Tracfone introduces discount service provider Straight Talk
Tracfone is up to a new project. They already have Net10, the provider which charges 10 cents per minute all day every day, no matter what. Now we learn, from USA Today, that they will begin a new service dubbed Straight Talk. This will act in the same capacity as Net10 — a subsidiary with a different plan scheme. While Tracfone users incrementally valued pay-as-you-go cards and Net10 has a one-rate scheme, Straight Talk uses a flat monthly rate for a bundle of services.
The plan is quite attractive, actually, It includes 1,000 minutes, 1,000 text and multimedia messages, 30 megabytes of data, and unlimited 411 calls for $30 per month. That’s quite the haul. USA Today reports that this will run on Verizon’s CDMA network. As we learned from Page Plus, the Verizon-Alltel merger providers a larger service area to these MVNOs.
It’s not quite unlimited, but the deal is undeniably attractive. It’s less than the Boost Unlimited plan, has nationwide CDMA coverage, and provides more than enough minutes and messages for even heavy users. The small chunk of data is a bonus, as users can browse headlines and sports scores from their handsets.
As with Tracfone and Net10, Straight Talk will not provide the best of handsets. There are two Motorola mainstays, the W385 and the RAZR V3A, plus the bland LG200. Still, it’s a great deal if you’re not a data-intensive user. Then again, it means dealing with the reputedly horrible Tracfone customer service if something goes wrong. It’s a game of balance, though, and on the plan end of that, this one is unbeatable.
You can sign up for Straight Talk at their website. We’ll have a review up shortly. ]]>
Well, looks like Net10 unlimited is still stuck at $80 a month. But this provides a great alternative to heavy but not unlimited users. The plan’s only real weakpoint are the phones. The V3A Razr looks so 2005. The LG has no web. The W385 is the only phone worth considering in my book. It’s still a smart looking pone even two years later. The two Motorolas are expensive though relative to Tracfone and Net 10 going at $80-100 each.
I’ve been researching prepaid plans in-depth for a few weeks in advance of ending my contract and going in a new direction. Next to T-Mobile prepaid and their Flexpay monthly Straight Talk looks good. Their network carrier is Verizon, however, check the Straight Talk coverage map on their website with that of Verizon. It’s considerably smaller and not as extensive as Verizon’s total coverage footprint. The only other downside is a very limited number of phones that are not fantastic.
Run, run away. Straight Talk customer service is a complete and utter JOKE. I ordered my service on June 12th and am attempting to port a number from a Tracfone, who is the parent company of Straight Talk. Anyway, their website says it usually takes 2-3 hours for the phone to become active. Not true – what you find out is that if you are porting a number it is 7 days. It it is a land line it is 30 days! Period. What they don’t tell you is that you will have not cell phone service for 7-30 days. Well I am now on day 4. My old cell is useless. My new Straight Talk phone shows that it has been activated but will not dial BUT it will receive text messages. According to Straight Talk it takes even thought their literature says 2-3 hours to port a number it is always 7 days.
Well, I will see what happens in 3 more days and post an update.
One other note, if you want to email them good luck. They don’t use email and have not email address posted on their website or available to their operators.
In conclusion, run don’t walk to another service provider.
I agree with Tim. Don’t just run away, bolt! It took them 4 days to port my number. My number and text messaging works but the web doesn’t. Also, when I dial 611, I get Verizon’s customer service, not Straight Talk. Their customer service reps are absolutely useless. All they do is verify information and endlessly thank you for choosing Straight Talk ad nauseum. Looks like I’ve wasted money on a phone and service.
Well I’m sorry for you guys because I had no trouble changing to Straight Talk,(you must have had there teething problems) they ported my number without hassle and everything is working well. I can’t believe that Straight Talk can offer such cheap rates and the other carriers are still cheating there clients. Where else can you get 2 cents per minute, 2 cent per text and free data?
Oh, correction, That’s meant to say 1 cent per text
To add fuel to the fire, it is now available in unlimited at $45. Unlimited talk/text/411 with the same 30 megs of data. BUT, Verizon has stipulated that it be a 6 month trial so it won’t overload their networks or steal their customers without an “off” option. Hopefully the flagship plan sticks around. I heard the $29 phones are vanishing in Walmart.
I wish I could use my own cell phone. They need an upgrade with their phones.
people – who talk shit about tracfone’s strait talk plan – they just work for one of the tracfone’s competitors.
I work for radioshack and let me tell you – this is the best plans around with the best coverage across all of the prepaid networks.
Once I quit Radoshack (hopefully very soon) I’ll port my number to tracfone.
Why? -because it’s very similar price to my employee plan with AT&T!!!!!!!
after years of working in radioshack and calling different tech support centers every day – I can rate tech support quality like this:
On 1 to 10 scale (1 being the worst)
Virgin mobile: 1 – absolutely impossible to find a human being.
AT&T: 2 – the same. support closed on sundays. and they don’t work 24×7
Boost: 7 – pretty good support. does take like 10 min to get through though.
Tracfone: 10 – very fast answer. usually within the 1-st minute.
Net 10: 10 – very fast answer. usually within the 1-st minute.
So -yeah – viva staighttalk!!!
finally – i can ditch these annoying contracts.!!!!!!
I’m very excited about ST. I’ve been reading a lot about how much better a deal T-Mobile and Boost are, BUT the coverage for both is none whatsoever as good as ST. I’ll say this to anyone worry about the spots that appear to lack coverage on ST’s coverage map, QUIT WORRYING. The Verion Network map is a more accurate depiction of the coverage ST customers will receive. Compare Verizon coverage to T-Mobile and Boost and there’s no competition. Verizon is more reliable and the call quality is better.
The bottom-line is that if you are looking for plenty of minutes for talking & texting ST is the best deal out UNLESS you need a fancy phone and the ability to send a lot of data from your phone. Most people only use their cell phones to talk & to text and occasionally send a few pics. ST has you covered!! I hope a gang of people drop their contract cell phones and move to deals like ST so that the big boys will start treating customers under contract better. I really wish ST offered better looking phones, but I’m willing to give them a lil time to get rolling. Hell they’re only a month into this thing, but things seem to be going quite well for them thus-far.
I’ve heard a few complaints about the “look” of the RZR phone and think it’s just way too shallow to understand. Folks, this is a great plan!! Just $45 for unlimited text and voice – who can top or even match this? Tracfone’s concern is to offer an affordable plan with a decent phone that can keep you connected whenever, where ever. I’m not one to fall for the latest gadget so for me this is a top plan. I can text and call and save the money, so I’m good. Thanks Tracfone – at last a provider that cares about the user!!!!
You can’t go by the Straight Talk coverage maps.
Straight Talk works in a LOT of locations that are not on the coverage map, but are in Verizon territory.
LOVE the Straight Talk plans, LOVE the Moto W385 phone, LOVE the reliable coverage, HATE the customer service. It’s the most stressful experience I’ve ever had with customer service….EVER! They don’t know their product well enough and there are many kinks to still be worked out. We’ve had a lot of problems so far and we’re only a month in….very frustrating.
Straight talk is a very attractive bargain for the money. I had purchased my phone on a friday and it is now sunday afternoon and not yet been able to use my phone yet. I have wrapped up $150 dollars and nada yet. As for their customer service they definitely need some help. I could barely understand all 3 of them I talked to. Telling me to push this code in, turn your phone off and try this…o and also punch these numbers in very quickly to get the phone to work. What the heck. I have never had an experience activating a phone like this in my life. Oh and bottom line…they said corporate isn’t open right now cause it’s the weekend and this problem may not be resolved til Monday. Let’s see your partner is Verizon one of the main cell phone companies in America and you can’t get your network straightened out till Monday?????? Can you hear me now??? Umhh no you can’t cause my phone don’t work! Thanks Straight Talk. I think you shoulda ironed out your kinks before you introduced your product to America.
Straight Talk has been great for me. I purchased my phone at Wal-Mart. Within an hour of purchasing, I added the $30 plan to my phone via the internet and I was up and running in less than 10 mins after that. I purchased the $30 plan and have 2 more weeks to go; still have over 500 mins left. I think it will work out fine for me. I just wish there was an upgrade so I could get one of the other phones available. I purchased the least expensive at the time.
StraightTalk has been a good experience so far. Easy to get account but had to use support for activation. Person was great, cordial, and we got it done in the first attempt. In the Phoenix area no drop offs yet. On the $30 plan and all is well.
Rate ST 10 out of 1o. Have not dropped a call in 2 months of use Called C/S once get past the accent and they are very helpful. Only complaint please add new phones
I bought a the Razr on Walmart online and it arrived within 3 days or so. That’s where the good news ends. Since then I’ve had to call their DREADFUL customer service every single day. They keep making you try the same things over and over until you want to kill yourself. Then they say they’ll escalate this to their supervisor and their corporate office. When I ask them how long it will take to get a response they say 24-48 hours. But, it’s already been 72 hours since you first escalated it. That’s when they start running you in circles and repeating themselves even though none of it makes sense. The customer service is bad enough that it makes me not want to go to Walmart anymore.
I agree with Neel. I had my phone almost 3 weeks and have not been able to access the internet. I made 4 calls to them, each lasting close to an hour pressing buttons, removing batteries, clearing caches only to make no progree and told my call would have to be escalated and would be resolved within 24-48 hours. It has been 2 weeks since I was first told this and another week since the last time. I called today and was told to be assured tahtit would be addressed within 24-48 hours. I would be dead if I held my breath the last two times I was told this. This is very frustrating as you can bearly understand the CSR’s.
This phone facility is amazing everything is good in it. I bought this phone last week n seriously its voice clarity is great. I had Sprint connection before but it had some cracked sound but after got this phone voice is crystal. I would recommend this phone. Superb service in just $30 and unlimited calls in $49.Great mind behind this service. Salute them.
Oh ya… My T-Mobile contracts up Oct ‘09 & unless T-Mobile matches the Straight Talk plan feature for feature & dollar for dollar WITHOUT THE HIDDEN PREDITORY TAX & ADMIN FEES! I’ll be switching over before I’m off the phone with T-Mobile 1 second after midnight on Oct 22 2009 baby!
I just switched over to straight talk and must say I have been AMAZED at both the quality of service and value. With verizon my bill was 75 a month for 900 min, now I pay 32.65 (with TAX!!) for 1000 minutes! The coverage is GREAT! It did take them 24 hrs to port my number but still…. That’s GREAT.
Just bought the phone today. The LG phone is a phone and texter only. No web. The phone service works great. I have the 30 dollar plan with 1000 min. The system tells you how many minutes are left in your plan before the call is placed. I find that helpful. Beats my old 150 dollar a month blackberry plan. arg.
