After living with and paying for Straight Talk for 2 years, this review /editorial will serve as the official follow-up to my initial review filed in May 2011.
Keep in mind that my experiences will not necessarily mirror your own and as always, do your research before purchasing wireless service with a new service provider, lest you end up with an expensive paperweight.
1. Introduction
On May 10th 2011, after taking some time out to investigate my options for prepaid flat-rate monthly wireless service I took a chance on Straight Talk after being unsatisfied with the then current options in MetroPCS, Boost/Virgin Mobile and smaller alternatives due to their rates and lack of options.
At the time, Straight Talk was the best compromise for what I was looking for with a price at or below $50 a month, with full flat rate monthly access which meant unlimited voice, messaging and data without having to worry about burning through talk time or messages. Since those days, StraightTalk itself has gone through many changes, some good and some bad.
2. Straight Talk’s Recent Changes
The good about the changes centers on an official program for bring your own device support for non-BlackBerry GSM and Verizon CDMA devices, after months of unofficial device swapping tricks and hacks. The program first made its debut last year after months of speculation and anticipation, and it seemed that it addressed many of the needs and desires of those that wanted to purchase their own devices or bring previously activated AT&T phones to the virtual operator, but the worst change since then has been the elimination of AT&T from the majority of its service area and BYOD offering at the beginning of this year, only to replace it with T-Mobile network access and the recent addition of Verizon BYOD.
Following the initial introduction of BYOD last year, Straight Talk scored another big point against other virtual operators later in the year by being the first virtual operator to offer a Verizon-powered Android smartphone after years of the carrier refusing to support smartphones on MVNOs and pricing data access to the point where many Verizon MVNOs had the smallest data allotments out of all offerings.
With the introduction of the Samsung Proclaim, StraightTalk had simultaneously revived its Verizon agreement and ushered in a new wave of customer gains as current and former StraightTalk customers rushed to purchase the phone to take advantage of Verizon’s expansive prepaid coverage compared to previous Android options powered by Sprint.
3. The Glaring, Long Standing Negatives of Using Straight Talk
However, since those days, the bad aspects about Straight Talk have also made themselves more apparent, such as low quality telephone support, arbitrary data limits without explicitly stating limits leading to customers being throttled or even booted from the service and very little in the way of transparency when taking terms and conditions into account. To this day, representatives refuse to elaborate on data limits despite advertising unlimited service and repeated questions across the media concerning the issue, forcing users to discover the limitations on their own through trial and many errors.
3. Staying with Straight Talk During The Explosive Growth of Prepaid
Two years on from my first review of the service and even taking the aforementioned issues into account, I’m happy to say that I’m still a satisfied StraightTalk customer, even with the exponential growth of flat-rate prepaid and more compelling alternatives from other brands and even carriers. I still use the Nokia E71 I purchased to start Straight Talk service with no issues and it has served me quite well, with many trips across the country for conventions and solid performance wherever I needed it, both in terms of talk time and battery life, as well as serving as a decent hotspot modem in a pinch.
I’ve been tempted to move to other prepaid services during my tenure with Straight Talk, such as Sprint-powered Voyager Mobile, owing to its much cheaper $39 monthly rate for unlimited service which includes LTE service, but what keeps me from making the move centers on the current lack of nationwide LTE coverage and giving up a fair bit of overall coverage, which I’ve come to rely on during travel. Other virtual providers and brands may also have lower rates or faster data access for more per month, but as in my first review, they lack the peace of mind I found with Straight Talk.
4. Savings And Phone Upgrade Possibilities
I’ve saved exactly $1209.12 over 2 years with Straight Talk, doubling its oft advertised $950 yearly savings rate, and the savings are indeed appreciated, though what would be even nicer would be keeping the $45 rate while including all necessary taxes and fees, which would make the offering even more attractive than it already is and is the main reason I plan to stay a Straight Talk customer for the foreseeable future, though now I have another dilemma.
As is common with many people after 2 years, now it’s time for me to upgrade my phone. While the E71 is perfectly useful, only needing a new battery and in near mint condition otherwise, the operating system itself in Symbian is close to being officially sunset and apps for the device are steadily declining despite the steady stream of operating system updates before support officially ends in 2016.
Paying a consistent $50.38 per month has been a small joy over the 2 years I’ve had service, because it’s been the only consistent monthly expense I have while everything else I pay for has gone up in cost, something that should be taken into account when budgeting for monthly expenses.
5. Viable, Timely Options for New Devices
This is where the biggest positive change for Straight Talk has pushed it to the top, as it now offers halo devices such as the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S III while still offering mid-range smartphones and cheaper feature phones that made up the bulk of its line up 2 years ago. More smartphones are also available for every budget level, a stark difference compared to 2011 and a major reason for the explosive growth both in smartphones and customer growth.
