Republic support wants to upgrade your coverage! (scam email?)

Questions & Answers
#1

today I got an email from support@republicwireless.zendesk.com It looks like a phishing or scam email. My question is, “is this legit?” I logged on to my account on the website(not from the email mind you), but saw nothing to indicate that this is legit. I censored out my info, but the email is as follows,

From: support@republicwireless.zendesk.com

Subject: Republic support wants to upgrade your coverage!

Body:

##- Please type your reply above this line -##


We created a service ticket on your behalf please read below:

Republic H
Republic Help (Republic Help)

Mar 17, 4:09 PM EDT

Hi *****,

We noticed you recently upgraded your Republic Wireless phone to a Motorola Moto G4 Plus for your ***** number. We hope you’re enjoying your new phone!

Based on where you live, you may have better coverage on your phone by using a different SIM card. We’d like to send you a free SIM card and simple instructions for how to swap SIMs.

To receive the SIM upgrade, please confirm your current mailing address is:

*************************

If this is your address and you’d like to upgrade your coverage, reply ‘Yes’ to this email.

If your mailing address has changed, please reply to this email with ‘Yes’ and your new mailing address.

Once we get your response, we’ll mail you a new SIM card along with instructions on how to install it in your phone!

Thank you,

Republic Wireless

This email is a service from Republic Help.

#2

This is a legitimate email.

If you punch in your zip code in the coverage checker, you should notice something like

Please note: “Bring your own phone” is not supported for your location at this time.

Coverage Check | Republic Wireless

The replacement SIM would be a CDMA SIM which would work better in your area as per RW’s coverage checker.

If, however, you feel you have satisfactory coverage with your existing SIM then you should not feel obliged to swap to the new CDMA SIM card.

See here for additional info

Republic Wireless Coverage Update and CDMA Availability

#3

can I change back if the coverage is worse?

#4

I got this same email. Got on here to see if it was legit or not too.

Thank you for asking the question.

I love this place!

#5

You will be able to go back to GSM coverage with a new GSM SIM card. You can double check with RW before you switch if they are willing to send you a new GSM SIM card, or if you might need to buy it.

#6

Will all BYOP users get this invitation? Our zip 31008 says CDMA is a better service for our BYOP G4 and Moto X PE.

#7

Your best option is to sign up at the link noted in this thread

and/or open a help ticket with RW to evaluate your options.

https://help.republicwireless.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

#8

I really don’t understand why companies think it’s OK to send email to their customers from some domain not recognized as their own. It’s just simply not cool!

I give you great kudos for double-checking and asking the question!

#9

I understand where you’re coming from. For what it is worth, Zendesk is the support ticketing software used by Republic. The email is generated from Zendesk’s domain because tickets were apparently created to manage this outreach. Had the email come from Republic’s domain, either the affected members would then have needed to raise help tickets or received multiple emails (an invitation from Republic’s domain and a second when Republic created the ticket on the member’s behalf). Not certain either is an ideal scenario but I’m happy Republic is making progress on the CDMA front for affected members.

#10

Unfortunately it is the only way we can do it at the moment. We are using a new functionality in Zendesk that lets us make proactive ticket. This is a side effect. Better to try to do something for people than to wait for perfection.

#11

Could have mitigated the suspicion by sending an email from republicwireless.com (manually, if necessary) either alerting the member to the other mail, so they’ll know it is OK, or instead of the other email, if there is an option to suppress that mail upon generation of the ticket. Yes, one extra step for you guys, but OTOH, as I understand it, this is a manual operation at this point anyway.

Of course by now you may have already thought of that – hindsight and all.

#12

Sure, I applaud RW for being proactive about helping people get better coverage. That’s the kind of thinking that keeps me as a customer!

This kind of problem is a side effect of ‘cloud services’ in general, not just Zendesk. If we didn’t live in a world full of cheaters, scammers, and other kinds of bad actors it probably would not be an issue. But we’ve all been exposed to fake messages that look real.

The scary thing really, is how many of your customers did NOT double-check whether this was a legitimate email.

#13

I took a chance and accepted the upgrade sim for my newish G5. I just installed the new card this evening, and while I’m not sure if my coverage will improve, I immediately encountered a minor disappointment. After installing the new card I stepped through the required activation, but I found myself having to ‘agree to terms and conditions’ for Republic Anywhere, a service that I won’t install or use. It’s a small thing for some people, but there should be no reason to force agreement for an optional service, especially when I just doing a SIM swap.

#14

You must have had to upgrade your phone. You should try Anywhere it is really helpful.

#15

Hey @kyzr

Just to let you know, we’re talking about the new terms over here.

Not too much different but it changes for some key places.

#16

@seanr

I had purchased a new phone and used it for maybe a month when I got the
offer for a replacement SIM card. So an upgrade when I purchased the phone
and another upgrade when I replaced the SIM? If my plan/cost changed that
would be an issue too.

As for the service, I’m probably an oddball when it comes to tech. I don’t
use cloud storage, I install very few apps, and I uninstall or disable any
app that I don’t use. I even have the Google app disabled. I try to keep
things as simple as possible and I don’t like apps that automate and take
control. I’m weird. :wink:

#17

Thanks for the heads up. I’ll take a look.

#18
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