It's great i have been using it for 5 months no problems :)How is the Straight Talk cell phone service through Wall Mart?
i just got mine i think its pretty good EXCEPT , the customer service and reloading of the phone is atrocious !! its hard to get through to them on the phone and the web site is very limited. (last night it wasnt even active they were doing maintenace).. you get what you pay for i guess..
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My husband and I both just recently switched from our Verizon contract phones to Straight Talk because the price is so good. My husband got his cell phone first to try it, and it is great. The only con's that I have so far is that you can not get ringtones from websites such as phonezoo.com and you can only sent a 160 character text message, where as on Verizon, you could send 7 pages of 160 character texts. Also, if you want to forward something, you only can forward to 5 people at a time, Verizon, you can forward to 10 at a time. So all in all, it is a great deal and very reasonable. The internet on it is great also.
I have bought 3 straight talk phones one for myself, my g/f, and my son. I have looked all over the web after a week of customer service nightmares and it seems to be the biggest complaint with straight talk. They give you a tutorial type list of things to try when you phone isn't working properly, remove the battery, etc. It has been right at a week and my g/f's phone still will not work at all, my phone will text, and receive and make voice calls but the web won't work on mine. My son's works perfect. Every time you call customer service they basically don't resolve the issue and they just tell ya to try back in another 24 hours, many ppl have had the same issues one post I found even had been ongoing for over 51 days. Their EULA protects them from having to refund all or part of the prepaid time that it has taken to get your phone to work in the first place. Other then their poor customer service though I really have no complaints.
I work in the Walmart Wireless department in my community. Here is all I know:
Straight Talk Wireless is owned by TracFone Wireless, Inc., a subsidiary of Am茅rica M贸vil. It was launched late 2009 and has been a very advantageous venture for both Walmart and our Customers.
The Phones
There are several devices available in-store depending on the store, and range from about $30 to $330, and are listed as follows:
- Low End:
LG 100C (only at Walmart.com)
LG 200C
LG 220C
- Middle-End:
LG 290C (compare to Sprint's LG LX290)
Motorola W385
- High-End:
Motorola V3a (compare to Alltel's Motorola V3a)
Samsung R451C (compare to Sprint's Samsung M540 Rant, or Verizon's Samsung U450)
Samsung Finesse R810C (compare to Alltel's Samsung R800 Delve or Sprint's Samsung M800 Instinct)
The Service
The coverage is the same as that of Verizon Prepaid. A coverage map can be found on StraightTalk.com. Since it uses Verizon's network, it is CDMA; i.e. no SIM cards.
The plans are simple: $30 gets you 1,000 anytime minutes; 1,000 messages (text and picture); 25 MB of data allowance for mobile web; and no additional cost to calls to 411 Information. $45 gets you unlimited minutes, unlimited messages, unlimited mobile web access, and no additional costs for using 411. Both plans expire every 30 days. You can refill your account via Straight Talk refill cards, debit/credit card, or automatic refill.
There are no hidden fees or activation fees. The only additional cost is sales tax when you buy the device and the card.
The Activation Process
You can activate your Straight Talk phone with a new number (based on the ZIP code you provide). Or you can port your number--i.e. transfer a number from another mobile company or a land line. If you transfer from a land line, the account with the land line will be cancelled automatically for you by Straight Talk.
When you sign up, it is required to provide your name, address, home phone number, email (if you do not have an email, they will create a dummy email for you), your birth date, and an answer to one of their security questions (name of your high school, your pet's name, your mother's maiden name, or your father's middle name). Your birth date and Security Answer are both asked for whenever you contact Straight Talk in order to validate that the account is yours. Since your birth date and Security Answer are required, it is best if you activate the account yourself. (I can't tell you how many times I've had Customers who don't know what the answers were because they had a friend do it for them).
The Straight Talk representative will also ask if you want to attach a name to your phone's serial number. They ask that in case you have more than one Straight Talk phone on your account. This is useful for managing your Straight Talk account online. Straight Talk will also ask if you would like them to contact you via your home phone number with pre-recorded messages about the latest deals and promotions.
The phones do not include any initial minutes or balance. For the service to work, it is required to fill the account with a refill card or a debit/credit card initially.
The Catches
(1) Since it is run by TracFone Wireless, contacting Straight Talk entails speaking to an out-sourced representative where English is not his or her primary language.
(2) There is no grace period after the 30-day service period. It is a huge nuisance to reactivate your account, even if it lapses only a day. There is a chance that you will have to get a whole new number. If you had ported your number and you let your account lapse, you will lose your number forever.
(3) The minutes do not roll over from one 30-day period to the next. It all starts over when you refill your account.
(4) There are drawbacks to porting. The account of your old service provider must be active during the port. It can take several days for the whole process to complete: transferring from another mobile company can take seven to ten days and porting from a land line can take 14 to 30 days to complete. You must provide COMPLETE information to Straight Talk about your old service provider (e.g. name of the service provider, your account number, name of account holder, billing address on file, and billing password, if any--that one is very important.); any missing information will cause delays. You cannot port a number from a different state.
(5) If you ever want to check your balance via your phone, you have to talk to a live representative, which means being on hold and then speaking to someone out-sourced. There is no automated service that does this.
(6) A major technical difficulty has arisen at some Walmart stores. Some stores had to withdraw all Straight Talk products, even the refill cards, due to errors with activation. Straight Talk will claim that the phone will not activate with the ZIP code provided, even when it will activate at a ZIP code from five miles away. This has happened at my store. People could not activate with our main ZIP code, but they can activate with our PO-Box-specific ZIP code. Personally, I believe it to be a database error. This makes it difficult to predict if your Walmart will even have the cards a month from when you got the phone. If this happens, you will have to go through Straight Talk directly. If you do not have a debit/credit card, consider purchasing a refill card from Walmart.com with a Walmart gift card, or by purchasing a prepaid VISA card, and buy directly from Straight Talk.
(7) If you ever want to change your number, you will lose whatever balance you have on your account at the time. I suggest you change your number at the end of the current 30-day period.
(8) There are no night-and-weekend minutes or mobile-to-mobile. One minute is one minute.
In conclusion, just like any other cell phone--or anything on the planet, for that matter--there are pros and cons. But I believe it is well worth it. I have not seen anything that comes close to this deal. If you have any questions, please let us Wireless Department associates know. We'll do our best to help (or at least we do at our store.)
I hope this helps.
oh it is so good i have the phone my brother has the phone it dosent break easily it is reliable and it is the best phone to start of with don't get any of the other phones becaus if your daughter is one to text and talk on her phone alot her minutes will be gone in about a week strait talk is the best to get i mean sure you have to pay 45 dollars a month but that for free talk text and web browsing .you would spend more than that on your other phones trust me ive been there.the other phones are not that good straight talk is the phone you are looking for half of my friends have it what are you waiting for go by it now and hope this helps you mam this took me forever to type hahahahaha goodbye
We have straight talk and boost in our area. The walmart associate said they both sell very well and do very well in this area.But I have heard that with boost, text messaging takes a very long time. So I too am considering going with straight talk. I hardly ever travel, so local coverage is perfect for me.
i have straight talk and i love it. you should get it. it works on the verizon network. nationwide coverage with no roaming fees. the only complaint i have is there customer service reps suck. other than that, it's a great service.
From what i know they use Verizon's towers so the coverage is good. The downside i hear alot about is that the phones arent the highest of quality.
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