Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

slu

macrumors 68000
Sep 15, 2004
1,636
107
Buffalo
When the AT&T Straight Talk SIMs disappeared from their website, the AT&T Net10 SIMs disappeared from Net10's website. This wasn't much of a surprise, since Straight Talk and Net10 are just different brands of Tracfone and their BYOP SIM plans are essentially identical.

Net10 just released new info @ https://net10data.com/ stating that as of March 1st the Unlimited SIM plan will be capped at 1.5GB for people with AT&T SIMs. It's likely that the same will be announced for Straight Talk soon.

Even with a 1.5GB cap, it's a better deal than the 1GB plans from GoPhone, Red Pocket, or Airvoice.

Interesting. Thanks for posting this. While I'd obviously would prefer a 2GB cap, I can live with 1.5 for the price. If only T-Mobile would finish up the refarm around here. The 3G is still real spotty.
 

bohbot16

macrumors 6502a
Mar 22, 2009
674
10
Interesting. Thanks for posting this. While I'd obviously would prefer a 2GB cap, I can live with 1.5 for the price. If only T-Mobile would finish up the refarm around here. The 3G is still real spotty.

From the site they're pushing users who need more data to a T-Mobile SIM and switching them over at no cost.
 

Tronic

macrumors 6502
Jun 10, 2009
352
60
Currently using a 4S on AT&T and would like to switch to Straight Talk, what are my current options considering micro sims are sold out except for the $80 ones on Ebay?

Are there any standard sims available for a reasonable price that could be cut down?

Should I just get a Net10 micro sim?

Thanks.
 

umiwangu

macrumors 6502
Sep 4, 2006
478
0
Malawi
Currently using a 4S on AT&T and would like to switch to Straight Talk, what are my current options considering micro sims are sold out except for the $80 ones on Ebay?

Are there any standard sims available for a reasonable price that could be cut down?

Should I just get a Net10 micro sim?

Thanks.

You can cut a normal sim to micro size. Your other issue is that pretty much all AT&T sims are sold out. I think they might still have some of the normal sized ones left. Or try Walmart. My cousin did that and just cut his down to size for his Nexus 4.

My housemates also got Nexus 4s. One was lucky enough to get a Straight Talk micro sim, and the other went with Net 10. Customer service with both is crap with a very large C.

Best of luck.
 

Tronic

macrumors 6502
Jun 10, 2009
352
60
You can cut a normal sim to micro size. Your other issue is that pretty much all AT&T sims are sold out. I think they might still have some of the normal sized ones left. Or try Walmart. My cousin did that and just cut his down to size for his Nexus
My housemates also got Nexus 4s. One was lucky enough to get a Straight Talk micro sim, and the other went with Net 10. Customer service with both is crap with a very large C.

Best of luck.

Thanks. That's what I figured you could do. If ST and Net10 are both AT&T MVNOs and they're both $45 a month, why is ST being out of micro sims such a big deal? Is there something I'm missing other than the 1.5gb vs 2gb data caps and that to get the $5 discount on Net10 you have to be enrolled in autopay?
 

mckey

macrumors member
Feb 7, 2009
50
0
Thanks. That's what I figured you could do. If ST and Net10 are both AT&T MVNOs and they're both $45 a month, why is ST being out of micro sims such a big deal? Is there something I'm missing other than the 1.5gb vs 2gb data caps and that to get the $5 discount on Net10 you have to be enrolled in autopay?

Actually net10 30 day monthly plan is $ 50 they offer a five dollar discount if you enroll in the auto refill service.What they don't tell you is you won't end up saving much because of added taxes to your bill.

Charges Break Down unlimited talk, text/picture messaging $ 50.00

Discount amount subtract 5.00

Tax Add 2.71

E 911 Fee Add 0.86

Federal Universal Service Add 0.68

Regulatory cost recovery Add 0.09

Total cost $ 49.33

A whopping 67 cent saving with the added BS taxes for me...... Other than the convenience of not having to deal with the refill cards or forgetting to add airtime to your account. Savings not so much!!!!!!!
 

dukebound85

macrumors Core
Jul 17, 2005
19,131
4,110
5045 feet above sea level
Actually net10 30 day monthly plan is $ 50 they offer a five dollar discount if you enroll in the auto refill service.What they don't tell you is you won't end up saving much because of added taxes to your bill.

