Walmart to begin direct iPhone 5 sales with no-contract Straight Talk prepaid plans
Big box retailer Walmart announced on Tuesday that it will be selling Apple's iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 on Jan. 11, with no-contract plans furnished by cell provider Straight Talk Wireless priced at $45 per month for unlimited talk, text and data.
![Walmart](http://photos.appleinsidercdn.com/13.01.08-Walmart.jpg)
While the $45 flat rate pricing is enticing, Walmart's handset selection will be limited to the 16GB iPhone 5 and 8GB iPhone 4, which are priced at $649 and $449, respectively.
"We believe customers shouldn't have to choose between saving money and having the latest technology," said Seong Ohm, senior vice president of entertainment for Walmart. "Now customers can have the coveted iPhone with unlimited talk, text and data without a contract for $70 a month thanks to our exclusive Straight Talk plan and industry first financing offer."
Ohm is referring to a financing program aimed at making the high up front hardware cost somewhat digestible. The program, which requires a Walmart Credit Card, allows customers to pay off their iPhones for $25 a month on top of the $45 unlimited prepaid plan.
In addition to the $45 no contract plan, Straight Talk also has a $60 option that adds unlimited international calling to more than 1,000 areas in Mexico, Canada, India and other countries.
The program will roll out this Friday at over 2,000 Walmart locations across the U.S. as well as the company's online store.
![Walmart](http://photos.appleinsidercdn.com/13.01.08-Walmart.jpg)
While the $45 flat rate pricing is enticing, Walmart's handset selection will be limited to the 16GB iPhone 5 and 8GB iPhone 4, which are priced at $649 and $449, respectively.
"We believe customers shouldn't have to choose between saving money and having the latest technology," said Seong Ohm, senior vice president of entertainment for Walmart. "Now customers can have the coveted iPhone with unlimited talk, text and data without a contract for $70 a month thanks to our exclusive Straight Talk plan and industry first financing offer."
Ohm is referring to a financing program aimed at making the high up front hardware cost somewhat digestible. The program, which requires a Walmart Credit Card, allows customers to pay off their iPhones for $25 a month on top of the $45 unlimited prepaid plan.
In addition to the $45 no contract plan, Straight Talk also has a $60 option that adds unlimited international calling to more than 1,000 areas in Mexico, Canada, India and other countries.
The program will roll out this Friday at over 2,000 Walmart locations across the U.S. as well as the company's online store.
Comments
Isn't $25 a month on top of $45 a month um … $70 a month? I guess the difference is that $449 for an iPhone 4 would be paid off in 18 months (plus some extra time to pay the credit card interest for carrying a balance?).
And then, once you've paid off the phone... you STOP paying for it. The price of the phone itself is not infinite.
That's so crazy it just might work!
At&t,yes
Straight Talk uses both Verizon and AT&T. Unless they've explicitly stated which iPhone they picked…
It's on AT&T. The question is when will they add visual voicemail. Otherwise it's a great thing.
I guess that's going to change soon.
I like Straight Talk. I don't see any difference from when I was using AT&T in terms of performance (not surprising since I'm on the AT&T network). You only miss a couple of things:
1. No visual voicemail. There are third party options if you really need it, though.
2. Setup is sometimes a pain if you're using iOS 5.x. I had to jailbreak my iPhone 4S to make it work. However, when I upgraded to iOS 6, jailbreaking was no longer necessary. I don't know if that's universally true or not - you might need to futz with it a bit, particularly to get MMS and data working.
Overall, I'm very happy with the service - considering that it costs me half of what I used to pay.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
Straight Talk uses both Verizon and AT&T. Unless they've explicitly stated which iPhone they picked…
They also use T-Mobile, which includes T-Mo partners.
How did you get MMS and Data working on ios6? My nephew is still using jailbroken 5 because you have to have access to cellular data settings to change the APN to straighttalk's settings, otherwise MMS won't work.
I set up my mother in laws iphone 4 with ST. Getting MMS to work was a 3 hour trial and error, but was able using the unlocker.co.nz. Believe me, I wanted to throw the phone out the window several times.
Will only work on an unlocked AT&T phone, but yes. Personal experience.
Originally Posted by allenbf
Will only work on an unlocked AT&T phone, but yes. Personal experience.
The Verizon iPhone 5 is unlocked at purchase.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
The Verizon iPhone 5 is unlocked at purchase.
I spoke at length with 2 different reps at ST. They both told me that VZ isn't supported, only ATT phones. I understand that the iPhone 5 is unlocked due to their agreement with the FCC, but I can't confirm that the VZ iPhone 5 will work on ST.
Lots of helpful information posted here, but what about LTE?
Originally Posted by allenbf
I spoke at length with 2 different reps at ST. They both told me that VZ isn't supported, only ATT phones.
Same bands. How could it not be?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob Bonner
Curious as to what network this will include. Do you get data and voice together, at the same time?
Straight Talk buys service from AT&T and T-Mobile so you should get both together.