Walmart and Straight Talk Wireless Now Carrying iPhone 5

iGrip said:

Maybe you Just Don't Get It. But some of us started buying Apple stuff in the early 1980's.

Click to expand...

So? Does that make you special? Do you want a cookie and a gold star? Does when you started buying Apple stuff give you some kind of special right to act like a jerk?

Apple isn't designing cheap phones for these markets and in some areas places like Walmart are all there is for the not poor, ghetto folks to buy a phone. So what if they pay for the phone on credit card installments. Most folks do basically the same thing with the carrier. But we pay interest via having the same bill even after the phone is paid off. They won't. so maybe they are actually smarter than you

Seems like some of the country club members are upset that there is a sale on memberships.
Next thing you know political parties will be handing out iPhones for votes.
The final straw will be the My iLife reality distortion show on Bravo.
It's not easy being a special person anymore.

kwikdeth said:

has anyone tried a factory-unlocked iphone on ST? you should be able to just modify the network settings manually on one of those. or does the fact its running on ATT somehow confuse the phone and make it use incorrect MMS settings etc?

Click to expand...

i have a factory unlocked iPhone 5 running on StraightTalk. No access to cellular data network. Apple/AT&T block access to a menu on my UNLOCKED device that i paid $650 for, when i dont even subscribe to the carrier who is blocking the menu. Its infuriating. AT&T is a piece of **** and Apple is a piece of **** for getting in bed with them. There should be a law (there is, its called DMCA, im being sarcastic) that prevents carriers from locking down features on a phone that is unlocked.

Phone detects the sim as AT&T and locks it down even tho its factory unlocked and on ST. It loads the ****** at&t profile and i am ****ed. I hope that AT&T is the victim of a giant cyber attack that cripples their company and sends them into oblivion. That day would be the best day of my life.

I have a iPhone 5 with AT&T and just wanted to try out straight talk. The service is awesome for the $45 a month plan. In Columbus,Ga we do not have LTE yet so it's 4g service. With straight talk you get the exact same service for half the price. The data speed is very fast as well, very impressed with the service. I only have 2 months left on my contract with AT&T then I'm switching to ST

Don't stream...they will come find you and switch off your service.

thatoneguy82 said:

I didn't realize Apple products and phones were status symbols, especially since relatively speaking, real status symbols can only be purchased by so many people. Anyone who saves a few hundred dollars can buy an iPhone even minimum wage workers and afford a sensible plan. Maybe back in 2007 it was when it first came out, but when even my niece and nephew play with their own iPhone 4s (no service), their rarity has ceased.

WalMart? So, what? It's a price-conscious store. Ever been to Sam's Club? Then you've essentially been to WalMart.

Click to expand...

+1

IPhones are only status symbols for students and other people with "starter" jobs.

Buying an $80,000 Lexus rather than a $20,000 Honda: status symbol.
Buying a $650,000 house rather than a $150,000 starter home: status symbol.

Paying an extra $100 for a phone + $30 month for a data plan? Not a status symbol.

[In a handful of markets, $650,000 may only get you a starter home: apply appropriate multipliers for your area.]

jimsowden said:

Well from a marketing perspective, Straight talk is using imagery from Apple of the iPhone 5, which they could only get permission to if they had direct contact with apple. And any significant quantity of iPhones would have to come directly from the manufacturer, so we can safely assume that ST is dealing directly with Apple on some level. I don't think it's too ridiculous that apple produces these with the minor modifications that are required in a carrier file to make MMS and internet work. I wouldn't even be surprised if we saw "ST" as the carrier in the top left.

Click to expand...

Bad assumptions. Straight Talk could be covered by AT&Ts permissions to use Apple Trademark.

And even if Apple did create a profile for them it would be based on AT&Ts requests which means no Viz VM, MMS etc if that is AT&Ts 'rules' for the service. Nothing Apple can do about it.

----------

EddieCurrent said:

at the end STILL have a phone that is for more valuable on the open market as it is UNLOCKED.

Click to expand...

Has that been verified. Because off contract can still be locked

nickcliborne said:

RUN AWAY FROM STRAIGHT TALYOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Click to expand...

