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Straight Talk iPhone through Walmart

bohbot16 said:
Straight Talk does offer the 4S. I see it listed @ iphone.straightalk.com.
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Ahhh! Note to self: Check info AGAIN before posting. :D I looked a couple weeks ago for a friend and only saw the 4 and 5. Is this a recent change?

Regardless, whew, $549 for a 4S is a TON of money, but if the OP was going to pay $449 for a 4, then the extra $100 is well spent IMHO.
 
js81 said:
Ahhh! Note to self: Check info AGAIN before posting. :D I looked a couple weeks ago for a friend and only saw the 4 and 5. Is this a recent change?

Regardless, whew, $549 for a 4S is a TON of money, but if the OP was going to pay $449 for a 4, then the extra $100 is well spent IMHO.
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I would never buy any phone that has been updated by another model from any carrier. Can get the same phone brand new on eBay for hundreds less. My 4s cost me 210 used.
 
617aircav said:
I would never buy any phone that has been updated by another model from any carrier. Can get the same phone brand new on eBay for hundreds less. My 4s cost me 210 used.
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I agree, but the OP can't use an AT&T 4S and to use ST with a CDMA iPhone, you have to get it from ST itself.
 
617aircav said:
I would never buy any phone that has been updated by another model from any carrier. Can get the same phone brand new on eBay for hundreds less. My 4s cost me 210 used.
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But that's because you're special.

It is irrelevant that you bought a used 4S for $210. We're talking about new phones here. It takes diligence and an investment of time to track down a brand new iPhone on eBay that is "hundreds less".

And what service are you using that 4S on? Straight Talk? If so, then you had to jump through some hoops to get MMS working. And you still don't have a voicemail indicator unless you jailbroke it and installed an add-on app.

There is definitely "value add" to buying a Straight Talk iPhone from Walmart. In your specialness you may not feel that the value added is worth the additional cost, but to act like buying a Straight Talk iPhone from Walmart is no different than buying a used iPhone from eBay/craigslist and cobbling it to get it fully functional on Straight Talk is pure nonsense.

I have an AT&T iPhone on Straight Talk. I'm a techie, so getting things working was not a problem, but I would never recommend this route to just anybody.
 
Sracer, what's your experience with straight talks data caps?

I currently have a Verizon iPhone 4S and my contract is up. I'm wanting to buy an iPhone 5, but toying with the idea of buying the iPhone 5 outright from Walmart and going on straight talk.

I have terribly slow Verizon signal where I live and where I work, but I still manage to use between 3-3.5 gb of data a month. I live in an Internet black hole in the middle of the Southern California desert so I am force to use one of those broadband hotspots as my home Internet too, so wifi isn't really an option to offset data use. I'm worried about the data caps an getting my service cancelled or severely slowed down, that's the only thing that's keeping me from going ahead and buying the iPhone 5 from Walmart and the year of straight talk service.

Just last week I bought an iPhone 4 for my mom from Walmart on straight talk and I've done multiple speed net tests and while my Verizon iPhone only downloads between .15 - .5 mb hers is downloading at between 1.5 - and 2 mb. So I'm guessing their phones are still running off of AT&T towers in my area.

The only thing keeping me on Verizon is my unlimited data so either way, straight talk or Verizon, I'm going to have to pay full price for my phone to keep "unlimited" data. And either way, it's going to be slow as ****. With Verizon, from the getgo and with straight talk, after 2gb. I don't mind being slowed down after 2gb, I just don't want my phone to actually be turned off.

I am in a pickle. I need some advice!
 
