Despite the customer service that is marginal, I still give them 5 stars. For a dime a day and 10 cents a minute there is no better deal I can find. We have three, and use the phones maybe 10-20 minutes a month at best. For our use this is the best plan anywhere, period. We have never had problems connecting, they are on the Sprint Network. They should more aggreessively market their service through additional venues. We had some others (Virgin, Teacfone) and you can't beat the value with STI.

If you can find a cheaper option for the occational user then tell me

Minutes don't expire, but daily charge of $0.10 reduces balance. Coverage on Sprint PCS backbone. Customer Service is weak. My annual cost is $36.40 (0.10 daily charge) to keep my number and any minutes I use. Every other plan requires me to add minutes every 60-90 days or buy an annual card that costs about $100.00. This plan lets me control my cost. Perfect!

Best deal in town for the light user. The phone gets decent coverage, and it cost to use is very resonable.

I advice everyone to try Page Plus Cellular. It is very affordable service nationwide.

I would have given them no stars but it wasnt an option....i have had my STI pre-pd phone for over a year and i bought it in the same town i live in and it doesnt get reception here...whats up with that? The only place i can use my phone is in my house...not good!!!!! Even after i have called STI Mobile to tell them this they dont care...they say sorry and thats it..whats the point of havin a phone if u cant use it??? HAving a phone means u can use it no matter where u r at, unless your in the woods..which i live in a very populated city and it still does not work...they better get their tower fixed!!!!!!!
From VERY DISSATIFIED CUSTOMER

Dear Consumer: Do not waste your money. It is the worst service.

never recommended.

I like the low monthly cost that STI offers. Since the minutes do not expire, it is ideal for the light user. I buy refill pins from cheapphone cards for an added discount. I have spoken to customer service numerous times, and they have always been helpful. I hear alot about their customer service being sub standard, but I have not experienced this myself.
As far as coverage goes, it's the same coverage that you get from Virgin Mobile but at a cheaper rate (10 cents a minute).

I have two Sti Phones. They work as well as any one elses cell phone. The price is great. A dime a day plus a dime a minute for each minute used. Most everyone I know is paying around fifty dollars a month to have a one phone . I have Two phones for only Six bucks a month plus minutes. The phones were virtually free , so if they went out of business tommorow , I haven't lost a thing. If decide to change there is no contract to be concerned with, how cool is that! I buy my minutes from
A company called "CheapPhonecards" and even get a discount on the cost of minutes. So overall I'm a happy camper!!

Okay. This phone is cheap and crappy service. I would qive no stars if i could. This is a very borinq, dull, no connection phone. Not suitable for kids. DONT BUY.

I would also recommend current STI Mobile users switch to Page Plus. I did it a month ago and am very happy with the switch. I pay the same as STI but can use minutes I actually paid for. Do the calculation yourself and you'll switch too.

We've had STi for about 1 1/2 years, and the price can't be beat for a lightly used phone. The negatives are no roaming, and the picture messaging doesn't send a picture directly to e-mail. Instead, it sends a link to a photo site. The phones sold are old, not used but models from a few years back. They have very good international calling and text rates. It's great to have as an extra phone.

Don't use this service for kids. No contract is nice but kids are able to get adult account #'s and rack up large charges. Never use debit or credit cards for this service.

Yes, there are cheaper options (using the doubler card and the free minute codes you can get TracPhone down to $0.05 cents a minute and using the doubler card and their 200 minute card you get $0.10 a minute and no daily fee). However STi Mobile is much easier to use and consistant use of the phone means you never have to worry about due dates or expiration dates. Buying airtime on eBay also allows you to get down to $0.09 cents per minute or less. The phones offered by STi Mobile are also better than the basic phones offered by Tracfone, though more expensive to get into. As a past Sprint user I have always been happy with their network and this is reflected in the STi Mobile coverage as well since they also use the Sprint Network.

Great per minute price but that's about it. I haven't been able to get any reception in my own house. I can hear a little on my porch or outside and that will be fun this winter. I would have great reception if I lived some other places in this town. However, customer service wasn't sympathetic.

I have used STI for better than a year now and have no complaints with the program. The reception is always there and they let me know when the minutes are running low. Yeah, they charge a dime a day but there is no confusing process in having to add minutes at certain intervals and losing your service and number- I don't care for that trick box. If there is any problem with STI, it's their customer service. Just make sure you use a land line because you'll be on hold a loooong time.

This is the best price, least hassle, for the occasional user. Had for 3 yrs and nocomplaints. I don't know what the other people mean when they don't get service. Isn't Sprint ine of the biggest areas around?? No contract and free phones are a huge plus too.