I left att for straight talk because att charges $99+fees and taxes for individual unlimited call and text. With straight talk it’s about $49. That’s the only reason to get this service. Otherwise, it’s a huge pain in the a**. Three crappy phones to chose from (which you can only buy online from walmart of all places), poor, poor, poor customer service, and a website that is completely useless. When I first got the phone I called to activate it (couldn’t do it online because their site features weren’t working. a month later the site still doesn’t let you do anything. a child could build a better website.) and they said it would take up to 7-10 days for my phone to activate since i ported my number from att. So I thought I was supposed to wait for my phone to turn on. On the 7th day I still had no service so I called them only to find out I was supposed to call them to activate it. They never told me that. Their customer service is weird. They sound like very polite robot aliens. If you speak with them you’ll know exactly what I mean. They sound like they’re reading from scripts and I had a hard time understanding them. They also sound very far away/bad connection every time you call. Anyway, I called and got my service turned on, which i could have done the next day, had they told me that. Also, the activation process is like trying to defuse a bomb. They give you a bunch of different codes to put in and put you on hold in between codes, and you pray you don’t get disconnected or else you’ll have to call back and start the process all over again. Great. Originally I got the 1000 minutes card. That didn’t last long, so I called to add more minutes. If you do this, you will lose any time you have left. So I waited until I had about 20 minutes left and called to sign up for the unlimited recurring monthly service plan. They said they would have to deactivate then reactivate my phone to change my plan (whatever), and then I had to go to another phone and call them to put in a new code so I could reactivate the phone. So here I go putting in codes again, and it didn’t work. It didn’t work, and I lost the rest of my minutes. The cs woman told me she would have to hand my case over to a supervisor and that someone would call me in 24-48 hours! So now I have no phone, no minutes. I was so angry. I called back a few hours later to complain to someone else, and I guess the person I got on the line this time was more competant because they were able to activate the phone in less than 10 minutes. So maybe it depends on who you talk to. My advice is, if you have straight talk, don’t settle for what one customer service rep tells you. Keep calling and talk to at least 3-4 different people. It’s like that at Dell too. Some of them do a great job, others have no idea what they’re doing. It’s a crapshoot when you call: good rep, bad rep, who knows? So far the process of actually getting unlimited service for $49 a month has been incredibly time consuming and annoying. When I have more money, I’m going to switch to an iphone. It will probably cost close to $115 a month though for unlimited talk and text. That seems so unreasonable, but then again, it’s also unreasonable to have to deal with a shady company with virtually no website and mostly bad customer service. Only twice have I called and got a cs rep (both were men) who sounded reasonably intelligent. The others could have been people they hired off the street that day to read a script and put your info into the computer. They didn’t seem capable of doing anything but those things. Buyer beware with this service. It’s okay if you’re desperate to cut your cell phone bill in half. Otherwise, it may be worth the extra money to get a better phone with better features and better customer service.
For those complaining about the phone selection, you will be pleased to know that they will have new phones coming out sometime soon…
The service for the most part is great. Yes it is a LOT for the money. However, customer service is a joke. I’ve had the phone 3 months, Internet browsing has never worked, we’ve talked to them numerous times. Each time Straight Talk will get back to us- and of course they never do. Yet, every month some of my bandwidth is used??? I guess the phone uses bacndwith to tell me it cannot connect to the Internet?
Coverage is flaky even in area that Verizon phones get good coverage. I work at a school, many people have Verizon service and no problem. When I was with TracFone I had not problems at school. However since I started school (right after getting Straight Talk) school is a GIANT dead zone. Once again, numerous calls, no results. This may be a deal breaker for me, since the main time I need to be able to use my cell phone is if we are outside the building and there is an emergency. For the record I have the Razr- so I have the high end phone.
GRRRRR…. I was so happy with TracFone, why can’t they do Straight Talk the right way too?
I attempted to activate my MotoRazorV3 last Friday and port my exiting Verizon number. They turned off my Verizon phone at 2 on Saturday and told me to carry my new phone with me all day because the new one would start working within three hours. It has now been 5 days and I have NO PHONES WORKING. I’m still getting charged by Verizon and can’t cancel them until port is complete. I had a car deal fall through because I couldn’t communicate effectively when I was going to get the car inspected and bring the check.
On Sunday they told me it would be working in three hours. On Monday they told me three hours. On Tuesday they told me two hours. It is now Wednesday and I’m mad as hell.
They also told me the phone model I chose requries some manual activation once the number is ported. I will have to call them from another phone to finish the process. I do not have another phone line. I live alone, work 3rd shift when their customer service is closed and I also don’t have a land line. I have had to explain this to 5 different people and they don’t get it.
I will probably send the phone back, but I want to make sure they can port the number back to Verizon and haven’t totally screwed me over.
My girlfriend has had this service for three months now, It is suppose to automatically re activate the minutes. It has never done this. The phone Deactivates, I have to call costumer service, every month and spend four days trying to activate the phone again.
Attempting to activate on the web does not work, it is not an active service number, when I call they tell me it is not an active service number, while I am calling from the phone itself?
I have called to attempt to add time before the due date comes, and still it deactivates.
Leaving at least four days with no service, yet charged for the full 30 days?
I know the script they read by now, and repeat it to the customer service person whom I am speaking with, who assures me this will not happen again and this problem is being escalated, and they will fix it this time? Here we are again?
Customer service is in India, they seem to read scripts, and they always consult their supervisors, who are standing there, if you ask to speak with a supervisor, they tell you they are standing there. Never allowing you to speak with a supervisor. It will be escalated.
Every month I go through this.
If you attempt to activate the phone, do it on a Monday, not Friday. Hopefully it will work by the following Friday?
The LG phone is terrible, I would have purchased the Motorola phone, I didn’t buy it?
As for the phone service itself, it seems to work, the customer service is terrible.
This is just the basic talking phone, all that is needed.
We know someone else whom has the same phone and plan. They never have a problem, I guess it might be hit or miss with this service. I might attempt to write their address to see what will happen?
Straight Talk, Inc
Attention: Executive Resolution Department
9700 NW 112th Avenue
Miami, FL 33178
Follow up to activation. It took 6 days but they finally got my number ported over and my phone activated. Quality of phones calls is good. Web browser not working and have been working with CS for 2 weeks to get that taken care of.
after reading the fine print in their terms and conditions, it mentions that we can’t roam. i understand they don’t have international calling, but what if i leave my calling area? will my phone not work if i go to another state, or half way across the u.s.?
not sure where my question went to, but it’s not here anymore!
just wanted to follow up with a comment about the st phone. i called and the man i talked to had pretty decent english and was very helpful and patient. i actually got my phone ported in less than 2 hours! and it works great so far! hope the good service continues……..
Browser finally working. I activated my phone on 9/25 and it took six days to port the old number and get it working. It took until 10/9 to get the browser to work. It took repeated calls to India, but it is finally working the way it is supposed to. The call quality is good.
Does anyone know if you can use a verizon phone or any other phone instead of having to buy one of their crappy phones?
The reason ST’s coverage map doesn’t match Verizon’s is because ST’s coverage is not as good as Verizon’s, even though ST uses Verizon’s network. Just because ST uses their network doesn’t mean they utilize ALL the coverage Verizon offers. How do you think they do it so cheap? Plus their phones do not roam, as stated in their Terms and Conditions. Make sure to check ST’s coverage before buying.
Activated my phone (LG 200) on their website this evening. Phone was working within 5 minutes, called and set up voice mail almost instantly, and all is smooth so far. Don’t need data capability; just make calls, and maybe I’ll start texting. Huge improvement over NexTel in coverage and cost. Very satisfied so far.
Purchased the LG 220c phone at walmart today for my daughter. Got the 30.00 plan on straight talk took it home and activated online with no issues. She loves it and I feel good about her being on the verizon network. I think the phone is cheap but it is her first phone and I’ll see how it goes with it but for now . Love the plan and easy setup.
Roaming is still not allowed but is less of an issue now as they have finally integrated all the former Alltel areas into the Verizon prepaid map available to ST. No roaming, but with a larger overall coverage area, it largely compensates for lack of off network roaming.
Also, no Verizon handsets can be used on their network. But they have the lowest price for unlimited Verizon talk/text/web in the nation.
It took 48 hours to port my number. After a second call all was well. Phone works ,text works and data was good after 2 more hours. After two days of talking all is perfect!!!
I was wondering when you say that the phones don’t roam if that means that when it says it is roaming that it won’t work? I bought the r451c yesterday and will be waiting at least 7 days for port. My phone currently has two bars and says roam. Does this mean I will not get service at my house?
This was posted on another site. If you need help with technical support regarding issues such as browser not working then “- send an email to Elston at elombillo@tracfone.com, he is very helpful with this. My wife’s web browser didn’t work from the start, less than a day after contacting Elston, it was working perfectly.”
ST appears to be rolling out to even the smaller markets in the US even though they were not quite ready on Sunday.
Saw the local Walmart with their full rack of ST phones two days ago. They are still using the older original fliers though with the unlimited talk/text/30 meg plan on their brochures with the first gen phones like the Razr which are all being phased out.
None of the phones they had were the first gen ones. All newer ones.
ST is going to do really well with Walmart and Verizon behind thme.
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. 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 a day 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.
I was planning to switch our phones over to ST from Verizon (2-year plan is up). However,I’ve read enough comments about problems and delays with activating phones, porting phones, customer service, ‘limited-unlimited’, and other issues that I’m going to hold-off until ST debugs their initial problems. – Thanks
i agree with john horton, this is rediculous, i just read 43 comments, atleast 40 of which were negative. i’m sticking with at&t prepaid, its easier and i have a blackberry, :3
Got my ST phone and had no problems getting set up. Very easy and a great deal on minutes and texts!
If your planning on switching don’t plan on taking your number with you. Straight Talk has the worst Customer Service I have ever come across. It took over 3.5 weeks to try and port my number over. Finally, i just gave up and asked for a new number. Ask for a supervisor if you call and have issues. Also, make sure you are actually talking to a Supervisor when you get one. Personally I wish I had never switched over to them.
if u are porting ur number to straight talk, after they tell u to wait however long they say it takes…… just wait till ur old phone stops working and then get on ur new phone and dial *22890 and activate ur own phone!
Honestly I thought Straight talk was going to be a lot more civilized than the rest of the prepaid cellular devices. As my mother and boyfriend both have been using them I’ve started to notice all the usual qualities they lack. And as for customer services you’re better off setting up the phone online. The people they hire nowadays that run the telephone line for new customers is really lacking in one on one personal contact.
they have an unlimited plan too
I got mine last night,,,,old roommate and I were on a verizon contract together. I held for about ten mins with cs and started setting up online while waiting: just in case. Good thing I did. got disvonected after the woman just kept repeating my info over and over while doing nothing. Had read cs was terrible before buying phone when I checked another website for potential problems before buying yesterday. after two dropped calls from cs due to”technical difficulties at the call center”, I told the lasy woman I would finish myself online and in two mins my phone was on. That’s the good news. lol My friend was at work, no internet,and in the cs hell that straight talk offers,so it took him like an hour. I have no web browsing and he does. After reading posts on here, I will def not call cs to have them “help” me! lol Tried taking battery out,and shutting phone off, etc. Anyone have any advice or suggestions? TY in advance.
I got my phone about a month ago, and thankfully am not having any of the web troubles that others are claiming to have. I too signed up online, so I didn’t have to go through the call center and can not attest to how bad that was, even though it seems pretty unanamous. All I will say is the my coverage area is better than any other cell phone I have had, prepaid or otherwise, and I am never going to use up the calling minutes/text/data minutes that the $30 plan gives you. It is clearly the most bang for your buck. To those comparing it to other services, Verizon, ATT, etc, I have to ask you what are you looking for? Your bill will be cut by at least a third to get what you get with this phone. Bad sometimes comes with the good.
I have found another forum about ST phones and the terrible customer service they offer. One of the people gave a name and email address of someone at their customer support for issues and apparently he is extremely helpful, especially trying to get the web to work on the phone when you purchase it. I guess this is a pretty common problem because a lot of people are complaining about it. Try sending an email to Elston at elombillo@tracfone.com.
