I don't know if it works for the iPhone, but Straighttalk is allowing customers to bring any ATT compatible smartphone to their service. You bring the phone, they bring the sim. He was up and running in five or 10 minutes and for $45 a month he's got unlimited everything on 3G.
Still not a perfect solution. I looked at straighttalk, and you have to be VERY aware of your data use each month. Anything over 2GB and they either throttle or STOP your data service. No I'm not making this up, its all listed clearly in the straighttalk thread over at slickdeals.net. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for.
Differences between StraightTalk and Net10 options; $5 difference; Net10 refills available at various retailers, ST refills sold online or at Walmart only.
Limited to No Roaming
Confirmed:
BYOD Sim and MicroSim cards sold. Choice of either AT&T or T-Mobile network
Not truly unlimited data; 2GB per month (and less than 100MB per day) is generally a safe bet; restrictions may be implemented including account frozen. See below
Straight Talk claims "unlimited data" with their $45 per month plan, although most of the telecom forums have anecdotes about people reaching 2GB of cellular data usage getting nasty "you're a data hog" messages and then threatened to get cut off. I'm a Straight Talk user myself (with a factory-unlocked iPhone 4S) but my data usage is pretty modest (150-200MB per month) so I've never seen this message.
Differences between StraightTalk and Net10 options; $5 difference; Net10 refills available at various retailers, ST refills sold online or at Walmart only.
Limited to No Roaming
Yes, $42 per month if you prepay with a 3-month refill. Otherwise it's $45 per month.
Let's remember that comparable postpaid iPhone service from AT&T is $120 per month (unlimited talk, unlimited text, and now 3G of cellular data).
Data speeds are the same as what an AT&T postpaid subscriber would get. You're connecting to the same towers. I get great HSPA+ service in most parts of the SF Bay Area. In some notorious places (like the Mission District in San Francisco), there are certain dead zones. That's AT&T's fault. As an MVNO, Straight Talk does not own any cellular towers.
Straight Talk refills are only available online and Walmart stores. You can set up auto-refill online with a credit card. There's no discount for doing that, but there might be some peace of mind in not worrying about buying service cards every few months.
There is no international roaming with Straight Talk. But a lot of prepaid plans don't have much in the way of international roaming. I think AT&T GoPhone and T-Mobile PAYG have international roaming, but it is restricted to North America and so expensive that it's not worth it.
I haven't found a way to configure MMS on Straight Talk with my iPhone 4S (I might need to jailbreak it, but I'm not interested in spending any time with that), nor is there any support for Visual Voicemail. Again, I don't care, particularly since I use Google Voice. Straight Talk's customer service is all phone-based since they have no physical stores, and it's pretty bare bones.
It's worth pointing out that the Straight Talk terms of service explicitly prohibit tethering. That said, they don't restrict it technically. I've used the Handy Light app to set up the ad hoc tethering network. Again, you may need to monitor your network usage, but at least it's an available option.
With AT&T, you can play dumba$$ GoPhone consumer at a bricks-and-mortar store and the sales associate will be willing to help you.
Each service has its pluses and minuses. There is no worry-free provider. You really need to assess what your usage patterns are and compare them to currently available service options (which do change). Several months ago, AT&T GoPhone PAYG $0.10/min service worked great, and I was spending $12-15 per month. But AT&T changed that and I had to find an alternative.
If you are aggressively following inexpensive cellular services, you really need something like Google Voice. My iPhone has probably had four different SIM cards (and phone numbers) in less than a year but nobody knows since I just redirect Google Voice to forward to a different number.
Anything over 2GB and they either throttle or STOP your data service.
Holy cow, that's exactly what I would want! No way am I paying overages for their stupidity, so if I was forced to buy a data plan and they were to cut me off entirely at my cap, that would be the second best solution I could imagine!
I'll be watching this closely so they don't switch me over so I lose my unlimited status. If that's the case I'll just go back to a regular phone rather than a smart phone - and Verizon will have to deal with that loss of revenue.
Steve, wonder if Verizon meant that you are only safe in the plan you currently have. Richard didn't say you would still be grandfathered under 4G/LTE. Huh.
No sir, I don't like it. I hope the new iPhone works well on Sprint, though I can't imagine it will since their LTE isn't even up yet. Sad, sad day when all I have to choose from is this dweebs company or AT&T... the tale of two wallet rapists.
The model seems to be about $10 a gig, as long as they continue that pricing structure they should do well. Not everyone will be happy but, life goes on.
Now if overage charges would be limited to $1/100meg then everyone would be happy.
