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tbluhp

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 6, 2006
1,024
19
Dose st really offer unlimited data? I am planning on using st with my unlocked iphone 5 cdma from verizon.
 

corvus32

macrumors 6502a
Sep 4, 2009
761
0
USA
My understanding is they no longer cut off data hogs. Everyone gets full 3G or HSPA+ speed up to a certain amount and then they throttle after that.

As a general rule of thumb, if you use 2GB or less you should have no problem going with a prepaid MVNO, but if you typically use more then you'll need to belly up and pay one of the big carriers accordingly.
 

ml.sail1

macrumors regular
Aug 23, 2010
148
0
Pittsburgh
I don't use straighttalk, But I do use net10 which offers the same deal. I started the 1st if this month and so far everything is going well, unlimited talk/text/data. Contrary to the straighttalk unlimited terms which are very vague on specific limits and such, net10 puts it in clear terms, they give you 50,000 minutes a month for talk/text/data. Obviously, calls deduct from that on a minute by minute basis. Texts use 0.5 minutes I believe, and data I haven't quite figured the conversion, it may just be mb to minute. In case you didn't look it up out if curiosity, there are only something like 43,000 actual minutes in a month, so you should be good.

So far I've used 7:45 of talk time, and about 1.9GB of data and I'm still going strong. Download speeds are between 3-8Mbps based on my experience (all the way from PA to FL and anywhere in between).

Hope this helps!
 

Mr Hill

macrumors 6502a
Apr 28, 2012
500
1
Charlotte, NC
They can and will cut you off for using too much data. They can even suspend your service if you go over the limit too many times. I've had straighttalk customers come and switch to tmobile because they kept hitting the data limit. It's a great deal for $45 though if you use less than 2gb per month.
 

dinggus

macrumors 65816
Jan 17, 2012
1,309
63
They can and will cut you off for using too much data. They can even suspend your service if you go over the limit too many times. I've had straighttalk customers come and switch to tmobile because they kept hitting the data limit. It's a great deal for $45 though if you use less than 2gb per month.

But how well does it work with the iPhone. I'm confused, because I thought MMS didn't work with it? So I wouldn't be able to text pictures/videos (rarely) anymore?
 

Mr Hill

macrumors 6502a
Apr 28, 2012
500
1
Charlotte, NC
Mms and group messaging don't work on iOS 6 without jailbreaking. But there's no jailbreak yet. Some people have been able to rig it to work by putting a tmobile sim in the phone and editing the apn settings before they clear out.
 

dinggus

macrumors 65816
Jan 17, 2012
1,309
63
Mms and group messaging don't work on iOS 6 without jailbreaking. But there's no jailbreak yet. Some people have been able to rig it to work by putting a tmobile sim in the phone and editing the apn settings before they clear out.

So I wouldn't be able to send picture texts?

I don't do group MMS.
 

tbluhp

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 6, 2006
1,024
19
I have a unlocked verizon cdma iphone 5 what net10 sim card would I be able to use the att or t-mobile once? What speed would I get?
 

paulbennett95

macrumors 6502a
Aug 30, 2012
581
0
Long Island, NY
You can send media via iMessage but not regular MMS. "4G" with straighttalk is pretty crappy in my area, I don't know if its the AT&T network they use or if MVNO customers are low priority. Texting and calling is fine and I haven't had any usage or cutoff problems.
 

ml.sail1

macrumors regular
Aug 23, 2010
148
0
Pittsburgh
I have a unlocked verizon cdma iphone 5 what net10 sim card would I be able to use the att or t-mobile once? What speed would I get?

Personally I would use the ATT one as the iPhone 5 is completely compatible with their network, even the Verizon model is a world phone when it comes to 3G. The current difference between the ATT and Verizon models is the LTE frequencies it can access, but that really doesn't matter as you wont get LTE access through net10 anyways (See Below). T-Mobile is a no-go as you will be stuck on Edge speeds most everywhere, which I forget the specifics but is like max of 512Kbps or something like that, very very slow.