Huh?? I've been on ST-iPhone for 2 years since the days of the Nokis e71 SIM Swap.... No issues whatsoever

im on the phone with straight talk. theyre telling me that the iphone 5 from walmart is the cdma version.

bboyredcel said:

i have a factory unlocked iPhone 5 running on StraightTalk. No access to cellular data network. Apple/AT&T block access to a menu on my UNLOCKED device that i paid $650 for, when i dont even subscribe to the carrier who is blocking the menu. Its infuriating. AT&T is a piece of **** and Apple is a piece of **** for getting in bed with them. There should be a law (there is, its called DMCA, im being sarcastic) that prevents carriers from locking down features on a phone that is unlocked.

Phone detects the sim as AT&T and locks it down even tho its factory unlocked and on ST. It loads the ****** at&t profile and i am ****ed. I hope that AT&T is the victim of a giant cyber attack that cripples their company and sends them into oblivion. That day would be the best day of my life.

Click to expand...

I think there are a couple of steps you need to do to activate the 3G data on your phone, hundreds of thousands of customers use Straight talk with HSPA+ data speeds on AT&T network. I haven't done it personally, but I am sure it can be done, you need to change settings. Google it

Tiger8 said:

I think there are a couple of steps you need to do to activate the 3G data on your phone, hundreds of thousands of customers use Straight talk with HSPA+ data speeds on AT&T network. I haven't done it personally, but I am sure it can be done, you need to change settings. Google it

Click to expand...

you need to use the t-mobile sim swap method to enter that information. problem is that the settings get wiped automatically every 2 weeks and you need to do the swap again... and again... and again.. and it drives me insane.

bboyredcel said:

you need to use the t-mobile sim swap method to enter that information. problem is that the settings get wiped automatically every 2 weeks and you need to do the swap again... and again... and again.. and it drives me insane.

Click to expand...

Every two weeks? You're doing something wrong - or updating your software (your APN settings get wiped after a software update unless you're using a profile).

You can go to unlockit.nz and use their profile, but it doesn't handle MMS. For MMS you'll need to jailbreak or do the t-mo sim swap thing. It's irritating that you can't set the MMS stuff via a config profile, but there you go.

You can also build your own profile by downloading the iPhone configuration profile, building it, then emailing it to yourself. Click on the profile in your email and you should be all set.

This is a sweet deal. I bought my 5 outright to keep my plan with VZW and will probably stick with it as long as I can.

This is what I have currently:

450 mins anytime
Unlimited N/W
Unlimited Data
250 text
20% employer discount

$60 a mo + tax

The day VZW won't let me keep this anymore I am looking at options like ST. For now even paying full price for a new phone I would be crazy to give this up.

davidgrimm said:

Well, lets look at 1 iPhone.

ATT
phone = $200
24 months of service at $110 (4 gig of data) = 2,640

Total ATT costs (before taxes) = 2,840

ST
Phone = $650
24 months of service at $45 = $1,080

Total ST (before taxes) = $1,730

Savings = $1,110 over the 2 year contract.

The phones are worth the same at the end of the 24 month period. ATT subsidizes the phone for a profit. Did you think they were simply giving it to you?

The ability to say change plans without being tied by a nasty contract to an uncaring company = priceless!

Click to expand...

This is completely wrong. Look at his original post. He has two phones and is paying $150 a month and then the math presented here is $110 each, or $220 a month.

These kind of prepaid plans are great for one person, but are not beneficial as you add more lines. For example, I have 4 iPhones on an unlimited voice and text Verizon plan (data is shared 6MB at full LTE). I pay $236 a month, TOTAL (taxes and all). When one phone is upgraded, I sell the old one at nearly $200, so my upgrade cost is maybe $50, tops. Counting plan costs, taxes, and upgrade costs, its about $750 a year CHEAPER for me to stay on Verizon AND get the best service the industry has to offer (Consumer Reports opinion, not just mine)

usarioclave said:

Every two weeks? You're doing something wrong - or updating your software (your APN settings get wiped after a software update unless you're using a profile).

Click to expand...

not updating. i've followed basically every instruction set found on the entire internet (already thought that i might be doing something wrong). All have ended in the same result.

The network APN profile (unlockit) thing even gets ignored after two weeks about 20% of the time. it will be installed, but the phone will just ignore it.

MMS is what normally gets wiped and its almost every two weeks like clockwork. I've had ST since august, and multiple iPhone 5's (swapped at apple for this very reason), all with the same result. All factory unlocked as well.

I have written letters and called both apple and straight talk (at&t wont talk to me since i dont have an account). Im currently trying to get apple to send me a signed carrier profile with straight talk settings (lol @ how unlikely that will happen).

