Is straight talk junk? i see $45 dollar iphone plan. currently on att

[Legionnaire]

I have unlimited data, unlimited text, and 300 mins month (with 3000 min rollover) with att for 67 dollars a month, 72 after tax. Fact is, I want to reduce my bill. I have been searching and seeing straight talk @ 45 a month. I think you get a 5 dollar discount for auto pay as well. Any reason to not switch? will the data be good enough to stream pandora and gps and just browse safari?

https://get.straighttalk.com/best-plans/

 

[Apple_Robert]

If I am not mistaken, the data is set up for speed reduced to 2G speed after a certain amount of usage. My Nephew has this plan and he is fine with it, as he uses WIFI most of the time. If you don't use WIFI most of the time, the 2G data speed after X amount of usage might be something to consider.

 

[Legionnaire]

how is this company?

https://www.mintsim.com/

it looks way to good to be true. medium plan @ 12 months becomes 24 a month, including 5gb a month data. that would be PERFECT for me, and i would save 50 a month

 

[Freakonomics101]

Honestly, if you want the best experience, stay away from Straight Talk. I’d go with either Cricket or AT&T GoPhone. If you’d like Verizon, Verizon prepaid is a good route as well.

 

[Mylo130]

Honestly, if you want the best experience, stay away from Straight Talk. I’d go with either Cricket or AT&T GoPhone. If you’d like Verizon, Verizon prepaid is a good route as well.

My wife and I both use StraightTalk and it's perfectly fine. We had AT&T previously, and the coverage and data speeds are exactly the same (uses AT&T towers). They have recently changed their plans. My wife now gets 8 gigs (up from 5) of 4g LTE before it throttles back, and I am now getting 12 gigs (up from 10).

The only downsides that we've found are the inability to hotspot from our phones and their loss of visual voicemail. Neither of these is a deal breaker for us as the $90 per month in savings over AT&T is worth it.

Like most things, it comes down to your personal preference. I would and have recommended StraightTalk to friends and family looking to lower their monthly bill for the same service.

 

[Freakonomics101]

Like most things, it comes down to your personal preference. I would and have recommended StraightTalk to friends and family looking to lower their monthly bill for the same service.

You are 100% correct! All about what people prefer. I prefer Verizon with VoLTE and hotspot. ST doesn’t offer either.

 

[Applejuiced]

My wife and I both use StraightTalk and it's perfectly fine. We had AT&T previously, and the coverage and data speeds are exactly the same (uses AT&T towers).

Yeah you wish the coverage and data speeds are exactly the same as AT&T.
Its not the same service, its a cheaper version that comes with cheaper/lower access.
You get de-prioritized and you get the slowest data speeds available than regular AT&T subscribers.
Straight talk gets way slower speeds and the bottom of the barrel access to the network.

 

[Mylo130]

Yeah you wish the coverage and data speeds are exactly the same as AT&T.
Its not the same service, its a cheaper version that comes with cheaper/lower access.
You get de-prioritized and you get the slowest data speeds available than regular AT&T subscribers.
Straight talk gets way slower speeds and the bottom of the barrel access to the network.

Like I said, personal preferences to each, and if being able to read your voicemail and hotspot your phone is worth giving your chosen phone company an extra $90+ per month, then rock on bro. I personally hate giving away my money to companies when I can put it to work making more money, and more importantly, I hate going to work and want to retire ASAP.

The bottom of the barrel performance is pretty nice. Have never had bogged down speed...app data/safari loads as quickly it ever has. ST is perfectly fine for most except power users (My opinion-could never quantify). Of course we are people who paid outright for the iPhone SE since it offers performance bang for the buck, and don't feel the compulsive need to sport the latest iPhone. Once again to each their own...

I might consider another service if I happened to be a realtor, or something similar where I'm on the phone all day. Luckily I get to have a life and not glued to my phone all day.

That wasn't meant to sound as "ranty" as it probably reads. Just my humble opinion.