I’m not necessarily starved for choice the way I was in 2011 having chosen the E71 due to the relative lack of compelling phones at the time, but now that I can choose between iOS and Android as well as Windows Phone 8 with the Huawei W1, the question now becomes which platform do I tie myself down to for the next 24 months, as all three have their advantages and disadvantages.
6. Unlocked Devices: Even More Choice
Even with all of the increased choice, I can still choose to forgo buying a branded Straight Talk smartphone and just pull the active SIM from my current phone and buy another device, giving me potentially more choices. My current mission now is finding the perfect device to fit the service I’m using, especially since I still have access to AT&T service and coverage.
My ideal device would actually be the BlackBerry Q10, as it features a similar shape to the E71, though it isn’t widely available as an unlocked device yet and the AT&T-branded version hasn’t been released yet, making it very likely that I won’t be able to just buy one outright when it is launched sometime next month, owing to routinely stupid store and company policies regarding new devices and outright purchases without a plan purchase from AT&T.
Barring that option, this is what I’m currently looking at for an upgrade from my current phone:
- iPhone 5 (64GB Straight Talk version)
- Samsung Galaxy S IV (16GB AT&T version)
- Sony Xperia ZL (Unlocked 16GB version)
- Nokia 808 PureView (Unlocked version)
- Huawei W1 (StraightTalk version)
- HTC One (64GB AT&T version)
While I mull over my options in terms of an upgrade, I’ll close this by saying that I’m glad I chose Straight Talk over other more well-known and better advertised offerings in 2011, even when they weren’t as well-known as they are now.
7. Conclusion
Time will tell if I’ll feel the same 2 more years from now, but these past two years have been a smoother experience than I could have ever expected or wanted from a prepaid service. Will experiences vary? Of course they will, such is the nature of cellular service in the US, especially prepaid service.
What I can say is that anyone paying more than $50 for service a month is doing themselves a great disservice by not looking and shopping around for alternatives to pay less money for identical service per month. Straight Talk currently offers the most options for different needs and situations, something that can’t be said for the majority of virtual operators and even carriers. Will Straight Talk be right for everyone? No, but it should be kept in mind as a viable option when shopping around for prepaid service.
If you have good AT&T coverage, why not buy the Nexus 4. It’s up to date and you never have to worry about updates.
Also, using your phone to thether is a violation of the T.O.S.
Here is a WARNING for all Straight Talk customers. If you are purchasing a plan online and receive any type error from the straight talk website, or you briefly loose your internet connection.. DO NOT continue the transaction. Close the browser window and start over from scratch or you WILL be double charged. The worst part is it takes 30 days to receive a refund for their mistake. Why is it “their” mistake you say? It’s simple, as a full time programmer i can tell you it is a severe coding mistake that adds the same query twice to the sql database without checking for duplicate attributes. To make matters worse they are VERY aware of this issue, and have been for several years now with no attempts to correct it. Also, calling customer service will get you no where 95% of the time, as they are unable to handle the volume of calls. The best, and Fastest way to get issues resolved is to use LIVE CHAT via Facebook.
I experienced the double billing scam from ST 2 months i a row, then after trying to resolve a throttling from 4g to 0.01-0.05 speeds for over a month they decided to change service end date a month earlier without refunding for it and can not get them to unthrottle my speeds
I have had Straight Talk for over 1 year running on a Lumia 900. Fir the most part the service via AT&T has been ok, although I still can’t send photo messages, just emails. And the customer service is beyond abysmal. I tried to get my dad a new t-mobile compatible Lumia and run it on straight talk’s byod program. We ordered a Tmobile sim from straight talk but they sent a full size version not a micro sim. The customer service operators said too bad, no refunds ever, and they won’t send a micro sim. They said cut the current chip down. My dad is a senior citizen and this has him this infused and angry. And rightly so. To me it borders on fraud. I can deal with their many shortcomings, but I doubt many other people have the patience for such lousy service.
Big Loser – The Nexus 4 is the product of piss poor planning by LG. I won’t touch it with a pole. Also, kinda hard to stop tethering on the E71 when it’s built into the phone itself and doesn’t set flags off.
Straight Talk has declared a jihad on people streaming anything on 3G and people using their phone to thether. When people read what you said about thethering your phone, most are not smart enough to realize that it’s a violation of the T.O.S.
Straight Talk facebook page gets 20 to 30 complaints daily from customer’s who’s data got throttled for streaming audio/video, online games, thether.