In case no one explained to you, the way a MVNO such as Net10 or Straightalk works is they "rent" network usage from major cell companies like Verizon, ATT, and T-Mobile. This means that any phone running on Net10 will use one of those networks (though with the sim card program [BYOD] you can only use ATT or T-Mobile). At this time none of those companies have allowed these MVNOs to use their LTE networks, and it will probably remain that way for quite some time, but what they rent out are their 3G networks. Thus, with ATT you will be getting their HSPA and HSPA+ network speeds even if you are in a LTE area. Like I posted earlier I am getting about 3-8 and I'll post some screenshots below. Coverage so far has been great for me, like I said you are getting ATT coverage and I have ATT's HSPA+ most everywhere I go.

The best of luck to you, and enjoy your no contract, 50 bucks a month unlimited everything iPhone!

PS: Just a reminder that that usage is from Dec. 1 (When I got my iPhone and activated it on Net10) to Dec. 25.
 

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ml.sail1

macrumors regular
Aug 23, 2010
148
0
Pittsburgh
You can send media via iMessage but not regular MMS. "4G" with straighttalk is pretty crappy in my area, I don't know if its the AT&T network they use or if MVNO customers are low priority. Texting and calling is fine and I haven't had any usage or cutoff problems.

Yeah, I am pretty sure that we aren't truly getting HSPA+, but are rather limited to regular HSPA, otherwise known as 3G with top speeds theoretically around 14 and actual closer to the 8 I was talking about before.
 

tbluhp

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 6, 2006
1,024
19
Personally I would use the ATT one as the iPhone 5 is completely compatible with their network, even the Verizon model is a world phone when it comes to 3G. The current difference between the ATT and Verizon models is the LTE frequencies it can access, but that really doesn't matter as you wont get LTE access through net10 anyways (See Below). T-Mobile is a no-go as you will be stuck on Edge speeds most everywhere, which I forget the specifics but is like max of 512Kbps or something like that, very very slow.

In case no one explained to you, the way a MVNO such as Net10 or Straightalk works is they "rent" network usage from major cell companies like Verizon, ATT, and T-Mobile. This means that any phone running on Net10 will use one of those networks (though with the sim card program [BYOD] you can only use ATT or T-Mobile). At this time none of those companies have allowed these MVNOs to use their LTE networks, and it will probably remain that way for quite some time, but what they rent out are their 3G networks. Thus, with ATT you will be getting their HSPA and HSPA+ network speeds even if you are in a LTE area. Like I posted earlier I am getting about 3-8 and I'll post some screenshots below. Coverage so far has been great for me, like I said you are getting ATT coverage and I have ATT's HSPA+ most everywhere I go.

The best of luck to you, and enjoy your no contract, 50 bucks a month unlimited everything iPhone!

PS: Just a reminder that that usage is from Dec. 1 (When I got my iPhone and activated it on Net10) to Dec. 25.

In my area their is t-mobile service (Northern VA) and they do offer t-mobile 4G but before I go out and spend money on a t-mobile ST sim card I wanted to know dose the iPhone 5 through verizon CDMA band have the ability to use t-mobile's 4G band 1900MHZ

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57518379-37/verizon-iphone-5-comes-unlocked-usable-on-at-t/
 

ml.sail1

macrumors regular
Aug 23, 2010
148
0
Pittsburgh
In my area their is t-mobile service (Northern VA) and they do offer t-mobile 4G but before I go out and spend money on a t-mobile ST sim card I wanted to know dose the iPhone 5 through verizon CDMA band have the ability to use t-mobile's 4G band 1900MHZ

Ok, well presuming you live near DC (kind of the only area in N. VA with refarmed T-Mobile "4G" (its HSPA+) then yeah, you could most definitely go that route. Know that when you buy the Net10 sim card package it acutally comes with 3 different sim cards inside. One ATT Standard Sim, an ATT Micro-Sim, and a T-Mobile Standard Sim. Regardless of which you pick you will have to cut the sim down to Nano sim size, just follow the guide here and make sure you print out the template on A4 sized paper if possible.

