Community Forums

dakota pete · 04-20-2013, 10:02 AM

Trying to find a "no contract" plan that works for us. We are not full timers but will be traveling to Montana, Wyoming this summer and to east coast this Fall. Don 't want to get stuck into a contract for the next 2 years. Wondering if anyone has used the Straight Talk phones and plans from Walmart? $45 for talk, text and data sounds really great but want to make sure it is reliable, etc. Anyone have any experience with this plan?
Thanks for your help!!

Izzyblueye · 04-20-2013, 10:41 AM

since you know what area you are going to be traveling in, find out which phone company has most towers out there. Go with the one or two that has the greatest coverage. All of the no-contract providers are good, some use up to three different companies service, thereby switching your call to the strongest signal. I have used them all and found they are all good. I prefer Tracfone for service, but their support is weak. You can demand an English speaking support person and they will provide it. Cheapest rates of the whole bunch.

webslave · 04-20-2013, 11:04 AM

I've been a TracFone user for years. Great reception in almost any area; they appear to have contracts with virtually all the major players for carrying a signal. Only once, in the hills of Wyoming, did I have "signal", but, the carrier wouldn't allow the TracFone to connect for calls, 911 yes, but, telephone use no.

Biggest disadvantage to TracFone is if you are looking for the "Gee Whiz" latest "smart phones", you won't find them there. Not a problem for us as we only want the phone; not interested in browsing the web or using the phone for GPS...we just need to be able to call ahead to a campground or get in touch with relatives while on the road. We can phone, we can text, and our LG850 phones do have a poor web browser that we don't use (too slow and hard to look at on the small screen). For the money (we get the yearly service plan and have double minutes for life) I have no complaints and we always wind up rolling minutes over from year to year as we don't use the phones that often or for very long. I think I've accumulated a bit over 4,000 minutes and climbing

A big drawback to a lot of the data plan phones (smart phones) is that most of the data signals (3G and, in particular 4G) are limited to areas around big cities. We don't camp around big cities, so that isn't an issue for us, but, if you plan on doing most of your camping in the "hinterland", be aware that the fancy gizmos on a smart phone may not be available at any price.

If you "need" the "gee whiz", impress the neighbors stuff, then you'll be better served by some of the other no contract companies. If you are looking for basic telephone service, then I don't think you can go wrong with TracFone. Many different ways to buy the "service", monthly or yearly, and the minutes are available virtually everywhere, Walmart included, or from the phone itself if no stores are handy.

MoHillbilly · 04-20-2013, 11:29 AM

I live in a very rural area. The only phones that get good reception is Verizon(originally was alltel). Alltel network was the absolute best for rural cell service. After Verizon bought Alltel I had the same if not better rural cell phone service. I have friends who have/are using the tracphone and have constant issues with cell phone reception. Sometimes it is the phone being used and sometimes it is just the network itself.

Most of the major carriers now have pay-as-you-go options. My buddy went with Verizon non-contract and could't be happier. He is getting reception now where his tracphone would not. We hunt, fish, etc, on a regular basis so quite often we are in spotty cell phone areas. But are phones work. It might be worth researching how the carrier you are shopping networks their towers with other carriers.

I think Verizon is well worth investigating.

wb7auk · 04-20-2013, 11:41 AM

Straight Talk uses several cell providers, trick is in ordering the phone for the best
service provider in the areas you are going to be in.
The other thing is they do not allow tethering of any kind.
Last year I needed a cell phone that would connect to Verizon cell sights as they
had the only serivce in the areas of the NW I was traveling in. I had to order the
phone with a zip code where only Verizon was their provider and have it shipped to
my home address, the rest was easy.
If I had bought the phone at my home address even tho both cell providers are in
this market the phone would have been for AT&T only.
If I can be of help on what service provider they use in a given area I would be glad
to forward that info to you.

Applepicker · 04-20-2013, 03:03 PM

I've had a TracFone for about 6 years with no problems. I bought a phone with double minutes for life of the phone and have the 50 minute a month plan. So for $9.99 (plus tax) I get 100 minutes of air time and can still add more if needed. No contracts! It is charged right to my credit card which hasn't been a problem either. Great reception, haven't been anywhere that I couldn't get reception.

WheelingIt · 04-20-2013, 04:52 PM

We recently switched to Straight Talk and have been very happy. The key to good coverage is to get one of the phones that run on the Verizon network. Only very few do! We got the Samsung Galaxy Proclaim which does and it's been excellent. No significant change that I can notice from our old Verizon phone and data service has worked just about everywhere. We've had the phone 2 months and don't see going back to Verizon again.

