Good Morning @NancyM,
Yes that’s me on Reddit – I was looking for some answers/help and tried there before I found this new community!
There’s nothing at all wrong with that. For the most part, the folks on RW’s subreddit are doing their best to be helpful. That said; when they repeat inaccurate information provided to them by support as if it were fact, it doesn’t work out as intended.
So maybe I’m Pollyanna-ish, or lazy, or…? I had heard negative things about changing to 5.0, but I also wondered if maybe people got it to work and just couldn’t post on the forum anymore because they were no longer allowed on the community forum?
Indeed; there were a lot of negative posts regarding Republic 5.0 on the old Community, however, that doesn’t mean no one has had a successful experience with Republic 5.0. My experience moving from My Choice to Republic 5.0 was successful. An unfortunate reality concerning human nature is we are, generally, far more likely to share our complaints than we are to relate a success story.
The activation process was simple, but didn’t work, and I ended up calling CS several times. Some things about after activation procedures, I later found, are somewhere in the RW website, but weren’t linked with the activation process I saw. I could have read and followed the directions instead of calling.
Presumably, you are referring to the post activation steps outlined in Republic’s help document linked here: Finish Setting Up Your Phone.
So right now my phone is set up, but my mobile data signal is weak (-114 dBm) at home, so I can’t send\/receive texts at home or some other areas.
Cellular signal is like real estate. It’s all about location, location, location. Each of the three national networks (AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon) have areas of weak coverage (even in populated areas and when their maps suggest otherwise). For example, in my area I would rate coverage for the three national networks as follows:
- Verizon
- T-Mobile
- AT&T
All three are reasonably robust in my area, so my experience going from My Choice (cellular coverage provided by T-Mobile’s network) to Republic 5.0 (cellular coverage provided by AT&T’s network) has been fine despite T-Mobile’s network being providing slightly better coverage overall.
RW CS said to wait a few days…not sure if that will help.
At best, this is wishful thinking on support’s part.
I live in a populated area with good coverage, according to the coverage map.
Would you be comfortable sharing a zip code (nothing more) for your area, so we might take a peek at what the maps say coverage in your area should be?
My plan is to test it for 1-2 weeks. If it’s bad, I’ll port out before my payment is due. I don’t want to get into a refund battle with them.
You have 30-days to test 5.0 service. If, however, the phone was purchased from RW by DISH’s online store, only 14-days to return the phone. Was the phone purchased from RW by DISH’s online store or unlocked from a third party retailer?
Like everyone else, I mourn the loss of the old RW.
In the preceding paragraph, I explicitly referenced RW by DISH. As much as it pains me to utter those words I do so to differentiate the old RW from the entity now calling itself RW by DISH. As far as I’m concerned they are and shall forever be two separate and distinct things. This Community is intended to carry on in the spirit of the original RW.
I also had Ting before RW, and Virgin Mobile before that, and never had issues like I have now!
Historically, Ting has been a quality service provider. Like RW, the Ting Mobile brand is now operated by DISH. Virgin Mobile was folded into Boost, which is also now operated by DISH.
We’ll do our best to get Republic 5.0 working well for you as, despite what was posted on RW’s now closed Community and on Reddit, it does for many of us. If unsuccessful, we stand ready to help you find an alternative. My household is not and never has been RW exclusive in terms of mobile service providers.