This sim card pack can be bought from Target locally as well as Best Buy (Note I have no affiliation with either, nor with Net10. I am just a happy customer)

Personally I dont see why you would go T-Mobile as ATT has much better overall coverage, though I do tend to do a bit of traveling all across the East Coast. YMMV in any case.
 

tpf7118

macrumors newbie
Mar 8, 2011
19
0
Switched to Straight Talk

Switched from ATT to ST two months ago on an iPhone 4 & 5 with no difficulties. No problems on either iPhone. Have have had problems with dropped calls on the IP5 and contacted Apple support. Waiting to determine the solution.Not sure if iPhone, ST, or SIM that was nano-ized by yours truly.
 

araje

macrumors regular
Apr 15, 2012
121
0
So based on what I read in this thread, using straight talk will allow me to see 4G on my iPhone ? And I would get about 5-6Mbps ?

If that's the case then u guess I could do with ST and ditch my no commitment AT&T postpaid.
 

pnyc

macrumors 6502
May 12, 2007
264
0
Brooklyn, NY
The amount of missinformation in this thread is astounding. I have no idea why some people can't keep their yap shut and insist on misleading people.

There is no set point at which ST will throttle you or turn off your data. Some people get cut off some get throttled while others use data far beyond 2GB with no change in service. I've used as much as 3.5GB with not even a peep from ST. Most people asume that staying below 2GB is "safe".

I'm an ST customer for over a 1.5 year, used it with iPhone 4, 4s, 5 and Android, Nokia phones.

Right now I'm using iPhone 5 Verizon on ST(AT&T) $45 a month unlimited plan. I have HSPA+ where available and MMS and SMS without a jailbreak.

You don't need a jailbreak to have MMS working. Read post #19 here:
http://www.howardforums.com/showthr...running-a-new-iPhone-5-on-Straight-Talk/page2

Read the above thread and check out the ST section on that forum and all your questions will be answered.
 

ml.sail1

macrumors regular
Aug 23, 2010
148
0
Pittsburgh
The amount of missinformation in this thread is astounding. I have no idea why some people can't keep their yap shut and insist on misleading people.

There is no set point at which ST will throttle you or turn off your data. Some people get cut off some get throttled while others use data far beyond 2GB with no change in service. I've used as much as 3.5GB with not even a peep from ST. Most people asume that staying below 2GB is "safe".

I'm an ST customer for over a 1.5 year, used it with iPhone 4, 4s, 5 and Android, Nokia phones.

Right now I'm using iPhone 5 Verizon on ST(AT&T) $45 a month unlimited plan. I have HSPA+ where available and MMS and SMS without a jailbreak.

You don't need a jailbreak to have MMS working. Read post #19 here:
http://www.howardforums.com/showthr...running-a-new-iPhone-5-on-Straight-Talk/page2

Read the above thread and check out the ST section on that forum and all your questions will be answered.

Just for the record I was speaking of my experience from Net10 (different than ST), and the way they work is with the 50,000 minute system as explained in their TOS.
 

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
That's the thing with ST that you dont know if, how and exactly when.
I know people that had ported their number to ST and they got cancelled for abuse of data. And also lost their phone number that they had for years.
 

pnyc

macrumors 6502
May 12, 2007
264
0
Brooklyn, NY
Just for the record I was speaking of my experience from Net10 (different than ST), and the way they work is with the 50,000 minute system as explained in their TOS.

I thought that your post was one of the most insightful in this thread. Net10 is a solid provider if I had to leave ST I'd most likely sign up with them.
 

ml.sail1

macrumors regular
Aug 23, 2010
148
0
Pittsburgh
FaceTime over cellular

I would also like to add for those wondering that I actually get FaceTime over 3G with my net10 plan.
 
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