This has been a very busy week in wireless. There have been a lot of new product launches and plan updates. Today there is another to report on. A Howard Forums poster spotted a new plan from Republic Wireless that is for now being sold exclusively on Amazon. The new plan is a data only SIM card for GSM devices. It's being billed as an unlimited data plan with a starting price of $29.99.
Details on this new plan may be subject to change. Right now there is no mention of it anywhere on Republic Wireless's website. What is known about the plan comes directly from its listing on Amazon.
Amazon Data Only Plan Listing Details
The new "unlimited plan" is for GSM devices only and can be used with phones, tablets, hotspots or anything else you need to get connected. It does not come with any talk or text service. The plan is only unlimited in the sense that after the plans allotment of 20GB of high speed data gets consumed, data does not get shut off but throttled to 2G for the remainder of the billing.
The data only plan can be purchased for a time period of either 30 days or as a 90 day multi-month plan. The 30 day plan is priced at $29.99 while the 90 day plan is priced at $74.99.
Republic Wireless operates on both the Sprint and T-Mobile networks. Since this plan comes with a GSM sim card, it means that service will be provided on the T-Mobile network.
There is some interesting and peculiar wording in the Amazon product description. Based on the description, the SIM card will ship ready to use and will be activated as soon as it is delivered to your door. That means you can't order one and keep it laying around for use at a later date. The 30 or 90 days of service time frame starts immediately upon delivery.
The plan seems intended for use only in the short term. According to the Amazon product description:
"At the end of 30 days, your SIM will expire and you will need to purchase a new Data Only SIM card."
Of course if you have the 90 day plan you'll need to purchase a new one after 90 days if you wish to renew service for that time frame again.
The need to purchase a new SIM card at the end of the plan term seems a bit strange. Hopefully the product makes an appearance on Republic Wireless's website soon to clarify this. The Amazon product description does say that terms and conditions for the plan can be found on Republic Wireless's website at https://republicwireless.com/legal/terms-and-conditions/. At the moment there is no mention of this new plan in that terms and conditions page, but perhaps we'll see something in the coming days.
