We’ve all
thought about it: instead of paying for a full cell phone plan, why can’t we
just purchase a 3G data plan and use a phone-like mobile app to replace
calling?
Republic
Wireless doesn’t offer quite that, but it’s close. For $19 per
month, you get unlimited phone, data and text use with no contract. The catch —
if you could call it that — is that the phone automatically switches to wifi
when it’s available. And when it’s not, the phone hops back onto Sprint’s 3G
network.
This concept
would seem to be profitable only if there were some kind of 3G cap to restrain
service to those users who are regularly connected to wifi. But Republic has no
such caps. Initially, the company laid out guidelines for acceptable use,
covering 1,200 minutes, 3,600 texts, or 600MB each month. These still
weren’t caps — users could go over the limit without losing access.
But the idea
that these were just guidelines for the good of the commons was “too difficult
of a concept to communicate,” Kevin LaHaise, a Republic Wireless
representative, told Ars Technica.
“Whenever we gave example numbers of usage patterns that would be safely within
the Fair Use Policy, people thought they were ‘caps.’ And they weren’t.”
It’s an
interesting philosophy for the company to take: it assumes that its users will
respect the way the service works, only signing up if they have regular wifi
access, and using wifi whenever possible as to not strain the 3G network.
LaHaise told Ars that, if a user did severely overstep his or her
bounds, they would probably cancel the service. But they haven’t had to do that
yet.
The model is
certainly intriguing, if not because it’s the most legitimate challenge to
mobile providers that I’ve heard of. It provides a new option and, perhaps, a
new model to free smartphone users from the tethers of large cell phone bills,
two-year contracts, and the whims of the large companies.
The
downsides, as Casey Johnston’s Ars Technica
review notes, are that it’s tied to Sprint — the third-slowest
provider — and that only one phone is available at the moment, the LG Optimus S
running Android 2.3 Gingerbread. And because there is no plan, which usually
offsets the cost of the actual device, there is an up-front cost of $199 to pay
for the phone.
And another
downside is that the phone will only be functional for people living in cities
or other areas with consistent wifi access — or else it could turn into a
‘tragedy of the commons.’
“Nobody
likes a cell-hog,” as their site says.
Sumber : http://www.smartplanet.com
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