I <3 StraightTalk.

The financing option Walmart is offering ain't half bad either.

I just wish that they would relabel their network from "HOME" to "StraightTalk" or something.

Can someone report the final monthly total? $45 + whatever fees and taxes?

My AT&T plan includes 450minutes (with 3200 rolled over), 1000 text, Unlimited Data, for $68.54 after fees and taxes. Luckily my job gets a 24% corp discount on data, or else it would be more.

An average month I can use 3gbs of data with a Galaxy Note with 4g LTE.

Top data usage apps, a radio app that takes 250Mbs, Web around 450Mbs, while YouTube can hit 1.5-2Gbs, often to play music at my work desk. I try to avoid my work's wifi, plus with 4G LTE being so fast, I often don't notice wifi is off when I'm home, inadvertently using my data more. Heck, when my Comcast internet is acting up, switching back to cell is often faster and more reliable. So it's possibly 2Gbs will suffice if I'm careful. It will be tough to give up the carefree data usage with unlimited, as I rarely hit 5gbs that would be throttled.

I can't wait to get back to using an iPhone, too many annoying everyday issues using a Galaxy Note and Android quirks over any pros. Not that newer android phones might be better, but when AT&T releases an Ice Cream Sandwich update that cripples GPS, breaks auto Bluetooth syncing with my car, never admitting the issues, so I'm ready to throw it out the window. Also, for all the every day task failings, I shouldn't have to make the OS decent by installing a ton of third party software that runs in the background, making it unstable and hurt the battery life.

TimothyB said:

Can someone report the final monthly total? $45 + whatever fees and taxes?
.

Click to expand...

Depends where you live. For me, in Phoenix, AZ it's $49.73 per 30 days. If you buy in bulk it's cheaper. 90 days cost $143.65.

JPark said:

Depends where you live. For me, in Phoenix, AZ it's $49.73 per 30 days. If you buy in bulk it's cheaper. 90 days cost $143.65.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I was researching learned about buying bulk. Also found some people reporting that using refill did not charge fees or taxes again. Also came across a site that sells pre-paid cards and has the $45 refill for $38 something with a coupon sale.

To quit AT&T early would cost me $215 early termination. Though, paying that fee and switching to ST could possibly save me $100 compared to sticking with the 13 months left on my AT&T contract. Only it could be a hassle to adapt an AT&T Galaxy Note to ST.

For now, I think my plan is to complain to AT&T for a replacement Galaxy Note with Gingerbread preloaded. Then with a new or refurb, keep it or sell it and buy an unlocked iPhone 5. They can't deny repairing it since the Ice Cream Sandwich update they alerted me to update has ruined GPS and Auto Bluetooth Syncing. GPS never locks to start navigation or take 5 minutes, but to only lose it in the middle of driving, plus the safety issue of it never syncing with my car when that worked before.)

nfl46 said:

Funny, because I just switched from AT&T to Straight for the $45 plan.

I set it up using my Locked AT&T iPhone 5. Works fine.

Click to expand...

Do you get LTE?

Anybody know if the Verizon iPhone 5 that is supposed to be unlocked can be used with ST?

Since I'm already used to AT&T networks, I guess it would make sense to switch and save $60 a month and get unlimited(throttled?) I'll just need to pay an ETF for one of the iPhones but 3-4 months it will pay for itself.

bboyredcel said:

I have written letters and called both apple and straight talk (at&t wont talk to me since i dont have an account). Im currently trying to get apple to send me a signed carrier profile with straight talk settings (lol @ how unlikely that will happen).

Click to expand...

Have you tried another SIM? If you've swapped phones the only other constant is your SIM card...which do occasionally go bad, especially since they have to by cut down by hand.

samcraig said:

ATT hasn't had a monopoly on the iPhone for awhile now?

Click to expand...

You can't BUY an AT&T compatible GSM iPhone from any other carrier. This is the only other Apple Recognized GSM carrier in the US. T-mobile shares GSM, but they don't have PERMISSION from Apple to sell or support iPhones.

So while you CAN move an out of contract iPhone to Tmobile, lots of features don't work.

My only question is what network will the 5 from ST be compatible with, CDMA or HSPA+? I've heard both being discussed on here. I'd like some sort of confirmation before I switch over. Currently I have an AT&T 4s, but with the 5 now being sold directly from Wally World, I'd like to know which network it'll use. I prefer the faster HSPA+ obviously.