Forget everything you thought you knew about prepaid cell phone service!!

I am on Straight talk, unlimited talk text and web for 45 a month. Most people say that data must be very slow since its half of what people pay for the same plans with AT&T or Sprint.

Well, hold onto your hats. Yes, after 2.5gb of data a month they do throttle you, but so do most all carriers out there, some after less than 2.5gb. But how about 45 a month with full 4G LTE speeds? Here is a screen shot from my phone that I just took after doing a speedtest on my cell network!!

 

Virgin Mobile offers the same deal.

 

But their coverage area is microscopic. AT&T's network covers 99.9% of the US population.

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/check-cell-phone-coverage

 

The packages you have there are terribad .

 

Not T-Mobile. I have never been throttled that I can remember. I have used over 4 gigs a month before.

I have seen nothing that impresses me about AT&T. Their service is mediocre at best, they don't have the best prices, and they are a lot more controlling.

My ex had AT&T...no signal in the middle of downtown Denver. Thats just sad.

 

Wow. On a trip to my parents camp, I had a Verizon based Straight Talk phone and I lost signal for a good 40 miles or so. With AT&T, no matter how remote the road was in the middle of the woods, I never ONCE lost signal.

And it seems that ST isn't real good about throttling. Someone reported using 3.5gb in one month with no throttling at all.

 

What type phone do you have? I have considered switching to them for cell and keeping my current provider for my wireless modem. It is about time for me to get a new phone, and I don't want to be locked into a two year contract renewal again when my provider's "discounts" on new phones are not that great to begin with. I don't have data on my current contract and if you hit the wrong button, which is easy to do, you get nickled and dimed for data usage just for connecting.

I know a lot of people who use straight talk and they all seem to like it. Many of them switched because they were having other issues with their provider like dead zones. I have discovered that the type of phone does make a difference as well. I had a phone that did not get service in certain places even though the ones before and since did/does in those places.

 

I bought a used Samsung Galaxy Note. It's HUGE. It was an 800 dollar phone at the end of 2012, now its down to 170 or so on Ebay. That's what I paid and it works great. Its not in PERFECT condition, but it's close. There is one tiny scuff on the back cover, none at all on the glass. I have it wrapped in a 3 dollar rubber protective case with screen protector, so you can't see the scuff anyway.

I've used the following phones on Straight Talk:

Samsung Galaxy Note:AWESOME PHONE, bought used 170 on Ebay, mine uses AT&T towers. Takes excellent photos and full HD video. Full 4G LTE speeds as demonstrated by this thread.
Motorola MB520-great little Android phone, bought used in excellent condition on Ebay-35 dollars. Uses AT&T towers. Takes decent photos. Uses 3G data.
Droid Incredible 2-Nice little phone, uses Verizon towers. About 50-70 dollars used on Ebay. Takes excellent photos. This phone cannot access 3G or 4G data on Verizon, so it's stuck using the 2G Edge network.
Samsung Galaxy Precedent: Not a great phone at all, uses Verizon towers. Takes poor photos. Uses 3G data.

The unlimited ST plan comes to 50.27 a month, all little fees included. If you do decide to get a phone, research what sim card you need for it to work. Sim cards are about 7 dollars shipping included. Size doesn't matter, and neither does carrier, you just have to get the right one. In my area, AT&T has better coverage than Verizon so when I switched from the Verizon phones to either of the AT&T phones, I got much better coverage. Remember, you can port your number over to straight talk, so you don't have to tell everyone you're switching because they don't care, your number won't change.

 

Well, there is a free app that works just fine with my Samsung Galaxy Note, and it turns it into a wifi hotspot with unlimited data. I tried it out on my TV briefly and was able to stream HD video to the TV from Vudu movie TV. You might be able to totally get rid of your wireless modem if you have a phone that is also a wifi hot spot with unlimited data.

 

If you don't mind my asking, what Verizon phone did you use? I have looked into it, but was told by a Straight Talk store clerk that I might have issues with data if I convert my Verizon Razor to ST. I think accepting the sims card was the problem.

The idea of ST is very appealing, but I don't want to buy another phone since I am perfectly happy with what I got, and finally learned how to use it.

 

I listed them above. Both the Samsung Galaxy Precedent and HTC Droid Incredible 2 were on Verizon, and had issues with coverage where I was. It's not the phone, it's Verizon. Not all phones will work with Straight Talk. For instance, I found out the hard way that the entire Blackberry series of phones will not work, or at least the data won't. I'll check on the Razor. What is the exact name of your phone? Droid Razr?

 

Thank you, yes, its a Droid Razr.

 

Can you go into the settings and tell me the exact model number? It should be something like XT9XX where the last 2 x's are numbers.

 

I guess now I am more confused. Where do you get the SIM card for straight talk? I thought you had to buy the phone at Walmart or wherever that was made for the network. That is what my mom did. I just assumed that the SIM card was what you needed to access the service and the rest was between them and the tower owners. I guess I thought if you have an AT&T SIM card then it was because you had AT&T service.

