What network does Straight Talk Use?

There are people out there that are interested in letting Straight Talk be their mobile communications solution, but many are unsure about which network it uses. This is not necessarily the easiest question to answer since Straight Talk uses more than one network. These people look at the low monthly price of a Straight Talk phone, and many people are thinking about switching from their current provider to Straight Talk. Some people have said that Straight Talk utilizes the AT&T network, while others swear that they were told that Straight Talk utilizes the T-Mobile network. Both of these people would be correct in their answer.
They work as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator which means that they use several different networks depending on where the person is using the phone from. It uses the backend infrastructure of larger networks to transmit voice and data on. This can be both a good thing and a bad thing. On the good side, it means that Straight Talk phones will typically have a broader reception area than a phone that is only going through a single provider. This comes in handy in less developed places where cell towers are not abundant. By being able to utilize a tower that is in range Straight Talk can allow their customers to sometimes receive a better signal. The downside of it is that some towers that may be available for the phone may not have hardware on it that supports current technology.
For instance, if a tower only has hardware for 3G data usage then a customer is limited to that speed even though their phone may be perfectly capable of 4G. Although this is not a big deal for those people who live in urban areas where 4g towers are in abundance, in less populated areas it can be hard to find a tower that is 4G, so the user of the phone would have to be content with the 3G data service that is available from the tower at the time. A person that is interested in a Straight Talk phone should see what towers are available by the places that they most frequent so that they can then make an educated decision on whether that carrier is the right carrier for them to switch to.