Republic Wireless on Wednesday said it is taking action on a slew of initiatives to make its services available to more customers across the United States.
The carrier said Wednesday its next steps include offering its hybrid Wi-Fi-first services on an expanded lineup of devices, the introduction of a new plan structure and the addition of a new GSM network partner for back up LTE service.
Starting in July, Republic Wireless said its wireless service will be available on a number of popular Android devices, including the Samsung Galaxy S6, S7, S7 Edge and J3, the Google Nexus 5X and 6P and the Moto X Pure Edition. The carrier said customers will be able to either buy the device through its website or bring their own unlocked devices.
Beyond this initial list of devices, the company said it is continuing to test and certify additional smartphone models that will be compatible with Republic’s Adaptive Coverage technology. The carrier said it expects to announce additional lower priced devices in the coming weeks.
Republic Wireless said users of compatible devices will also have access to the nationwide network of its new GSM carrier partner for fallback LTE service when Wi-Fi is unavailable. Though Republic Wireless did not name the carrier, it said the new partner boasts the “fastest nationwide 4G LTE network.”
The partnership is Republic Wireless’ second with a nationwide carrier. The company launched with Sprint in 2011 and plans to continue utilizing their network as well.
“Our vision has always been to make our remarkably affordable and fair services available to the vast majority of the Android smartphone market,”Republic’s COO Chris Chuang said. “However, as in any new technology approach, innovation often initially comes with a few compromises; and in the case of our hybrid Wi-Fi calling, it was a limited selection of devices and cellular network. Thanks to some key breakthroughs in our Adaptive CoverageTM technology and the addition of a GSM carrier partner, our vision will become reality, as we will remove these limitations so we can serve many more customers.”
In response to customer feedback, the carrier also said it will introduce new pricing plans in the coming weeks. Republic Wireless said one of the new plan structure will include a $20 per month option with unlimited talk and text and 1 GB of high speed LTE data.
