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?).
Yes, but only if you choice to pay the minimum. You could pay it all off in a month or two.
It works on AT&T and T-Mobile's network. AT&T and T-Mobile use different technologies currently in terms of their independent high speed networks. On T-Mobile you would get its version of 4G, and on AT&T you'd get LTE. However, straight talk throttles the high speed connection after an unknown amount of data. So, you will get high speed 4G or LTE for a little while, then it will get slowed down to another speed.
Straight Talk uses both Verizon and AT&T. Unless they've explicitly stated which iPhone they picked…
For the BYOP plans, they run on GSM networks, so AT&T or T-Mobile only. My iPhone 5 is unlocked and running on Straight Talk via AT&T. I had to cut down my SIM to nano size.
I'm really hoping this means Apple will finally allow owners of unlocked iPhones to access and change APN settings easily. This SIM swap trick is B.S. and grows old when it needs done after every OS update. I've emailed Tim Cook about it, but didn't get a reply. Surprise.
This plan of Walmart sort of emulates what T-Mobile already does. T-Mobile finances your smartphone for you on both its no contract and value plans. You pay a monthly fee on top of your monthly rate for the phone, but when it is paid off your phone bill drops. With T-Mobile this is convenient because it is all in the same bill. You can pay it off as quickly as you can. Here you get two bills.
Moreover, I probably wouldn't go for this Straight Talk plan if you wanted the iPhone now. You can currently buy any Apple GSM phone you want unlocked. You can already charge it and make monthly payments. If your credit is good, you might even get a better monthly interest rate than is offered here. Moreover, you don't need to have another line of credit.
Further, this probably isn't a problem very often, but you don't get roaming on Straight Talk. It uses T-Mobile and AT&T's networks, so roaming probably isn't necessary super often, but occasionally for me it is.
Finally, I would probably go with T-Mobile directly, which offers similar no contract and value plans. The difference is with T-Mobile you get roaming, and it is upfront about when it tethers your data. For example, with its 50 dollar a month unlimited everything plan, you only get 4G speeds for the first 100 MB of data. Then it switches to 3G. For $60 a month you get 4G speeds for the first 2 GB of data. To make money Straight Talk has to limit the amount of data the user uses, which it in turn has to pay either T-Mobile or AT&T for. So, you can bet the data tethering isn't going to be better than what T-Mobile itself offers on its comparable plan. T-Mobile also has a much more variety of plans, and unlike AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint, will actually let you buy a plan with no data (for people who are usually by wi-fi). T-Mobile also has a lot of stores were you can actually go talk to people if you have a problem. T-Mobile also said it will offer the iPhone directly this year.
Straight talk does give a bigger discount if one prepays for several months at a time.
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.
It would work, it is just with Verizon you don't need a SIM card. You'd have to get a Straight Talk SIM card.
For the BYOP plans, they run on GSM networks, so AT&T or T-Mobile only. My iPhone 5 is unlocked and running on Straight Talk via AT&T. I had to cut down my SIM to nano size.
I'm really hoping this means Apple will finally allow owners of unlocked iPhones to access and change APN settings easily. This SIM swap trick is B.S. and grows old when it needs done after every OS update. I've emailed Tim Cook about it, but didn't get a reply. Surprise.
Amen. According to the Apple support forums I've plowed through trying to figure out a better way of doing this, access to the Cellular Data control panel in Settings is dictated by the network SIM inserted, which gives the networks control over it. It's the same software mechanism that allows or locks hotspot functionality and FaceTime over cellular. I can understand this for locked phones on contract, but on unlocked phones this is complete, inexcusable BS. The same goes for wifi+cellular iPads, which are by their very nature Unlocked, unless you buy one on contract through AT&T.
...a financing program aimed at making the high up front hardware cost somewhat digestible...
Speaking generally I would have thought that an upfront cost with a lower recurring cost is a lot more digestible than "free" upfront with a higher recurring cost that never goes down even after you have fully reimbursed the company for the cost of the handset.
Starting with the ST sim card in and the phone on, go to settings and open up the menu, remove st sim insert a t mobile sim card (doesnt have to activated, just a card) (only until new menu opens- then take it out immediately) reinsert the ST sim card go to the bottom of the menu and hit reset- the att settings will come up- if they don’t hit reset again. once they are up use the ST setting by typing over the one that are there. If you just fill in blanks it will never work you need to see the old setting before you proceed.
