Republic Wireless is a unique wireless operator thanks to its focus on using Wi-Fi for making calls and sending messages, but today the operator announced a new initiative to help it stand out even more.
Republic says that starting May 18, it will kick off a Republic Labs effort codenamed “Maestro” that’ll pay consumers back for data that they don’t use. The feature will repay customers for their unused cellular data, giving back penny for penny on their next month’s bill. Republic tells me that it anticipates that Maestro will be in testing for four to eight weeks and that it’ll be available to everyone after.
In addition to Maestro, Republic’s got a handful of other big changes in the works. Those include “Salsa,” a cellular-to-Wi-Fi handoff; “Hi-Hat,” a next generation phone; “Bridge,” which will allow you to receive your phone’s alerts on other devices like tablets and desktop computers; and “Tempo,” an additional carrier (Republic currently uses Sprint) that’ll begin testing later this year and is expected to go live to the public in early 2016.
Overall it sounds like Republic’s got a pretty big 2015 planned. The cellular-to-Wi-Fi handoff and new carrier will help to improve the experience of using Republic, and the news of a fresh next-gen phone is exciting because while the Motorola phones currently available from Republic are nice, new hardware is always nice to have.
What do you think of Republic’s upcoming changes? Do they get you interested in checking out this Wi-Fi-centric operator?
