Republic Wireless Reviews 4,320

Ditching after 7 yrs. Republic Wireless went down the hill big time after DISH takeover. Price hike & Customer Service are incompetent. IF you're reading this, I strongly advise going w/ a different company.

I was reading the other reviews and one of them said that they had talked to the help desk, I didn't know republic had a help desk anymore, I have been a customer for many years and now the service is non-existent, I tried to call 911 the other day and it came up not available on my phone, every time I go to make a call it's a 50 50 chance it will work, I just feel bad for all the customers I recommend now they have the worst service

Republic Wireless goes completely incompetent with Dish take over.
On July 20 I spoke with an employee named Mika or Nika, she spoke too fast, she told me I would be getting a refund of $46.29, even gave me a help ticket #, and mentioned it would take a few days, the refund came through quickly but for only $16.53. So what gives? I am tired of spending time talking to these people on the phone, they can’t accomplish anything and don’t do what they say. Then they want me to get on some sad social media site for costumer support… seriously?
They sent me a new 5g sim card not long ago, charged me $21.89 on July 7 for a month of service with it, but they didn’t tell me at the time my phone is not compatible with the “new” 5g network. So, when I found that out in a later conversation with someone else, I refused delivery of the Sim card, called them and they said they would give me a refund when they receive it. I am not responsible to pay for this company’s newfound incompetence!
Since they charged me again on July 10, in the amount of $24.40 for the month’s service the other part of the refund was for that because my voicemail and internet access has not worked for some time now and calls are continuously disconnected. Why am I paying for services they are not providing me?
I have not received 1 email about this new Sim card mandatory upgrade! Save your time and money and bring your business elsewhere. Since Dish took over Republic Wireless typical large corporate greed shines.

Like so many of the reviews that have been recently posted, I have had so many new problems with the service (texts, sound, voicemails, etc etc) that I am finally ditching Republic after using them for YEARS.

Get your your act together Dish, or there won't be any customers left.

I too have same story. Told needed new SIM, walked through process on phone, told to wait five days, and nothing. Can't text or call. Told their engineers were working on it. I complained to BBB as have many others. They are a scam company and everyone should call their credit cards and get payments stopped. I put my old SIM card in to my phone and now told billing me for that. No they are not! When u call them , u are calling the Philippines. It's a scam and the FDIC and BBB needs to know..
Update:Just saw reply 7/22/22 Not good enough and not truthful. I have emailed and emailed. Now I can't get into my account. Saying wrong password. I have had same password for 7 years. I read they are blocking people porting phone numbers to new carriers. That is illegal. They also took down all the FB complaints including mine, from June 30 2022 onwards.
This is so unbelievable. It's a scam .You pay for new SIM card, doesn't work. You put back in old SIM card and they bill you for that. And so it goes..A total rip off. A scam. I see people writing they need phone as waiting kidney transplants and now have no service and this company could care less.
Blocking me from my account? Unbelievable.You won't silence me though..

13 days now without phone service, still can't receive calls, can't send and receive text messages, no voicemail option and data that doesn't always work. Worse of all, I can't port out so I am trap. I couldn't unlock my bank account today because my phone number is part of the 2-factor authentication and text messages have not worked in 13 days. I'm tired of apologies, I just want to be free from RW once and for all. I went to the legacy community for help and one person suggests that I check my carrier info on Telnyx and my carrier is listed as Bandwidth, LLC. The community told me that it's most likely my number did not port properly and it still on the old system. However, when I tried explaining this to customer service, they had absolutely no idea what I was referencing and were unwilling to help. On 7/15 I requested a new SIM card which I was told that the order was place, and would be receiving in the mail in 5 days. 5 days later, I called to confirm, and 2 different reps couldn't find the order and I was put on hold while they contacted a manager. I had specifically asked for confirmation email which I did not received. I have called, messaged on Facebook, emailed help@republicwireless. I just don't know what else to do.

As others have repeatedly noted, Dish have managed to break everything that made Republic worthwhile. I finally got past the bot-like service center and transitioned to another VOIP and Cell provider for lower price, higher data allowance and same cell network. Unfortunately still can't get a refund for the $21 Dish charged for the new SIM card/transfer to Plan 5.0, even though it was never activated and in contrast to their refund policy. But worth the theft just to be set free from this dreadful company . Their only achievement will be a world record churn rate of customers they "purchased" from Republic