Big Loser: This is why I stated that research is necessary before making a purchase. Most of the complaints I’ve seen daily from customers over the years usually have to do with the fact that they don’t read before they do/buy anything or understand what moderation means.
When I use my current phone for tethering, I use it to get work done, not to screw around watching YouTube or Netflix, which is what most people make the mistake of doing when they figure out how to do it, thinking that it’s just like a cable or DSL connection.
In terms of a warning, the worst I’ve ever had is a phone call, but those ended for me in early 2012 with no repercussions since then. Call me lucky or stupid if you’d like, but I’ve never had the issues most people like to complain about. Can they happen to me? Sure, I’m not discounting that possibility, but as long as I and everyone else uses common sense, it’s a remote possibility.
If Big loser is correct, Doesn’t that mean straight talk violates their own agreement by selling phone/devices that can do tethering or streaming? (I am not familiar to what teethering is). Disclaimer, I am not say Straight Talk is violating their own agreement.
Spektor,
Did you pay by credit card for the service & sim? if you did, I would call them back & tell them to send you a micro sim and full month allowance or you will do a charge back, the reason no service was provided. On a side note, I thought Straight talk has stop doing BYOD-from reading forums.
I agree. People need to research before they spend their money. I like having a smartphone that runs Verizon for $45 a month. I can live with all the data restrictions. But Straight Talk scares me the way they throttled and cut off your data with no warning. Customers have been posting that they never get there data speed back after getting throttled. Even after refilling there accounts.
I use my GPS from time to time. Straight Talk can throttle you for using your GPS too much. What’s the limit. How much is too much. I was thinking about switching to Page Plus until American Movil brought them. I don’t use youtube or pandora on 3G. But I can be throttled at any time for using my GPS?
I would love a hard cap of 1.5GB. For me, that would be perfect.
Straight Talk isn’t throttling customers for using the GPS antenna in their phone. However, if you use network-assisted GPS like Google Maps Navigation, which consumes data to pull down maps and calculate directions… that can be something subject to throttling and disconnect by Straight Talk’s ambiguous “unlimited” data restrictions.
If you’re fine with a hard cap of 1.5 GB, Net10 offers that and is a Tracfone brand which offers AT&T BYOD SIMs. Odds are 1.5 GB on a Straight Talk Verizon phone like Galaxy Precedent or iPhone 5 should not be an issue though.
Straight talk. Unlimited my azz .. nothing but a ripoff…. someone should bring a hell of. .alawsuit aginst ST and wal-mart….
Straight Talk has deactivated TWO phones on me over the last few years for violating the data allotment. How, pray tell, am I supposed to know how much data is too much?
Humberto Saabedra, did you choose a new phone yet for Straight Talk? Also, I’m looking to start using Straight Talk as well. I have a Galaxy Nexus and unlocked AT&T iPhone 4. Someone said they no long do the BYOD. Is that true?
Bryan: BYOD is still offered on StraightTalk, but the service no longer offers AT&T SIM cards and is instead issuing SIM cards powered by T-Mobile. A workaround that’s still available would be buying a StraightTalk-branded Nokia E71 or E5 online, activating either then taking the SIM and putting it into either phone.
As for selecting a phone for an “upgrade” I’ve decided on buying a BlackBerry Q10 for now ahead of the release of Nokia’s next high-end flagship. Ultimately, I’m going to be purchasing A BB10 device, Android flagship, iOS device and Windows Phone 8 device this year to adequately find out the pros and cons of each platform.
It’s not necessary, but I feel I’m not doing my job if I’m not able to detail the pros and cons of each platform as they stand. Buying each device will also take away any need to fit into any marketing campaigns and write reviews which don’t really take into account living with each platform on a daily basis.
Straight talk has worked fairly well for me over the last year (AT&T SIM). You get unlimited calls and text (with VM forwarding and mms). The only thing that I didn’t like is the data. If in high traffic areas I would lose priority with internet to other users, and it would be really really slow (this is in Seattle). Also the data is capped at 2 Gigs and no roaming eaither. But $50/month after tax it’s still a decent deal.
I just switched because I wanted more data that was at 4G speeds (not just 3g+ on ST), roaming, and unlimited international text. I switched to Solavei and so far it’s a better service. I have double the data allowance, and it’s fast! If you have good T-mobile service in your area, give it a try.
http://www.solavei.com/newaccount
Great article. You get what you pay for with Straight Talk. My service started out strong with an ATT sim in a Nexus 4 (by the way Humberto you get what you pay for with the Nexus 4 tambien and as much as I love vanilla android I sold it because its was shoddily built and got a Note 2) but has been crappier and crappier as time has gone by. The worst moments are when the navigation gives out for no reason. while you are in route.
