Straight Talk Prepaid Wireless - First Look

In June of 2009, Straight Talk Prepaid cell phones hit the market with the offer of 1000 minutes plus 1000 text or multimedia messages plus 30 MB of data in a 30-day plan for $30.  Not a bad deal!  Even better, they have now added a $45 unlimited plan.

They also now have added a web-only offer where you can get a free Straight Talk phone with the purchase of an airtime card!  Click image below for more details.

Straight Talk began as a partnership between TracFone, Verizon, and WalMart, but many of their new phones are now with AT&T  The plan is administered by TracFone, runs on the Verizon or AT&T network, and the phones are currently sold exclusively by Wal Mart store and on the Straight Talk website where you can enter your zip code to see if the service is available in your area.  If no stores near you carry the phones, you can order one online and have it shipped to your door or to your favorite Wal Mart store.  

One advantage of ordering from the Straight Talk website is that you can order a phone bundled with the airtime card that you will need to activate the phone.  Or you can always order the phone "naked" and activate it online.

 

Note that by studying the coverage maps, it's clear that Straight Talk is not available on the entire Verizon network.  Straight Talk has updated their coverage map now, but definitely go to straighttalk.com to check out the coverage map to make sure it will work in your area.  

 

(I've now had a chance to do a Straight Talk Prepaid coverage area test, and in Southwest Missouri at least, the phone seems to work on the full Verizon network)

 

 

Curiosity overcame me, so I went ahead and ordered a Straight Talk Motorola W385 on walmart.com and had it shipped to my house.  I'm working on a full review, but here's a quick first look at what I've found so far.

• Although Straight Talk is administered by TracFone, most everything works differently.
• Your account balances do not rollover.  When you add a new card or refill online, it's all reset to 30 days, 1000 minutes, 1000 messages, and 30MB.  So it's use it or lose it.  Of course, that's a non-issue if you do the $45 unlimited plan.
• They have an auto-refill option where they will charge your credit card and reset your balances every 30 days, which is kind of like a postpaid contract plan except that you can cancel any time with no penalty or fee.
• They added $2.58 in taxes and fees when I paid the $30 for my first 30 days. 
• You don't get any free time with the phone.  You have to either activate it with an airtime card or pay for your first 30 days with a credit card during the activation process. 
• You can't see your remaining balance on the phone.  You have to use straighttalk.com or call the 800 number. 
• The browser is not limited to only certain sites like with TracFone.  I was able to browse www.fone-review.com and any other site that I tried.  You'll want to access the mobile version of your favorite sites, though, because Straight Talk still uses the same Openwave browser as TracFone. 

  

 

• You are not charged based on the time the browser is open, but rather on how much data is transferred.  So once a page is downloaded, you can read it at your leisure. 
• I was able to successfully copy pictures from my computer to the W385 and from the W385 to my computer with the bluetooth connection.  
• I was able to send and receive pictures to and from another phone in MMS messages and also to and from my gmail account using my computer.
• I had on hand a usb cable with the right connectors to connect the W385 to my computer.  My computer downloaded some drivers from Windows update, and the phone will now charge through the usb port on my computer.  The phone does not, however, show up as a drive on my computer where I can transfer files back and forth.   I don't know if this is because TracFone has crippled the usb on the phone, or if I just don't have the right drivers.
• The W385 does not have a removable memory card. 
• The packaging and walmart.com say that the W385 has a VGA Video Camera, but the camera only takes pictures.  I can't find any way to make it take video, and I can't find any other references anywhere to this phone having video capabilities.    
• Part of the fine print on the back of the box says, "TracFone is selling this phone to you at a discount in exchange for your agreement that it will only be used on Straight Talk's wireless service."   Another part says, "This phone will only operate with the Straight Talk service plan...".

Straight Talk claims to be "Everything you need in a cell phone without a contract", and although "everything" is a broad term, I must say I'm impressed with Straight Talk so far.  Nothing feels prepaid about it, things work like I expect them to work for the most part, and the price is definitely right for those who are at least moderately heavy cell phone users.  The $45 unlimited price is definitely right for heavy users!   Just pay attention to the coverage area and be aware that your account balances don't carry over on the $30 plan.