Charges Break Down unlimited talk, text/picture messaging $ 50.00

Discount amount subtract 5.00

Tax Add 2.71

E 911 Fee Add 0.86

Federal Universal Service Add 0.68

Regulatory cost recovery Add 0.09

Total cost $ 49.33

A whopping 67 cent saving with the added BS taxes for me...... Other than the convenience of not having to deal with the refill cards or forgetting to add airtime to your account. Savings not so much!!!!!!!
What makes you think you don't pay taxes on the 50 dollar non auto refill option?

It is about a 5 dollar savings all said and done.....


As an aside, is ST still not giving out ATT sims?
 

umiwangu

macrumors 6502
Sep 4, 2006
478
0
Malawi
As an aside, is ST still not giving out ATT sims?

The online website only offers Tmobile SIMs now. You can still get the normal-sized SIMs at some Walmarts.

----------

Actually net10 30 day monthly plan is $ 50 they offer a five dollar discount if you enroll in the auto refill service.What they don't tell you is you won't end up saving much because of added taxes to your bill.

Charges Break Down unlimited talk, text/picture messaging $ 50.00

Discount amount subtract 5.00

Tax Add 2.71

E 911 Fee Add 0.86

Federal Universal Service Add 0.68

Regulatory cost recovery Add 0.09

Total cost $ 49.33

A whopping 67 cent saving with the added BS taxes for me...... Other than the convenience of not having to deal with the refill cards or forgetting to add airtime to your account. Savings not so much!!!!!!!

What makes you think you don't pay taxes on the 50 dollar non auto refill option?

It is about a 5 dollar savings all said and done.....

I didn't realize Net10's "$45" option didn't include taxes. With ST's 3 or 6 month option, I was only paying $44 a month, including all taxes and fees. So ST does end up being cheaper.
 
Last edited:

madmaxmedia

macrumors 68030
Dec 17, 2003
2,932
42
Los Angeles, CA
FYI- There is a seller on EBay offering 90 day Straight Talk Top Up for $109.95. I bought one yesterday, you don't get a PIN but you send your phone number in on the checkout page. They applied the top up to my account within an hour (which is easily checked at the Straight Talk web site.)

Comes out to under $37 per month (no other fees, taxes, etc.)! That's about as cheap as I can imagine for a pretty good talk/text/web package (I'm not a data hog) on ATT's network if you have a ST ATT SIM.

There are also regular top up cards for sale for around $40-43 range (various sellers).

----------

I bought my ST micro SIM's a few months ago for only $5 each shipped with a coupon at the ST web site. Had anyone known they were transitioning to TMobile only (seems that way) they could have bought 100 cards and re-sold them now!
 
Last edited:

avsrox

macrumors newbie
Apr 2, 2013
1
0
Sprint iPhone 4s- Straight Talk or no?

So if I have an iPhone 4s for Sprint, could I unlock it an use it on Straight Talk? Would unlocking take off the CDMAonly setting and allow me to use it on the Straight Talk GSM?

-Also, slightly random, what kind of iPhone would I need in order to use it in Japan? Might have to reside there for a couple years, so it would be nice if I could use the same device and just switch out the sim, if compatible.

Thanks!
 

jackwills

macrumors regular
Nov 13, 2012
219
9
New York, NY
Net10 are actually cheaper to use
I buy refill card from callingmart they offers coupon code all the time like 7% off, it turns out $46.xx for a $50 worth refill card after all the discount
ST refill card only selling at walmart and ST website, if you refill on ST.com it will cost you $48.xx including taxes
 

dewthedru

macrumors regular
Nov 22, 2010
178
2
DO NOT go with Straight Talk if you are actually hoping to use data.

I was throttled 3 weeks into my first month after using approximately 850m of data. I called customer support and had perhaps the most absurd phone call of my life. Comments included...

"Do you always close your Facebook window? Leaving Facebook by pressing the home button still uses data so you need to close browser and Facebook apps every single time."

"If your kids have used it to look at YouTube videos you need to be more responsible to make sure it's not used for video streaming"

"The unlimited plan is only for web browsing. You're not supposed to use it for any downloading, music or video streaming, or watching Youtube."

Etc. Etc. It was surreal. They couldn't tell me how much data I had used or what the violation was specifically. They couldn't override it either. I was even transferred to an automated system that made me go through a list of 10-20 questions answering questions about my web usage. Just insane.
 

jaysen

macrumors 6502
Sep 16, 2009
281
11
DO NOT go with Straight Talk if you are actually hoping to use data.