Personally, ATT has been pretty much crap for me, but it’s been over 5 years since I was on their (cingular/att) network so I may give it another shot. T-Mobile is where I felt I got most bang for my buck but when I started traveling for work I realized how limited it was in terms of national footprint. Verizon has been the best service so far but I gave up an unlimited plan I was paying $90 a month for to move to Straight talk. I am still wondering if that was an idiotic move, but that is because I still travel a lot to remote areas. If I was in an urban area where T-Mobile was strong I would go with that, until then I may be stuck with Straight Talk.
I did my home work and decided to give a try to Straight Talk service, being currently under expiring AT&T contract with bills above the sky. I’ve purchased Straight Talk AT&T sim card from eBay and used my back up AT&T cell phone (Samsung) to try.
Surprise number one: Straight Talk is misleading its customers big time. Straight Talk lies about AT&T towers they use for their service coverage. If I put together my two cell phones, one under my “real” AT&T service and Straight Talk one, AT&T wins every time with no questions, with 5 bars reception for AT&T and 0-1 for Straight Talk. The same towers, different signal? BS. I live in Los Angeles, not in rural area and most of the time the voice quality on my phone with Straight Talk service was below my worse expectations. It constantly shifting between crystal clear voice clarity to the point when I can hear only frustrating noise and broken words. The number of episodes when call was dropped without warning is countless. On the beginning I was thinking: well maybe something is wrong with my good old Samsung known to me for its excellent quality for two years I’ve used it before I switched to more fancy one… And you know what? I’ve exchanged Sim cards between my two phones, then my brother’s phone and wherever you insert Straight Talk sim card, that phone will give you a problem with calls quality. So the problem was not in defective cell phone but in poor Straight Talk coverage. You can see 3-4 bars on your phone screen but next second your important call will be dropped and bar count goes down to zero.
Surprise number two: Straight Talk customer service. Here is the biggest fun ever. Let say, you live in area with Zip code XXX33. This is a zip code that you used during your brand new Sim Card activation on Straight Talk website. A few days later you travel to another part of the town or state and you find out that your phone is failing to receive calls or dropping calls or anything else needs to be fixed. You call to Customer Support and nice voice is telling you that they can help you with the problem ONLY WHEN YOU ARE PHYSICALLY LOCATED at Zip area registered with your Sim Card. So if you are visiting your grandma in Texas, then you have to buy a ticket, fly back to your tied up with Straight Talk residence and THEN they will be able to help you, if you are lucky enough. When I called them up asking to check why calls quality is so poor on my Straight Talk phone, they said: go back home and then call us again. My reasonable suggestion that I am at work which is only 6 miles away from my home…it did not work. You MUST be at registered Zip area in order for them to work on your connection issue. It is the most ridiculous answer I ever had from any customer support. I was looking for a Freedom, not for being home-bound in order to get adequate tech support.
So I decided to throw away this piece of junk and look for T-mobile prepaid plan… If AT&T would be not that mental with data plans $$$, I would stay with them…
You aren’t very specific (and therefore not likely very scientific) about your dual-cell phone tests. How did you confirm it was an AT&T SIM you were using? ST has been known to “screw up” (some say deliberately and that’s entirely possible) and send a T-Mobile SIM instead of the ordered AT&T one.
I was on the road a LOT when using ST and I never had to worry about where I was during the (admittedly few) times I had to call support. It is possible you got a poorly trained operator – I strongly suspect they are located out of country and thus clueless about how things work in America. They are HIGHLY scripted (meaning virtually everything they say and do is according to pre-planned scripts that they MUST follow or lose their jobs) – it is almost always pointless to fight it. These are the things you must accept and work with for low-cost services. Just end the call, wait a few minutes, and try calling back – you’re highly likely to get someone else that may be more helpful. Alternatively you could demand a supervisor (which admittedly is likely to just be another operator who will back up the first, but you’ll be more likely to get a supervisor when you demand to go over the second person’s head). Again, these are the things you must deal with for low-cost service. I feel it’s worth it because once things are working you’ll rarely ever have to deal with it again and will save plenty of money in the long haul.
HORRIBLE SERVICE- If you care anything about keeping your phone number, DON’T even think about using Straight Talk. THREE WEEKS and over 9 hours of time with their “customer service” – and they never could figure out why, after a month of it working, suddenly the phone number I use for 3 businesses (hubby’s plus 2 jobs) stopped working. I had to change everything – websites, business cards, everything. Finally one boss told me HE’d buy the phone and the plan, just “get a real phone!” Verizon tried to port in my Straight Talk number, was unable to, finally gave up and I got YET another phone number… and he and I both told S.T. “DON’T try to port out the old number. Keep it going!” It’s on about 100 registrations for an event in November. Guess what? “… That number has been changed, disconnected or no longer in service.” Perfectly horrible.