I'll keep plugging away on my full review, but in the meantime you can learn more about the service at www.straighttalk.com.

If you have found the information on Fone-Review more helpful than the sales clerk at your average big box retailer, please help me to continue helping everyone!

 

Comments

[Lucinda]

Ok i am not a customer yet I was wanting to know can i add ringtones from any where can i connect the samsung sch-r451c up to my pc can i get graphics from any where is the phone a good one can we transfer a tracfone to the straight talk is straight talk better then virgin mobile how long will it take to inport a virgin mobile phone number on the unlimited plan is all texting free picture text and incomeing text? please reply to ljdavidson77@hotmail.com

[ana]

I bought a Straighttalk phone for my boyfriend, and as we love the phone, we are having a problem with incoming text messages from USCellular clients. Straighttalk can send texts and recieve texts from other providers aside from Straighttalk. We can also recieve and send out calls from USCellular. We called and talked to a few different Straighttalk Repersenatives, and they were absolutly no help to me. I couldnt understand half of them including the sound quality of the way they spoke in. They said to basically call back in 24 hours. and when i call back in 24 and this cant be fixed. i will be very VERY upset. no where on this did it say, by the way u cant recieve Text messages from UsCellular. And we contacted USCellular, and they told us that USCellular doesnt block any incoming or outgoing anything to any providers.

[lucgrad00]

On Monday, October 26, I purchased a phone for Straight Talk. I went online to activate the phone and requested that my current phone number be ported in from my wireless carrier (Boost Mobile). After I completed all the steps online, I received an error message.

Since then I have had nothing but headaches. I have called the customer service line multiple times to check the status of my request and to see when my service with Straight Talk will be activated. Each time I am given a different response and a different time frame.

On Wednesday, October 28, I called my current wireless provider to see if a port request had even been initiated on my behalf. I was informed that there was no active port request. Of course, I again immediately called Straight Talk customer service. No one seemed to know why my port request had not been put through, but I was assured that it would be processed ASAP. Well here we are at Thursday, October 29 and the port request still has not been made to my current wireless carrier.

[Janna]

To lucgrad00, I have heard that sometimes the straight talk website has issues concerning specifically the transferring of numbers. I've seen it advised on several websites that if you want to activate online NEVER try and transfer your number, only do it over the phone. From what I understand, apparently their website is VERY glitchy. While it is nice and mostly straight forward, I think there is a kink in their system somewhere that they haven't figured out how to fix concerning the data with transferring numbers. Some people don't have an issue with it at all, but there have been a large number of people who have.

[Mtntophoundz]

We purchased our Straight Talk phone on 10/30. After running into problems trying to activate it via the website we called them on 10/31. The phone was activated almost immediately. The rep was very nice and apologized for the problems. An hour after the phone was activated it we were getting a message that it had been disconnected. We called customer service again and they re-activated the phone. He couldn't explain why it happened but my guess was because we tried to activate it online first. I have been a Tracphone and Net10 customer for 4 years and love this prepay option. The phone we have Samsung R451C has lots of options that we love. Matter of fact we will soon by buying 3 more after trying this one out for a few weeks to see what we think. When I asked the rep about porting numbers he did say they have been having problems with that.

[jpinter]

At this point I have not bought one of these phones. I'm interested in the Samsung R451C phone. There are two questions I have that may be a deal killer for me.

1) Is there software to backup the phone or manage the directory on a PC AND MAC?

2) I am currently on the Verizon network and because of the poor signal in my home I use a Verizon Wireless Network Extender also made by Samsung. Will this phone work with it since it uses the Verizon network?

One further question, if I go over the minutes or data with the $30 plan am I charged extra or what happens?

Thanks in advance,

John

[Keith Tyndall]

John - You can use bluetooth or a usb cable to hook up the phone to a computer and browse the Images, Musics, Ringtones, and Sounds folders. I don't know of any way to backup the contacts.

I don't have any experience with the Verizon Network Extender, so I can't give you a good answer on that one.

You can't go over on the $30 plan because it won't let you. For example, once you use up all of your minutes, you can't make any more calls until you top up again.