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 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.
It works on AT&T and T-Mobile's network. AT&T and T-Mobile use different technologies currently in terms of their independent high speed networks. On T-Mobile you would get its version of 4G, and on AT&T you'd get LTE.
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.
[QUOTE]Like other prepaid plans such as Virgin Mobile, users must pay full price for their iPhones without having them subsidized by the carrier. Unlike Virgin Mobile, Walmart is offering holders of the Walmart credit card a [B][I] [COLOR=blue]no-interest[/COLOR] [/I][/B] fixed payment plan for $25/month. This allows customers to have a unlimited talk, text and data plan for a total of $70/month before taxes and fees.[/QUOTE]
If the above is true, and you can bring your own iPhone you have some flexible and attractive options.
We have AT&T family plan (unlimited voice/text) with a mish-mash of individual data plans and contracts..
We average about $50/month per iPhone for 5 iPhones (2 adults, 3 teenagers).
One grandson used $500 of data in one month before we detected it (online games). So we turned data for the two youngest... That disables Find Friends/iPhone tracking -- the main reason we got them iPhones.
It would be great, not to have to worry about data plans or contracts and have a fixed monthly cost -- and an annual savings to boot!
This could be the camel's nose under the tent -- it could break the stranglehold the carriers have on the US phone market.
Speaking generally I would have thought that an upfront cost with a lower recurring cost is a lot more digestible than "free" upfront with a higher recurring cost that never goes down even after you have fully reimbursed the company for the cost of the handset.
It ultimately comes down to US consumer culture, wanting something now without having to plan ahead and save a bit of cash first, mixed with a dash of good old stupidity (iPhones being luxury items notwithstanding). Same as the people who set up their income tax to get a big refund every year, even though that means the government is holding an extra bit of your income interest-free all year, when you could have been investing or banking it. Consumer culture is a whole other bag of cats... If we weren't so susceptible, things like credit cards, stock exchanges, and "zero money down" deals wouldn't exist.
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
I read Straight Talk is supporting LTE, but the article was recent. Perhaps, it hasn't rolled it out yet. Straight Talk's website is pretty vague on the speeds it supports. The more interesting question is at what point does it tether the speeds?
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by NormM
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?).
Yes, but only if you choice to pay the minimum. You could pay it all off in a month or two.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jason98
Is it 3G only? What about LTE?
It works on AT&T and T-Mobile's network. AT&T and T-Mobile use different technologies currently in terms of their independent high speed networks. On T-Mobile you would get its version of 4G, and on AT&T you'd get LTE. However, straight talk throttles the high speed connection after an unknown amount of data. So, you will get high speed 4G or LTE for a little while, then it will get slowed down to another speed.
I'm really hoping this means Apple will finally allow owners of unlocked iPhones to access and change APN settings easily. This SIM swap trick is B.S. and grows old when it needs done after every OS update. I've emailed Tim Cook about it, but didn't get a reply. Surprise.
Originally Posted by aaarrrgggh
Incorrect. Verizon unit is a different model than AT&T version.
Same bands of the phone that matter. There's no LTE on Straight Talk, so it doesn't matter that those are different.
You can run a Verizon iPhone on AT&T and have everything but LTE. 3G even works.
This plan of Walmart sort of emulates what T-Mobile already does. T-Mobile finances your smartphone for you on both its no contract and value plans. You pay a monthly fee on top of your monthly rate for the phone, but when it is paid off your phone bill drops. With T-Mobile this is convenient because it is all in the same bill. You can pay it off as quickly as you can. Here you get two bills.
Moreover, I probably wouldn't go for this Straight Talk plan if you wanted the iPhone now. You can currently buy any Apple GSM phone you want unlocked. You can already charge it and make monthly payments. If your credit is good, you might even get a better monthly interest rate than is offered here. Moreover, you don't need to have another line of credit.
Further, this probably isn't a problem very often, but you don't get roaming on Straight Talk. It uses T-Mobile and AT&T's networks, so roaming probably isn't necessary super often, but occasionally for me it is.