I was with them for three years using ATT. At first it was fine, but then ATT started dialing down the data speeds for rural access. Even at ST prices EDGE speed is barely equal to dial up. Then dealing with customer service was worthy of a comedy show. I ran into the same “you have to be in your zip code for us to work on your account”. Then next call they forced me to change numbers!!!!
I had to take a peek at their latest policies since being sued for being deceitful about their “unlimited plan” and promising 2.5G for all. Nope they still are throttling those who would dare to stream Pandora or Netflix up to the limit of what they paid for which is 2.5G.
My best choice was PagePluscellular.com. I’m on a 5G plan of which I’m allowed to use it as quickly as I want or as slowly as I want. No complaints about streaming. Plus I can use the whole 5G of which I paid for. Unfortunately it’s only at Verizon 3G but it’s over 2meg speed at our country location which works for everything I need it for. I just hope it stays the same due to American Movil (owners of Straight Talk) having recently purchased it.
So far it’s still been great.
Straight Talk is still the deceitful company they have always been. They just changed their language slightly to satisfy the court system and to avoid being further sued.
STRAIGHT PHONE COMPANY SUCKS DONT BUY IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seating capacity is the legal number of people that can go to the fiepd but may
call the staff to gross up insurance be employed and
go ahead and take it over.
I just purchased a card at Wal-Mart who did not scan the card properly and now I’m out thirty dollars. Their customer service is worthless. I’m finished with them for good.
Regarding straighttalk phones… I was wondering how u can tell if a phone is specifically uses at&t towers and how you can trick the straight talk website into allowing you to actuallychoose from a wider range of these phones. currently u have to enter ur zip code and they dictate the phones available and there really is no way to determine what tower these phones use…i read an article that told you what product numbers to look for but this doesn’t help if you don’t have the product in front of You in the store. The stores have very limited selectionveryselection
Do not take it, they change my telephone number out of blue, and every single time I called them they hold me on line for an hour and finally with no result, I had to stay with my new phone number, and the associates are not helpful at all, it took for a month that I set up the new plan, they sent me the sim card two times, it was just a waste of time, and I am going to change my plan soon. Calling them is just a waste of time. Furthermore, you will not have MMS and group message in the plan, picture texting and etc and internet is slow.
I purchased the Iphone 5s from walmart.com on 12/15. I was a Verizon contract customer for years and was going to port over the number from Verizon to Straight Talk. I was paying $118 a month with taxes and was simply looking to save money. I activated the phone on 12/18. I had to call customer service and reached a human who spoke english within a minute. He was very helpful. He did everything to get the phone ported over and within 4 hours the phone had been activated. After 3 days, the service is great, the phone, data and texting works fine as far as I could tell. It works as good at my house and my work as my old iphone did on Verizon. So far, i couldnt be more satisfied. I NEVER write reviews for anything and just want people to know of my good experience.
Do NOT order your phone online from Straight Talk. They sent me a defective phone (LG Optimus Ultimate) that would not move beyond “security error” when I tried to turn it on. I wasn’t surprised because the phone seemed cheap right out of the box. I was forced to pay for the postage myself, including the tracking that ST requires or no refund, to return the phone! So they sent me a defective phone, and because I didn’t want it replaced with another piece of crap phone, I got to spend $15 to send it back! Nice customer service!
Oh – and it was like pulling teeth to get them to refund the service plan card (fingers crossed that they actually will). I have no use for it since I don’t have a ST phone – since the one they sent me was defective – but they insisted that they were absolutely non-refundable. Be very careful dealing with ST.
straight talk has by far the WORST customer service of any company I have dealt with in my entire life.
they are completely incompetent and under-trained. they have also lied to me to get me off the phone. promising one thing, only to be disappointed.
i have called about this particular issue FOUR (4) times and just checked my account to see that, again, i have been lied to and will have to call AGAIN for the fifth time.
that means my service plan, with all the time added up, should expire 3/4/15. of course, since NO ONE at STRAIGHT TALK has any idea of what they are doing (they barely speak/understand English).
the last four times, i tell them they need to escalate the call to a real manager (they lie and say they are a manager — dont believe them!). they assure my the dates are changed. i call them liars. again, they assure me. i usually have to submit to their incompetence cause by then i am just so frustrated.
i am done trying to get what i paid for.
