RW by Dish support giving accurate information?

Hello, thank you so much for starting this new community! My husband is having problems with his phone. We both called support the day after the legacy community closed after trying to access the reply from someone in the community where we’d posted the problem a few days before.

He called first and was told his only option was to switch to 5G. They didn’t try to trouble shoot the issue at all.

Then I called and the person I spoke to said that Dish is shutting down all towers except 5G and we will have no service within a month. I was surprised they would do that without informing anyone. Both people we spoke to insisted on it but I’m not sure I believe them. The person I spoke with supposedly opened a ticket about my husband’s phone issues and said I’d get an email but I have not.

My husband is going to join this community to ask for help on his phone issue. I’m writing here with a few different questions:

Does anyone know if the my choice talk and text plan is really going away in less than a month?
I don’t like how Dish is treating customers, lack of customer service, cancelling the community so even if it’s not true I’m not sure that I want to stay with them or switch to 5G. Are the people on here still with RW by Dish or have you moved on?
I loved RW and we’ve been with them for many years. I hate to switch, but I don’t really want to support a company that is behaving this way, although we will likely pay more if we move on. I’m wondering others thoughts on this.

Thank you

Then I called and the person I spoke to said that Dish is shutting down all towers except 5G and we will have no service within a month. I was surprised they would do that without informing anyone. Both people we spoke to insisted on it but I’m not sure I believe them. The person I spoke with supposedly opened a ticket about my husband’s phone issues and said I’d get an email but I have not.

This is absolute nonsense. It’s true that all three of the national carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon) have shutdown their 3G networks. 4G LTE will, however, continue to co-exist with emerging 5G networks for years to come. Though, DISH is in the process of building out it’s own 5G only network, it continues to offer 4G LTE coverage via network services agreements with both AT&T and T-Mobile. What Republic refers to as its 5.0 (Need, Want or Go) plans is the fifth iteration of Republic plans. These plans are not as has been suggested to you 5G only plans. They support 4G LTE as well.

Does anyone know if the my choice talk and text plan is really going away in less than a month?

I’ve seen nothing to suggest this is the case. It sounds like more unfortunate misinformation from Republic support. That said, Republic is no longer using its proprietary WiFi-first technology for My Choice plans. Depending upon the brand, model and (if applicable) generation of one’s phone, there may be negative service impact. Seemingly; support’s only answer is to upsell members (Republic has historically referred to customers as members) on 5.0.

I don’t like how Dish is treating customers, lack of customer service, cancelling the community so even if it’s not true I’m not sure that I want to stay with them or switch to 5G. Are the people on here still with RW by Dish or have you moved on?

This Community was founded by members (present and past) of Republic Wireless. Some of us still do business with the entity now calling itself Republic Wireless by DISH. Others have moved on to other providers. Then, there are those, like me, whose households do business with RW and other service providers simultaneously. For my household, that’s been the case for years before DISH entered the picture. Different household members have different wants and needs in a service provider. I’m not a believer in one size fits all.

I loved RW and we’ve been with them for many years. I hate to switch, but I don’t really want to support a company that is behaving this way, although we will likely pay more if we move on. I’m wondering others thoughts on this.

You will not necessarily pay more if you choose to do business with another service provider. I think it’s fair to say all of us participating here were loyal to the original RW. That loyalty doesn’t necessarily extend to RW by DISH.

Here’s what I suggest. If he’s so inclined, your husband is more than welcome to share his current challenges with service. We will do our best to troubleshoot his current service. Should that not work out, we can look at whether Republic 5.0 makes sense as an alternative or whether moving to another service provider is a better option for his (and your) specific circumstances.

The goal of this Community is to continue in the spirit of Republic’s old Community (members doing their best to help other members). This Community, however, is not sponsored by RW by DISH and no one here is paid by RW by DISH. Therefore, we don’t need to limit ourselves to RW (new or old) as the only potential solution to one’s needs and wants in a mobile service provider.

I so appreciate your thoughts, information, and help Rolandh!

Hi Wjm,

I feel your pain. I’ve been with Republic Wireless since it was in beta, and I still have a lifetime discount from that. I’ve been on a My Choice Talk & Text annual payment plan for a couple years now, and during the switch to RW by Dish.

It worked great before the Dish transition, and it’s still been working fine since, until I discovered a couple days ago that I couldn’t receive phone calls; they just went straight to voicemail. I really don’t know how long that’s been going on because I rarely receive phone calls at all (maybe a month?). I’m still able to make phone calls, whether or not I’m on wifi, which seemed odd to me. Why can I make calls, but not receive them?

I tried troubleshooting the problem on my own, and determined that the problem likely had something to do with my network (I have a Samsung Galaxy S20 5G). I just tried calling RW by Dish’s support tonight, and after a couple tries, got through to someone. That person told me that because I’m on a legacy plan with an old SIM, I’m on an old cell network, and that my coverage wasn’t very good, and that’s why I’m having this problem. He told that there was nothing I could do about it other than upgrading my plan and getting a new SIM card.

I’ve decided I’m not going to do that. RW by Dish seems like a pretty garbage company, and I’m not interested in supporting them. I’ll be leaving my wonderfully cheap plan and switching to a service that actually works (joining my partner’s xfinity phone plan that’s bundled with our internet).

Republic Wireless is, sadly, dead.

I hope you leave as well, and wish you luck.

Unfortunately, RW by DISH has been giving off bad vibes since the buyout. Support does not appear to know how to troubleshoot connectivity problems, and instead reverts to the old marketing methods FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) and will instead bad mouth the service your on (T-Mobile) and try to up-sell you to 5.0 (AT&T)
Thanks to the efforts of Ambassador @rolandh there is hope for those users on what is being called the Legacy Network (T-Mobile MyChoice).
Often by following his guide “Are-you-having-cellular-connectivity-issues?” many users are able to regain the connectivity they used to enjoy.

Sadly, we must accept the parent company DISH Wireless, LLC and consequently RW by DISH is an incompetent organization largely incapable of providing meaningful support. Like every incompetent organization, there are capable individuals within the organization including many of those brought in to manage the RW brand. Nonetheless, despite their best efforts, it’s generally not possible to overcome corporate ineptitude.

The relevant question is does one wish to attempt working around the corporate ineptitude or does one want to do business elsewhere. Either is the decision of the involved customer. Here in this Community, there are members willing to help with attempting to solve issues with RW by DISH service or to suggest alternatives if one has made the decision to move on. Put another way, a continuation of the old RW Community’s tradition of members helping members with what they want help with.