I was throttled 3 weeks into my first month after using approximately 850m of data. I called customer support and had perhaps the most absurd phone call of my life. Comments included...

"Do you always close your Facebook window? Leaving Facebook by pressing the home button still uses data so you need to close browser and Facebook apps every single time."

"If your kids have used it to look at YouTube videos you need to be more responsible to make sure it's not used for video streaming"

"The unlimited plan is only for web browsing. You're not supposed to use it for any downloading, music or video streaming, or watching Youtube."

Etc. Etc. It was surreal. They couldn't tell me how much data I had used or what the violation was specifically. They couldn't override it either. I was even transferred to an automated system that made me go through a list of 10-20 questions answering questions about my web usage. Just insane.

This is the exact reason I left...

I was with them for over a 1.5yrs and converted many people, including my family. As of 4-5 months ago, I started noticing slowdown with data, MMS not coming through on time, however my cellular and sms were flawless.

Although I could live without the data, I work hard for my money and like to spoil myself :) so I made the switch back to postpaid AT&T. I originally wanted to go with Verizon - LTE everywhere I go, however I love buying new phones OFTEN, and received a bigger corp discount (30%).
 

madmaxmedia

macrumors 68030
Dec 17, 2003
2,932
42
Los Angeles, CA
In my first month with ST I used about 500MB, I'm not a heavy user so hoping to not run into throttling. I guess we'll see...

There is another seller on EBay selling 90 day refills for $94 (I bought one and the refill was applied to my account the next day.) So I'm now down to $31 a month for voice/text/data.
 

umiwangu

macrumors 6502
Sep 4, 2006
478
0
Malawi
Net10 are actually cheaper to use
I buy refill card from callingmart they offers coupon code all the time like 7% off, it turns out $46.xx for a $50 worth refill card after all the discount
ST refill card only selling at walmart and ST website, if you refill on ST.com it will cost you $48.xx including taxes

Eh... kind of. I was paying $44.xx per month for ST, including all taxes and fees (with the quarterly refill).
 

sracer

macrumors G4
Apr 9, 2010
10,289
13,022
where hip is spoken
This is the exact reason I left...

I was with them for over a 1.5yrs and converted many people, including my family. As of 4-5 months ago, I started noticing slowdown with data, MMS not coming through on time, however my cellular and sms were flawless.

Although I could live without the data, I work hard for my money and like to spoil myself :) so I made the switch back to postpaid AT&T. I originally wanted to go with Verizon - LTE everywhere I go, however I love buying new phones OFTEN, and received a bigger corp discount (30%).
YMMV. I've been with ST for about a year. I'm not a huge data user (300MB total over 2.5 months) as I have wifi access nearly all of the time. I'm quite pleased with the service and except for the lack of voicemail indicator and the hoops to get MMS working, I could recommend this to my non-techie acquaintances.

I've saved a boatload of money.
 

umiwangu

macrumors 6502
Sep 4, 2006
478
0
Malawi
I still have my AT&T-compatible ST SIM card. I haven't used it for a couple months. I wonder if I can still use it to switch back to ST at some point?
 

RockstarSR

macrumors member
Mar 19, 2011
59
33
^^It most probably is deactivated!
But if you call ST's Customer Care, they will send you a new AT&T SIM for Free :)

Happened with me!
 

umiwangu

macrumors 6502
Sep 4, 2006
478
0
Malawi
^^It most probably is deactivated!
But if you call ST's Customer Care, they will send you a new AT&T SIM for Free :)

Happened with me!

Yeah, you're probably right, especially since I ported my number. So they still have AT&T SIMs in stock? When did you do this?
 

KendraPlanet

macrumors newbie
Sep 20, 2012
24
0
Okay -- Just found a new AT&T SIM card for unlocked iPhones on Ebay. Bid Sniper got it for me for $42. High-rated seller and Ebay always sides with the buyers anyway. I'm either a genius or I'm out $42 + ship. *crosses fingers*
 

dewthedru

macrumors regular
Nov 22, 2010
178
2
Does anyone know the speed they bring you down to once you reach the 2gb a month cap?


Read my post above. I was throttled down to .2 after using a whole 850meg in a month. ST is unlimited web browsing. If they catch you streaming music or moves (including YouTube), or downloading files...you're throttled.

Sucks. Please...do your homework before choosing ST. Go to howardforums or other places. They (ST) have really started to closely monitor activity lately.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.