Who remembers all the hype around Republic Wireless last year? With their new hybrid service which allows unlimited calls, texts and data all for $19 a month. Everyone was so excited, especially with Verizon and AT&T on tiered data plans and the threat of Sprint going tiered as well. But Republic Wireless did run into a few bumps in the road. The carrier does not allow you to bring your own device like Straight talk, T-Mobile, and a few other carriers. They only offer the LG Optimus S and now the Motorola Defy XT.
Motorola’s Defy XT runs on 1900MHZ spectrum which allows the device to roam on all the towers that supports 1900MHz. But the device wouldn’t be able to run on the 800MHz spectrum, which quickly died a few years ago. But there are still some parts of the country that rely on that 800MHz spectrum. The wireless carrier received quite a bit of complaints about this, from users who were travelling and didn’t have a Wifi connection and were in range of 800MHz towers. Which led to Republic Wireless getting with Motorola to fix this problem, even though it “only affects a small portion of our members” according to the carrier. There is now a dual-band version of the Defy XT.
The dual-band Motorola Defy XT will be available later this year. Republic Wireless is allowing users to upgrade free, or get a full refund with no questions asked. Subscribers in waves B through E will have until October 25th to decide if they want to upgrade to the dual-band version of the Defy XT. Those in wave A with the LG Optimus S can upgrade to the single-band Defy XT for free today, or wait for the dual-band version and get $100 off. And those in waves F and beyond will be able to purchase the single-band Defy XT starting this week, or wait for the dual-band version coming later this year.
Other than the addition of the 800MHz band, it doesn’t look like Republic Wireless has added any better specs to the device. So it should run on a single-core 1GHz Snapdragon S1 processor, 512MB of RAM, 3.7-inch LCD touchscreen display with 854 x 480 pixels resolution, Android 2.3, as well as protection against water, scratches, and dust.
What do you think about this deal from Republic Wireless? Is it a good deal, seeing as they over looked the 800MHz band for roaming to begin with?
Source:Republic Wireless