Last December, Republic Wireless launched a data only plan. The plan was priced at $29.99 for 30 days of use or $74.99 for 90 days of service. It gave customers unlimited data with the first 20GB each month at 4G LTE data speeds before throttling to 2G data speeds. The plan was a trial plan of sorts and customers could not renew their plan without purchasing a new SIM. Republic Wireless discontinued the plan in March of 2019.
Yesterday, Republic Wireless sent out a mailer alerting its newsletter subscribers that a new data only plan is on the horizon. Specifics on the plan have not yet been released, but Republic Wireless has set up an online forum to discuss the upcoming offering. At the moment, Republic Wireless has only stated that the new data SIM will be "slightly different in a few ways" compared to their original plan offering of months ago.
To celebrate the pending launch of the new plan, Republic Wireless is having a giveaway. Three lucky winners will receive a free data SIM plan when it gets launched. To enter the contest, you must already be a current Republic Wireless member and you must leave a comment in their community forum discussing how you would use their data SIM. Entries must be received by 11:59 PM EST on Tuesday, October 1, 2019.
Editor's Take
The number of providers offering data only plans or improving them is on the rise. Earlier this year, Cricket Wireless launched data only plans. A week later, Ting announced the availability of a data only hotspot plan featuring 30GB of data for $25/month. A couple of months later, Boost Mobile quintupled the amount of data included with its $50 hotspot plan increasing the allotment from 10GB to 50GB.
With the build-out of carrier 5G networks underway, there is going to be more of a demand for data only plans as consumers look to get their internet of things devices connected online. Consequently, it is likely that more and more MVNOs are going to want to jump on the data only plan bandwagon.