Tom
That depends entirely on what cellular broadband is used for. If it's used to provide home broadband service for lack of other viable options, then those prices are bull. The problem is that cellular technology is being used for purposes for which it was never designed.
If all you're interested in are Verizon's profits, then you're right, $10/gig should be about right for giving it to customers over a barrel without too much screaming. Verizon is also wise to lobby against any efforts by the federal and local governments to get broadband into rural areas. The LAST thing they want is a new Rural Electrification Project for broadband, but as long as rural folk are given a few crumbs and have access to Fox News and Rush Limbaugh,Verizon will be fine.
If you just kept your existing phone and contract you would continue on the unlimited plan........
Yes, but with more and more signal drops and service outages due to what Verizon will say are technical problems on the user's side.
I was using a Samsung SCH-LC11 hotspot from Verizon and that thing would go dead for days, constantly reboot, effectively limiting my service to about 50% on time. I told a Verizon droid at a corporate store that if I was only going to get service 50% of the time, I only wanted to pay 50% of the plan price. He laughed and said, "you want to pay half?" Totally freakin' oblivious to any issues with the product he sells. Of course Verizon refused to exchange the turd hotspot so I just bought a MiFi 4510L hotspot on eBay, and now interestingly my connection is rock solid. Clearly a functional cellular connection is within Verizon's power to provide.
A little googling tells me that this dysfunction is normal for this hotspot. I own other Samsung products and they work great, so my suspicion is that Verizon purposely gimps the hotspot with "buggy" firmware as a tactic for limiting bandwith usage. It's clever in that it gets around any legal obligations in contracts and scapegoats a Samsung product. Customers get angry, but they don't quite know who to be angry with, and if they call Verizon customer service, they're made to jump through a few troubleshooting hoops and sometimes Verizon sends out a new hotspot (same brand, model, and firmware of course) to make it seem like they're trying to fix the problem. It's all PR bullsh!t, but it works because in many rural areas there is no other choice, and many rural customers are used to blaming the government for their problems so they are utterly at the mercy of corporations.
"A lot of our 3G base is on unlimited," Shammo said. "When they migrate off 3G they will have to go to data share. That is beneficial to us."
Ya' think?!?!?! Because I am sure they didn't make enough money before!
You know the "enough money" thing comes up frequently, and it doesn't work that way. Would Apple make "enough" money charging less for the iphone or demanding fewer subsidies? They'd still be highly profitable. In either case, if they can charge it, they will do so. I'm not spiting Apple here. I'm telling you it's the same thing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer
Across lines that have been subsidized and tax exempted by the US Government to the tune of well over $200 Billion and then charged back to us.
"A lot of our 3G base is on unlimited," Shammo said. "When they migrate off 3G they will have to go to data share. That is beneficial to us."
The word [SIZE=20px]"Douche"[/SIZE] comes to mind when I read this quote above.
Funny, I was thinking of the word [SIZE=20px]"Bag"[/SIZE] just before I read your comment... There is no excuse for this kind of corporate greed. Oh, wait a minute. They've simply been watching the whoreish bunch in charge over atCOMCAST!
Shammo should be ashamed of himself. Already the customer outcry has gone nationwide. And guess what happens next? I call it "netflixing" - when customers drop a service en masse in protest of price hikes and lack of customer respect. So, they've lost me as a customer; I've netflixed Verizon, and so will millions of others. We want affordable unlimited data plans, not tiered plans or "shared plans" that are exorbitantly priced. How can Verizon be so totally out of touch that they believe customers PREFER expensive tiered plans? Data should really be free, but if we have to pay then it should be reasonable and it should be unlimited. Can you hear me now Verizon? You've been netflixed!
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by thejd
I don't know if it works for the iPhone, but Straighttalk is allowing customers to bring any ATT compatible smartphone to their service. You bring the phone, they bring the sim. He was up and running in five or 10 minutes and for $45 a month he's got unlimited everything on 3G.
Still not a perfect solution. I looked at straighttalk, and you have to be VERY aware of your data use each month. Anything over 2GB and they either throttle or STOP your data service. No I'm not making this up, its all listed clearly in the straighttalk thread over at slickdeals.net. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for.
http://slickdeals.net/f/3898068-Straight-Talk-to-Allow-Any-GSM-Phone-on-the-45-Unlimited-Plan
Unconfirmed:
$42/per month if you purchase refills for 3 months at a time. http://www.straighttalk.com/ServicePlans
Data speeds - Vary but are generally not capped.
