Walmart Straight Talk Phones

[chiefdave]

Hello All, Been considering purchasing a Straight Talk $30 phone and plan. The plan includes 1000 phone minutes, 1000 texts, and 30MB mobile web. I understand that the wireless provider is Verizon. I do not need this for Internet as I use a Sprint Air Card and router. I can't find many reviews on the phones used by Straight Talk customers. Has anyone purchased one of the Straight Talk phones? If so, which model phone, and are you happy with your choice? I do have the option of returning the phone anytime in 30 days and request another model. Hopefully with a little input from users I can select the correct phone for my use. I only need the phone for calling and some text messages. I understand that ones with the keyboard make testing easier. I would appreciate any information. Thanks.

[PNWGirl]

Hi Dave,

Don't know if this will help you but here are a number of reviews:
Google

Here is another page, where I changed the search criteria:
Google

Sheila

[Bob (WA0MQE)]

Hey Dave... since you mention you have a Sprint Air Card and this is how you connect to the internet, how happy are you with Sprint? I've been with Verizon using their Air Card to connect to the internet. For the most part I've been happy with it, but with new changes coming I'm considering switching over to Sprint. I like Sprint's attitude about the new 4G system they're offering. Granted right now there's only a few cities across the country who have the 4G but their expanding all the time. In a couple years it'll probably be about the same as the existing 3G coverage. The neat thing is Sprint gives you with unlimited monthly usage for the 4G at the same price you pay for 3G.

Verizon, on the other hand is expecting to roll out their 4G system by the end of this year. But, Verizon's already talking about a tiered system rather then provide unlimited 4G like Sprint, and I understand AT&T is doing.

[chiefdave]

Bob, We have had Sprint service since 2005 and are very happy with their phones and Air Card performance. We have been full-timimg since Oct 2007 and have used the Air Card throughtout the U.S. including Alaska. We use the 595U Air Card (3G Card) hooked to a Cradlepoint router attached to a Wilson Truckers roof mount Antenna. The service has been very good. I have had phone service where people using Verizon have not. I wanted to try the Straight Talk phone because my family and friends in Baltimore all use Verizon phones. The new 3G/4G monthly coverage is up to 5G, its not unlimited as I have now with my 3G plan, anything after that will costs you for each additional 1MB. That's one reason we have not upgraded to a 4G Air Card.

[Lorna]

'Morning, all, Lorna's Kiddo here.

I bought the StraightTalk phone from WalMart to hold up to the 2-hour+ phone conversations to my friend in the UK, seeing as the TracFone would cost me an arm and a leg using it (I'm already saving at LEAST 10$ just talking to the UK alone...).

I bought the Samsung with the qwerty keyboard (can't recall the model right now but it's the $99.88 one) that slides out. The only I don't like about it is the ringers aren't very loud. But other than that I love the bloody thing. I can text and talk all I want and since I only talk to Mom, Dad, Sister, and the UK, I'm having a much easier time paying for it.

Now for the technical crud.

StraightTalk uses Verizon's mobile towers for the web and being able to Picture Text any pictures to any email (I experimented with this the other day). It's something I use a lot when I don't have my camera on me and I need to use a picture for a reference shot (I'm an artist, apparently). I haven't figured out how to use the web browser yet, but Sister uses the web browser on her Verizon phone so she'll show me how at some point.

For talk service itself, it actually bounces off all the availible towers, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile, so you pretty much have service anywhere (although if you have 3 inches of steel between you and the outside world you're still going to only have two bars at the best).

The speaker is a lot better than the cheapie bar phones from TracFone. It doesn't have a "screen saver" like the TracFones do (I miss my moving anemone...). The Samsung I have can use a SDMicro card to play music (~Put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up~) and I have the 30$ 1000-anything-whatever-ma-jigger plan. Saving me a buttload seeing as I've been texting Sister back and forth.

Only real downside is it doesn't roll over any unused minutes/texts but I don't really care that much. I'm still saving over Verizon's prepaid plans.

[wa8yxm]

What network does "Straight Talk" use?

[Ray,IN]

Straight Talk is a Tracfone plan. The part that gives me pause is where it says to enter your zip code to see if the phone works in your area. What about traveling? I find nothing that says it is nationwide, instead it does say it is limited to verizon network: Straight Talk Wireless Prepaid Cell Phone | SaveonPrepaidPhones.com

[wa8yxm]

Track Phone uses multiple networks depending on the phone you buy.

[rvgrandma]

Google Straight Talk phones and you can buy them from other places besides Walmart.

[denochs]

By the time you see this post your 30 days trail period has already expired. However, since researching Straight Talk, I found out that they do not have offer free nights/weekends. Additionally, anyone you talk to on the Verizon network still goes towards your 1000 minute plan. So, to me the only option would be the unlimited $45 plan if you were going to use them.

I do have one question. It seemed there was an implication that Straight Talk "bounces off" other network towers. I was told you have no roaming capabilities with Straight Talk. Is that true or false?

Dave

[frankdamp]

We have Virgin Mobile at present, which was fine before we started traveling again. VM uses Sprint towers, and the coverage is abysmal. Since we got the Georgetown in late July, we've been to Eastern WA twice, the Kitsap Peninsula once (near Port Orchard) and on the Oregon coast. In 18 days away from home, we NEVER got a signal in the CGs.

When we had our Jamboree, we had T-Mobile and it was the same with them. We'll probably bite the bullet and sign on with Verizon, as they're the only one with Canadian coverage. I don't have the details of how you plug into their Canadian system or what it costs. If it's really outgrageous, we might reconsider. Our overseas visitors often fly into Vancouver rather than SeaTac, so a Canadian capability is quite useful, but maybe a no-plan, pay-as-you-go Canadian phone would be a reasonable alternative. We have a British one like that and several of our friends have used it on their trips to the UK. We will be looking into the Wal-Mart option also, but next season is still some time away.

One thing that attracted us to Virgin was the fact that all of the $5 a month you put in for the service went to never-expiring minutes. There's about $1.75 in taxes every three months. To give you an idea how much we use the phone, the balance is about $150 right now!

Unfortunately, we'll have to kiss goodbye to whatever's left of that balance when we switch.

[LindaH]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob (WA0MQE) ...how happy are you with Sprint? I've been with Verizon using their Air Card to connect to the internet. For the most part I've been happy with it, but with new changes coming I'm considering switching over to Sprint.

We've had both...started out with Sprint, switched to Verizon. For where *we* travel (the Western half of the U.S.), Verizon has had much better coverage than Sprint.

What changes are you talking about?