If you get service with sprint I would go with virgin mobile.you can get a iPhone 4 350 dollars
 
fizz7283 said:
Just last week I bought an iPhone 4 for my mom from Walmart on straight talk and I've done multiple speed net tests and while my Verizon iPhone only downloads between .15 - .5 mb hers is downloading at between 1.5 - and 2 mb. So I'm guessing their phones are still running off of AT&T towers in my area.
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I don't think Walmart has ever sold an AT&T Straight Talk iPhone, just SIM cards. Does her iPhone 4 have a SIM card slot? If not, it's using Verizon's network.
 
hunterheath33 said:
Because the iPhone runs off of verizon towers. Maybe I'll get the iPhone 4S. But I can't buy a used one since it will run of AT&T or tmobile, both of which don't get service at my house. ONLY VERIZON DOES!!!
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People sell used Verizon 4s too :confused:
I would buy a used 4s, then use PagePlus or Talk For Good. Both use Verizon and allow iPhone 4/s.
 
bohbot16 said:
I don't think Walmart has ever sold an AT&T Straight Talk iPhone, just SIM cards. Does her iPhone 4 have a SIM card slot? If not, it's using Verizon's network.
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Ahh, negative. Her 3GS on straight talk was an AT&T one and they told us that all of their smart phones used AT&T towers while the dumb phones used Verizon towers. So that's why I assumed her iPhone 4 was still running on AT&T towers.

So why in the hell would her data connection be so much faster on an iPhone 4 than on my iPhone 4S? My billing cycle just started again on the 22nd so there should be no reason I should already have been throttled on my data speeds already.
 
fizz7283 said:
Ahh, negative. Her 3GS on straight talk was an AT&T one and they told us that all of their smart phones used AT&T towers while the dumb phones used Verizon towers. So that's why I assumed her iPhone 4 was still running on AT&T towers.

So why in the hell would her data connection be so much faster on an iPhone 4 than on my iPhone 4S? My billing cycle just started again on the 22nd so there should be no reason I should already have been throttled on my data speeds already.
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Walmart sold you a Straight Talk iPhone 3GS with an AT&T SIM in it? I've never heard of that before.
 
No, this was long before straight talk even sold iPhones. Long before you could even buy their SIM cards for the BYOD plans. I actually had to buy a Nokia phone to get the SIM card for the 3GS, unlock it and all that jazz. But later on when I was buyin androids for my nephews a straight talk rep told me that all of their smart phones are used on AT&T towers.

I know the 3GS was an AT&T phone because I had used it on AT&T. Maybe the rep just didn't know what they were talking about though. Seems common with straight talk lol
 
fizz7283 said:
No, this was long before straight talk even sold iPhones. Long before you could even buy their SIM cards for the BYOD plans. I actually had to buy a Nokia phone to get the SIM card for the 3GS, unlock it and all that jazz. But later on when I was buyin androids for my nephews a straight talk rep told me that all of their smart phones are used on AT&T towers.

I know the 3GS was an AT&T phone because I had used it on AT&T. Maybe the rep just didn't know what they were talking about though. Seems common with straight talk lol
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OK. Now we're on the same page about the 3GS. If you walk into Walmart today and buy a Straight Talk iPhone then it will use Verizon 3G.

What's the story behind your mom's iPhone 4?
 
bohbot16 said:
OK. Now we're on the same page about the 3GS. If you walk into Walmart today and buy a Straight Talk iPhone then it will use Verizon 3G.

What's the story behind your mom's iPhone 4?
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I just bought it for her birthday on the 17th, at Walmart. The data speeds on her phone are much much faster than my Verizon iPhone 4S and I'm just wondering why? It makes no sense to me. Even at the beginning of my billing cycle when my speeds should be at their highest.
 
fizz7283 said:
I just bought it for her birthday on the 17th, at Walmart. The data speeds on her phone are much much faster than my Verizon iPhone 4S and I'm just wondering why? It makes no sense to me. Even at the beginning of my billing cycle when my speeds should be at their highest.
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OK, so you never put a SIM in your mom's iPhone 4? The speeds you're referring to for her phone seem normal for Verizon 3G and yours seem extra low.
 
fizz7283 said:
No, I didn't. Mine are extra low =( damn throttling.
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Are you able to get speeds close to what your mom is seeing when you're not throttled? It sounds like you're either using a crazy amount of data with Verizon to get throttled (I don't know anything about their throttling policy TBH) or that there is something wrong that they should fix.
 
bohbot16 said:
Are you able to get speeds close to what your mom is seeing when you're not throttled? It sounds like you're either using a crazy amount of data with Verizon to get throttled (I don't know anything about their throttling policy TBH) or that there is something wrong that they should fix.
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I use a lot of data. I actually checked my data usage for the last six months and it was between 3-6 gigs. Even at the beginning of our billing cycle my 3G data speeds are really slow.