Differences between StraightTalk and Net10 options; $5 difference; Net10 refills available at various retailers, ST refills sold online or at Walmart only.
Limited to No Roaming
Confirmed:
BYOD Sim and MicroSim cards sold. Choice of either AT&T or T-Mobile network
Not truly unlimited data; 2GB per month (and less than 100MB per day) is generally a safe bet; restrictions may be implemented including account frozen. See below
Straight Talk claims "unlimited data" with their $45 per month plan, although most of the telecom forums have anecdotes about people reaching 2GB of cellular data usage getting nasty "you're a data hog" messages and then threatened to get cut off. I'm a Straight Talk user myself (with a factory-unlocked iPhone 4S) but my data usage is pretty modest (150-200MB per month) so I've never seen this message.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daekwan
Unconfirmed:
$42/per month if you purchase refills for 3 months at a time. http://www.straighttalk.com/ServicePlans
Data speeds - Vary but are generally not capped.
Differences between StraightTalk and Net10 options; $5 difference; Net10 refills available at various retailers, ST refills sold online or at Walmart only.
Limited to No Roaming
Yes, $42 per month if you prepay with a 3-month refill. Otherwise it's $45 per month.
Let's remember that comparable postpaid iPhone service from AT&T is $120 per month (unlimited talk, unlimited text, and now 3G of cellular data).
Data speeds are the same as what an AT&T postpaid subscriber would get. You're connecting to the same towers. I get great HSPA+ service in most parts of the SF Bay Area. In some notorious places (like the Mission District in San Francisco), there are certain dead zones. That's AT&T's fault. As an MVNO, Straight Talk does not own any cellular towers.
Straight Talk refills are only available online and Walmart stores. You can set up auto-refill online with a credit card. There's no discount for doing that, but there might be some peace of mind in not worrying about buying service cards every few months.
There is no international roaming with Straight Talk. But a lot of prepaid plans don't have much in the way of international roaming. I think AT&T GoPhone and T-Mobile PAYG have international roaming, but it is restricted to North America and so expensive that it's not worth it.
I haven't found a way to configure MMS on Straight Talk with my iPhone 4S (I might need to jailbreak it, but I'm not interested in spending any time with that), nor is there any support for Visual Voicemail. Again, I don't care, particularly since I use Google Voice. Straight Talk's customer service is all phone-based since they have no physical stores, and it's pretty bare bones.
It's worth pointing out that the Straight Talk terms of service explicitly prohibit tethering. That said, they don't restrict it technically. I've used the Handy Light app to set up the ad hoc tethering network. Again, you may need to monitor your network usage, but at least it's an available option.
With AT&T, you can play dumba$$ GoPhone consumer at a bricks-and-mortar store and the sales associate will be willing to help you.
Each service has its pluses and minuses. There is no worry-free provider. You really need to assess what your usage patterns are and compare them to currently available service options (which do change). Several months ago, AT&T GoPhone PAYG $0.10/min service worked great, and I was spending $12-15 per month. But AT&T changed that and I had to find an alternative.
If you are aggressively following inexpensive cellular services, you really need something like Google Voice. My iPhone has probably had four different SIM cards (and phone numbers) in less than a year but nobody knows since I just redirect Google Voice to forward to a different number.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daekwan
Anything over 2GB and they either throttle or STOP your data service.
Holy cow, that's exactly what I would want! No way am I paying overages for their stupidity, so if I was forced to buy a data plan and they were to cut me off entirely at my cap, that would be the second best solution I could imagine!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton
That's the wrong photo. Here's the right one:
Verizon CEO Fran Shammo
Awesome!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by djsherly
How does the content get to you?
Across lines that have been subsidized and tax exempted by the US Government to the tune of well over $200 Billion and then charged back to us.
If Apple were the carrier, most people here would be praising them for maximising their profits.
I'll be watching this closely so they don't switch me over so I lose my unlimited status. If that's the case I'll just go back to a regular phone rather than a smart phone - and Verizon will have to deal with that loss of revenue.
Quote:
Originally Posted by andyapple
Steve, wonder if Verizon meant that you are only safe in the plan you currently have. Richard didn't say you would still be grandfathered under 4G/LTE. Huh.
I now submit exhibit C to the courts
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1971965/VerizonWirelessUnlimitedData-2.png
If this is true and Verizon goes through with it, can I then get out of my contract since it's no longer what I renewed for?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tony1
If this is true and Verizon goes through with it, can I then get out of my contract since it's no longer what I renewed for?
No....
cause you would be signing up for a new contract...... cause this would only apply if upgrading line or getting a new line so a new contract.......