Bought my LG 125x Sti phone on eBay for $22 plus $8 shipping.... a new phone in plastic hard to open container. There are great deals on STi phones on eBay all the time, cheap phone cards too.

Customer service is great too, if your phone does not come with a $10 free airtime card, call customer service and ask fro free airtime promotion, even if the phone is no longer sold they will honor the promotion if you ask.

Good cell phone reception, as you know STi uses the Sprint/Nextel network and I get 4 bars or better in most areas.

I like the voice activated speed calling from my contacts list, very handy and I have a speakerphone built in so going down the road people think I'm talking to myself.... who cares, lol.

Also, go to Sprint.com and look at the coverage map there. The STi coverage map is not updated, but sprint.com is accurate and updated frequently.

Save money and invest it in your 401k!!

Much better value then tracfone. Can't beat it for a dime a day and dime a call. Also beter connection than t-mobile.

it's apparent from the editor ratings that the editor has not used the services.

I have had my phone for a year now. I like how i don't have to pay that much(.10/min). But i do have to say that my coverage stinks. I don't get reception in a lot of places, not even in my own house. I want to find a plan that is cheap and has good coverage.

STI Customer for about a year and a half. Best deal for lite users, period. Just wish they'd have the ability to let us use our deacitivated sprint and cdma phones.

I use STi Mobile for the purpose of reading my G-Mail, Hotmail, Yahoo mail and occasional news items. In addition to the 10cents/day, I have to pay another 19cents/day for internet. I can usually find a $10 airtime card for about $9.40 and no tax, so that means that I pay about $8.20/month for internet use. I am told that I can use 5mb/day, but I have never had a day when I couldn't get as much web as I needed, so as far as I am concerned, it is unlimited. I don't know of another way of getting mobile internet for a lower price. My main phone is a postpaid AT&T and they would charge me $15/month for the same thing. Hence, I am happy with STi Mobile.

Zero issues in the last 1 1/2. Drove for Colorado to Cape Cod and never lost coverage the whole 2300 miles. I commute 65 miles to the plains of Colorado and always have coverage. I never have to buy Minutes to keep the ones I have already paid for, huge bonus. I wanted a phone that I could talk on, not a walking computer lab, and that is was got, for cheap. The year before I paid $1,200 for a phone service, this year $150, including the phone. With the money I saved I bought a great Digital Camera, and a new Lap Top, and still saved $300. Buy the way the Camera takes better pics then any phone could,and the Lap top does quite a bit more as well. Keep the gadgets and the cost. All I wanted was a phone.

Very poor customer service.

I love using STI mobile YES sometimes you don't have many bars in places.
The upside of this phone is I can call Hong Kong, China,France, and a few other places in Europe FOR FREE.
YES I did say FREE.FREE calls on the weekends and after 7pm. I just paid $50
a month.
It has saved me thousands and
thousands of dollars over the years.
HATS OFF TO YOU STI MOBILE SAVING ME THOUSANDS

I was an STImobile customer for 2 years with no problem at all. Got a phone for free after rebate on the Black Friday. 10c a minute, 29c a day (daily use + "unlimited" internet) was more than suited my needs. However, I parted with them after I was lured by lower voice rates of PagePlus and better internet rates and phone (Blackberry) of Boost. I wish STI were more competitive.

i have alg sti mobile phone and i end up letting my minutes run out so my mother end up getting me some more now i have 10.00 of minutes since a few mounths ago and now i lost my number and don,t no how about to get a new number so i can use my minutes could please give me a number to call are can you do it pease . thank you sincerly james manning

Absolutely no personal service. Web site does not offer any matter of support. Phone calls to misleading number. Impossible to reach a human.

I have been using the service for a number of years with no complaints.

We have two phones and I have been with STI mobile for over two years now. Its been great, no issues at all. We have been to many places in the US in last two years and always had coverage.
Price wise it beats all the prepaid plans out there. Great value for the money.

I was paying about $65 2 Alltel and was not using the phone 2 its fullest...I found STI and wham reduced my monthly charge 2 more than half...Of course I wish they had more up 2 date phones but 4 the price not bad. 4 the customers complaining about dead space...I have that 2...but I had it with all phones I have had.

Don't let the editor's review fool you, this is probably the best prepaid plan out for infrequent users. Minutes don't expire in 30 days like a lot of other plans. So long as you use it once every 60 days, your minutes will not expire. Signal isn't always the strongest, but it has been reliable. Never had a problem with roaming.