Walmart Straight Talk Phone - Any Good?
 

I am so darn tired of my insane cell phone bill and soooo tempted by the television ads for the Straight Talk service -- but wondering is it too good to be true? Does anyone have any advice on their service and their smart phones?

Same here. I went with the Walmart/Tmoblie Family Mobile. No contract. In and out in about 10 minutes. Unlimited eveything for $45 a month/each additional phone $35 a month. I had picked out the phone I wanted for $179 that is under this plan and the sales associate showed me the Tmobile Prism on the wall that was basically the same phone for $129. You can get any Tmobile phone with this plan. I like the fact that my bill is a set amount every month and have not had any problems with the phone or plan. With no contract, give it a try. You have, I believe, 15 days to return the phone which is enough time to decide if you like the plan. I think you will. Unlimited everything with a guarentee that your bill will never go up-win/win. Do a google search on the plan and what ever phone you like for reviews.

Sounds like a great plan.

Straight Talk is fine *when it works*. But you're out of luck if you have a problem with the phone. Their customer service is the worst I've ever experienced. We had 3 phones and trouble with all of them (their phones are not cheap, either). One of the phones was down for 3 months before we got replacement for it.
I'd recommend skipping Straight Talk. We have T-Mobile pre-paid now and it is much more satisfying! We live in the sticks, so we only have Verizon and ATT signal, and T-Mobile will run off ATT now, so it is perfect.
Go on Craigslist and search "straight talk" and see how many phones are for sale!

Does anyone ever try to stream Pandora on it? I'd love to listen to music while I walk but heard that the "unlimited" data isn't really so unlimited.

My son and his wife had good results with Straight Talk, but I don't think they've ever had to deal with customer service. My daughter did not do so well with Straight Talk. Her phone worked about 2 weeks, she sent it back for a replacement and the box came back empty. She never did get her money back. After about 6 mo. of bugging them, she gave up. Their customer service is terrible!!!!!

Hi Krystyna -- I, like you, was so tired on my Verizon phone bill. Decided to try Straight Talk, and have never looked back. I get unlimited talk - text - data <web> for $45/month. I haven't had a bit of trouble.

I've had Straight Talk for approx. 2 years - no problems. I have the $30 plan which includes the web but I seldom use it B/C I have my computer. I love it for texting although I don't do a lot - it sure comes in handy when you just need to tell someone something short & sweet. I bought a Samsung for $99 with slip out keyboard.

I decided when I retired not to be chained to my cell anymore. I have an ATT prepaid for one year at $100 per year. I always have money left over. I do not text or use my cell for anything but to keep my DH happy when I am out alone. Don't know what her thinks is going to happen but he insists I carry it with me. I keep it in the car.

DH and I have both changed from Verizon to Straight Talk and have been on the $30 plan for about a year. He did decide to change his phone, i forget why, but they were helpful and it was done very quickly. When my son was in town and there were lots of family get-togethers I used up my $30 in less than 30 days - no problems just added another $30 to the works - it changes the day you have to refill - no problems with the signals. The phones we bought use Verizon towers. They will tell you which phones use which towers before you buy. We were spending about $250/mo on Verizon and locked in for 2 years - seperate contracts we had before we met. Now we are spending $60/mo and are much happier all round.

we do not have a land line phone only cell and our verizon service was outrageous so we switched to straight talk over a year ago I use the 45.00 plan and that is unlimited minutes my husband does not use his phone much su uses a track phone we also travel quite a bit and have never had a problem ours uses the verizon towers so glad we switched has saved a lot of money

My husband has had 3 Phones - all with problems from Straight Talk. Finally had to threaten to sue the company to get anything done - after hours upon hours over the phone trying to get things corrected. The next day, his phone was back to working - amazing. On the other hand, my Son in law and daughter have Straight Talk and haven't had one bit of trouble. I guess it's the luck of the draw when it comes to picking a phone off the rack!

If your phone is compatible (AT&T or T-Mobile in my area), you can just order a SIM card instead of using one of their phones since that seems to be what most people have complaints about. I have the SIM and a $45 refill card but hubby with his i-Phone, bandwidth sucking, AT&T checkbook sucking piece of crap won't use it so now I'm waiting until our youngest son's contract expires in November to try it out on. If that works, then maybe hubby will switch.

I don't think you can do that. They are pretty good at protecting their phones, for lack of a better phrase. I know one of the times we were having trouble with them, we went to Walmart and got a new (Straight talk) phone and couldn't use another SIM card in it. They have to "marry" the SIM and the phone. They make a LOT of money on the phones (look at the difference in price on the same phones thru Trac Phones, which is the same company), so they don't want you using your old ATT phones.

OTOH, my hubby and my son both are using "contract" phones with T-Mobile's Pre-Paid (yes, with Pandora!!!). I think you can with ATT, but don't hold me to it.

If you really want to see how much fun ST is to deal with, "friend" them on Facebook and look at the complaints on their page. I bet they get hundreds of problems a day.

I seriously would not recommend this service to anybody. Now a days, most services offer unlimited services for around $50 per month. I'd spend the extra $5/month for At&t or Verizon and save the aggravation!

Try Consumer Cellular they have a web site. Consumercellular.com They have very good flat rates and give an AARP discount on top. I have had them for over 2 years and really am satified with service, you can change your plan at anytime.