Last week, we unveiled the largest range of new product improvements in the history of Republic Wireless: new phones, a second carrier partner, and an all new software architecture that enables fast updates to your phones. All of this runs on our patented Adaptive Coverage™ technology. Today we are announcing another piece of the Republic 3.0 puzzle - new plans. In this post we’ll lay out the details of our new plans and give you some context for how these plans came to be.

First off…we call them the Clear Choice Plans. These plans offer incredible savings, in a simple package…here they are:

We have plans up to 10GB, see the full lineup here.

Same Mission, New Plans

If you’ve been a customer for awhile, you know we’ve had a variety of plans over the years. We started with $19, moved to $10/$25/$40 (1.0 Plans) and last year introduced Refund Plans (2.0 Plans). If you’re wondering why we’re changing again, the answer is simple: At every turn we’re trying to create the best plans paired with the best service and technology Republic has to offer. The Clear Choice plans are the next evolution, and paired with our new phones and carrier partners, they push the savings even further for even more people.

How did you decide on these plans?

In our last update, we described all the feedback we’ve received regarding Refund Plans. Over the past year we’ve talked to hundreds of customers and surveyed thousands. We talked to members on Refund Plans and members who’d decided not to switch from our 1.0 Plans. We tried to understand what they liked, what they didn’t, and what they wanted us to add. We know everyone is different, but there were common threads in the feedback.

Refund plans were polarizing. We heard everything from “The Refund Plans are a stroke of genius.” to “$55 for 3GB is a joke!” Many of you told us you want something simple, something you didn’t really have to “figure out”, but still delivered incredible savings. 1.0 plan members didn’t resonate with Refunds. When talking to 1.0 members, the most common reason they didn’t switch to Refund Plans was they wanted access to more data at a lower rate. Others cited that they wanted the comfort of knowing their bill is going to be the same every month. As of today, only 38% of our Refund Plan customers are ones who’ve switched from 1.0 plans. This feedback was a driving force in evaluating and re-evaluating our plans for the next evolution of Republic. We found a better way… We set out to build something more of our members would love. In our research discussions with members, we found that simpler options were strongly preferred to more complex ones. Specifically, when we tested the Clear Choice Plans 80% chose them over the existing Refund Plans. In the end we found the Clear Choice plans were more broadly appealing to members and prospects alike.

In summary, Republic 3.0 isn’t just new plans, it’s an entirely new service offer. We have a new carrier partner, a new technical foundation, and a broad selection of the best Android phones on the market. This is all great stuff - these are the keys that have unlocked all the cool things we announced last week, but they also have different technical and cost implications for us. All of these changes were factors in the design of our new Clear Choice plans, including moving the base price of $15 for unlimited talk and text.

We understand some of you would prefer we stay with a Moto only portfolio of devices, on the Sprint network, at the current $10 price point (that option will still be available on our current Moto E and G devices). However, based on all the discussions and feedback from our members, we decided the majority of our members would prefer the benefits of Republic 3.0 at a $15 price point vs. the more limited device/ network offerings at $10.

If you’re an existing member, you might have specific questions about your plan and your phone. We’ve put together an FAQ that should answer most your questions: Republic Wireless 3.0 FAQs.

How do these plans compare?

Each of our new plans includes Unlimited Talk & Text over WiFi and Cell - delivered via our Adaptive Coverage Technology that provides high quality coverage in more places.

With the Clear Choice plans, you can select a plan that includes as little as 1GB of LTE data (for only $20!), up to as much as 10GB of data. Or, stick with our popular unlimited Talk & Text only plan for $15/month, which is half the price of offers from the big carriers1. All plans include calling and text messaging to Canada and the US territories (and we are looking to add more soon). As always, there are no contracts, and you are free to change plans anytime. If you run out of data, there are no overage charges - you can upgrade your plan from your Republic App for the rest of the month.

The new plans are savings simplified. At 1GB, these plans are less than half the price of comparable offers in the market today from the big carriers. Best of all, they offer savings for people with a broad range of data needs - Clear Choice plans are 58% less than the average big carrier price for 1GB of data, and 35% less for 4GB and continue to provide savings up to 10GB. In case you are wondering which of these plans would fit best for you, our data shows that 85% of our members would be fine on our $20 1GB plan.

Prices based on Verizon & AT&T Postpaid Plans, May 2016

We could make more comparisons (to other MVNOs, etc), but, this blog is long enough already and we’re happy to address any questions in the community dialog to come. We purposefully structured the Clear Choice plans to be easily comparable against the big carriers. We’re confident that you’ll see the savings that the Clear Choice plans offer, and of course they don’t come with any hidden fees that will surprise you when your bill arrives.

So this is how we’ve arrived at our new plans. In the end, we think the Clear Choice plans will be more appealing to more members, whether you have 1.0 plans, Refund Plans, or you haven’t joined Republic just yet. Please check them out, and join the conversation here.

1 Offers from Pre-paid Verizon & AT&T, May 2016