Straight Talk? – NBR

[LBJ10]

Does anyone use Straight Talk? I was wanting some honest opinions/experiences.

You see, I currently have Sprint. I’ve had it for a long time. I’m supposed to have the free roaming feature. Anyway, where I work, I get absolutely no signal whatsoever. People who have Verizon can get a signal. I talked to Sprint, they said that my phone should be picking up the Verizon tower out there and using the roaming. For some reason it isn’t (yes, roaming is enabled on the phone). I have argued back and forth with Sprint on this. They don’t seem to have a solution.

Now I’m thinking of switching, but Verizon is SO expensive. Straight Talk is on the Verizon network. Problem is, I have never had a pre-paid plan before. I have always had a contract. It makes me a little nervous because sometimes I need to pay my bill late. From what I understand, that could not happen with a pre-paid phone. I have also read some negative reviews about Straight Talk.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[Julezypie]

One of the girls I work with uses it and loves it. I use something called Simple Mobile, which runs off of TMoBile. She loves straight talk except for the lack of choice in phones.

[LBJ10]

I don’t know what they actually have at Walmart, but they have a fair selection online. It seems like Sprint doesn’t have much of a selection anymore though anyway. I looked at phones for my husband awhile back and they really didn’t have much to choose from.

[Julezypie]

Phone selection is why I went with Simple. You can bring any GSM phone onto the network. I know Straight Talk has iPhones, but they are expensive because you have to buy them outright. I’ve had no contract phones for a little over six years now and my advice is this: spend the money on a nice phone if you are going to do no contract. It’s worth it in the end because 90% of the time, the actual phone you are getting has lower quality parts and has been “dumbed down” if its not a specific model (like an S3 or an iphone). Metro PCS is notorious for this especially.

[LBJ10]

Anyone else with experience with pre-paid phones? I guess my biggest concern is what would happen if I couldn’t pay my bill right on time. That is what’s nice about a contract. You can pay late. They don’t shut your phone off right away.

[Julezypie]

I don’t know about straight talk, but I don’t get any grace period.

[LBJ10]

Yeah, that would be bad. LOL

[Beka27]

I know what you mean, LBJ10… I try not to pay bills late, but it happens. I only pay bills once a week, so if my phone bill is due Tuesday or Wednesday, it’s not getting paid until Friday anyways… I wish you could schedule these bills for certain days of the week, so instead of every month on the 21st, let’s say, the bill is due on the third Friday of every month, regardless of date.

I really don’t have experience with pre-paid phones. Is Straight Talk the one that’s available at stores like Walmart and you just go buy “minute” cards every month? Do you need a smartphone?

We have Verizon and the service is pretty good. I agree it’s expensive though…

[Stickerbunny]

Posted By LBJ10 on 06/24/2013 08:08 PM
Anyone else with experience with pre-paid phones? I guess my biggest concern is what would happen if I couldn’t pay my bill right on time. That is what’s nice about a contract. You can pay late. They don’t shut your phone off right away.

 

Straight talk has no grace period and they do nothing to encourage early refill (payment) so, yeah if you miss a payment you lose your phone service. I prefer the plans that let you pay for minutes, so you only pay what you use and some of them offer roll over if you don’t use them that month. But, that only works if you don’t use the phone too much, else it’s expensive.

[LBJ10]

Beka – We don’t necessarily need smart phones. Seems that is all there is anymore unless you want an old-style flip phone. And yes, the sell the phones at Walmart. It isn’t by minute though, it is per month. You get unlimited everything for like $45 a month (each phone). I looked at Verizon’s website and yikes! I can’t afford to pay what they want. LOL

Sticker – Yeah, I don’t know how pre-paid by the minute would work. I mean we don’t use our phones A LOT. But we don’t have a home phone anymore. We have a third cell phone line hooked up to our house phones though. It is nice having that third line for people you don’t really want bothering you to call (like work).

[colleenbunny]

 I am about to get a phone, and I will need to pay for the service, so I wanted THE CHEAPEST PLAN that I could find. I found the Fusion 2 for $80-ish dollars new, with an AT&T plan for $25 a month, with 250 minutes and unlimited texting.

[meow1]

I’ve had straight talk for over two years now, maybe even 3 (I have a bad memory), and I am just happy with my service. I signed up for the auto refill, which comes out to $49.?? per month. It is still pre-pay doing it this way, but you do not receive a bill or any type of statement at all, which I’m fine with. Some of their phones work on AT&T towers, some on verizon towers, and some on Sprint towers. I just got an iphone and it works on verizon towers. I have never had an issue, but I have seen where some people say that they will either turn off your internet service or throttle it if you go over the limit. (But it’s unlimited, right?) There is fine print no one reads of course. However, what is NOT included is “streaming”. I use my phone A LOT, BUT whenever I can use wifi I do instead of 3g, and this is probably why I’ve never had an issue. Their customer support/service sucks, but for the price and the fact I don’t have a contract means a lot to me. Overall, I am extremely pleased with Straight Talk and have no plans leaving.

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