[Cameron]

Despite reading so many negative reviews from other customers I decided to try the service out anyways. Prior to purchasing this phone (LG290CM) and plan ($30/month) I was using T-Mobile's prepaid sidekick service. I was paying $1 per day for unlimited internet and text messaging plus an additional $0.15 per minute of talk time. Total came out to $70+ some months with like 100 minutes. I registered the phone online and ported my number over. I had no issues and the port finalized in about 5 hours. The site gave clear instructions on how to activate the phone and I followed them exactly with no issues. Turned on the phone, great service. Talk is clear, texts are fast, and internet speed although top notch is tolerable. Obviously this service isn't right for the person who cannot live without mobile internet but come on what do you expect. The time remaining is rather annoying, but oh well, it beats paying twice as much per month for the same service. With t-mobile I had one bar in my house, calls dropped, internet never worked and now, perfect, I can talk, text, browse with no problems. Next month I will reup with the $45 plan simply because I don't have any issues at all. I highly recommend this service to people who genuinely need affordable wireless without a contract not for people with high expectations that no carrier could meet. To those reading these reviews and being scared away, if you follow the instructions given and give the service the benefit of the doubt you will find that this is no worse than issues with any other carrier. Example: T-Mobile just recently had a global outage of their data services that last a week and a half. It took 4 or 5 days of 2+ hour hold times before they finally put a recorded message telling customers of the issue with the explanation we are working on it and no definitive resolution date. Additionally, Verizon over charges for their service, AT&T is a joke, and well the list could go on and on.

[stacey nicholas]

I have the sch-r451c which is the slide full keyboard phone.. my problem seems to be that people are not getting my texts.. teh c/s dept keeps telling me over and over that everything is fine, and it must be everyone else's phone that has the problem. the only way its seems to work is if I give someone the number, they have to text me first.. then i can reply...which stinks! does anyone else have this prob and know how to fix?

[Keith Tyndall]

Stacey - Do you perhaps need to enter the 10 digit phone number? Just grasping at straws, because I haven't had the same problem. You might try calling Elston Lombillo who is a TracFone employee who has been helpful to people. 1.800.626.4883 ext 6107

[Mark]

Cameron- you can call and have the time remaining message turned off on your phone.

[David]

I've really thought about using this service but still a little hesitant. How can I find out places that I won't have service? I've looked at the Verizon coverage map and it seems that everywhere I travel has verizon service.

If that's the case, wouldn't the Straight Talk have the same?

and whats the mobile web like? I would love to be able to use the internet on my phone without having a ridiculously high phone bill.

[John]

I have found that Google Mobile (http://m.google.com)works great with this phone. I set this as my homepage. (Google Mail works really well with this particular phone browser.) I purchased the Samsung R451-C from Wal-Mart this month. I have found that this network (Verizon/Tracfone) works much better were I live than my previous provider. I live in the"boonies" and I am able to receive calls and get online with no problems. I have dropped my other carrier and am staying with Straight Talk.

[kristy]

I bought my phone on 11/4/09.Web browser wouldnt work.called tech support 3 times in 2 days and they couldnt figure it out.said they were working on it.on 11/7, my browser started working.Give customer service a few days and see what happens.I am very happy with my phone.

[Leeann]

I bought my Samsung R451C qwerty slider phone about ten days ago. I chose not to port my number due to the hundreds of awful reviews regarding porting on ST. (A shame, really.)

It took about 5 minutes to activate my phone online and it worked perfectly (excellent signal, NO dropped calls, fast internet [albeit a bit rudementary] and no problems with sending or receiving texts or MMS messages).

I tried to check my email from the phone this morning as I always do and was greeted by a lovely 'ERROR 404 PAGE NOT FOUND' message every time I tried to access the Web. I have not been able to access it since that happened.

I called CS, waited about 5 minutes to speak with someone. CS lady was helpful but spoke extremely poor English and was hard to understand (but then again, what customer service line isn't?).

She asked for my device serial number to locate my account-- which I thought was a bit weird. I told her I was on the phone and couldn't get to it. She then proceeded to ask for my phone number and then zip code to check for "local outages" that may have been affecting my browsing capabilities.

She then told me that the Cleveland area (where I am from) was experiencing technical difficulties with the Web and that they were working to resolve the problem in 24-48 hours. She told me that if I didn't have Web access restored in 48 hours to call back and they'd look into it.