Here's a update on my efforts to get my phone, a Moto g 5G bought through the Republic Wireless website, activated. On June 21, I first called to activate the phone. They canceled my old Moto e, also through Republic Wireless. Multiple calls and multiple IT tickets later, on July 18 I called again and was told, for the first time, that the Moto g 5G is not compatible with the RW software (although sold through the RW site!) and I should return it and buy a new phone. They offered a refund for the month without service. Now I have to buy a new phone -- probably not through RW, I'm thinking. Hope my number is still there to port over.
My experience is that the reps couldn't recognize this problem, and even when asking a supervisor couldn't figure out what was going on. Also that IT couldn't tell the reps why it wasn't able to link up the phone device number for the Moto g with the sim card number. So they kept telling me they'd file a new ticket again and again, and always to call back in 3 business days.
They fact that the reps can't contact IT directly other than filing a ticket to discuss seems like a big problem for RW. I guess a brick-and-mortar carrier store would not let you walk out with a phone that wasn't working but their plan would be more expensive. But if you're not a pre-May 2021 RW legacy or a Dish subscriber, then RW's plans aren't so cheap and not competitive with newer online-only carriers such as Tello ($14 unlimited talk/text and 2GB data per month). Can't imagine how RW is going to compete with that, without providing in-store service, going forward.

Long time customer, BUT seriously considering a switch to new provider. Over the past week I have spent in excess of 4 hours on the phone with various Republic Agents trying to upgrade my original Choice Plan 4.0 to Dish/Republic 5.0. BIG PROBLEMS ! First of all, 3 out of the 4 agents, while very nice, spoke VERY broken English making a rather complex upgrade almost impossible. Second, under original plan I had three lines on one account. Not possible with Dish Republic :( ! I had to open a second account to handle the third line. VERY family non-friendly. Third, today I received the SIM card for the "new" account, which agent said must be opened first in order to migrate the other two lines. Called the "Activate" center and the first agent walked me through the WRONG set-up for my Moto e6. When voice and text did NOT function after numerous attempts, I called back and got someone that I could communicate with (much better English) Thanks Juan! He walked me through a completely different set-up on the Moto e6, but the phone was still not functioning in voice or text. He called tech support and after holding for 10 plus minutes, I was given a ticket number and told that the problem should be resolved within 24 hours. Apparently, a problem with "cellular network not available" for unknown reason. I am currently hanging in there, BUT after reading the other recent reviews, I have serious doubts that "Republic by Dish" will be keeping my business. Too bad! Original Republic and their "wifi first" calling was excellently matched for my family needs at a great price. Additionally, I've been a Dish customer for 18 years, so I thought that upgrading to 5.0 would be a snap...NOT SO! I'll give it 48 hours on this ticket number 4638668 for resolution. Beyond that, if problems persist, I shall go shopping for another provider.
UPDATE: )8/31/2022
After much effort on my part and the purchase of 3 new Samsung Gallaxy A32s from Republic, I am hanging in there. My service has been restored to a satisfactory level. Hopefully, Republic by DISH shall workout the numerous difficulties in this time of transition.

Since Dish, we had terrible service. I have been trying to transfer to another carrier all week but Republic is blocking the transfer of my phones numbers.
The support won’t create a support ticket for a port (transfer) problem. Called and chatted about 10x now.
Support won’t let me speak to their Supervisors or to anyone in the Port Dept. They are clearly blocking me from transferring to another carrier.

Since Dish bought the service, it no longer does any of the things I valued. No more WiFi first, which was so important to me because I travel a lot. No more voicemail on the phone. I have to call a number like it's 1999. No more messaging through WiFi. A giant step backwards. Republic did wonderful, useful things when it started, but now it is just another fair-to-middling cell plan. I will shop around.

Republic was decent, then it got bought by Dish.

They stopped supporting both of our phones, but didn't tell us. One I found out when I saw showing under a different phone number so I reinstalled their app only for them to immediately stop service saying my phone, after 4 years, wasn't compatible anymore. No notice. Thankfully I was home and not caught out without a phone or way to contact anyone.

All the documentation on their website is wrong after the switch, and they no longer guarantee to support any phone you didn't buy through them. (They'll give you a list of phones you can try to bring but offer no guarantees- my phone is on that list and they decided not to support it. Factory unlocked and on the service for 4 years.)

I can't warn anyone enough to stay away from this company now that Dish owns it. As a matter of fact I'll never use any Dish services after seeing what they did to Republic wireless, and I feel a fool for ever recommending them to people.

I'm done with Republic. I wish I could give this a negative review. Your customer service is so bad that Im actually searching the web for places to leave reviews as it is truly a negative star review. While i have received bad service before I've never taken the time to actually look for places to leave reviews let alone bad ones.