Finally, I would probably go with T-Mobile directly, which offers similar no contract and value plans. The difference is with T-Mobile you get roaming, and it is upfront about when it tethers your data. For example, with its 50 dollar a month unlimited everything plan, you only get 4G speeds for the first 100 MB of data. Then it switches to 3G. For $60 a month you get 4G speeds for the first 2 GB of data. To make money Straight Talk has to limit the amount of data the user uses, which it in turn has to pay either T-Mobile or AT&T for. So, you can bet the data tethering isn't going to be better than what T-Mobile itself offers on its comparable plan. T-Mobile also has a much more variety of plans, and unlike AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint, will actually let you buy a plan with no data (for people who are usually by wi-fi). T-Mobile also has a lot of stores were you can actually go talk to people if you have a problem. T-Mobile also said it will offer the iPhone directly this year.
Straight talk does give a bigger discount if one prepays for several months at a time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
You can run a Verizon iPhone on AT&T and have everything but LTE. 3G even works.
That is only true for the iPhone 5, correct?
Quote:
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. 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.
It would work, it is just with Verizon you don't need a SIM card. You'd have to get a Straight Talk SIM card.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RedGeminiPA
For the BYOP plans, they run on GSM networks, so AT&T or T-Mobile only. My iPhone 5 is unlocked and running on Straight Talk via AT&T. I had to cut down my SIM to nano size.
I'm really hoping this means Apple will finally allow owners of unlocked iPhones to access and change APN settings easily. This SIM swap trick is B.S. and grows old when it needs done after every OS update. I've emailed Tim Cook about it, but didn't get a reply. Surprise.
Amen. According to the Apple support forums I've plowed through trying to figure out a better way of doing this, access to the Cellular Data control panel in Settings is dictated by the network SIM inserted, which gives the networks control over it. It's the same software mechanism that allows or locks hotspot functionality and FaceTime over cellular. I can understand this for locked phones on contract, but on unlocked phones this is complete, inexcusable BS. The same goes for wifi+cellular iPads, which are by their very nature Unlocked, unless you buy one on contract through AT&T.
Originally Posted by TBell
That is only true for the iPhone 5, correct?
Correct.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
...a financing program aimed at making the high up front hardware cost somewhat digestible...
Speaking generally I would have thought that an upfront cost with a lower recurring cost is a lot more digestible than "free" upfront with a higher recurring cost that never goes down even after you have fully reimbursed the company for the cost of the handset.
So the Straight *Talk* plan includes data?
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
http://www.macrumors.com/2013/01/08/walmart-and-straight-talk-wireless-now-carrying-iphone-5
If the above is true, and you can bring your own iPhone you have some flexible and attractive options.
We have AT&T family plan (unlimited voice/text) with a mish-mash of individual data plans and contracts..
We average about $50/month per iPhone for 5 iPhones (2 adults, 3 teenagers).
One grandson used $500 of data in one month before we detected it (online games). So we turned data for the two youngest... That disables Find Friends/iPhone tracking -- the main reason we got them iPhones.
It would be great, not to have to worry about data plans or contracts and have a fixed monthly cost -- and an annual savings to boot!
This could be the camel's nose under the tent -- it could break the stranglehold the carriers have on the US phone market.
Dunks
Speaking generally I would have thought that an upfront cost with a lower recurring cost is a lot more digestible than "free" upfront with a higher recurring cost that never goes down even after you have fully reimbursed the company for the cost of the handset.
It ultimately comes down to US consumer culture, wanting something now without having to plan ahead and save a bit of cash first, mixed with a dash of good old stupidity (iPhones being luxury items notwithstanding). Same as the people who set up their income tax to get a big refund every year, even though that means the government is holding an extra bit of your income interest-free all year, when you could have been investing or banking it. Consumer culture is a whole other bag of cats... If we weren't so susceptible, things like credit cards, stock exchanges, and "zero money down" deals wouldn't exist.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stelligent
So the Straight *Talk* plan includes data?
Quote:
Originally Posted by jragosta
Yes. Unlimited. www.straighttalk.com
I was mocking the name Straight "Talk", albeit mildly (and clearly not very effectively).
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?
Quote:
Originally Posted by jragosta
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
I read Straight Talk is supporting LTE, but the article was recent. Perhaps, it hasn't rolled it out yet. Straight Talk's website is pretty vague on the speeds it supports. The more interesting question is at what point does it tether the speeds?
May be Walmart could get into the Cable business, too!
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.