Anyone using Straighttalk phones

The kid · Jun 7, 2014

Got tired of Verizon's ever escalating prices and looked for a feasible alternative. I decided to go with Straighttalk. Fortunately my area is only good for Verizon towers. So the transistion was somewhat painless porting over into a ST phone. Just keep in mind you neeed to exercise patience when calling them by phone. These low paid poorly trained CSR's read a script as to answering questions. You can find more solutions on the phone forums all over the net.

I've been wanting a Galaxy S3 for some time. i couldn't find the right one for the Verizon network. Well I finally found the info om how to buy a S968C which is a ST branded Verizon S3. Look no further than Walmart.com as far as I know, it is the only place to buy one. They are selling this same phone for over $200 over retail on ebay. What a rip. Some of the other (bring your own phone) S3's simply don't work correctly. You will find that the MMS (picture messaging) doesn't work with the BYOP program
sT will tell you over the phone they don't guarantee that feature to work. If you wanting to keep a Verizon network buy cut your bill in half. The go to walmart.com and search samsung galaxys3 and the S868C. Will display. That is a ST branded Verizon phone. Works great too. The S968c is a 3G phone.

Anyone else got any war stories to share?

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CowboyRon · Jun 7, 2014

Does AT&T work in your area? If so I would look at AIO or cricket. They both run off of their towers.

Pixguy · Jun 7, 2014

Check out PagePlus cellular. I moved my Vz phone over and it still says Vz on phone because it uses their towers. It is only G3 service but my iphone4 works well at a much lower price.
My outlaws have the $12 plan and I have the $30 plan with no contract, no taxes and no issues.

chad22 · Jun 7, 2014

I have a straight talk phone and haven't had any trouble with it. So after the good service on the phone I got the straight talk hotspot when they came out with it. It's an internet device that can fit in my pocket and I can choose how much data I want to purchase.

Works out pretty cheap for on the go internet.

Chad

The kid · Jun 7, 2014

Pixguy said:
Check out PagePlus cellular. I moved my Vz phone over and it still says Vz on phone because it uses their towers. It is only G3 service but my iphone4 works well at a much lower price. My outlaws have the $12 plan and I have the $30 plan with no contract, no taxes and no issues.

I was going to check into Page Plus. They are more into flashing your existing phone with PP software. They are owned by Tracfone so the CS nightmare still exist. They are a bit higher in monthly price are they not?

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Pixguy · Jun 7, 2014

Kid, I've never had PP put any software on my phone and have the exact same coverage I had going to and from Florida this year. Their customer service was fine the few times I had to add phones or to put it on an auto charge every month($29.95) and now 2 of my kids or wives changed over.
Their plans range from $12 to 69.95 depending on how much data service you need away from your wifi. I have the $30 plan because I use my tablet when home but use some data while on the road.
PM me if I'm not clear.

https://www.pagepluscellular.com/plans/

prosperity · Jun 7, 2014

Glad I don't have these problems - no cell service where I live = no cell phones.

oosik · Jun 7, 2014

Got that beat. No cell service where I live and no land line service. True bliss.

bullbreaker · Jun 7, 2014

I use Straighttalk been please with their service. I went with them to get away from contracts. I only needed the 1000 mins/texs $31.60 tax included per month. Just recently I'am guessing for being with them for awhile I'am automatically getting 1500 mins/ and 50,000 tex's like if any one tex's that many times a month for same price (card @ Wallyworld).
Before that I briefly had Tracphone good reception and service but mins eat you alive. :thumbdown:

Wayne Moquin · Jun 7, 2014

My wife and i both have Straight talk smart phones after having atat.They work great costumer service is what it is , atat wasnt much better.We also have straight talk home phone also works great.

the old grind · Jun 7, 2014

I switched from VZW (tho' I am a stockholder

) to Net 10. Uses AT&T network. I-Crutch 4 was $180 used. Never bought any apps or registered at I-store and have survived 4 or 5 SW updates with basic phone, text, and web features working flawlessly for >21 months. Unlimited everything plan is ~$50/mo -$5/mo since going to auto-pay. (Just< $50/mo with all taxes.) Verizon wanted >$92/mo +Tx for same pkg regardless of phone. (btw, also have land-line for public number/listing to gather junk calls, verify CC info, etc. Another $50/mo to do so without depending on Comcast's 'bundled' blitz and so-so o'all svc)

Just putting another example out there for others to compare. Rates are very localized, much like utils.
Bottom line, call everyone who serves your area, be sure whose network they use, and ask which phones work best with it, if they even know. :confused3:

Btw: Things I've learned about cel phones:
- "50 state coverage" means "at least 1 tower/state" vs true 'go anywhere' (VZW does shine here, but still may be only near interstate hwys.)
- If easy to switch 'cel data' on & off, 'wi-fi' saves cel mins and battery charge for interweb use. (IMO, Web is so much better on a real computer)
- and of course:

prosperity · Jun 7, 2014

oosik said:
Got that beat. No cell service where I live and no land line service. True bliss.