 

[Freakonomics101]

Like I said, personal preferences to each, and if being able to read your voicemail and hotspot your phone is worth giving your chosen phone company an extra $90+ per month, then rock on bro. I personally hate giving away my money to companies when I can put it to work making more money, and more importantly, I hate going to work and want to retire ASAP.

The bottom of the barrel performance is pretty nice. Have never had bogged down speed...app data/safari loads as quickly it ever has. ST is perfectly fine for most except power users (My opinion-could never quantify). Of course we are people who paid outright for the iPhone SE since it offers performance bang for the buck, and don't feel the compulsive need to sport the latest iPhone. Once again to each their own...

I might consider another service if I happened to be a realtor, or something similar where I'm on the phone all day. Luckily I get to have a life and not glued to my phone all day.

That wasn't meant to sound as "ranty" as it probably reads. Just my humble opinion.

I pay just as much as you do with Verizon and I get one more gig than what ST offers... plus carryover data, hotspot, VoLTE and postpaid speeds and pings. Motherships don’t have plans that only have high costs. There are great deals out there. Just gotta look for them.

 

[Applejuiced]

Like I said, personal preferences to each, and if being able to read your voicemail and hotspot your phone is worth giving your chosen phone company an extra $90+ per month, then rock on bro. I personally hate giving away my money to companies when I can put it to work making more money, and more importantly, I hate going to work and want to retire ASAP.

The bottom of the barrel performance is pretty nice. Have never had bogged down speed...app data/safari loads as quickly it ever has. ST is perfectly fine for most except power users (My opinion-could never quantify). Of course we are people who paid outright for the iPhone SE since it offers performance bang for the buck, and don't feel the compulsive need to sport the latest iPhone. Once again to each their own...

I might consider another service if I happened to be a realtor, or something similar where I'm on the phone all day. Luckily I get to have a life and not glued to my phone all day.

That wasn't meant to sound as "ranty" as it probably reads. Just my humble opinion.

I hear you, I will never pay $90-100 for a line of service again.
If it's good enough and works for you that's great.
But it's not the same exact thing as a regular AT&T plan as you claimed.
You don't get the same access to the network or the same data speeds postpaid customers get.

 

[Mylo130]

I pay just as much as you do with Verizon and I get one more gig than what ST offers... plus carryover data, hotspot, VoLTE and postpaid speeds and pings. Motherships don’t have plans that only have high costs. There are great deals out there. Just gotta look for them.

I hear ya, but I have better things to do than search plans on carriers' websites. Then to watch my bill every month as it begins to creep up overtime, or they change the data limits while stuck in a contract...happens every time. The only "big four" I haven't had is Sprint (T-mobile sucked the most), and still can't ding ST for my needs. I pay $56 after taxes and fees for 12 gigs of data before I'd be throttled. Additionally, I have colleagues who are on Verizon that do not get reception in our building while I do.

I can only tell the OP my experience based my usage requirements vs. pricing on ST, since that was the original question. Glad you found a great deal on Verizon!
[doublepost=1497837778][/doublepost]

I hear you, I will never pay $90-100 for a line of service again.
If it's good enough and works for you that's great.
But it's not the same exact thing as a regular AT&T plan as you claimed.
You don't get the same access to the network or the same data speeds postpaid customers get.

Granted, might have been an overreach to say "exactly", but for me it really has been an experience that has been indistinguishable from when I had AT&T. I'm just a cheap b@stard.

 

[Applejuiced]

I can't blame you, I hate paying the high prices the big carriers charge too.

 

[Freakonomics101]

lol searching is weirdly one of my hobbies. All this stuff has been.... for years. but all worth it cause I know where the best deals are that works for me and for people I know. But I pay $48 flat. No tax. Same thing every month. I do agree I hate the idea of postpaid. Taxes are never the same and they jack up prices. Unlimited seems to be the “norm” these days and not everyone needs it yet they pay for it.

I prefer prepaid all day. They can’t screw with you cause you pay for the month first.

Basically, with my plan, I get 16 GB a month since I always stay under 7 GB used a month. It’s basically unlimited to me.