i have cricket and very happy with it…i have unlimited talk, text, and 2.5gb of data…after that its throttled….i don,t pay the $50 that straight talk is , but i pay $53…also, what walmart does not have, is that i also applied for loan at cricket(not part of cricket), and was approved for $2000 toward phoens, and my credit is not that good…….going to stay with cricket, which soon will probably be at&t….and then get the lte speed……
I have had straight talk for a couple years now, uo until today. Recently, the customer support has declined, mainly because of non-american workers……..if that offends anyone, my apology, but since we are in the U.S.A. I expect to be able to understand and get respect when calling for support. This did not happen the last time I had to call Straight Talk, so I have moved on to Virgin Mobile. Today, I had the worst experence I could possibly have with a cellular service, and I made that known to the Supervisor, but they were non-american as well, so it was a complete waste of an hour trying to get things straightened out. Finally, I was placed on hold, and had to go over everything again because their computer doesn’t show them what has already been documented. The worst part, is that they have a no-care attitude because I feel they enjoy treating americans with disrespect……..please keep in mind this is only my experience and does not reflect that of anyone else, american or not.
I am in no way prejudice but feel if you call a company that provides service in the US, we should at least be able to speak with someone we can understand………..I’m done with Straight Talk, and would not recommend them to any of my american family or friends!!
THIS IS ALL A LIE OTHER PEOPLE CAN STEAL YOUR PHONE NUMBERS AN ALSO YOUR AIRTIME THE REPRESENTATIVES ARE RUDE AND YOU CANT UNDERSTAND THEM IF YOU PURCHASE SOMETHING THROUGH THEM SUCH AS UNUSABLE BYOP KITS THERE IS NO REFUND EVEN IF YOU ARE INSTRUCTED TO BUY THIS KIT FOR THE ACTIVATION OF YOUR OWN PHONE THEY TELL YOU YOUR PHONE IS COMPATIBLE TO GET YOU TO PURCHASE THIS KIT BUT ONCE IT DOESNT WORK YOUR OUT OF 70 BUCKS…..GO TO SIMPLE MOBILE UNLIMITED EVERYTHING FOR 35 DOLLARS FLAT AN NO RUDE REPRESENTATIVES………LETS BAND STRAIGHT TALK TILL IT TREATS VALUED CUSTOMERS BETTER I HAVE 150,000 FRIENDS ON THIS ALREADY JOIN TO GET THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF SERVICE FOR OUR BUCK
Straight Talk advertises and sells a service plan card for $30, through WalMart, which includes up to 1000 minutes, 1000 texts, 30 MB of data and free 411 calls for 30 days. What they don’t ell you is that it may not be an “approved” plan for your phone. So you pay for the card and try to refill your account with it, but they won’t accept the PIN stating that the plan is “incompatible” with your phone. I have an IPhone 4S, so I don’t understand why it’s incompatible. And, of course, they invite you to purchase a $45 service plan card with no credit for the $30 you just spent. Maybe you should call customer service to try to determine in advance if this plan is compatible with the phone you own and hold for an hour to speak with someone who doesn’t speak English and reads from a script which doesn’t address your issue.
I had Straight Talk for 2 weeks- DONT DO IT. They kept making errors (in as little as 2 weeks), turning off my phone, saying they had to ship me a new SIM (which neither I asked for nor was ever received), plus had limited service.
WHAT THEY DO NOT TELL YOU: THEY HAVE ACCESS TO ONLY 25% OF THE MAJOR CARRIER TOWERS. I RESEARCHED THIS VIA AT&T & VERIZON CORPORATE.
WALMART should be ashamed. I am now waiting for a refund for my phone.
also- I ported my existing number, but all of a sudden I am getting sales calls, solicitations that I never got before. I believe Straight Talk sells their customer lists. And I mean 20 calls a day for college grants, etc. Horrible experience.
Oh, did I mention Straight Talk disconnected my service after saying that I needed a new SIM, so when I went back to Verizon, I could not port my original number?
Thank you Humberto,
As a Straight Talk user, I too have been very pleased with the serviced with ST.
Thought as you have pointed out; more from ST, would be a great value not just for the company but customers as well. Yes; $50 a month is just on the edge of what I’d like to spend for monthly service. And I, like many other users, have gotten smarter when seeking upgrades. Here again thanks for the well place info on phones that will qualify under the ST system.
As a last note: is the wifi hotspot devices, I sure would be well thought of if STRAIGHT TALK would bring together phone and computer this I feel would be a great service to people like myself and also feel a great leap forward for STRAIGHT TALK
THANKS AGAIN, GREAT JOB
LOU
Straight talk is a complete scam! I tried to transfer my number from Verizon. With multiple calls to customer service , my phone was never activated. In addition they will not refund your money that you wasted on the phone or plan.