 

I went to the ST website and plugged in the numbers and was told that my phone is compatible with ST, would accept the sims card. The issue is the 4G. That is what I don't understand. Why would it limit me to just text and talk, even though my phone is compatible?
The reason I am very interested in ST is the offer of an unlimited international (incoming and outgoing calls) calling card, since I have friends in the oddest places around the globe. If there are alternatives, I am all ears ( or eyes as it were).

 

No no, straight talk sells their own sim cards. You definitely don't have to buy your phone at wal mart. Straight talk has a "bring your own phone" plan. Click here to see if your existing phone will work with straight talk:

http://www.straighttalkbyop.com/

And you are right, I bought an AT&T compatible Straight Talk sim card because my phone was locked to AT&T. (one reason I got it so cheap, there is a high demand for unlocked phones, but not for a phone locked to one network). To make it easier, I just used an AT&T compatible Straight Talk sim card and it was plug-and-play. It was super easy. Straight Talk offers AT&T compatible sim cards, Verizon compatible, and generic unlocked GSM phone (T-mobile) compatible sim cards. With my Droid Incredible 2, it was a Verizon phone, so I stuck a Straight Talk sim card in it compatible with Verizon, and it worked perfectly (with 2G data speeds).

If you buy your phone from wal mart it will be ready to go with a sim already installed, but if you use your phone you'd have to purchase a sim card to make it work with straight talk. But the good thing is, if you love your existing phone, you can switch from your existing carrier to straight talk for no more than the cost of the sim card (7 dollars) and the 45dollar/month plan. Keep your existing phone, keep your number, keep all your existing contacts, everything. Just lose that 2 year contract.

I don't know why your 4G data wouldn't work, that's beyond my knowledge base. Perhaps it is the same problem that my Droid Incredible 2 had, it was incapable of accessing the frequencies that the 3G data with Verizon was transmitted on, and thus it was limited to 2G speeds. But this is just a guess. You have to remember, not all phones are able to work on all networks, not even close. That's why you'd potentially need an unlocked phone to make everything work right. I did a little research and it shows that while the Razr will work, it will need to be unlocked to get the full potential out of the ST network. If I may ask, who is your current cell phone provider?

I sure hope I'm helping you guys, I'm trying my hardest. It's difficult to explain to someone who hasn't done it before. But the bottom line is it's not complicated. Once you do it once, you're like, "Oh that wasn't bad!"

 

Verizon and how do you unlock a phone?

 

Okay, thanks. I want a new phone when I switch. Getting a new phone is a factor in going ahead to switch since I do not want to be extended two more years to get a discount, and if I am paying full price, Walmart will be cheaper than the company store anyways. I don't often use anywhere close to 1000 minutes a month so I could go with their cheaper $30 plan unless I do the wifi hotspot thing in which case I can dump my wireless web service and save even more money.

 

Unlocking a phone is risky and can "brick" the device if you aren't careful. But, if you have Verizon, you'd just need a Verizon compatible sim card. No real reason to unlock, except you might get stuck with the 2G data speeds like I did.

I would go look at wal mart at all the straight talk phones available. Some are like the Samsung Galaxy S3, a super duper phone. Then they have ones like my Galaxy Precedent, which I will tell you to run, not walk, away from. Yet they are side by side on the rack. In fact, you don't have to even go to wal mart. Just go here:

http://www.straighttalk.com/wps/por...A08XSz8jN1CzYwNAg31c6McFQHq-UlG/#.UuFg5dJdV8E

Type in your zip code and a list of phones usable in your area will come up. You'll see the prices next to each phone. If you find one you like, copy the make and model number, go to google, paste it in the search bar followed by the word "reviews" and you can see how each phone came out in reviews. A phone might look beautiful, yet reviews on it are HORRIBLE. I lost my ass buying that precedent. I paid 80 for it, and hated it. I sold it for 30. I was just glad to get rid of it.

 

From what I remember Verizon didn't use simm cards at least when I had one of their phones. That was a while back though so it might have changed since then or just been the phone I was using (the Razor).

I dumped my Samsung Galaxy from Sprint for a cheap $20 flip phone from Tracfone. I still use my phone for movies and games if I am going somewhere for a weekend but I could no longer justify $80 a month when I don't text often, use less than 20 minutes a month and I can download anything I need entertainment wise on my PC and just transfer it to my phone for free. The issue with the Tracfone is that I keep getting random advertising text messages that eat up my minutes and I even got some phone calls that turned to have been labelled as spam phone numbers according to Whitepages.com

The thing that finally got me to start looking for a new phone is when they texted me that I needed to restart my phone for an update to take place and I was charged for the text. Now I am looking for a pay as you go phone that isn't as obnoxious as Tracfone but haven't found anything spectacular yet.

 

You are right, for CDMA phones, you don't need a sim, but you still have to purchase a network access code.

 

Update on this, I am wrong on that. For CDMA phones, you have to call your provider and get the unlock code to put into the phone. This will unlock it to all carriers and then you purchase a CDMA sim card from straight talk and it will re-direct the phone to use straight talk networks, and not Verizon, for instance.