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

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
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


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.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 48
    Curious as to what network this will include. Do you get data and voice together, at the same time?
  • Reply 2 of 48
    jason98jason98 Posts: 768member
    Is it 3G only? What about LTE?
  • Reply 3 of 48
    normmnormm Posts: 653member
    "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.

    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?).
  • Reply 4 of 48
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    So in other words, it's like a conventional 2-year contract where you get a free phone and pay it back in higher monthly fees.

    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!
  • Reply 5 of 48
    quinneyquinney Posts: 2,528member
    rob bonner wrote: »
    Curious as to what network this will include. Do you get data and voice together, at the same time?

    At&t,yes
  • Reply 6 of 48
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Straight Talk uses both Verizon and AT&T. Unless they've explicitly stated which iPhone they picked…

  • Reply 7 of 48
    kavokkavok Posts: 51member
    So all this only works if you can qualify for a Walmart credit card... derp.
  • Reply 8 of 48
    cameronjcameronj Posts: 2,357member
    rob bonner wrote: »
    Curious as to what network this will include. Do you get data and voice together, at the same time?

    It's on AT&T. The question is when will they add visual voicemail. Otherwise it's a great thing.
  • Reply 9 of 48
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    I use Straight Talk and haven't upgraded to an iPhone 5 partly because it's not yet supported. They don't even have the nanoSIMs that the iPhone 5 requires. Even today, there's no nano-SIM on their web site.

    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.
  • Reply 10 of 48
    cash907cash907 Posts: 893member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    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.

  • Reply 11 of 48
    cash907cash907 Posts: 893member


    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.

  • Reply 12 of 48
    Do I need to buy from them? I am curious if i can bring my own unlocked phone and just pay the $45 per month for unlimited talk, text and data.
  • Reply 13 of 48
    allenbfallenbf Posts: 993member
    cash907 wrote: »
    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.
  • Reply 14 of 48
    allenbfallenbf Posts: 993member
    ismofam wrote: »
    Do I need to buy from them? I am curious if i can bring my own unlocked phone and just pay the $45 per month for unlimited talk, text and data.

    Will only work on an unlocked AT&T phone, but yes. Personal experience.
  • Reply 15 of 48
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by allenbf View Post

    Will only work on an unlocked AT&T phone, but yes. Personal experience.


     


    The Verizon iPhone 5 is unlocked at purchase. 

  • Reply 16 of 48
    allenbfallenbf Posts: 993member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    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.

  • Reply 17 of 48


    Lots of helpful information posted here, but what about LTE?

  • Reply 18 of 48
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by allenbf View Post

    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?

  • Reply 19 of 48
    aaarrrggghaaarrrgggh Posts: 1,609member
    allenbf wrote: »
    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?
    Incorrect. Verizon unit is a different model than AT&T version.
  • Reply 20 of 48
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rob Bonner View Post



    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. 

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