Republic Wireless, once one of the wireless industry’s quirkier experiments in business models, is now clearing out its metaphorical cubicle as its corporate parent Dish Wireless begins moving subscribers to its Boost Infinite network.
The news emerged Monday after a Republic subscriber shared a company email on Reddit that announced an impending transition to Boost Infinite, the greenfield 5G service that Dish has been building out since 2020. A Dish spokesperson confirmed that shutdown plan to the telecom trade pub Fierce Wireless Tuesday morning and then to PCMag on Tuesday afternoon.
The email shared on Reddit says Republic subscribers will be moved to Boost’s $25/month Infinite Unlimited plan, although those on cheaper plans will keep their existing rates for the next six months. It also cites an Aug. 31 deadline for Republic subscribers to activate service on Boost Infinite and retain their account and phone number.
Republic launched in 2011 as a $19/month service that would keep subscriber costs low with a Wi-Fi-first model. Since carriers then reserved texting and calling for their cellular networks, Republic customers needed to buy a customized, low-end LG Android phone that supported Wi-Fi calling and texting—and those users were then expected to avoid spending too much time on Republic’s fallback Sprint coverage.
Republic came into its own two years later when it began offering a version of the Motorola Moto X, a far more competitive handset. It also switched to providing customers a choice of four cheap rate plans: $5 a month for Wi-Fi-only service; $10 for unlimited text and calling over either Wi-Fi or cellular but data over Wi-Fi only; $25 for unlimited talk, texts, and data over either Wi-Fi or Sprint’s 3G network; and $40 for unlimited talk, texts, and data over Wi-Fi or Sprint’s 4G LTE network.
As other carriers began offering Wi-Fi calling and texting—not to mention overlapping rate plans that find different ways to spell “unlimited”—Republic’s service stood out less and less. Dish bought Republic in March 2021, part of an industry-wide consolidation in which bigger carriers rolled up formerly independent resellers, and gained 200,000 subscribers in the process.
The wireless experiment that Dish is now focused on is its attempt to build a nationwide 5G network for Boost Infinite. It took on that goal when the government conditioned T-Mobile’s purchase of Sprint on those companies turning over some network assets to Dish, the idea being that Dish would then become a fourth national carrier in Sprint’s place.
Like Republic, Boost Infinite first launched service with only one Android phone supported but has since improved its hardware options. In June, Dish announced that Boost had met an FCC deadline to cover 70% of Americans with this service, and in late July it began selling service on Amazon via a deal that prequalified Amazon Prime subscribers for service.