I just bought an iPhone 5 at full price and it looks as if they reset my data on the Verizon website so my 3G speeds at home are at around 1.5 mb/s and LTE at work is around 6-8mb/s depending on signal strength.

I guess I'll see how long this lasts lol
 
fizz7283 said:
I use a lot of data. I actually checked my data usage for the last six months and it was between 3-6 gigs. Even at the beginning of our billing cycle my 3G data speeds are really slow.

I just bought an iPhone 5 at full price and it looks as if they reset my data on the Verizon website so my 3G speeds at home are at around 1.5 mb/s and LTE at work is around 6-8mb/s depending on signal strength.

I guess I'll see how long this lasts lol
Click to expand...

From what I've read LTE is cheaper per bit (more efficient tech) for the operators, so they let you use more compared to 3G before throttling.
 
bohbot16 said:
From what I've read LTE is cheaper per bit (more efficient tech) for the operators, so they let you use more compared to 3G before throttling.
Click to expand...

I sure hope so because where I live our only option for home Internet is a broadband modem from Verizon and we have unlimited 3G on it so its always throttled too. So I'm limited to that and my phone, I usually use my phone. It would be great if I could use a little more data on my phone before it's throttled.
 
Straight talk micro sim card??

I have an AT&T iphone 4 that I'd like to put on Straight Talk, but I can't figure out how to do it without buying a micro sim off ebay for about $60 (4x the price of a T-Mobile card, which I can't use).

Anybody have an idea where I can get an AT&T compatible micro-sim for a reasonable price?

Thanks.
 
fizz7283 said:
Sracer, what's your experience with straight talks data caps?

I currently have a Verizon iPhone 4S and my contract is up. I'm wanting to buy an iPhone 5, but toying with the idea of buying the iPhone 5 outright from Walmart and going on straight talk.

I have terribly slow Verizon signal where I live and where I work, but I still manage to use between 3-3.5 gb of data a month. I live in an Internet black hole in the middle of the Southern California desert so I am force to use one of those broadband hotspots as my home Internet too, so wifi isn't really an option to offset data use. I'm worried about the data caps an getting my service cancelled or severely slowed down, that's the only thing that's keeping me from going ahead and buying the iPhone 5 from Walmart and the year of straight talk service.

Just last week I bought an iPhone 4 for my mom from Walmart on straight talk and I've done multiple speed net tests and while my Verizon iPhone only downloads between .15 - .5 mb hers is downloading at between 1.5 - and 2 mb. So I'm guessing their phones are still running off of AT&T towers in my area.

The only thing keeping me on Verizon is my unlimited data so either way, straight talk or Verizon, I'm going to have to pay full price for my phone to keep "unlimited" data. And either way, it's going to be slow as ****. With Verizon, from the getgo and with straight talk, after 2gb. I don't mind being slowed down after 2gb, I just don't want my phone to actually be turned off.

I am in a pickle. I need some advice!
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I am curious what happened. I am in the same boat now. ... I am at the end of my contract with an unlimited data plan and am considering waiting for the 5s in the fall or possibly a lower cost iPhone depending on specs. Still, I am debating between staying with Verizon or moving to ST.
 
Val-kyrie said:
I am curious what happened. I am in the same boat now. ... I am at the end of my contract with an unlimited data plan and am considering waiting for the 5s in the fall or possibly a lower cost iPhone depending on specs. Still, I am debating between staying with Verizon or moving to ST.
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I've had no problems with data caps on ST... but I don't use 3-5GB of data a month either. If someone needs that type of capacity then there is no loophole short of paying for a true unlimited plan.

Satnam1989 said:
AT&T's got a new GoPhone Prepaid plan...IMHO its a Straight talk killer...with LTE access...doesnt get better: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1599878/
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The only way that it can be considered a ST killer is if 4G/LTE is needed. I'm paying $45/month on Straight Talk for unlimited talk/text/data.
 
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