Let's hope my Web access returns-- I don't want to have to make 50 fruitless phone calls.

I will update as soon as my service is restored or I have to call CS again.

[Scott]

My wife and I have tried T-Mobile, ATT,Tracfone and now Straight Talk. I have my wife's old phone, a Motorola 376 on the Tracfone network while she has the LG 290 on the Straight Talk network. My wife tried the ST Motorola 385, the Samsung 451, and now the current phone. She likes crystal clear voice and the LG seems the best of the 3 for our area (Central Florida). The web browser is pretty basic but can access Gmail easily enough but not Yahoomail. Tech support is good so far. In fact when I got her old phone (Tracfone 376g) I transferred my old Tracfone number and the remainder of my minutes in less than 20 minutes with a helpful CS rep. She said it could take 3 days but it didn't. Also, working with Walmart has been painless. We've returned a Tracfone phone, and two ST phones and the $30.00 cards for full refund (even though we used some minutes and data)and the card says non-refundable. We are very pleased with both Tracfone and now Straight Talk. I'll upgrade to ST when I use up the rest of my Tracfone minutes. Also I really appreciate the promo codes. We've had DMFL on our Tracfones and have used the promo codes for every purchase though the Tracfone website. Thanks for this blog!

[Average Consumer]

I am considering changing over to the Straight Talk service, but can't seem to find information on whether or not I can use my Verizon Wireless prepaid phone (Nokia 6205) on the ST system. Does anyone know the answer to this question?

[GP]

Does anyone know if you can use a Net 10 Phone with Straight Talk services?

[nate]

no you have to buy one of the straight talk phones they sell. you can not transfer your current phone over. only your current number

[Dot]

I just purchased two straight talk phones. The Samsung with the qwerty keyboard and the LG slider. I cant seem to get a signal on the Samsung, while the LG has full bars. Anyone know what's up with that?

[Mark]

I've had the LG220 on Straight talk for about a week now. I had some problems getting all the features working but now its working well. One problem that they won't take care of is if you sign up for auto billing before your month is up you get charged from that day. I signed up 3 days after getting the phone so basically got charged twice for the first month. They won't fix this for you and its not listed on their website! I've been happy with the phone and the coverage so will keep the phone but am disputing this charge with my Credit card Company. If you do want the auto billing remember to wait till the day before your service expires to activate it!

[Janet Edwards]

Couple of questions please. 1.Does the basic, cheap phone for ST have text messaging? I'm just interested in a phone to make & receive calls, don't really need anything fancy. 2.If I buy a phone and activate it(with a phone number given by ST), can I, at a later date, port my number I currently have with Verizon? I would like to try the phone for a month before I decide to cancel my verizon service, but I would also like to keep my current number if possible. Thank you

[Keith Tyndall]

Dot - Maybe the Samsung is defective?

Mark - Thanks for the tip about the autobilling.

Janet - All Straight Talk phones have text messaging, and you can port your number over later, but there may be a period of a day or two where both numbers are inactive while the porting process takes place. Since it's Verizon to Verizon, though, the port should go pretty fast.

[tbronk]

Can anyone tell me if I blow thru the ST phone minutes and not the text with the 1000/1000 plan, will i still be able to text until the 30 days is up??

[Keith Tyndall]

tbronk - The minutes and the text balances are separate, so if you burn through the minutes, you can still text until you use them up too.

[Sean]

Sorry to repost this, but i'm not sure where i posted my last post, lol.

But, my questions are what does the 30MB mean, and are you still able to surf the internet with the $30 plan?

[Mark]

Sean- 30Mb is said to equal about 300 pages of web browsing. I have the LG 220 and the browser is pretty basic. I still can't get to Yahoo mail, anyone been able to use it yet?

[tattoodnikki]

I just discovered straight talk and have questions that Walmart & the ST customer service don't seem to be able to give me a straight answer on. I am an OTR driver and go to all 48 states. If I get this phone with the $45 unlimited plan will I be able to use it in other states without extra charges or am I limited to using it only where I live. I'm asking because when I looked on the website it told me to enter the zip code of where the phone would be used. I like the coverage areas if I'm able to actually travel to use it. Also, is there extra charges for making long distance calls? And do you get voicemail, caller ID & call waiting with these phones? Sorry, none of these questions were answered on the ST site or the booklet I received from Walmart.