Nikki
anybody think it will get better soon?
bought ST for a trip from Maine to Tennessee. Set up was no problem, phone works great! Never lost service all the way down or back. I’m thinking Im going to switch over from my current verison plan as soon as my service date is done.
I bought the 99.00 phone and the unlimited card it has been a nightmare thier people are very nice but seem to know nothing that is going on. A week ago I bought thier cheapest phone to try it and it has been great apparently the problem is this phone. Unable to call out at all or call in. Now Im told I will have to wait 24 to 48 hours for them to get the problem fixed. Yes Im unable to find any place that has an email address to make a complaint. Im told they cant issue any credits for time that the phone is not in service, so they are charging for a service they are not giving out, hmm sounds like fraud to me. I asked them why they nare selling phones when thier service is not working and they could not answer this question. In fact there were actually very few questions that they could answer.
I ordered a phone from Straight Talk yesterday with free overnight shipping. I receivd an order conformation and an e-mail telling me someone had to be home to sign for the phone. Guess what, I waited and no phone arrived. I called Straight Talk customer service and asked for a tracking number. Turns out the phone had not been shipped yet; so much for overnight shipping. They would not even give me a shipping date.
At this point I canceled the order and requested an refund. They debited my account within an hour of the order; I was informed a refund could take weeks or even a month to process. From the sound of it they may still send out the phone whenever they get around to it, and I will have to refuse it and wait for a refund. SAVE YOURSELF THE GRIEF, STAY AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE. THEY EITHER DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING OR THEY ARE JUST DISHONEST.
I bought the Razr phone and after a week the yahoo mail app stopped working. I was told it was a known issue. I upgraded to the Samsung rc41c and yahoo mail works fine on it. The port from ST to ST worked within 20 minutes. The service coverage has been great and you can’t beat the price. I wished I had waited to get the service for more phones to be offered, but I’m OK with what I have now.
They key may be to order online from Wal-mart, or grab one at the store. My online purchase [2 phones] from Wal-mart arrived in a few days. The porting from Verizon worked like a snap, and the $30 service so far has been great. In fact, it seems too good to last.
i was really considering switching to this from virgin mobile…now im kinda scared to after reading all these comments…=[
Read a comment from Andrei stating that people who talk negative about Straight Talk work for competitors. I believe that the people who post positive reviews work for Straight Talk. This is by far the most pathetic phone service I have ever seen. Don’t know how well the phone works because can’t get it turned on! Every call to thier customer service gives me a different answer, 24 hours, 6 hours, tomorrow. Maybe it would help if they had people with some skills instead of outsourcing the jobs to South America (at least that’s what I think Daniel Alexander said, can’t understand the accent). So buyer beware, you think you’re getting a great deal but you are actually just giving your money to a bunch of yahoos (sorry Yahoo) that don’t have a clue as to what they are doing. Thanks Free Trade Agreement glad I can help the economy of third world nations that hate us!
I sure do appreciate all the pro’s and con’s everyone has provided. And taking in consideration my patience and my abilities to dealing with a forigner that i cant understand, when im pissed. no thanks.
Straight talk is lousy. Bad customer sevice. Took 8 days to port my old cell phone number. Phone would not activate. When I called them they said You could not use the phones other than the ZIP code that you activated it in. Using it in another zipcode is considered roaming. I asked the CSR if he knew what a zip code was and he had no idea. I live in Indianapolis and according to their coverage map most of Indiana is covered but not according to the rep. I asked for my money back since I would not be able to use the phone they refused. Stay far away from this company.
hahahaha, you people are funny. i do agree that customer service sucks, but the price, coverage, and everything else is great. had phone for a couple weeks now and everything is fine. ported number in 15 minutes, internet works. have had no issues.
i plan on keeping this service for a long time
Watchout for the part where time cards are NON REFUNDABLE. My experience thus far.. Bought the $99. phone and $45. time card at walmart for my wife. We called to have her net-10 number ported to the straighttalk phone.. 7 to as long as 30 days may be required to port in. OMG any carrier can do this in moments not days. But i said ok.. Next day we got impatient seeing as it was IN HOUSE number porting, Meaning net 10 and tracfone and ST are all 1 company. We call and the nice Pakastani?? girl codes it in and gets the new ST phone going for us, Ported number and all!! Happiness!! UNTIL, No INTERNET in this browser ready phone. Every website errors out. Now I have read elsewhere that this is a problem for several ST customers. Calls to Cust Serv went just as everyone has said. Courteous but NOT helpful, Same attempts over and over to clear cache, reset the phone, turn it off and on.. Said to call back the next day..
Next day, We dont see them ever fixing the internet after over an hour of this useless help so we deciede to return the phone to Walmart along with the $45. card.. BEWARE of this part, If you ever need to return a defective phone and if you added time to the phone.. YOU LOSE ALL YOUR MONEY on the phone card part!! I am not kidding here.. We just got back from Walmart, The registers disallow any kind of refund on minutes on a defective phone. A csm and her boss could not override the register to make a refund.. The return desk lady even called the 800 # on the back of the card, They told her their was no refunds on airtime cards just as stated on the time card. Also wouldnt give free minutes to go with the new phone we attempted to get. (Exchange phone for phone)
So if you buy a phone and a 45 dollar card. Get home and add the airtime and the phone isn’t working, Defective.. Thats right YOU JUST PISSED AWAY $45.00 and it says so right on the back of the card. Run away from Straighttalk!!!
Good for you “Dave in Okla.” for letting me know that.
day 3 and calls are great. texts are ok too. good pic texts. couldn’t get yahoo to work (501 error) gmail keeps bouncing but hotmail worked fine. I didn’t port my number as I’m still ambivalent about making a permanent switch. cs is a joke?..(guess I won’t call them)
Switched to Straight Talk from Boost Mobile because Boost was charging me for ringtones and other services that I never purchased. I had to call them and have my bill adjusted every month!! ugh! Now I am very happy with this service. =+)Customer service is much better and I am not being charged for services that I have not ordered… =+)
I called to resolve an issue with not being able to recieve texts from Verizon customers. They had me enter a code, not only does my texting not work, but my previously 16 hour account balance is down to zero. Every time I call customer assistance they run me through the same turn the phone on and off crap. This is ridiculous, i would have preferred to not recieve texts than have my entire balance disappear like that!
I ordered the 1000-minute package almost a mouth ago. The phone service is alright, and the mobile web it also okay. But beware of it’s refill! I kept getting refill reminders from the company, and the Walmart close to my home ran out of the refill cards, so tonight, I went to Straight-Talk website to refill my account, although my service would expire on 12/19 (it’s 12/16 today), and I still had several hours left. I thought my new service period would start from 12/20 (or 12/19), but I was told that the next expiration date for my service will be 1/15! So, I’ve lost 4-day worth service! This is a ripoff! So, be careful when to refill. Then, there is another catch: the refill would take effect in up to 4 hours!
my friend just got one w/ the $45 unlimited everything package. i set it up for him and he had service in 5 minutes. i’m planning on gettin one eventually. i’m probably going to do the automatic refill though. so far he hasnt had any problems with his.
HORRIBLE! UNBELIEVABLE! DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE FOR ANYTHING!! I started this service on December 10th, when I was able to successfully port my previous Sprint cell phone number to my new Straight Talk phone. The phone broke within 3 days. That’s not a problem. Cell phones break all the time, right? I replaced the phone no problem. HERE IS THE BAD PART: When I tried to re-port my previous phone number, the one that had been on the previous Straight Talk phone 12 hours before, I was told that THEY ARE UNABLE TO PORT THE NUMBER AGAIN. So, basically, they can port your number ONLY ONCE! As soon as your phone breaks or you try to replace it, you WILL NOT be able to keep your existing phone number. Period. 3 Supervisors in Bangalore were positive that they are not able to do it. All they said was “your number is lost”. This, despite having 20 days on the original calling card, AND having signed up for auto-rebill. So my account was fully paid for and active. They are just simply unable to transfer the same number from one of their Straight Talk phones to a 2nd phone. IF YOU HAVE A NUMBER YOU WANT TO KEEP – DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE!!!!! Luckily, since the whole thing happened within a 12 hour period, I was able to call Sprint back and my previous number had not yet been re-assigned. Sure, I had to sign another 2 year contract but at that point I was happy to do it. BE WARNED! BE WARNED!!!
P.S. Straight Talk is up front about a potential 7 to 30 day wait to port a number. I don’t know what it was like when the service launched but I was prepared to sit through it AND pleasantly surprised when my service went active in under 24 hours. Every wireless provider’s weakness seems to be their Customer Service and Tech Support, where Straight Talk could probably stand improvement as well. Still I rank them highly for the value I’m receiving.
I switched from $print to Straight Talk (www.straighttalk.com) last week and have been completely impressed. They offer LG, Motorola and Samsung and I bought the cheapo LG100C (US$ 29.95) with the $30 plan and ported my number. In less than 24 hours my line was connected. Very impressed. I can buy switch phones anytime as they offer 8 models. Try that with $print and it’ll cost a fortune as they tie you down for 2 years with an upgrade. For 4+years I had a lousy $print signal at home, joking that if I had a heart attack I’d have to go to the other room to call for help. Straight Talk utilizes Verizon in my area, a strong signal. Other $print disappointments such as they wouldn’t honor my Berkshire Hathaway Employee discount when I switched to 200 min basic plan, wanted extra for nights to start at 7pm. Did I mention they renewed a 2 year contact? Good grief! Yes I was thoroughly unhappy with $print, no love or loyalty in either direction. I decided to pay their $140 cancelation fee. I took the plunge, not really knowing what Straight Talk would be like but felt it couldn’t be worse than $print. I can honestly sing the praises of Straight Talk now. For $33 (tax & fee incl) Internet is included with Straight Talk and when I checked my balance the first day they doubled the minutes and internet! Yesterday I signed on for ‘Auto Refill’ every 30 days (can use a credit or debit card) and after 12 consecutive billings they’ll give a free month of service… do the math. The only unhappy moment was calling Straight Talk Tech Support which had a long wait on hold and when I got a live person she drug out the call by apologizing and thanking repeatedly. If you’ve used Tracfone in the past you know their Tech support is poor and they are Tech Support for Straight Talk but it’s much, much better. Walmart must have a performance clause with them. Yes, Straight Talk is a Walmart product. It bothers me not that this is a Walmart marketed product either. I am a child of the ‘Walmart generation’, raised by parents who didn’t have alot of money. Straight Talk is another amazing value.
I have a straight talk phone and love it had no problems with customer service and had phone up and runinng in minutes,and during refilling minutes they had my phone and new minutes changed right away .. no drop calls like at&t and sprint. I have had net-10 and tracfone no complaints here with prepaid service . $45 bucks unlimited wow ..better pay this than $99 a month for contracted unlimited phone carriers. what a rip off?
