I admit it, I’m posting this to vent. I am extremely pissed off at Republic Wireless right now. I’ve been an avid fan and promoter of RW to everyone I know since the Moto X Gen 1 first launched. I have tirelessly argued with others about the benefits of RW, the lean nature of the company, the way they pass savings onto customers, the creativity of their plans, their innovation, and my admiration for David Morken as a fellow veteran and entrepreneur. Today, all of that changed.
I have used my Gen 1 Moto X up through today. With that phone I’ve rotated from the v1.0 $10/month plan to occasionally the v1.0 $25/month plan temporarily if I was traveling and needed data. My parents, who I talked into RW, joined during the 2.0 plans and they have enjoyed those plans (my father uses the $10/month and my mother the $17.50/month). I saw no reason to change to 2.0 myself, although the cost difference for me would have been negligible as I use the $10 plan almost exclusively.
Fast forward to last week. I receive an e-mail from RW touting a “sneak peek” offer for the Moto Z Play at $100 discount with 6 months service at 1 GB/month. This deal appeared fantastic, and the Moto Z Play is the true spiritual successor to the Moto X Gen 1. I informed my father (who in his old age entrusts tech advice to me) of this offering and advised him to consider it. He and my mother had a Moto G. My wife follows my phone choices as well. As a result, within a day I’d ordered two Moto Z Plays in addition to my father’s one (and possibly one for my mother) totaling at least three Moto Z Plays based on my reading of the RW “offering.”
Today my phone arrives. I meticulously transfer all of my data, apps, services, etc from the Moto X to the Moto Z Play. I install the RW App and transfer my phone number over, accepting the “1 GB plan” as offered. At no point did I have any indication that this 1 GB plan was part of yet another line of RW plans dubbed “3.0.” I assumed I was finally entering the 2.0 plans that I had simply ignored for so long. In short: I fell into RW’s trap.
Adding to that, I had no idea that the new plan would have an entirely new coverage map. Even still, I checked the coverage area that Republic has up and my area is touted as 4G LTE Data (I am in the Rosemary Beach, FL area). My wife and I’s Moto Z Play has zero, that’s ZERO coverage in our home. I have yet to drive around and “hunt” for it anywhere else. My Moto X consistently had one bar below maximum in our home. Typically I leave the phone on WiFi, but important business calls demand clarity in which case I disable the WiFi temporarily. Not anymore.
So not only was I tricked into a plan tree that I neither wanted nor knew existed, but also have had my cell coverage apparently drastically downgraded.
So here is what I’m going to do, Republic. You’ve burned this bridge. At this point there is nothing you can say or do to make this right short of magically improving my cell coverage and fixing your pricing tiers; we both know that’s not gonna happen. You know what else isn’t gonna happen? Me ever uttering one word but utter disdain for you and especially David Morken every opportunity I get. I am going to use the Moto Z Play through the six month period that I have already paid for. At that point, to the DAY, I will be leaving “the republic.” From this point on I will warn everyone I know away from this company in the most contemptuous terms possible. I will explain to them the legitimately deceptive business practices that now make RW no different (and possibly worse) than any other carrier.
Congratulations, Republic. You got me good. I fell into your trap. Now, because I take my personal reputation more seriously than you take your business reputation, I’m going to do everything in my power to undo all the free advertising I’ve given you over the years.
