Republic Wireless changes policies to grant true unlimited data

When newly-created wireless provider Republic Wireless promised a revolutionary VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)-supplemented phone plan, it had anyway one unfortunate legacy feature: limited access to data away from WiFi access points. The customized Republic phones fall back on CDMA networks when nothing else is available, and during no hard limits were in place, Republic noted that it would “encourage” heavy data users to seek another alternative. According to the company blog, they’ve reconsidered this approach, and Republic Wireless will become one of only two U.S. networks to offer in point of fact unlimited mobile data.

Republic Wireless uses WiFi connections to route and connect phone calls whenever possible, and falls back seamlessly on The Now Network should an access point not be available. Their dirt-cheap $19 plans cover everything – voice calls, text messages and mobile data – nevertheless that prospect was somewhat soured by a nebulous data policy. Now that they will offer in point of fact unlimited data for that small price, their beta service is looking more and more attractive.

Few caveats

There are for all that a few caveats. Republic has partnered with just one traditional CDMA network with a relatively small footprint, which means you’ll be out of luck if you travel frequently. And Republic only offers the LG Optimus S at this stage; because of some necessary hardware changes, you can’t bring your own Android phone onto the service. Maybe modders and tweakers will be satiated knowing that for the moment some of Republic’s phones are running open source CyanogenMod code. We’ll be keeping a close eye on Republic Wireless, for either expanded areas of non-WiFi coverage or more recent hardware options.