I have a straight talk phone for 45 bucs unlimited who cares bout any other prepaid plans love straight talk no complaints
Followup Post. Well I hit a snag with Sraight Talk but I’m not deterred or even greatly disappointed. I thought I would followup because it will correct one point in my original review, where I had checked my balances and my allotments had doubled. Later I discovered they had immediately billed my credit card for another 30 days when I signed on for ‘Auto Refill’ but did not extend my service date an additional 30 days which would have been acceptable. I called Customer Service and explained and it was a poor experience. I quickly realized after the hearing the word ‘delete’ several times I might ‘incidentally’ have my service disconnected if I pursued a credit, potentially losing my phone number that I’ve owned since 1997! I quickly checked my temper, weighed my options, and told the tech to pretend as though I had never called. I told her I didn’t want a credit on my credit card that I was probably wrong and she was more than happy to end my call. All I can say is, after dealing with $print for years, having them botch my service on a couple of occassions I felt sure Straight Talk could make my life miserable if I pursued the credit. Here’s what you need to know when you activate your NEW service. Buy the prepaid card and have it ready to load. Then WAIT until your 29th day before enrolling in ‘Auto Refill’. That advice should save you the $30 problem I encountered. Nowhere on Straight Talk’s site does it caution you on this. I think it is safe to say that once you put your credit card on their site you must be prepared to wait till the 29th day of your current plan to make ANY changes, including updating to a new credit card #. So, how is my experience with them so far? Still terrifically impressed with paying only $30/month.
I signed up for ST after buying the Samsung R451C
While prices are good, I think it is important for users to understand what they are not getting.
If you are expecting an iphone or Droid experience, forget it. The web browser on this phone is worse than on my 6 year old Nokia, and just as slow. Basically, you are pretty much limited only to those sites which have mobile versions of their web pages. There is no pop email client of any sort. There are no 3rd party apps to speak of, so forget about downloading opera or an email app. Honestly, I do not think the unlimited data plan is much of a value since the browser and web apps are so bad that it is unlikely you will ever use much data. There are no games of any sort on the phone, and again there do not seem to be any available.
Until ST offers some better phones, the cheap data plan is kind of meaningless. You will pretty much use it only for voice, in which case TracFone will be cheaper.
Just got a ST MotorolaW385 for Xmas and lovin it! $45 unlimited talking/texting – best deal all around. Bye bye Verizon!!!!1
So, after reading all the previous reviews I decided to take the plunge and try the phone and service. I’m starting out with the LG220C and if I like it I’ll give it to my husband and then buy the Samsung slider for myself. I’m not into all the fancy stuff, all I need is phone and texting. Data use is new for me so I’ll play with that new feature. My experience so far has been positive. Bought it at Wal-Mart today along with the $30 card. Total came to about $74. Brought it home, unpackaged it and followed the directions on the red insert. I chose to activate the phone on-line. It was all very simple with no complications at all. They said to wait 15 minutes then call in on the phone to activate. I called in 5 minutes and it was ready. I also chose to be assigned a new number – no big deal for me. The only confusion I had was finding my new number. I eventually found it on the phone under Menu, Prepaid, Phone Number. Again, no biggie. The phone is very nice quality ($39)and has cool ringtones. Haven’t used the data feature yet – phone is charging. The website isn’t bad either, you can check your balance for all three features: phone, text and data all on the same page. Go to http://www.straighttalk.com. Based on previous comments I haven’t decided how I’m going to replenish my minutes. Oh, by the way, when you activate your minutes both plans $30 (1000 minutes/texting & $45 unlimited)are only good for 30 days.
when i bought my st i thought i was saying bye bye to boost but 9 days (6 days of waiting for porting)later i am saying please forgive me boost please take me back
I’d like to add my voice to the fray. I’ve experienced the same dismal customer service of Straight Talk. Unfortunately, I think they could remedy many of their complaints by stately CLEARLY realistic expectations to their clients. I stated simply enough to them that if they restated AFTER their steps to activate blurb that they’re might STILL be a waiting period to port a number that it would probably solve people’s expectations. As it was, I successfully completed all 5 steps to transfer a number with Straight Talk and it explicitly states my phone would be activated following those steps. Of course, now all my phone services are down and I’m waiting for Straight Talk’s “please wait 24 hours” “please wait 24 hours” “please wait 24 more hours” “please wait 24 additional hours” Today I heard, please wait “48 hours” for the first time. I’ve been told multiple different reasons for the delay. And that’s where things stand at present. I wish I could say I was the only one with this situation. Unfortunately we have other family members who experienced the same delay–actually a week without phone service. Had they only been CLEARLY communicated to.
Walmart has a great monthly cost for all you can eat minutes and text messages but the CUSTOMER SERVICE is outsourced to the Phillipines. I CANT TELL YOU HOW BAD THE CUSTOMER SERVICE IS. IT’S BEYOND TERRIBLE AND I WILL PREDICT THAT IT WILL COST WALMART IN THE LONG RUN. IT’S SO BAD I RATHER PAY MORE TO LOCAL U.S. CARRIERS. I JUST QUIT BASED ON THE TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE ALONE!!! SHAME ON YOU WALMART FOR NOT PROVIDING THESE CUSTOMER SERVICE JOBS TO AMERICANS WHO UNDERSTAND THE DAMN ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROPERLY SHAME ON YOU!!
My husband got me the $99.00 phone and the $45 card for Christmas he ave it to me on Dec 24th so I can activate it and have it to use on Christmas day!Needless to say here it is Jan 4th and still no service every time we call customer service I get the same B.S.They say hold on Mam let me talk to my superviser then they get back on the phone and say o.k we put a ticket in wait 24 to 48 hours then call *22890 well guess what I get the same recording every time I call “I’m sorry we are unable to avtivate your phone at this time please try again later”..How long does it take to activate? Their customer service Sucks!!
I am on the phone with them right now no one speaks English. Been on the phone for probably 7 hours or more for the past few days. My phone says its roaming and is picking up Us Cellulars network wont activate keep hearing u have to wait wait wait. I’m about ready to go to wherever the customer service is and whip some you know what because all I hear is the same thing. The bad thing is I am trying to activate this phone for my disabled sister because she got her own place and needs to have a phone with her.
I just want to update on my problem. They said that there was a defect in my fun…DUH. I can take it to a local walmart which we just got the phones in there and exchange it yay.
Let me echo what David Gouge says above. Porting may take up to 7 days (they say) but nobody imagines that this means your old phone goes dead immediately, and your new phone only comes to life a week later. In the meantime, you can’t add minutes — can’t use your phone. This is like saying “you can’t get your tooth filled until next week.” Nobody understands that statement to mean “Come in today, we’ll drill your cavity out, and just stay in the chair with your mouth open until the filling goes in next week.” Ridiculous. I’m beelining to T-Mobile to see if they can undo this half-done transfer, then to WalMart to get my money back!
I have had mine for one week! Service is pretty good, I love the phone, but I cannot find accessories for my phone!
I use mine alot on the road and need a car charger but cant seem to find one anywhere! I have the LG290c!
Well, I am not quite sure yet about ST. Had phone for 2 days. Customer service is very,very slow. Courteous, but slow. I was originally told that I would get a text messege with a username and password within 24 hours. That did not happen. So I called the dreaded customer service and spent over 20 minutes on the phone. They then asked me for my email address. I gave them my email address, and supposedly I will be getting my password in an email within 24 hours….It has been about 12 hours now,and still no email. Also, when you go to “sign in/my account”, it says that the “my Account” is Under construction”. Hmmmm. Is that why they are not giving me a password? I guess it’s too early to judge, but it’s beginning to seem a bit fishy.
Question…. I have the $30 plan. When I call ST, does it count against my minutes?
Mine is great. I was out of contract and looking for a new phone with verison. This gives me unlimted everything for $45 a month. I’m playing half what I was. Coverage is great. Got up and running in about 5 min. I have a samsung phone. It seems pretty good so far. No complaints at all. Everybody made fun of me when I got a prepaid phone but now everybody I know sees it works great and is planning on changing when out of contract since its so cheap!
Well, it has been about 24 hours now.. I am not too surprised, but the email has not been sent yet.I am thinking about calling customer service AGAIN, and asking about the “my account/sign in” being under construction. Since I just started my service, I can’t even check the “fill-on-demand”, because I have to log in to MY ACCOUNT! I can’t without a password, and what good is my password if that part of the site is “under construction”? Anyone know how long it has been “under construction?
By the way, the phone seems to work fine so far, but this “password” issue is drivin’ me nuts.One part of the site that DOES work is checking my minutes. I have 2 phones with 2 $30 plans….I had them both put onto the same account (email address), so I can refill them at the same time. Hopefully thru Auto-fill. If you put 2 phones under the same account, when you check your minutes online, it shows you your TOTAL minutes available for the two phones. It does not show you each phones available minutes. So it shows 1960 minutes left. But that’s what’s left for both phones. Starting to become a pain, and it’s only been 3 days.
FINALLY got my password. While on phone with customer service, I gave my email address AGAIN. After being transferres to a different Rep., I was told that the computers there do not recognize my email address. My email address is thru Road Runner (time warner cable). So….if your email has .rr.com in it, you will never get a password. You have to call them back and give them a Yahoo address. As soon as I did that, I got my password, and was able to log in to “my account”. …sigh… StraightTalk may have redeemed itself in my eyes. We will see when I try to sign up for auto-refill in a few weeks. Good luck to all with this. I think once you get thru the initial hastle of all this, it might be a good company after all.
Hey Tiff, check at Family Dollar they have a car charger for about $10 dollars that has different tips to fit many different types of phones. This is much cheaper than the expensive ones they have at Radio Shack. If you don’t have a Family Dollar then check out the closest Radio Shack or their website. A word of caution, they are cheap so you can’t be rough with the ones from Family Dollar. Take care of it and it works fine. If nothing else you can always get an adapter for your cigarette port that turns it into a wall outlet and use your home charger in the car. You can get these a Radio Shack too. I used to work there and sold a lot of them to people who couldn’t find car chargers for their phones. Good luck!
DO NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY !!!!!!!!!
I used there automated phone number to activate my phone. After they mad me enter my $30.00 minutes card to activate the phone I was told it would be activated in up to one hour. 2 hours later i called customer service and was told by them it could take up to 24 hours.
They provided no help and as much as said oh well just wait the 24 hours.
This company LIES to you when you activate one of their phones.
DON NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY !!!!!!!!
Help…3 weeks…cant transfer my old number but my phone shows activated though I cancelled a week ago. Day in and day out I get the following from customer service: We sorry sir…my supervisor no available…call back…we sorry sir…we have no service ticket…we sorry sir…that is another department…may I place you on hold…
I have this new phone and I cant transfer my number, cant cancel and start over…
I’ve had my phone & straight talk service for 2 months and I absolutely love it. I saw bad remarks about importing my old number and didn’t do that, instead I gave my old phone to my girl friend. In any event, The service is great and the amount of texts, talk & internet and everything is unbelievable for the price. If I had one gripe is the selections of phones, but Im sure that will get better soon, because this is the best deal I’ve seen in a very long time. As an example of the usage, i.e. I used 200 texts last month out of 1000, I used 6 hours of talk time and had 12 hours left, that by the way appears to have rolled over this month. Its crazy and knowing I dont have to spend 200 dolars a month is so liberating. Buy it, buy it, you’ll love it.
Love ST! Signed up online to port my number and my old service was off the old cell and on in the new one within 12 minutes. I called to activate and everything went great. Coverage is much better in So Cal with ST compared to my old T-mobile. I’ll never go back.
ya’ll complainers are nuts, great svc and super duper plan…dont be hatin
The Straight Talk plan is for anyone who is on a budget. I mean, $45 a month for unlimited minutes is unheard of. I think certain other companies have unlimited plans, but they start in the $100 range. For $45 you get unlimited minutes and texts. If anyone knows of a better offer, I would really like to hear it.