Humberto,
thanks alot! very helpful!
im tired of colleges calling constantly is there a way to block colleges or other unsolicited calls like telemarketers from calling im getting 10 calls almost a day from colleges from different states just started April 2014
Just purchased phones last night from walmart. Phones were stated that they work on AT&T services. Activated phones and everything was working fine. Left to go to work this morning and phone had no service. Used laptop to verify AT&T website to verify service. Called straightalk and spoke with tech support. He gave me a line of bull that the while state was having trouble. Called my wife on her straighttalk phone at home from my work phone and her worked. So pulled SIM card and found out it was on tmobile sevice which doesn’t work very well where I live. So called straighttalk back via 3way and spoke with straightalk “supervisor”. And he is the shitter. They blamed walmart for packaging the wrong phone in the right box. So the company that sells and packages the phone blames someone else. And then straightalk wants me to buy new phones for ATT services and “give” me extra minutes for the new phones. What a joke
Straight talk is not a good deal at all,first six months were good no problem tell data ran low . Which did not make sense because it’s advertising says unlimited even when you buy a new card it’s says unlimited on the card.So after talking with customer service they ask me if I want too add the six months on my phone. So I do and this works for a week,then it slows down again.So I think yes there is a lawsuit here,and would be happy too see it happen.
Bought a refurbished unlocked ATT iPhone 5 with R Sim 9 Pro adapter. Had a small problem activating but it was the R Sim 9 Pro causing the problem. Straight Talk customer service was difficult to understand at times since Spanish is not my native tongue and English is not their’s. They were very patient with me as I with them. I would rate the experience highly positive. If you are not willing to invest a couple of hours in setup then go to ATT or Verizon. Like most things in life there are tradeoffs between $ and handholding. When paying less than what the big boys charge I expect to expend more effort up front. Have not experienced a throttling problem but I pretty new to the service and will nit exceed the 2.5 GB/MO. Bottom line for me is for $45/mo I feel Straight Talk is a very good deal.
I’m only interested in one thing: basic telephony. I just want a basic phone with unlimited minutes. I’m curious about the quality of Straight Talk’s voice network. With other providers I have lost — well I do not want to count all the money I have lost in dropped calls. It’s galling and appalling. Does Straight Talk provide reliable, clear voice telephony? Dropped calls = a huge no-no.
Anybody heard of TING?
They’re a cell provider who “charge you for what you actually USE” (WHAT A CONCEPT!)
Although they don’t have “subsidized phones”, their rates are so low that no one can come close to them. They use Sprint’s towers.
And their customer service is in Canada, NOT some “third world mystery accent”. You actually get to SPEAK to a HUMAN BEING!
They don’t have “plans”, they have logical/rational rates for mobile minutes, text and data.
I paid 132/month for AT&T.
With Ting? My first month was less than 30 bucks.
http://www.ting.com
I have been a ST customer for 5 years and have never had a problem with dropped calls or service….until I went on vacation. An HOUR away from my home my phone(ST Samsung Galaxy 3-Verizon) quit working! Now I will say that there is usually a deadspot on this stretch of travel and I just turn off my phone turn it back on and it works fine. Not this time. After an hour long conversation from another phone at my first stop the customer service was no help whatsoever. They kept telling me to dial *22890 when I had NO service(no bars)…you can’t dial a number when you have no service duh. At my destination I had another hour long conversation in which I was told that I was out of my activation area code. Why bother having a cell phone if you can’t travel with it?! I NEVER had this problem with any other phones I had from ST in the 5 years(and they were ST phones). My phone starting working again when I was an hour from home. I am getting a new phone from them and will see how it works. Their customer service is terrible. They do say they are passing you to a manager…lie. Every time you get passed you get disconnected or they have you do the same troubleshooting…so frustrating! Oh, and now all of a sudden I can’t receive or send pic messages.
Humberto, if you stay with ST long enough you will be offered $2.50 off every month if you pay monthly. And I did my research when I transferred but their service has greatly changed over the years.
I purchased the Bring Your Own Phone Activation Kit from Wal-Mart and was Ripped off. My phone never worked after I was told it would then after the third time calling a straightalk rep I was told my minutes were stolen out of my account. The only other person to have access to my straightalk account was the straighttalk representative. What a waist of 60$ pluses tax. Straight talk is a scam.
My wife and I were with AT&T, and we both use I- Phones. The phone service (calling another person only) works great, much better than AT&T. But everything else is horrible !!! My wife’s I- phone will not work on anything other than phone calls, we’ve called their tech support which is based in another country and they will walk us through fixing the phone, a day or so later it’s not working anymore. Whenever you call Tech Support your talking to someone who really don’t understand English so this task is made much harder. Texting might work and might not. If you attach a picture to the text most likely it will not work. If you just want a cell phone that makes/receives calls you can’t beat the service. Anything else you will NOT be happy at all.
