Walmart to begin direct iPhone 5 sales with no-contract Straight Talk prepaid plans - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by stelligent 

Is this still a marketing ploy of Walmart to get people in their doors? Or is it part of a growing business sector for them?

I think Walmart see's it as an opportunity. The Cell industry as a whole is charging too much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jragosta 


I upgraded to iOS 6 and then applied unlockit (unlockit.co.nz) to change the APN. It worked for me the first time and I didn't muck about with it. I have MMS and data with no problems. I can't guarantee it will work for you - with iOS 5, there was no standard fix. Most things worked for some people, but not others. It involved a lot of trial and error.
I don't believe that's correct. My understanding is that Straighttalk has not licensed LTE from AT&T. There is a great deal of confusion, though, and I don't think the answer is completely clear. I expect that they'll eventually offer LTE, but I can't find any confirmation that it currently works with an iPhone on AT&T.
No. Other than LTE (see above), I can't find any limitations that affect my 4S. I have full 3G speeds on Straight Talk.
Yes. Unlimited. www.straighttalk.com

The unlockit.co.nz APN changer does NOT work for MMS, no matter which version of iOS you're running. Don't confuse sending pictures with iMessage as functioning MMS. 

Straight Talk advertises "Unlimited" data, but they're not shy about throttling back heavy users - typically over 100MB per day or over 2GB per month. They can, and have, cancelled service to those who abuse data. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by stelligent 

Is this still a marketing ploy of Walmart to get people in their doors? Or is it part of a growing business sector for them?

Walmart has sold a cell phone plan for awhile. It also has a Family Talk plan  for the same price ($45) and that is through T-Mobile directly.

Something tells me that for this to really work well, we need devices that are truly portable between carriers.

And, until we get devices with multiband LTE support, that's not going to happen in this country.  Sprint continue with their user-unfriendly policies on ESN-unlocking; Verizon open up only because of an FCC edict, but their LTE bands are different from everyone else's; and even AT&T to T-Mobile doesn't work because T-Mobile uses AWS frequencies, soon to be joined by Verizon.

So -- a phone that supports GSM 800-900-1800-1900, GSM and LTE AWS, LTE 700 (all blocks), LTE 800 (Sprint's former Nextel spectrum), LTE 1900 (several carriers) and possibly another higher frequency LTE band.  AND legacy 800-1900 CDMA where needed.

That's about a 14-band phone.  And even Verizon/Sprint's iPhone 5, the most multiband phone so far, supports by my count only nine bands.  Two of which are the 1800 and 2600 bands needed in Europe and Asia for world roaming -- an option denied to AT&T iPhone customers who must make do with HSPA+ when abroad.

Perhaps once the core 800-900-1800-1900 combination is finally repurposed for LTE-Advanced on all networks six or seven years from now, we'll see something approaching this ideal of a truly portable device.  Then again, perhaps by that time they'll be cheap enough that it won't matter so much.

stelligent 

Is this still a marketing ploy of Walmart to get people in their doors? Or is it part of a growing business sector for them?

To the consumer, that distinction is irrelevant. Walmart started using LED strips in their coolers, replacing the big old flourescent tubes. Did they do this for green energy reasons, or was it purely to reduce their electric bills? In the end, what matters are the results.

Originally Posted by Vorsos 
To the consumer, that distinction is irrelevant. Walmart started using LED strips in their coolers, replacing the big old flourescent tubes. Did they do this for green energy reasons, or was it purely to reduce their electric bills? In the end, what matters are the results.

What were the results?

Hi! You may find more information here http://iphone.straighttalk.com/

EDIT: DISCLAIMER: She's a Straight Talk representative.

Walmart uses less electricity, and saves a little money each month after recouping the LED upgrade cost. They incidentally earned a little 'green cred.'

As for Walmart iPhones, the market will speak for itself, as usual.