We have been Republic customers for over 10 years & recommended it to anyone we come across. When we received the notice that Republic had been acquired by dish my wife called in to get us on the new plan. She was told that we could combine our separate accounts into one account , so she did this. She also ordered me a new phone as mine is pretty beat up. Once the new phone and new SIM cards arrived we called to get her old phone and my new phone activated. We were able to get her phone activated but was told we needed to wait a few days until it was fully activated before my new phone could be activated. Once we got the email that it was activated we called back. I don't remember the exact reason but it could not be activated. This happened the next 10 or so times that I called. We were always on the phone for 20 to 30 minutes talking to somebody that we could not understand. We would always be mysteriously disconnected or they would end the call they saying it was activated and that by the next day it should work. And of course did not work and I would end up calling back a day or two later. They could not understand that I was attempting to activate the second line on the account and when I told them this they would get confused. One nice customer service representative that I could actually understand spent 30 minutes on the phone with me and said that they would have to contact their it department in order for it to get fixed but it should be fixed in 48 hours or less. But of course that did not happen. We continue to call almost daily until I got fed up with it. We decided to switch carriers and my wife is now active on their account. Turns out I cannot move my phone over to the new carriers because it needs to be out we have called multiple times now to get the unlock key and they tell us that they cannot do it, or it will take a couple days etc etc. We have waited those couple days and it still has not happened. We decided instead that we would like to return the phone and just be done with it and they informed us that it was past the return policy. I would be okay with this, however we have had this phone and been trying to get a connected for the past 45 days minimum, with records in our account to prove it. I'm not sure what's wrong with their system and I don't really care at this point I just want my money back. I never want to talk to a Republic wireless person ever again. However after my wife spent 45 minutes on the phone with them today she was told again that it should be taken care of I decided to call back and talk to a manager to make sure it was taken care of and then spent 20 minutes on the phone trying to convince the customer service representative to get me to a manager. He put me on hold and then after 10 minutes came back and said that sorry no managers were available & he coulnd't send them a message to call me back. Seriously you can't have a manager talk to a customer that's the worst thing I've ever heard of.

We currently have three help tickets out there, one for getting the phone unlocked one for getting reimbursed for all the extra charges that they sent to us and another for the possibility of actually returning the phone. Apparently they're so busy they can't get any of these things done. In the meantime now currently my old phone does not work I cannot receive any calls or texts on my phone so it is basically useless paperweight.

Again the worst customer service I've ever seen. In addition to that I even had to type this post out twice because the first time it mysteriously disappeared. That's how frustrated I am, that I actually typed this post out two times. It's now copied and if it mysteriously disappears I will post it again and again and again. I also plan on calling customer service as often as I can and request that you talk to a manager wasting your agents time until I get answers.

I see a couple responses on here from Republic wireless telling people that I have complaints to message them privately and they will handle it. I will not be messaging you privately you can contact me my name is in this post and you should be able to look up my number and find me you should also be able to review my whole account and my wife's account and be sure you're up to speed on what's going on before you contact me. You should also have an answer to fix my problems as that's the only way I will delete this post or any other postings that I have put up on the internet.

Your move

Republic Wireless Customer Support (CS) has created a mess by deactivating my account without my consent and with no reason. I have spent since July 1 at 17:30 to re-active my number. On July 12, they claim they reactivated my number. With all this unnessary pain, I am trying to leave RW. However, when trying to move the phone to a new carrier there is an error message in the system "phone number is not active" I have spent the past three days to have RW CS to manually release my number. Yeah, per RW the phone is active, however, RW CS are stringing me along once again by telling me that it will be manually released and call back in three days to see if we actually did anything. So today, no it was not released and RW CS created a new ticket and told me to call back in three days.

I cannot express how DISH totally screwed up RW. Been a bragging customer since 2011. Now, it is nothing but wasted time and extreme amount of frustration.

I've been a satisfied Republic Wireless customer for years. Dish took over, and all went downhill! Problems with activating their sim card. My wife received an email "Welcome to Republic Wireless." About two hours later, I got an email because they cut off her phone line. They said they have no annual plans but still charged me for a year. Then they cut off the second line. My wife was traveling at the time and was without a phone for two days. After calling and complaining, I was offered a $20 credit for the inconvenience. I asked for more, and got an additional $10. Meanwhile, DISH had $240 as a credit balance on the account due to the annual charge. I was told I would be refunded within 7-10 days. That did not happen. Spent another hour on the phone with reps. A "supervisor" told me he was the supervisor. It took about 15 minutes and repeated demands before he would connect me with his supervisor. This person told me she processed a "ticket" so the "back office" can review my case and request for a refund of my credit balance for the annual charge. This is supposed to happen within 72 hours. I have spent many hours on hold and on the phone with reps. over the last six weeks due to these problems and more! One time I was told that my concerns would be escalated and that I would receive a call from a supervisor within 72 hours. Another time I was told that DISH/Republic Wireless had no way to escalate my case for review and call me back. I reminded the rep. that I am a DISH/Republic Wireless customer, that they have my phone number, and that they are a telecommunications company, all to no avail. Dish is ruining Republic Wireless almost overnight. Do not do business with them. I won't be.