At first my straight talk phone worked well. Then out of nowhere it stopped working and said prepaid disabled. I tried calling about that but the customer service was awful. I made an account online when i first got the phone and had to repeat all of my over to them and they had everything on record. I ended up having tracfone deal with my problem. A week after that I was no longer able to send or receive pic messages or go on the internet. Tracfone no longer deals with straight talk customers and they redirected me to their straight talk department which just told me to take the battery out and put it back in 3 times. Then she supposedly checked my phones internal functions and she then asked for all of personal data and couldnt do anything for me to fix my phone. I havent been able to use the internet and pic messaging all month and now my card is almost up
It is funny when people complain about customer service because they all suck. Got alltel, took 4 months to get my 3 months free credit. Everytime I phoned, got a different reply and they had no record of me calling. Att’s cus service sucks ass too. Cellular One I have been fighting with for 6 months, cancelled my service 2 weeks in(in Sept) and am still waiting for my phone money back. They are the rudest people and hang up on you quit frequently. Got a collection letter from them for 450.00 for a months service and 350 in early termination fees. I phoned and they were like oh disregard that you owe us nothing and we charge everyone a termination fee and than take it off. So yeah people bitching about customer service is silly. It is like bitching about the weather, all you can do is deal with it. Think of no-contracts or in this case Straight talk this way, you get it and 31 days later don’t like it or whatever ok than don’t buy another card and sell the phone on ebay. What are you out, 30, 45 bucks and maybe a phone buying? Or you don’t have enough money to have service for a month, than don’t. On the other hand if you have say verizon and end up hating it or get screwed over you are either stuck or pay their 350 buck termination fee. Which one seems like less a hassle and yes verizons customer service is bad too. My two cousins and a friemnd have straight talk and have had no problems and love it. They have had zero problems so if you want it than get it, do what you want not what someone else tells you.
AVOID AVOID AVOID!!!
After a year with them they erroneously ported my number to a new customer and deactivated my phone. My account was active and current.
I spent over 2 hours on the phone with their customer service dept. trying to get them to correct their error.
They did reactivate my phone with my correct number, but explained that I would have to return 500 miles to my office address so the phone could be reprogrammed in my “original zip code.”
And… that since I wouldn’t be returning to that area code for another month, I’d just have to miss all my calls, for that month, until I “can return to the original zip code, so my phone can be reactivated / reprogrammed in the original zip code.”
Oh yes… and they also explained that was not a limitation of their system, but “a management policy,” which they could not override. Otherwise, they said it would take 10 minutes to resolve the problem!
Well… you get the picture…
AVOID AVOID AVOID – “like the plague!”
The complainers about ST are ridiculous. You want cheap? You got cheap. If you want better service, go back to where you came from. Oh, wait, you left because you wanted cheaper service service. So, quit complaining.
As for the person who states: “Shame on you Wal-Mart for using off-shore customer service”, well why don’t you offer to go and work for them for .50 an hour? oh.. wait a minute. it costs more to live here than in the Phillipines. And if customer service prices went up, then the price for ST would go up. Duh!
st not good for porting #’s. get a new #. my cust serv rep was in colombia, lol how many offshore places are mentioned? no prob w activation. prob after 30 days to refill (didn’t choose auto plan cuz i wanted to be sure). website kept giving error message w/ cc#. spent more than an hour with cust serv (“thank you for your patience. i’ll be back in a few minutes. i must give this to my supervisor.”) i demanded they extend the exp since the website screwed up over the week-end, and they did extend the exp date. i let it lapse after several mos, so my # is gone. i’m going to start again with the 1000 min. it’s just for a part-time job. cell phones in general are addictive, dangerous, and have very poor sound quality, so you know i only want the min for contact on the road. no dropped calls in the sfbayarea, but i will always prefer landlines and dsl to fuzzy voices and satellite delays. i don’t need instant info when there’s so much useless complaining about how it doesn’t work. spend your life energy on something more positive.
I really dont see why every one has such problems with Straight Talk’s CS. I didnt have many problems with them and they sorted every thing out. For $45/mo you cant expect every thing to be outstanding, I mean your getting every thing unlimited and free 411 calls, whats a few extra minutes talking to CS. I say its worth the saving im making at the end of the month.
I got soo tired of being raped every month from Verizon, I jumped on the chance to save over $60 a month with ST. So far the phone works as well or better than my old Verizon service.EXCEPT!!! I purchased the LG 220c which is a good phone without the bells and whistles. My old LG was a workhorse so this was my first choice. Apparently,if you do not buy a camera phone, you cannot receive picture texts.
Would have been nice to know before I bought the phone.
You also cannot download ringtones except thru ST. I found their selection less than desirable but tried one anyway just to see the format and if there was a way around the software block. Still don’t know. Haven’t been able to get it to load on the phone.
Hope they improve on their customer friendly ways soon…….
DONT DO IT. If i can even convince one person not to use this bullchit service this post will be worth it. Switched to this garbage service on Jan 6 took them 6 1/2 days to port my number. Called CS everyday ..same runaround and lies .. i recorded the conversations. Finally they activate on Jan 13. I ask the Rep if im gonna be charged for the time my phone was useless…”oh no ,sir, your service will start now that the phone is activated ” starting on the 13th of Jan and ending on the 13th of Feb. Of course all the while i look and see that the due date never changes from ending Feb 7. I try to call the Strighttalk CS # and its always “high call volume” goodbye ..click. Very irritating. I finally get through on the 1877tencent affiliate. The rep states my phone was activated on the 7th of Jan no ifs and or buts..and there is no record of any of my calls to CS.. BS! So not only do i miss 7 days of service,, i get to pay for nothing and get lied to. Fortunately i record calls to CS (as should you if your dealing with these idiots) and i will be forwarding these to the BBB . DONT USE THIS SERVICE YOU WILL REGRET IT
Laughing guy you obviously work for the company. It doesn’t matter if you pay $100 or just $1. If the service doesn’t work then it doesn’t work and customers just get ripped off. Most other countries in the world don’t have to sign any contracts with there cell providers and they get much better service and phones. I was thinking about using ST because I don’t want to sign a 2 yr contract. But i also won’t use a service that uses customer service reps that don’t know what they are doing. I worked for AT&T wireless when it was still AT&T. Now it is Cingular and they just use the AT&T name. Since then the service went to Sh-t! If the major cell providers really believed there service was good, then why would they make you sign a 2yr contract, oh yeah, because they know there service is crap and they want to be able to lock you in so you can’t run away from them. I for one will be giving up cell phones until they can guarantee a working phone at least 90% of the time. And for all of you that MUST have a phone for your children, 30 yrs ago no one had cell phones and your children will survive with out one.
Ive had my phone for a little over a week now and internet STILL NOT WORKING!! I have called and called!! Good Luck getting through and then Good Luck understanding anyone you talk to!! I was on the phone with customer service for an hour and still no internet. Maybe 48 hours they say…I am pissed. My talk and text are fine though, no problems. DOES ANYONE HAVE THE PROBLEM OF NOT BEING ABLE TO ACCESS THE INTERNET???? ALSO, I cant find any accessories for my phone, not even a car charger. WHAT IS THAT???? My phone is the Samsung SCH-R451C….I love the idea of the plan ST offers, if I can actually get it all to work. On the other hand, I bought the same phone and plan ($45 unlimited) for my son, and all is well with his….so who knows. BUT PLEASE GET SOMEONE IN CS WHO I CAN UNDERSTAND…
I have to disagree with the person who stated that if you take a defective phone back to walmart you will loose your minutes.. That is not true I had to take back my phone not becasue it was defective just because i wanted different phone what you do have to beware of is please make sure to write down the serial number of the phone your returning call st and they will transfer your number and minutes matter of fact it extended my time for two more weeks.. I absolutley love st. have had no problems what so ever.
While it’s true that the phone selection is not great, one way around that is to just buy the cheapest phone, then unlock your old phone or buy a good used phone and unlock it and swap out the sim cards. Unlock codes can cost as low as less than $2. As for the length of time it takes to port a number, that is primarily driven by your current carrier as they have to first release the number. While it was great that the gov. passed the porting law it really needs to be tightened up so the company is required to port within 24hrs and not be childish and sit on it for as long as the law will allow.
I have had straigt talk since November and I love it. I ported my number from Sprint and within minutes it was available on straight talks network. The customer service is great but you just can’t understand some of the operators accents. I love the phones & service. I have told everybody about them. I am a Straight Talk Fan!
I have a tracphone thats already activated. Can I use it to switch over to there straight talk plan?
CUSTOMER SERVICE IS HORRIBLE!! CANNOT UNDERSTAND THESE PEOPLE & ASKING FOR A SUPV. DOESN’T HELP. THEY CAN’T SPEAK CLEAR ENGLISH EITHER!! Straight Talk has removed java & java-enabled games that were pre-programmed by the manufacturer (Samsung sch-451c). Cannot get games; cannot download games onto the phone. They only offer ringtones & graphics. However, I have had several Tracfones & ALL of them had games pre-programmed. Returning the ST phone has been a nightmare. Now they are delaying porting my number to another carrier, which could cause me to lose the number. Who can I report this to?
i am a ST employee [CSR] well i must agree with you that customer service sucks, cause it does. no customer service is in the united states. and we have one script they we MUST say over & over again to all our customers. you think that’s bad? well, the problems that you may experience from your ST phones are issues that we cannot really fix, we are limited to what ST allows us to fix. ST itself does not give the tools to their customer service reps to have the issues resolved, don’t blame the reps, they are constantly bombarded with customer service pressures that customers gives. the persons from CS are new, they themselves don’t know most of the issues likewise haven’t even seen a ST phone. the service of the CS reps own phones are services that are provided by that particular country, and its much better than what you ppl are buying and calling a deal.
the customer service can be better, i agree, but the CSR need something to work towards, like better pay.
“I have a tracphone thats already activated. Can I use it to switch over to there straight talk plan”
You can port your Tracfone # to a Straight Talk phone. You have to buy a Straight Talk branded phone with a Straight Talk ‘plan’. Your current Tracfone minutes won’t transfer, you’ll lose them.
Net 10 is a joke. Got the service and
wont work unless i drive approx 7 miles
from my house. I am ready to drop this
i purchased the phone and then tried to
activate and it wouldnt work i spent
3 hrs the first day with CS, then again
next day another 3 hrs. i could hardly
understand their english and when the 5pm
came on i was disconnected immediately,
so ihad to wait for another day. the phone
works when i am driving about 5 miles away
from my home and then it goes out. i have
had it!!
I re-filled my account with my credit card $50.33. It said “You have refilled your Service Plan and your request is still being processed. Please allow up to 4 hours for this request to complete. If you need further assistance please call our Customer Care Center at 1-877-430-CELL and we will gladly assist you.” Ok it’s been 9 hours since I did the transaction, I called and was first on hold for 10 minutes before I could talk to anybody. Then the chick “Barely spoke english” and could not help me, she did try but nothing was done. AT ALL!!!!!! She said that I had to call back on monday. NO! It’s saturday! I want my phone.
You guys are a trip! I have used straight talk for 6 months now and I have not had a single problem. Everything, including web browsing, works fantastic! There has to be some human error on some of your guys’ ends or maybe some of you bought the cheap phone and are expecting it to be like a smartphone? I simply bought the best phone they have and even bought another for my wife. They are wonderful! TY ST!