I had ST back in 2013 I think... used the AT&T network and did BYOD using that Nokia trick. Speeds were awesome. 80 Mbps but the pings always drove me nuts. Those plans also came with 1.5 GB of data (if I recall). Now they offer 8.... boy... things have definitely come a long way since then.

Basically, I just didn’t want you to think prepaid carriers nickel and dime you. You sign up for the plan you want, pay it and use it for that month. You don’t pay, you don’t get service. Exactly like ST, or any other prepaid carrier at that matter.

 

[nburwell]

Yeah you wish the coverage and data speeds are exactly the same as AT&T.
Its not the same service, its a cheaper version that comes with cheaper/lower access.
You get de-prioritized and you get the slowest data speeds available than regular AT&T subscribers.
Straight talk gets way slower speeds and the bottom of the barrel access to the network.

I'm kind of curious. Are ST and Cricket the same in that regardless, you're de-prioritized on either service? Or are you higher up on the speed chain if you're with Cricket? Cricket kinda pique's my interest, but T-Mobile has done no wrong by me since I switched from AT&T earlier this year.

I had ST several years ago and had no complaints about the service. Though the loss of Visual Voicemail was a bit of a bummer.

 

[Applejuiced]

I'm kind of curious. Are ST and Cricket the same in that regardless, you're de-prioritized on either service? Or are you higher up on the speed chain if you're with Cricket? Cricket kinda pique's my interest, but T-Mobile has done no wrong by me since I switched from AT&T earlier this year.

I had ST several years ago and had no complaints about the service. Though the loss of Visual Voicemail was a bit of a bummer.

All those smaller MVNO's that rent spectrum or run off major carriers networks behave the same way.
AT&T and major carriers prioritize their post paid customers first, then their prepaid customers and 3rd resellers of their network as far as access, service and data speeds in general.
There's obviously a catch, you dont get to have the same exact access and privilages to a major carriers network and you just pay less

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

For all the "beware" talk in this thread, note the more positive counterpoint too. In my experience Net10 (which is a close cousin of Straight Talk) has been terrific with iPhone for years. Note also that Walmart has it's own branded service too (or it does in our area) generally at about $5-$10/month less than ST & Net10: Walmart Family Mobile.

My suggestion: look at the basic specs vs. your own usage and then try the one that seems "best fit." There's no long-term contract, so if it doesn't go well, you can always hop to another and/or go back to the big corps (and bigger bills). It's very easy for anyone to see for themselves rather than getting conflicting opinions about services... and potentially being scared into sticking with the big corps.

The one consideration that begs for a little research is identifying the underlying network. That may matter based on OPs location. For example, if one of these mostly leans on Tmobile and Tmobile has bad service in OPs area, consider one of the others that works on the AT&T or other network. I think I remember that the Net10 SIM kit came with Sim cards for more than 1 network so we could basically pick a SIM for (I think) 3 different choices in the box, but that may not still be the case.

 

[kioko91]

As someone who worked in mobile sales I recommend you to take into consideration what many have previously said regarding the de-prioritization point. This is completely valid and it's not just for data access or speeds. It also effects phone calls,connections, and as horrible as it is even 911 priority.

I'm personally content paying Verizon for my unlimited data. I pay a whole $43 before tax and phone (which is paid through Apple) and that includes family insurance for lost and stolen. This is under the new unlimited plan btw which I used 50gbs on in San Antonio, was never throttled, and used my phone as a hotspot for about 15gbs worth of data during the moving process. Deals are out there, you just have to look.

 

[wolfaaron]

StraightTalk is fine but sometimes the outsourced support can be frustrating. I left them for two reasons: T-mobile became a cheaper option and they had better support including Twitter support.

 

[venom600]

My mom uses Straight Talk on my old iPhone 5 and it's fast, and has generally been flawless. The one downside is the lack of visual voicemail. There are ways around it, but not nearly as clean as what you get from other providers.

 

[MultiFinder17]

I switched from an AT&T postpaid plan to gophone a few months ago and haven't looked back. $40/month ($43 with taxes and such) for 6GB, unlimited talk and text, and staying with the carrier I've been with for a decade is good enough for me.

Here's the plan in question that I'm on. It's $45, $40 with autopay.