I’m about to change service
I also used an E71 on Straight Talk for three years without significant problems. Yes, their support is probably outsourced to India and they have to follow HIGHLY scripted responses to situations, but on the rare occasion I had to deal with them it was bearable (just be sure to set aside a full hour or more for the call). I was on the road constantly during that period, so the AT&T coverage without the price was a blessing. I used video chat (via Fring, since the built-in internet calling was disabled), occasional streaming internet radio (also built-in to the phone, but hidden unless you knew how to find it), tethered my laptop both via USB and WiFi (via JoikuSpot) when the USB tethering stopped working for unknown reasons, Google Maps & Latitude (when Google still supported it) as well as the built-in GPS software, Opera Mini web browser, etc. all without ever being cut off.
I am no longer on the road so much and don’t use my phone nearly as much as I used to, so I’ve switched my wife and I over to Ting – instead of nearly $100/month after taxes for two phones on ST, I’m paying less than half that on Ting (bill varies, but typically is $30-$40 range even with wife’s somewhat heavy usage). Yes, Ting uses Sprint as the main provider, but voice and text roam free of charge onto Verizon’s network so you’re virtually never out of touch. Admittedly, call quality isn’t quite as good as I was used to on ST’s AT&T towers, but still perfectly adequate. You can bring a WIDE variety of used Sprint phones over to Ting (got a couple for us from eBay for about $60/ea, no problem) as long as they have a clean ESN. Save $25 on your first bill if you use my referral code: https://z80b582spn.ting.com/
Bad Bad Bad. Do not buy this. I was told not to but… I paid for not listening. I received about 1/3 of what I paid for. Walmart did not back me up on this either.
The WORST service that I have ever seen.
First of all, the customer service representatives are incontinent. They do not understand English and lack basic knowledge. I called the customer service representative because my internet was not working, and to my surprise, the rep told me to remove the battery of my cellphone while I was on the call!!!! WTF!!! And to my surprise, the rep said that this was the standard procedure.
NEVER EVER buy the unlimited international calling plan. I had taken this plan for $60, which went down the drain!
I tried to dial 47 different numbers, and 45 of them were “not covered by the international calling plan”.
Please do not waste money and take Straight talk, EVER.
Straight talk is S: Simply T: Terrible! A disservice for a service. Peoples money is involved. To get what you pay for is an understatement! As a consumer, I Expect to get what I pay for in all business/personal money transactions. Quality customer service being first. To include the same in products. No matter size/amount/data plan/phones or whatever brand; all to be valued regardless. Even the scripts the Rep’s must follow shouldn’t discount that if a customer is not satisfied, means of a resolution whether its returns or refunds, it should be credited and all concerns addressed effective immediately. Having had several problems with my phone working improperly til it malfunctioned, losing my air time, unable to transfer or port my original number of 3 1/2 years to utilize the option of the BYOP program to add: no refunds if the phone is/is not compatible with ST, to be out of both money and product is fraud. Then, to be unaware of the downsizing of my data, ( if this being case of the automatic phone dysfunction), the tech support is equally unaware the tower service and what to do with your own phone; highly frustrating. The whole issue of working with fraudulent poor service altogether. ST making false statements to consumers that they can’t deliver on. To be cost effcient is one factor, ideal to suggest and recommend price consciousness, but to be least in all aspects of delivery of a talked about stand out phone company is straight degrading and incompetent. The conversations about ST are all truth to lend your ear. Good price, yes, poor service yes again. But its a service that can and should be fix; reprimanded and not complimented for misleading customers while using a reputable business as Walmart to exploit their bad goods is deplorable. Supply and demand is life and necessarily so to be profitable and productive. But, it must first start with honesty in the policy and quality customer service and better conflict resolution in the total package then seal it with empathy. Because after all, without people to support the vision, the mission is unaccomplished and perishable. ST needs to be held accountable for any/all money being misused in their operations for misrepresentation and improper transactions. For these and many other unspoken violations. Penalties should be imposed on this company if not corrected. I’m no longer a customer. Yet to sign on with ST is simply ones preference. Your experience will be just that-your experience. But with all due respect, nothing is guaranteed except you can expect in the end, ill-gotten gain of any kind has no reward but failure. Be careful, be cautious on purpose and beware…these things being mentioned from those who commented on this company could happen to you!!! Thanks everyone. Get better Straight Talk.
It has been a whole month since I have received my replacement phone, me and my granddaughter called so many times just to get one replacement phone and they have poor communication habits , Its so many ticket numbers its ridiculous!!! Straight talk is horrible!! Never again will I order a phone from there again, if they cant help me with my phone needs..