PLEASE – DOES INTERNET WORK WELL ON ST? IF SO, IS ONE PHONE BETTER THAN ANOTHER FOR INTERNET? I’M PLANNING TO USE THIS AS MY ONLY INTERNET SERVICE. WILL APPRECIATE ANY INPUT. THANKS
I just bought a ST phone, but haven’t activated it yet. I have been a Tracfone customer for well over 5 years now. I have even recommended Tracfone to other family members. All of us have been happy with their service. We primarily chose Tracfone because we don’t use the cell phone a lot and the price was right. Yes, customer service could be better, but I have had just as many positive encounters with cs as I have negative. You all want your cake and eat it too. If you want to pay a reasonable price for cell service then you need to learn to live with some of the cons that go with a cheaper service. The only reason why I haven’t activated my ST phone yet, is because I am trying to use up my Tracfone minutes before I port my #. I look forward to continuing my business with the Tracfone enterprise.
My squad leader used to always say: “If you’re gonna bitch about it, make sure you come up with a solution for it.”
I had the same frustrations with my ST phone… new phone was activated but didn’t work, old phone no longer had service, and I couldn’t use Skype to call ST customer service because you can’t push buttons using Skype to transfer to a live person.
Here’s what I did and I’m talking and texting on my new ST phone now. All you have to do to use your ST phone after you’ve activated it and your old phone has stopped working for at least 5 minutes, is dial *22890 on your new ST phone and follow the instructions. Oh, and it’s automated, no customer service rep to talk to.
This is not my solution, I found it here: http://saveonprepaidphones.com/porting_number_straight_talk
I bought my phone on a Thursday evening (last night) and went to bed an hour later. I woke up the next morning, spent about an hour bitching about my phone not working, and 30 minutes reading you guys’ bitches and gripes. Then I went on line and found this solution. Total time lost without phone service (not counting the time I slept): less than 3 hours.
Why in the world ST customer service does not know this, beats me. Why in the world the ST website does not have this important step in activating your phone posted somewhere clearly on their website, I don’t know. Their new customers could be talking within 10 minutes from purchasing a new phone instead of being frustrated and pissed off for 7 days or more from what I’ve read here.
Anyhoo.. check out the site and dial *22890 I’m already calling and texting 🙂
I have a Motorola W376g with time left on it from tracfone, can I use this phone to start a Straight Talk account instead of buying another phone?
You have to buy a Straight Talk phone, but you can port your Tracfone #. So, the answer to your question is, no, you can’t use the Tracfone phone to start a Straight Talk account.
Is it true that it can take up to 7 days to transfer a cell phone number onto a st
phone? I bought a st phone and would like my old cell phone number transferred, but what I have read it makes me nervous to transfer my number because I cannot live without a phone for no more than two hours, not to mention up to 7 days or more.
Can I use a tracfone/verizon cell phone and have straight talk survices?
WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? GREATEST PHONE SERVICE EVER FOR $45 A MONTH. SOME PEOPLE JUST COMPLAIN ABOUT EVERYTHING! WHY DOES ANYBODY EVEN NEED CUSTOMER SERVICE? *22890 PROGRAM IT YOURSELF. LMAO AT PEOPLE WHO LOVE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT SAVING MONEY!
I bought a new Straight talk cell last Friday and so far I am pleased with the quality of both the lg200 and the 30$ a month plan .I was previously using tracfone and averaging 80$ per month . and only getting between 3-4 hundred minutes. I sure hope this great deal is here to stay.
My phone says prepaid service disabled… I’ve had it for about 2 weeks… got the unlimited plan… worked great for a bit and now it doesn’t work at all… I tried *22890 to activate it with no luck even though it said it activated successfully. Calling the customer support number is a joke they are not able to take my call due to “high call volume” after reading this blog I know why they have a high call volume.
hey if you phone is not working go to settings and make a master reset and them presss *22890 and follow the instruccions if this does not work press *22891 if this other one does not work *22801 if this other one does not work press *78 every time that you add minutes from the webside once you ficnish press on your phone *22890 adn follow the instruccions hey and also those phones can not make international long distances calls you need to buy a ild card with another compani to call
if you wamma know somethng about how tto fix the phone with your hands write here i can explain you and you won´t call to the cust care representatives
It’s been great for the past five months I’ve had service. I always wondered what I’d do with 1000 text message but get on Facebook and you’ll see why.. lol I bought a second phone and account as my primary home number and going on my second month with it, no issues at all. StraightTalk is simply the best deal going for $30 a month. I’ve had occasion to call Customer Support again, to change my email address. Well the support is still pretty bad and I hope I never really need them. Calling $print was never exactly a satisfying experience either and I’ll NEVER forget why I changed, never going back to them. I’m saving a bundle of cash and no contract, can change my phone anytime I like or need to replace it without a second thought. Totally worth the price for Straight Talk. Now they have new ‘plans’ available, which aren’t any cheaper in theory but allow you the convenience of going for longer periods without buying a card. That’s important for those who renew on day 29, losing that day each month. Best deal is to add a credit card to your account and let them bill… and get the 13th month free. Awesome.
I bought the $99 Samsung and a $30 card at Wal-Mart last Friday evening. I brought it home, read all of the directions that were included with the phone, and activated the phone and card online. I followed the clear, concise directions exactly. I had no problems and everything was up and going within 15 minutes. Internet and text worked right away. I also downloaded a ringtone from the ST website with no problems–it downloaded to my phone right away and sounded great. Maybe I am in a really good coverage area, or maybe I’m just lucky. The Samsung phone is awesome and so easy to use. Advice: Read the agreement and books that come with your phone!!!! A lot of the questions people have asked on here are answered there. For example, on the $30 plan, every time you use your phone to call for any reason–1-800 numbers, voicemail, etc., those minutes are not free–they come right out of the 1000.
However, I am concerned about how to purchase future minutes. I would appreciate opinions from anyone about the best way to purchase. I’ve read about bad experiences concerning auto-enroll and purchasing online. It seems the best way might be to purchase cards at Wal-Mart and activate online. Does ST send reminder emails concerning service end dates or is it up to the consumer to monitor this?
I love my straight talk. I transfered my number from verizon within hours. Service is superbly reliable, and why do you need to dial customer service if everything can be handled on their website or by purchasing a service card from your local walmart. It is really a great deal if all you do is talk and text. I recommended it to all my friends, those who got it love it. Don’t be a hater cause you pay 70 a month for your phone.
Straight Talk phone is a PIECE OF GARBAGE!!! I have had the phone for less than one month and have had to have it “reset” three times b/c it would not work. Every time it is reset, I ended up with a different phone number – once I got an Arkansas area code when I live in Florida and they didn’t want to fix it for me. I WOULDN’T SUGGEST BUYING THIS PHONE TO MY WORST ENEMY. ONE OF THE BIGGEST WASTES OF MONEY I HAVE EVER SPENT!!!!!!!
AT&T contract finally up on daughter’s plan and switched to ST with the Samsung R451C. Took less than 2 hours to port number. Now paying $30 compared to $65. Reception is great, but too early to give total thumbs up. If all goes well I will switch my Verizon phone when contract up. That’s $70 a month savings. It adds up.
ST is a piece of crap. i got the phone friday and today is monday. still no service. i was on hold for 5 hours. nobody answered. this is bull shit. all it seems to me is they just want money and in return sell crappy piece of crap phones for cheap prices. it shouldnt take 3 days to activate the dam phone. if u want a good phone go BOOST. $50 for unlimited and i had no problems. and the CS is normally really quick. they even call you to make sure the phone is working good.
Would it be possible to report these folks at Straight Talk to the Better Business Bureau or some government agency that handles poor business practice, etc… If so, what is the name of the agency? If enough of us call, maybe they will straighten out the big mess that ST is.
I purchased the boxed TracFone Samsung R451C from Walmart three days ago. I went to tracFone.com on the morning of 5/2 to register my phone and activate it and I paid for the $30/month plan and the website says my phone is paid through 6/2/2010. I dialed the number for programming and I am told it was successful and the phone restarts. I try to dial my home land line and I get a message from Verizon telling me either 1) the wireless caller i am calling is unavailable OR 2) that there is not enough money on my phone. Straighttalk.com website says my phone is still in the process of being activated…60 hours later. Last night I called tech support and the message said there was a 10 minute wait…after 75 minutes I hung up. Today I called tech support at least half a dozen times. Several times I have heard a message stating due to large call volumes they can not take my call, I have also heard one stating they are having technical problems that may effect service, and again today I was told to expect a 5 minute wait and had to hang up after 35 minutes. I just called and was told there service department is closed.
I think I got ripped off and I am pretty pissed off. If it was JUST a technical problem I could relate because I work in IT, but having technical problems and not being able to reach anyone pisses me off. The only 2 contact methods they have are a phone line that does not answer and US Postal mail!
I am going to attempt to return the phone to Walmart, but I am sure they won’t take it since it is opened. I am going to box it up and ship it to TracFone tomorrow and demand a refund. They say full refunds in 30 days, but I am not holding my breath.
Straight Talk has me a little ticked off right now damn seriously i have called 5 times and have been on hold 30 minutes each time before i just said screw it and hung up. Like seriously hire more damn people!!
Straight Talk is amazing, first off the service area is amazing, No dropped call’s and i never have to hold my phone out the window to get a signal.Text messaging is a breeze with straight talk,it’s fast and fun!activating my new phone was so easy i did eveything online and got a new number,with-in 5 minutes i had service.I have the 45.00 plan and ive never been more happy with a wireless carrier. Five stars for straight talk!
I know 3 people who have went to straight talk. No problems, 2 ported their numbers and the numbers were ported in 25 minutes after activation over the phone. No problems yet. One of them has had it for 2 months and everything works. Internet is not a blaze of speed but so what, get a life.
I’m one of the three people. I left Nextel (rip off central) and the other two people left AT&T. Numbers ported fine. I find it hard to believe that the ratio of people having problems to those not having problems is so high. Screw a contract. And if I had problems I might go with T Mobile over AT&T, Nextel, Verizon, or any other carrier. Definetly not Nextel. If you think this is turning into Nextel bashing you’re right. $61.00 for 450 mins, what a joke, and coverage sucked.
As far as cust service, wake up, everyone is outsourcing. I don’t like it either, but hey, I’m not an impatient spoiled brat like 80 per cent of the population.
Do not get a straight talk phone!!! The package sounds wonderful, its sounds attractive but its terrible service. had my phone for a week and a half and they shut it off for now reason – its paid thru the end of the month. You can not reach anyone on the phone for service to straighten out the problem and you cant contact them on line for assistance either. I literally was on hold for 67 minutes reading reviews from others that state they had similar experiences and were on hold for hours and never did get help!
have been working with a client who has been struggling with this phone company for over 3 weeks trying to get a service issue resolved. The company has been so un-coperative and blatantly non-compliant that it borders on criminal fraud. Furthermore, it appears the Debit Card that was used to consumate the transaction was comprimised and their accounts were cleand out. Luckily, the financial institution involved halted all transactions and reinstated account balances, yet it leaves the question unanswered wether this organization can be trusted. Since the questionable transactions were accross the country, this constitutes federal wire fraud and will be reported to the FBI and investigated to the full extent possible. Walmart, the company providing the retail outlet for this service has been equally unresponsive to the customer’s requests. This is a sad situation for the customer; it should be a public embarassment to Walmart, and Straightalk should close up their business because they obviously have absolutely NO comprehension of the “Customer Service” concept. Let this serve as a warning to ANYONE considering dealing with Straightalk or Walmart. Buyers BEWARE !!!!!
