig is that they put as many calls as possible on data networks instead of phone networks to keep costs down. They only offer two phones, and that’s a function of the fact that their phones are set up to switch calls between wireless and data networks and therefore need to be specially modified.

They offer the following plan: $5 for Wifi-only talk, text, and data (no cell coverage); $10 for unlimited talk and text on the cell network with Wifi data only; $25 for the same thing but with 3G data; and $40 for 4G data. I’m usually close enough to a wifi network that I didn’t think an extra $15-$30 was worth it, so I got the $10 plan.

The two phone choices were the $99 Motorola Defy XT and the $299 Moto X. I thought about the $99 phone, especially since it’s supposed to be durable, but it had mediocre to bad reviews and after spending the last couple of years with a crappy phone, I was curious as to what having a good phone might be like. (Update: it seems the Defy XT is no longer an option.)

The verdict? I’m a happy customer. I’ve had a few cases of calls being dropped, but I generally don’t conduct important business on the phone so I’m happy paying $10 a month. Extra fees or any other unpleasant surprises? None so far aside from a few bucks in taxes, which is to be expected.

Additionally, I really, really like the Moto X, and this guy at CNET agrees with me. There’s another CNET article here if you’d like to read more.

BLOGGERS GETTING COMPED: This seems as good a time as any to talk about a recent thread on Flyertalk about bloggers who receive compensation from companies they cover. I’ve never had a comp policy, primarily because nobody’s ever offered to give me anything. The entire review above about Republic Wireless was written because I tried out their service and I like it and I think it’s going to save me money in the long run, and because I think it could potentially save money for some of you as well.

That said, if Republic Wireless had given me the phone and asked for a review, or if Starwood just gave me 100,000 points (hint, hint, Starwood!), I’d be happy to write about such things since they’re relevant to my blogging interests. Also, I like free stuff. Obviously, there would be full disclosure, as well as a frank admission that the freebie probably influences my coverage favorably toward the subject because hey, I’m human. Not that I wouldn’t try to be fair, but still.

So there you have it: my brand new comp policy which I just came up with. In the unlikely event that anybody ever does actually comp me anything, readers will be welcome to deliver sellout accusations in the comments below. It’s all part of the circle of life. But hey, it’s not like I have an Amazon affiliate link or something, right?

Happy Friday, and have a great weekend!