Thanks,
Nikki

[Mark]

Nikki- look on the straight talk site for the coverage map. They use the Verizon network so you should have pretty good coverage coast to coast. No long distance charges, if you are out of the coverage area you won't be able to make a call. All the features you mentioned are included with the phone. I've been pretty happy with mine, took awhile to get it set up right but the coverage in my area (CT) is great. Customer service is overseas so sometimes you get a person who's english isn't the best but they usually are able to help.

[ophelia]

hey i have a question i would love to switch from metro pcs to a straight talk but i live in newyork city i havent heard any of my friends mention it im curious to know if anyone in queens, brooklyn, or the bronz has this ? and also i have family in jamaica can text messages be sent there ???

[tattoodnikki]

Ok, thanks for the info. I was just wondering since the price is so good if there was some kind of catch, like you can only stay in your calling area to make calls without being charged or something. That's great to hear because right now I have T-mobile and trying to drive coast to coast with that is a joke. I looked at the coverage map for both and Verizon's is definitely better. Thanks for the super quick reply. This site is great!
Nikki

[GLADYS FRAZIER]

i bougnt a straight talk cell pnone LG220C NOV. 21,2009 I CAN MAKE A CALL BUT NO ONE CAN CALL ME. COULD SOME ONE PLEASE HELP?

[yesenia]

hi i am thinking in buying a st but i am wondering will it work in mexico. because i had a verizon before and it did.

[tattoodnikki]

More questions I thought of: Do ST phones use a sim card? If so, If I were to buy the cheap phone to start with and later get a more expensive one, is it as easy as just taking out my sim card and putting it in the new phone or do I have to actually "activate" the new phone the same as I do the first one?

Second part to this question. If it does use a sim card, once it's registered, can I then take that sim card and use it in an actual Verizon phone later?
Thanks....Nikki

[Chels]

I have a question...can you get song ringtones like you can with regular cell phones, or are you stuck with the ringtones the phone comes with?

[Debbie]

I found this blog last week while I was researching Straight Talk. I had found out about the phones/service at WalMart and it really seemed too good to be true. Based on everything I'd read online, I was cautiously optimistic about the service.
I went ahead and purchased a Samsung R451C and attempted to buy a $30 card so I could activate it. Unfortunately, the card would not activate at the WalMart register. Neither would the second or third card we tried, so I went home with just the phone, feeling a little less positive about this whole experiment.
When I got home, I went to the Straight Talk website to activate the phone. To my dismay, the links to activate the phone would not load (even though those same links were fine all day long). I clicked on every link on their site and finally was able to get to the activation page. Everything went smoothly during the activation, and literally within 5 minutes the phone was activated and my phone number had been ported over from Verizon. I had a nice strong signal and shot off a text message to my husband, to which he replied. Success! The phone was working!
But the internet was not. I got the mesage: "Error: Requested content 'tfdevice/home/' cannot be accessed. You do not have access to the site."
I immediately sent an email to Elston at the email address provided by another commenter on this blog. All this happened on Friday night. First thing Monday morning Elston emailed me back asking for my phone's serial number. By the end of the day on Monday I had internet service on the phone.
The process could have been much worse. I now have a fully functioning phone with great, affordable service. I've been all over town and my signal is just as strong as it had been when I was using Verizon.
I think I'll wait until I have one day left and then sign up for the auto pay so I don't have to worry about forgetting to pay for my service.

[Keith Tyndall]

Ophelia - I wouldn't count on text messages to Jamaica working. The ST service only officially covers the USA.

Gladys - You'll have to call ST customer service.

Yesenia - ST doesn't officially work in Mexico.

Nikki - ST phones do not use sim cards. They are CDMA, not GSM.

Chels - Yes, you can get ringtones.

Debbie - Thanks for sharing!

[abby]

I read that the ST phones only work in the zipcode that you activate them in....is this true?

[Mark]

Yahoo mail is finally working on my phone as of last week.

[PulTab]

ST phones work anywhere on the Verizon network, (which is pretty much everywhere). If they only worked in the zip code where they were activated I wouldn't be able to use mine half way across town!