I actually have the straight talk plan, and it is pretty awesome. The article is right about the $30 a month plan, but it is incorrect when it mentions “not quite unlimited.” Straight talk actually has an unlimited plan for $45 per month for unlimited talk, text, and internet… plus the other benefits of the $30 plan. I looked at Tmoble’s options and there was no deal that lived up to straight talk. Also I got to keep my old number, and it was much more simple than I thought it would be. I have only had this phone for two months, but so far, so good 🙂
I have never had this kind of disrespect trying to get a phone service. I will never ever recommend this service to anyone. The phone would not activate, it was very time consuming, and don’t even get me started on the customer service. I talked to more than 15 people in two days due to ignorance about the product, dropped calls, and being given the run around. Push in this code, try this one, how about this one… What’s the number of the phone you are calling about? I DON’T KNOW I DON’T HAVE A NUMBER!!! It should NEVER take this long to get a phone activated. Not only that BUT I wasn’t even trying to port a number! I was asking for a new one! Now how long does it take to find an available number within your area? 3 days? I think NOT! I have never lost my patience with anyone over the phone and today was the last straw. I told them that I was not paying for the product, and I called my credit card company and told them to cancel the transaction that I was not getting the use of the product that I had ordered. No way in hell am I going to pay for minutes that I don’t even get the chance to use. I would never tell anyone to go to this company no matter how great the deal is. It’s NOT WORTH THE HEADACHE!!!!!
Had mine since November 2009. Still loving it – won’t ever ever ever go back to a contract carrier again.
Well, I’ve been reading these reviews and have this to say. I have had my ST service for only a few days now and I must say I am very pleased with the service. No dropped calls, no service interruptions, no problems at all. And as far as CS is concerned, when I called to get my phone activated, I was met with utmost courtesy. I ported my number from my old provider. There was a problem in doing so but that was a mistake on my part. They bent over backwards to get the problem solved. And in a very timely matter, I might add. Wait time on hold was VERY minimal. I would say 3 minutes at the most. My advice? Give it a try. If you don’t like the service, you can always change to another.
STRAIGHT TALK IS A JOKE!! Those of you who love it haven’t had the service long enough… just wait… you’ll eventually deal with an idiot like Eder, EMPLOYEE # 54941 in Miami. I told him I was ready to bring the phone to him and let him deal with it, so he gave me their address… 9700 NW 112 Ave, Miami, FL 33178
Very Very pleased with my service. I have been on straight talk for several months with no problems at all. I recommend it to everyone I know. I ported over an AT&T number and it was active the next afternoon and probably was available sooner but I did not initially know to press *228 to reactivate my phone with the new number. As soon as I did,there it was! Been great ever since. I think those complaining about the slow port over were like me and not aware (and probably still aren’t) of the *228 feature to update the phone. (The *288 key sequence is a Verizon system feature)
Thanks guys, I almost bought one from Walmart good to read everyone’s comment in the end it’s the customer service on our service provider makes the difference. Will stick with verizon they have so much Aloha when I need help.
Have the Samsung slide phone with real keypad for texting. Love the voice and text service. BUT DO NOT allow your monthly plan to expire. Purchased a refill on their barely functional website, they took my money, debited my bank account, and I still had a dead phone 2 days later. To get it fixed, call their Corporate office at 1-800-876-5753 . They have competent people there, but not the normal support channels. Shouldn’t Walmart care, as it reflects upon them that Straight Talk is such a marginal customer support organization. All’s well that ends well.
Run away as fast as you can!!! Don’t use straight talk. The coverage is very good but soon or later you will need to contact customer service! They are from outside of the United States and read from a script. They cannot think for themselves. I called 5 times to add minutes and finally had to call the corporate office to get someone to help me. Call 800-876-5753, don’t call customer service.
I have been reading the post. I have Sprint. Have to be next to a window to get coverage in my house. Get dropped calls even in a bigger city than where I live. The speaking mike recently went out. When someone calls, I can hear them but they can’t hear me. Sprint says can’t be fixed. This they could be lying to me about because I have been eligible for a major upgrade for more than a year. I am past the contract end date, but if I upgrade it will start a new 2yr. contract. This I do not want. I purchased a a Net10 phone at Genereal Dollar so if anyone called me on the Sprint phone I could have a way to call them back until I decided what I was going to do about the Sprint situation. Got an LG phone with 300 minutes and 60 days of airtime for $20. I figured if the Net10 did not work out then I was only out $20 and then I would give it to my 10yr. old grandson for texting his friends. ( It only charges 5 cents per text.) It gets service in areas my sprint phone never has and I can sit in my living room and recieve a call without having to get up and run to a window or door! Check out the coverage map for Net10 and Straighttalk. They are the same! I am interested in Straighttalk because if it gets the same coverage as this little Net10 then I would be happy.
The service is horrible. Got my first phone then upgraded to LG620G. Had to call twice to get the new phone activated (31 minutes and 47 minutes).
Today called to ask about connecting my LG620G to a computer via USB cable (so I can transfer MP3 files). Three phone calls were made. The first was 19 minutes then they hung up on me. The second was 34 minutes and I ended up with a guy who asked me to hang up and call again from another landline phone. The third lasted with a girl who is not very knowledgeable about cell phones and spent 27 minutes, most of which were kind of “please give me 3 minutes to configure this out for you Sir”. She also told me if the computers (I tried 3 different computers) cannot recognize the phone, Staight Talk cannot help me (great deal, nice shot!). Finally she said she couldn’t hear me and I got the hangup after 27 minutes.
If Stright Talk cannot handle the business, WalMart should cut them off
This has to be the worst service around. FCC, FTC and the Florida Depart. of Consumer Services will be getting complaints. They don’t need to be selling this crap in Florida.
Caveat emptor
this is junk stay away from it took 2 days just to put more min on phone then they said that i was going to have to change my number its junk junk junk
Well ive seen too many complaints for straight talk. IM GOOD!!! I have trac and I know exactly what you guys mean about the non-english speaking people sadly I have had to talk to them!
Hello. I have been using Straighttalk for several months. I love the full slide out keyboard. Though it is not a super smart phone it does what I need it to. I get service everywhere I have gone, and even with alltel and vorizon contract cells my house did not get service, but I get service with Straighttalk. The phone does not remember what ringtone i chose for the overall if you turn it off, but I dont turn my cell off ever. The batery lasts me three or four days and still has two out of five bars. My other cell started like that but a month later and the altell batery gave up. I love the 45 dollar unlimited everything for thirty days. It is TOTALY woth it. Even though the costomer service sucks, I never had to actually talk to a rep. I used the nice woman and man machine to help me with everything. For what you have ti pay, I think it is worth it.
This is the most God awful prepaid phone service on earth. It took me a week to get a phone number; when my prepaid time ran out, they didn’t notify me like they said they would and they cut off my service. When I called to find out what happened, they said I would have to reinstate my phone service with them and that they couldn’t guarantee I would have the same number. I would have to wait another week for a new number, etc. In addition, their customer service representatives barely understand English and can hardly speak English. I returned to Verizon — within minutes I had my Verizon account up and running again. Stick with the brand name pros — AVOID THIS PREPAID “SERVICE” LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!!!!!
After being with ATT, for 6 years, I thought I would give StraightTalk a try. Granted the customer service is less than desirable, I was impressed how fast to port my number. My number was instantly ported over within a couple of minutes, and I’ve had great reception. Although the phone looks like something from 5 years ago, the price for this service is unbeatable and highly recommend for someone attempting to save money vs. shoveling out hundred dollars for the ability to have unlimited talk and text.
has anyone else noticed that if you activate your phone, say on the 4th of the month that every month you lose one day of service? i signed up for auto-pay in nov ’09 and each month it has been pushed one day ahead for the due date. they told me in broken english that if the due date is over the week-end they do it the friday BEFORE. so figure it out!!!!! you lose!!! even on auto- pay i too lost service on the day it renewed. nothing like waking up to “no service”. took 45min. of taking battery in and out to reactivate and get the same “i’m sorry and thank you for using straight talk”. looking for a new service needless to say.
I have been using the straight talk phone since Feb 2010 with the same phone number i reactivated a phone my daughter was using it took about 2 weeks to port the number over. and the next month i purchased a service card and it changed the phone number i was so disappointed i was on the phone for a record hour 45 mins. trying to transfer my number that i use for work emergency contact for grandkids and home security system. I didn’t authorize a number change i just added a service card to the number i had been paying on for months. They kept telling me that i had to purchase a new service card to get my number back after i added one 2 days pryor to finding that my number had been changed. the phones service is great but the customer service sucks they are like droids when they speak like there reading promt screens.
What I believe is going on with straighttalk is Tracfone has discontinued thier $50 net 10 unlimited service and transposed it to the straighttalk brand of course for more money up front.So when you buy thier phone,example,the samsung t401(this is the phone net 10 *was* using for thier unlimited)for $99 and no plan already in place you then have to buy the $45 plan for a total investment of roughly $150.Whereas net 10 used to offer the samsung t401 for $79.99 with 300 minutes on it and the ability to buy thier $50 unlimited plan on this exact phone.I learned the hard way that if you buy this phone from net 10 now you can no longer get the net 10 unlimited although everything else is the same.So Tracfone is kinda pulling a fast one by raising thier rates via different branding.NET 10 UNLIMITED WHERE ARE YOU?
I have been using the basic Tracfone plan, by Tracfone, which is also the parent company of StraightTalk. I have nothing but positive reviews towards the phone and the service itself. My biggest thing is that they get service in my office, which is like a dungeon and everyone tends to lose signal, except me. The phone is nothing flashy, but it is durable, and has a camera. I would recommend them to anybody looking for a cell phone plan. Oh, and NO CONTRACT!
DIDN’T SEE THE STARS. DEFINITELY NOT 3 STARS. i suspect that is the only reason it has the rating it does.
read:
i ran out of texts early so i refilled online with the $45 at about 1pm. I got a conformation and everything still worked.
got this message at 4:24pm:
your old carrier has indicated that your old number is not active in their system. please reactivate it and contact us at 888-844-7095
so i called. my old number was from my dad who has my same last name. the lady said the number she saw was from a completely different name. she said to disregard the message since my phone was working fine.
THEN..
i was trying to send a text message and it would not send. would not call. nothing.
got this message:
welcome to verizon wireless your request to transfer your number to verizon wireless is complete please dial *228 send and then option 1 to program your your phone.
of course i call and get no where. because my phone is and has been active. until today.
* it’s been over 24 hours and they told me to wait ANOTHER 24 hours. i have spent over 3 hours on skype trying to fix this shit. i don’t have a home phone. they completely screwed me over. i had plans that i cant go through with now.
Apparently paying my bill early and upgrading my plan means i’m not a valid customer and deserved to have service stolen from me. nicely done straight talk.
i guess you get what you pay for.
other problems:
the phones suck. mine has no games, bad volume. no video. can’t download games either.
sometimes calls just don’t take and you have to call again to get it to ring. not only really annoying but that sucks for people watching their minutes. it still counts them.
just don’t do it. please.