Thanks for your response, Nina P. I don't use Facebook or Twitter. If DISH/Republic Wireless values me as a customer and wants to make this right, why don't they call me to apologize for all the problems and refund my money? I've initiated enough contact with your company. Too much, in fact.

Update- After contacting Republic again I was told it would take 8 weeks to get a refund for my credit balance. (It would be less, of course, after 8 weeks due to the future monthly fees. This wasn't mentioned.) I was able to speak with a supervisor, who repeatedly refused to connect me with a supervisor of his several times, and, finally, a "manager." She decided to be "transparent" with me, saying that I would not receive a refund to my credit card, as they extended me the "courtesy" of applying the amount of the annual fee charged to my credit card to my account. I "don't have to worry" because my credit balance will be used to cover the upcoming monthly fees until it's exhausted. I asked to speak with her supervisor or someone in the corporate legal office. She stood her ground for about thirty minutes, telling me that no one is available. She told me she did not know when someone would be available. She kept reverting to "tickets" and "email" as the means of internal communication. I've experienced poor customer service before. Republic Wireless is the worst!
Complaints filed: FCC, BBB, my credit card company

Update: With the intervention of the BBB, I was able to get nearly all of my money back. I rejected the settlement because R.W. shorted me $21.54, despite having the amount of the refund in writing from the escalation department. I have not heard back. Thankfully, I am free of RW. If I have to pay $21.54 for this separation, it's totally worth it. Best wishes to anyone who does business with RW.

Not looking good, been a pain, most things work except pictures now, which I need. Ill give them a week, fix or send me a new phone free or I'm gone after 7-8 years

Selling to Dish was the worst decision Republic could have made. Republic used to be fantastic. Now, nothing works like it should. Trouble tickets don't get worked on and phone reps have no clue. Just prior to the takeover, I prepaid for a year. That was a mistake. Now I want to switch companies but can't find out if I can get a refund from Republic. Before Dish I could text from anywhere, now I get "waiting for connection" unless I'm home, even if I've tapped into guest WIFI. Half the time my phone doesn't ring when I'm out and about. Apparently, callers are sent directly to voice mail, but I get no notification that there was call until I get home. The whole point of having a cell phone is for use away from home. I'm desperate to change carriers but can't afford to pay another one unless I get a pro-rated refund from Republic for my unused months. I despise Dish.
REPLY TO REPUBLIC: I've tried contacting you to no avail. Ticket created - nothing done. Tried Chat - gave up after waiting online more than 30 minutes. Refuse to use Facebook or Twitter. You guys need to get your act together and DO SOMETHING instead of trying to placate with canned responses.

My Motorola Z Play phone was not supported under RW's new plans so I was forced to buy a new phone. My husband's Motorola Z4 was considered iffy. So we each bought a new Samsung A32 5G. We ordered them on 7/1, received them on 7/7 and we are still trying to get them set up properly. This morning my husband turned on call blocking of spam and scans and it made all cell calls forwarded to voicemail. Customer Service was no help, we figured it out ourselves. Customer Service representatives throughout the past few weeks has been very difficult to understand and obviously very untrained. We do not use Facebook or Twitter so we can only seek help via Support line. Ugh. This has been one of the worst transitions ever. We do not recommend Republic Wireless to anyone!! We've been with them from the beginning and are so disappointed with the change to Dish. We probably will be switching carriers very soon.

I too have to add my voice to the chorus of discontent regarding RW. For many years it was a basic service with no frills, which was OK for my usage, but at least it had been reliable with no issues at all. Kudos for 6 years of good service. But since DISH acquired RW my cell service has been a train wreck. First no texts, then after an hour with tech support I was told I needed a new SIM card, which promptly arrived two days later. After that, nothing worked. Many hours on the land line phone to tech support, and still no working phone. I did my part, put in the time, but apparently there's been a brain drain at RW leaving all 200k customers in a panic. I will be ending my cell service with RW shortly, having purchased a wireless plan with Tello. And RW, please don't bother to respond with a saccharine sweet message of how all will be well if I just call the same tech support number again. And again. And again.

Garbage company since bought by Dish. Been with the company for years. Being able to use Wifi to text and call was the main draw of Republic. Now that that doesn't exist they're useless. Been trying to transfer to T-Mobile, which is cheaper anyway, and Republic is making it absolutely impossible. They don't have the account number listed on my account. Why? I imagine this is to stop people from transferring. To me this is criminal behavior. I might report them if I can figure out how. You have to CALL to get your account number. The first time they gave me the wrong number. Trying again now. Republic, you deserve to go out of business. I wish nothing but ruin on your crappy company