Save Money With Hybrid Cellular Phone Service

As long as your advertising low-cost alternatives you should look into Ting. I switched a few months back and my bill averages $35/mo. for voice, text and data. Also post-use billing setup. I've been quite pleased so far.

EDITOR'S NOTE: See http://askbobrankin.com/ting_save_money_on_mobile.html :-)

I wonder how this would work with networks such as most motels, McDonalds, Starbucks, etc that require user to agree to a user agreement before gaining full access? And the permission to connect is typically time limited for a day or less.

Sounds promising, except. . . this 1000mh "adapter" you mention. Every one I've seen online is a mini-antenna designed to hook up to a computer. Not something you can attach to the phone to be of any practical use.
Unless. . . there are portable 1000mh adapters small enough with appropriate connectors to use with a phone.
Are there any?

Great! However it does not work in white,
according to the map. Problem is, I live in white. Grrr. Best regsrds,, john.

I have been using RW for almost a year now. To answer Greg's question, yes, it works at McD's Starbucks, Applebee's, Panera's, Hilton, Comfort Inn, etc., etc. The first time you have to tell it to connect to the WiFi, the provider's webpage appears asking for your approval, then the little green arch appears and you are connected. The best thing is that the phone "remembers" and the next time you walk into Starbucks it automatically connects to the WiFi. It even picks up networks while I am walking down the street or driving somewhere. I can't wait to try it out in Europe by connecting to the hotel's free WiFi and calling home.

What do you think of G3 Telecom?
www.g3telecom.com

A question about the $5 per month WiFi only deal... if you have a WiFi compatible smartphone and an app that enables talk and/or text, why would someone want to pay the $5 per month fee?

EDITOR'S NOTE: I assume you're talking about a WiFi compatible smartphone that currently has no cellular service plan -- one that can connect only with Wifi. In that case, sure, you can do web and email, but you'll need something like Skype for voice calling. Skype is great for calling others who also have Skype, but for all other calls (to landline or mobile numbers) you will need to pay the Skype-to-phone rate of 2.3 cents/minute. Depending on your usage, that could be more or less than $5/month.

I have used Republic Wireless for over a year now. You must have WiFi at home in order to activate your phone. And service questions are only by computer. There is not a direct phone number for customer service. I made a car trip to Minnesota last June and didn't have any problems with service along the interstate highways. My in-laws live in a small town but had WiFi and the phone worked great. Just a great product.

Realtek or now MediaTek, the latter having purchased RA Link, who developed the RA307x family of chips? Found lots of RA3072 adaptors, with either the RA Link or MediaTek name, not so many with the Realtek name, and not with that chipset. Most with Realtek chipsets used the 8187L chipset and were limited to 54Mbps speeds.

"It only looks dubious because you didn’t think of it first."
thanks again for that line, bob. if i remember, sounds good to use it on snarky people..

What they are doing is really smart ...Wi-Fi is often the much stronger - and most importantly much more reliable network, especially when compared to cellular ... so why not use Wi-Fi when you can?

I live in multiple locations - one where it has been impossible to get a reliable cellular signal, although we have Wi-Fi and the Republic Wireless Moto X works perfectly on Wi-Fi. Almost positive I am roaming on Verizon's network at this location as Sprint has a roaming agreement with them for certain areas. That's one of then other nice things about Republic - unlike many of the other pre-paid services or MVNOs, at Republic very little that is truly important is buried in the fine print.

I wish these guys luck - we pay over $6000 a year to national cellular carriers for 5 phones. Plan to give Republic a few more months but if all goes well, everyone here is getting a Moto X on their plans.

Bob, I must be missing something. Why would I pay for free wireless access. Most smart phones automatically switch to WIFI when available. We don't have to pay 5 per month for that. Yes you do have to log in if it is protected but you don't have to pay anything and certainly not monthly.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Most smartphones will switch to wifi for DATA (web and email) but not for text or talk. Big difference there.

Thanks for the piece on Republic. My wife and I switched from Verizon (about $175 a month) to Republic about a year and half ago ($40 a month). We're both very happy with the price and the service. We were able to talk nonstop for no charge to friends and family in the US as long as we were connected to wifi in Europe. The only complaint I have is that data heavy programs and internet browsing do not work well when you're not on a wifi connection, but the phone works fine in the US. In Canada, the cellular phone service is hit and miss. Sometimes, calls go directly to voicemail with the phone ringing, other times the calls don't work at all. But that's a small price to pay for such a small price.

Great article as usual and very useful information for those that can't afford much on a cell phone.

But unless I'm missing something there are numerous honest smaller providers at present that will provide unlimited text and talk for $35 and no contract w/o any hassles.
I have a smart phone and use Metro PCS and pay $40 for unlimited text, talk and limited data on a 4G network . The Text can be multimedia also. The phone will use Wi Fi for data when available saving on my use of the contracted amount. When I exceed this it will place me on 3G.

Also AARP has Consumer Cellular with programs as low as $10 a month with limited usage but very handy for people that have a need for a phone but use it very limited and mostly for talk and few texts.

Excellent review. One of the only I've read (and read a lot of them) that doesn't have a "cult-esqe" quality. it just seems that it's an expensive longer range home phone without Sprint option. Sprint option- not all that great since Consumer Reports just ranked them the worst carrier. T-Mobile does a better job with WiFi. Free with service and it's secondary backup -your in basement no signal jump on the WiFi calling.

@ James - Your Metro PCS $40 plan is 500 MB then throttle- not really unlimited. Don't get me wrong- I'm a WiFi bandit so 500 MB works for me. You can just get a better deal on a similar T-Mobile Plan @ 35orless and the rate goes down during the month with LIVE Plan.

This is a follow-up to my 11 Dec posting.
Took the phone to Amsterdam, set it so only the WiFi, not the cellular would work, and it worked just fine with the hotel's and various restaurant's free WiFi. Became invaluable when email from pet sitter arrived 2 days after leaving home notifying me that someone had tried to break into our house. Was able to call the pet sitter back to arrange repairs, and call the neighbor to let them know what happened and to keep an eye on the house.
Thank you Republic!

Just checked the Republic Wireless web site. They now offer the Moto G phone in both the 8GB and 16GB versions, as well as the 16GB Moto X. You can also use the "design your own" options for the Moto X if you're willing to pay a little extra. If you can live with 3G, the 16GB Moto G is the way to go - only $179.