This is junk,junk,junk,junk.I just waited an hour and 32 minutes to talk to customer service(they never answered,had to leave)to try and add minutes to my phone.Went to walmart bought a new card for 30.00(wont work).If you have problems of any kind and need customer service you are …….I am not pleased at all and wont use crooked talk again!!!!!!
have never had a cell phone no idea how to use it read the book followed instructions and had it up and running i am 75 and wheel chair bound seems like people want to do all games etc maybe they should just try a phone mine works great even programed numbers maybe i am to easy to please maybe all i wanted was a phone for 30.00 they want too much for little money if they want all the other extras let them pay for them and let the rest of us pay for one we can afford thank you wal mart and smart phone
ive used St for months now and the only complaint i have is the customer service reps are foreigners. the signal is just as good as it was with verizon for bout half the price. yea, theres no deals to buy a phone cheap, but you’ll save every month to make up for it soon. i signed up for the auto refill right away (took 10 min) and have had less problems with this than i have any other cell provider. it would be absolutely great to have more options on what phone you can use but the choices will eventually expand so why not save all kinds of cash now and buy a better phone in a few months? thats what im doing with no regrets
The customer service people need to speak understandable English. Could not understand technicians and customer service reps. One time they said thank you for call Afghanistan airwaves or something. I kept getting passed to higher levels. Problems could not get resolved. Kept having to call back. Spent more time talking to technicians and customer service than I did family and friends. Signal strength was terrible. I wouldn’t recommend this service to my worst enemy. I wasted money on a chance that cheap service would benefit me. Well, pay a little more for quality equals value of my time.
i have been a st customer since febuary 2010. while i agree that the customer service is horrible, i haven’t had many problems with my phone or service. i don’t want them having my c.c. #, so i just buy an airtime card at walmart and refill at their website. my phone does jam up about every 5 or 6 weeks, but i just pull the battery out, and put it back in, and i’m good to go. i also had trouble getting a refund for a ringtone i ordered but never got, (st was not helpful, “we have no record of that sir”), but a call and letter to my c.c. company got this resolved. i never have dropped calls, reception is crystal clear, and i’m pretty happy. i talk and text to people all over the country, and the phone does what i want it to do. i followed the instructions on the box, and i was up and running. i can’t comment on porting an old number, as i used a new one, and i can relate to the comments about the customer service. overall, for the simple things i do with it, and the cost, i’m pretty freakin’ happy! (or maybe it’s the lithium!)
I agree that customer service is HORRIBLE. Whatever you do, don’t leave your credit card number! The first time you can enter it on the website, it is fine. If you have to change the number/card, you have to talk to a service rep. I had to talk to them twice and both times my credit card got hijacked (only time I used both cards). Now I just buy cards at Wal-mart (hassle) but everthing else works fine!
As for ST… I won’t go through the hell we had to go through with them… but I will put it this way.
We paid $100 fine to leave our previous carrier to go to ST. Spent $200 on two new phones for ST.
8 weeks later, we’re leaving ST to go BACK to our previous carrier.
If you have ANY problems with the phone, you’re screwed for days. Calling is a joke and they take 3-4 days to answer an email.
Yep… we spent $300 to get onto ST… and we’re running the heck away.
Phones do not work. No roaming coverage. Bad connections. SLOOOOOW internet. CONSTANT problems.
I must say I was skeptical of Straight Talk’s service, but after getting it, Those feelings has subsided. For me the service is outstanding, great signal, great coverage. Honestly,the customer service personnel are hard to understand at times but if you go to the website things are easier to understand. I have the Nokia E71 and its excellent, oh and by the way it uses a GSM network. I am very pleased with this service.
I had a Verizon Contract phone for several years. It only got more expensive. they would lower the monthly but give me fewer minutes for that amount. I had to increase the monthly to keep up with need. Also, as my needs grew, data was a real problem… very expensive. I was running at about $600.00 per month (seriously). So I went to AT&T no-contract and had 600 minutes per month and unlimited Internet (very slow) for right at $96.00 plus taxes, etc. I did that for a few years until recently my brother had to cut back due to job loss and was spending a ton on two cell phones. I suggested Straight Talk because he didn’t talk much and needed no internet or texting. This was perfect for him. A year after that when Straight Talk offered the Nokia E71 (I love Nokia phones) I jumped in. &45.00 per month for unlimited talk, text & web (G3). You can say what you want but the big boys will have to change eventually when I can get a good phone and a great phone for $45.00 per mo.
What dishonest companies TracFone, Net10, and Common Cents. Net10 does not tell one when buying their phone that it will take 10 days, 10 days! to get the number ported. They are liars, all three companies, with TracFone as parent.
well have I got a story to tell anyone who is reading this. we already owned 3 straight talk phones and had great service with no problems for 3 months and decided to buy 5 more phones for christmas presents to family WELL what a complete nightmare ONLY 2 out of the three phones worked had to send back 3 OUT of 5 phones for replacements my son was going to switch his ALREADY existing phone # to his new phone they turned off the existing phone and didn’t turn on the new one when trying to get them to reactivate his old phone until they could succesfully activate new phone they ACCEDENTALLY zapped his sim card to that phone so now no phone it’s been 2 weeks. hundreds of dollars and 2 out of 7!!!!!!!! phones work, will not be reimbursed air time for any of these phones!!!!!!!!!!!! and still waitng on replacement phones and start the whole thing over again SO IF YOU WANT STATITICS there you go it’s the luck of the draw and how DARE any MORON accuse people that complain work for competing companies !!!!!!!!!!!!! REALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!run from staight talk and I mean RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been with Net10 for years. And I love them. No dropped calls, cheap prepaid plans and two new plans; $50 for unlimited or $25 for 750 minutes. Just an alternative suggestion to straight talk. OH! And I have never had a problem porting an old number to Net10.
well….i have a few things to discuss with readers. first off, does anyone pay attention to your receipt?? if you notice when you buy a refill card on the bottom is the words “2 minutes”. does this mean that walmart charges 2 minutes off your phone?? called CS and NO ONE knew what it was for. asked at walmart too and they didn’t know. also i would like to thank either walmart or straight talk for “selling my number”. i have to put up with so many texts that says “you’ve won a walmart gift card!” and at least 4 calls a day from area codes that i have no idea who it is. they don’t leave messeges so i’m assuming they’re soliciters. so i have resorted to blocking texts and using contacts only so my phone doesn’t ring all the time. thanks to those that sold my number,i can’t enjoy my 1000 minutes.
I purchased a Nokia E series phone. Phone works great and has good reception. I use it for work.Used it for a month to make sure I liked it. Then tried to port number.After 1.5 hours on the phone, CS guy deactivated my phone then cut me off. Called back next day and told CS guy I needed to port number and he activated wrong and told me I had to wait another month. Charged my credit card and I told him I was not going to wait a month.After another 1.5 hours, they finally told me I would have to wait a month before starting port process. I told them to cancel entire account and credit my card but they would not give me a credit. VERY BAD CS. Spend the extra and go with good company. These guys are all foreign and cant understan them. There must only be 5 in the whole company.If you just need basic phone with no poreting, may be OK as long as you dont need any CS!
Love straight talk! Also got the E71 from nokia and it has worked great, never gotten a dropped call. People seem to be wary of the customer service but I suppose there needs to be a tradeoff when you get unlimited everything for 45 bucks a month.
While StraightTalk may not have the best customer service, they do have the best priced high tech smartphones, combined with unlimited minutes for only $45, and great coverage. At the end of the day, that’s all I want and care for. Btw i’ve had no problems.
Very good phone service. I am very happy that i changed to straight talk almost a month ago to start this new year off right. Straight talk has been good to me and so has 2k11
Please do yourself a favor and don’t subscribe to this phone company. I can’t even begin to list the amount of problems that i’ve had to face with the phone that i paid 245 dollars for.
HERES A SECRET THEY DONT TELL YOU: they ask you for the zip code of where you are because thats THE ONLY PLACE you can get phone calls. I go to college upstate and I cannot receive any calls.
Its all just flat out ridiculous. Im on HOLD with customer service right now, i’ve been on the phone for the past 2 hours.
I’ve had Straight.Talk for 6 months now and have never ever had an issue 🙂 It’s great service at an even greater price!
I BOUGHT THE ST LG290CM ON JAN 28TH TOOK IT HOME AND ACTIVATED IT WITHIN 5 MINUTES ALL IS GREAT HAVE NOT HAD 1 DROP CALL AND THE INTERNET WORKS GREAT…
I LOVE THE PHONE AND THE SERVICE IS GREAT AND I HIGHLY RECOMMEND ST TO EVERYONE….BEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK
I love Tracfone over all. My entire family is spread through out the company using their different services, me personally i am a straighttalk costumer, but my grandparents are with the senior value cellphone deal. And according to them They are doing great with it, and they barely use their phones so is perfect for them.
I purchased the Samsung with full qwerty keyboard a few months ago. I was thrilled with the phone and the service.Unfortunetly I lost it and went with another provider.That was a big mistake,I will have to go back to Straight Talk ASAP! Their is a vast area in the beach I absolutely had no coverage and my phone choice is not user friendly at all,should come with a handbook guide. Never had these issues with Straight Talk!And now their phone selection is growing as well as their popularity!
Seems like a hate or love kind of relationship base on the comments I read. I have always been with a big time carrier (att, tmobile, Verizon..) and usually never had any real big problems, but times are rough and I’m looking to save money. I’ve been looking into straight talk and their 45 unlimited, and honestly it sounds great! Without any Smartphone’s in their line it still would have been a no go for me. I’m dependent of reading my email, surfing the web etc. But their selection is getting better and better so I’m really considering a change. But then you have comments like “Don’t buy”, “slow costumer service” or ”Can’t get my phone to work” that are holding me back… One thing I heard about, that I thought was cool, was their facebook support. Sounds pretty easy. Is there anyone that could share some experiences from that? Good or bad?
The Samsungs are without a doubt the best phones offered by straight talk. The internet on mine is my favorite feature and texting is so easy with the QWERTY key pad. I am a Samsung junky though, so I am a little biased. They do work great with the straight talk though. Plan is affordable and easy to maintain. That is one less headache in my life.
I actually prefer the Nokia E71 being that it is a functional smartphone that Nokia didn’t water down for prepaid like they always do. It’s the only way to take full advantage of the fact that you get unlimited everything is to use the data function.
When I found out that Straight Talk was able to support internet on my phone I was super happy. I just got their $45 unlimited plan, and am saving nearly $60 off my previous phone bill. Straight Talk has no contracts and no hidden fees, so I pay for exactly what I use. Being someone who commutes 30 minutes to work everyday, it is nice be able to use the money I have saved by switched carriers toward gas. But back to the point. Straight Talk has been ultra reliable and a great way for me to save money.
I have used the Razr with straight talk. The phone is old, and a bit outdated, but it is sleek and has decent features. The camera on the phone is nothing out of this world, but takes pretty good quality pictures for the price of the phone. For $30 a month, I get 1000 minutes and 1000 texts. I kinda wish they had a bigger variety of phones. A big plus though, is that they are available at all wal-marts, which makes it easy to buy a phone and talk-time.
Their Customer service sucks!!! it took one hour to cancel my order, one hour. it’s simply a joke.
Straight Talk phones – great. $45.00 Unlimited plan – great. Customer Service – to say that it’s a joke is a compliment. It’s bad enough in this country when you have to “press 1 for English”. But it’s absurd when you “press 1 for English” & the person on the other end neither can SPEAK IT COHERENTLY, nor can they seem to UNDERSTAND IT. It should just tell the truth & say “press 1 for India & good fucking luck” . . .
I purchased my phone in 2010. This year it started acting up and when I called customer service they sent me a box to return the phone in and sent a replacement phone free of charge. It does help if you are nice to customer service reps instead of being rude when you call and maybe that is why some of you are having such a hard time.