That sure is! I guess I could say I have no land line phone service either, but I do have a home phone which is VoIP (runs over the internet). The only time it rings is doctor's office calling to confirm an appointment.

I just could never understand why people must have a cell phone and be in constant contact with other people. It's an epidemic in a way along with this texting thing.......

The kid · Jun 7, 2014

Pixguy said:
Kid, I've never had PP put any software on my phone and have the exact same coverage I had going to and from Florida this year. Their customer service was fine the few times I had to add phones or to put it on an auto charge every month($29.95) and now 2 of my kids or wives changed over. Their plans range from $12 to 69.95 depending on how much data service you need away from your wifi. I have the $30 plan because I use my tablet when home but use some data while on the road. PM me if I'm not clear. https://www.pagepluscellular.com/plans/

Did you ByOP or get one of theres. I was speaking of when you Bring Your Own Phone. Page Plus is almost exclusively Verizon is it not?

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Pixguy · Jun 7, 2014

The kid said:
Did you ByOP or get one of theres. I was speaking of when you Bring Your Own Phone. Page Plus is almost exclusively Verizon is it not?

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I had my iphone4 out of contract but still with Verizon. I called PP and they did all the work porting it over for free.
I get a text once a month letting me know they charged my CC the $29.95 and as I've said there is nothing different in the coverage as before. For the $30, I get 1200 min, 3000 texts and 500gb of data. My FIL gets the $12 plan and includes 250 min, 250 texts and 10mb of data(which he doesn't use with his flip phone that he had before as well)

They do sell phones at some gas station locations and other places if needed. You can also go on ebay and put in PagePlus phones and buy new or used there.

Pirate · Jun 7, 2014

I was with verizon for years. I wanted to try out a smartphone and am really glad I made the switch. I decided to buy a Nexus 5 and then chose an ATT sim from Straightalk. Best move I made in a long time. It says unlimited data but is really 3gig high speed and then they throttle down after that. I don't think I have ever gone over 2gig per month.

wroughtn_harv · Jun 8, 2014

In Haiti everyone buys minutes for their phone. Everywhere you see red umbrellas and individuals wearing red vests. If your phone is low on minutes you can go to one of these individuals and give them cash and get additional minutes. Everyone has a phone and they are extremely connected.

I have an Iphone, an Ipad Air, and am online constantly. It's what happens when a 65 year old body houses a twenty year old heart and mind. We have AT&T because the kiddos work there and they are the ones that gave me the kewel tools for keeping up.

Travelover · Jun 8, 2014

Another satisfied PagePlus customer. Also switched my wife and brother over to PP, and they are happy as well. I only carry it for emergency use so I use their $10 for 120 days plan, which is fine for me. Wife and brother chose other plans to meet their individual needs. We all purchased Verizon phones that were not prepaid, but off lease, on eBay for a nominal amount. Wife and I use Droid X2 smartphones. We have been pleased with the Verizon coverage.

michael.white · Jun 8, 2014

I went with Straight Talk three months ago with a BYOP Sprint Kyocera Torque smart phone, unlimited talk, text, & data. Patience is definitely required - it took me 10 days and three levels of escalation to get a phone number, but that seems to have been due to Sprint. After a month of good service I bought a year's service for $500. Several days later Sprint pushed a Kyocera patch that bricked my phone.

Since I was job searching I hurriedly bought another phone, this one a Straight Talk Verizon ZTE smart phone. I was assured I could transfer the number on line - they lied. It took several days and an escalation to get my number transferred over.

Since Sprint has better voice coverage where I'm at, I'll probably get another Sprint phone once I'm employed again. As it is, I'm afraid changing phones again may put me out of contact of potential employers for an extended period.

The kid · Jun 10, 2014

I searched on ebay for a cherry 32gb iphone4. I found a nice one for under $125 included the box and everything that came with it. I bought a ST network access card I ordered online with free shipping. Trying the online thingy just didn't work. So on to the CSR. (It's an adventure). My wife already had a Samsung Proclaim which is on Verizon towers. The iphone 4 was a verizon phone. So all I did was give the MEID number and access code to the CSR and ported to the iphone. Then just like the Proclaim when new you dial *22890 and it programs the Verizon to ST. The wife loves it. The iphone4 is a true CDMA Verizon phone and ports without problems. The newer iphone5 uses a sim and they authorize a bit differently.

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