You won't get the latest and greatest phones on Straight Talk, but you can get very good coverage for a very good price.

wb7auk · 04-20-2013, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dakota pete

Trying to find a "no contract" plan that works for us. We are not full timers but will be traveling to Montana, Wyoming this summer and to east coast this Fall. Don 't want to get stuck into a contract for the next 2 years. Wondering if anyone has used the Straight Talk phones and plans from Walmart? $45 for talk, text and data sounds really great but want to make sure it is reliable, etc. Anyone have any experience with this plan?
Thanks for your help!!

The 45 dollar plan is unlimited they do have a 30 dollar plan that limits
you to around 250 minutes a month.
Rest assured you want the phone to be on the Verizon system for max
coverage.

EDALLSAILS · 04-20-2013, 09:08 PM

Interesting subject. If you do a search you should find that trac-phone, Net-10, Straight-talk are all owned by the same company.[ moderator edit ]. in Fl0rida it appears that straight talk phones are on Verizon towers and get good service. If yo buy their time cards in a retail store 45 bucks plus the areas sales tax. BUT, if you purchase air time on line or over the phone there will be NO sales tax. We switched our Verizon phones for 2 Sgtraight talk phone and are happy. saving over 60 bucks per month. We purchase the unlimited 45 air time and so far we have received the same reception we had with Verizon but unlimited everything. every provider has some holes in their coverage, so shop the phones that give you the most coverage where you plan on traveling. ed

Dale Pruitt · 04-20-2013, 09:17 PM

We have used straight talk smart phones with the $45 plan for two years.
area all over the southeast and TX. Works great best phone service I have had since 1989.

BlauMax · 04-22-2013, 08:05 AM

My DW's ST phone works on the Verizon system. Works great. Unlimited everything with no throttling when you reach X# mb's. I still have one month left on my Verizon contract and will be switching to ST then.

The other think to be aware of is the phones that ST allows vs other carriers which may allow newer phones. My wife has an Apple 4. The 4s was not part of ST's options. The other was the Apple 5 for more $$. I don't know what the other ST options are.. but, worth a check. I think it's the BEST bang for the buck.

Wally has, I believe, three different no contract programs.. I think ST is the better of the three.

RonPatt · 04-22-2013, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WheelingIt

We recently switched to Straight Talk and have been very happy. The key to good coverage is to get one of the phones that run on the Verizon network. Only very few do! We got the Samsung Galaxy Proclaim which does and it's been excellent. No significant change that I can notice from our old Verizon phone and data service has worked just about everywhere. We've had the phone 2 months and don't see going back to Verizon again.

You won't get the latest and greatest phones on Straight Talk, but you can get very good coverage for a very good price.

Is there anyway to determine what STphones run on the Verizon network? I bought the Huawei H866C smart phones for me and my wife. They worked great. I dropped mine in water a couple of weeks ago and replaced it with a Huawei H865C . I get poor reception. ST support said that mine worked on different towers and to move closer to a window to use. Thanks

RonPatt · 04-22-2013, 08:54 AM

I found this listing in a forum after Google:

I'm going to be switching also, so ask customer service at staight talk. Here is the list for Verizon towers
1. LG 100 C
2. LG 220 C
3. LG 231 C
4. LG 221 C
5. LG 290 C
6. LG 511 C
7. Motorola 385 C
8. Samsung 335 C
9. Samsung 355 C
10. Samsung 451 C
11. Samsung 380 C-
12. Samsung Galaxy Proclaim S720C- Android
13. Huawei Ascend Y H866C- Android
14. Samsung Galaxy Showcase- Android
15. Unimax U670C- Android
16. LG Optimus ZIP- Android
17. LG L38 C- Android

pagosajoe · 04-22-2013, 09:14 AM

Check out Page Plus, a subsidiary of Verizon Wireless. We have the 1200 minutes/3000 text messages / 250 MB data plan, for $29.95 through "Kitty Wireless", a reseller of their services. Extra data is only 5 cents per MB if you go over, and they have daily/weekly notices sent to your email to tell you how many minutes/texts/MB you've used.

Page Plus Wireless

Kitty Wireless PagePlus Page Plus Cellular Online Premier Dealer

Just took a big tour of western states - coverage was excellent. Kitty Wireless provides excellent service as well. We use an old Droid X.

Hope that helps.