If you just kept your existing phone and contract you would continue on the unlimited plan........
But responses I received from verizon indicates that its not true...
Quote:
Originally Posted by cnocbui
If Apple were the carrier, most people here would be praising them for maximising their profits.
Like fun! Screw all telecoms.
Well, you're probably right that the shareholders on here would be doing that.
Quote:
Verizon CFO Fran Shammo.
No sir, I don't like it. I hope the new iPhone works well on Sprint, though I can't imagine it will since their LTE isn't even up yet. Sad, sad day when all I have to choose from is this dweebs company or AT&T... the tale of two wallet rapists.
Quote:
Originally Posted by icoco3
The model seems to be about $10 a gig, as long as they continue that pricing structure they should do well. Not everyone will be happy but, life goes on.
Now if overage charges would be limited to $1/100meg then everyone would be happy.
Tom
That depends entirely on what cellular broadband is used for. If it's used to provide home broadband service for lack of other viable options, then those prices are bull. The problem is that cellular technology is being used for purposes for which it was never designed.
If all you're interested in are Verizon's profits, then you're right, $10/gig should be about right for giving it to customers over a barrel without too much screaming. Verizon is also wise to lobby against any efforts by the federal and local governments to get broadband into rural areas. The LAST thing they want is a new Rural Electrification Project for broadband, but as long as rural folk are given a few crumbs and have access to Fox News and Rush Limbaugh,Verizon will be fine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveLV702
If you just kept your existing phone and contract you would continue on the unlimited plan........
Yes, but with more and more signal drops and service outages due to what Verizon will say are technical problems on the user's side.
I was using a Samsung SCH-LC11 hotspot from Verizon and that thing would go dead for days, constantly reboot, effectively limiting my service to about 50% on time. I told a Verizon droid at a corporate store that if I was only going to get service 50% of the time, I only wanted to pay 50% of the plan price. He laughed and said, "you want to pay half?" Totally freakin' oblivious to any issues with the product he sells. Of course Verizon refused to exchange the turd hotspot so I just bought a MiFi 4510L hotspot on eBay, and now interestingly my connection is rock solid. Clearly a functional cellular connection is within Verizon's power to provide.
A little googling tells me that this dysfunction is normal for this hotspot. I own other Samsung products and they work great, so my suspicion is that Verizon purposely gimps the hotspot with "buggy" firmware as a tactic for limiting bandwith usage. It's clever in that it gets around any legal obligations in contracts and scapegoats a Samsung product. Customers get angry, but they don't quite know who to be angry with, and if they call Verizon customer service, they're made to jump through a few troubleshooting hoops and sometimes Verizon sends out a new hotspot (same brand, model, and firmware of course) to make it seem like they're trying to fix the problem. It's all PR bullsh!t, but it works because in many rural areas there is no other choice, and many rural customers are used to blaming the government for their problems so they are utterly at the mercy of corporations.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oblena
"A lot of our 3G base is on unlimited," Shammo said. "When they migrate off 3G they will have to go to data share. That is beneficial to us."
Ya' think?!?!?! Because I am sure they didn't make enough money before!
You know the "enough money" thing comes up frequently, and it doesn't work that way. Would Apple make "enough" money charging less for the iphone or demanding fewer subsidies? They'd still be highly profitable. In either case, if they can charge it, they will do so. I'm not spiting Apple here. I'm telling you it's the same thing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer
Across lines that have been subsidized and tax exempted by the US Government to the tune of well over $200 Billion and then charged back to us.
That always annoyed me.
Funny, I was thinking of the word [SIZE=20px]"Bag"[/SIZE] just before I read your comment... There is no excuse for this kind of corporate greed. Oh, wait a minute. They've simply been watching the whoreish bunch in charge over at COMCAST!
Shammo should be ashamed of himself. Already the customer outcry has gone nationwide. And guess what happens next? I call it "netflixing" - when customers drop a service en masse in protest of price hikes and lack of customer respect. So, they've lost me as a customer; I've netflixed Verizon, and so will millions of others. We want affordable unlimited data plans, not tiered plans or "shared plans" that are exorbitantly priced. How can Verizon be so totally out of touch that they believe customers PREFER expensive tiered plans? Data should really be free, but if we have to pay then it should be reasonable and it should be unlimited. Can you hear me now Verizon? You've been netflixed!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shipoopi
Can you hear me now Verizon? You've been netflixed!
Is "netflixed" the new "Samsung'd!"?
I can't keep up with this stuff.