Straight Talk Prepaid Review$30 All You Need PlanA Straight Talk prepaid plan could be perfect for you and your son or daughter. There are two versions, an “All You Need” plan and an Unlimited Plan. We’ll discuss the first one here but first lets get one thing out of the way.CoverageStraight Talk prepaid coverage is provided by either Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile or Sprint depending on the individual phones and area you're located in. So the chances are, it's excellent. Is it as good as what you find with other prepaid and no-contract phones? Verizon’s own prepaid plan has good coverage but not as good as what they provide to their long-term contract customers.All You Need Plan$30 a MonthThe Straight Talk prepaid All You Need plan gives you 1000 minutes, 1000 messages and 30 MB of “Web” for $30 a month (actually exactly 30 days). That’s good! The messages can be text or even pictures messages, as long as you have to have some MB left in your web balance.How it Works.Simple. You buy a Straight Talk prepaid phone and activate it with an airtime card for the first 30 days of service. Then you refill your account either using a refill card you purchase in store or online or sign up for auto-refill. Refills are each good for 30 days. Instead of continuous auto-refill, you can also "reserve" a fixed set of refills in advance. These different methods exist because of one of the limitations of this plan.LimitationsThere are no carryover minutes or messages, and you cannot extend your service period beyond 30 days. So after fifteen days, if you activate another 30 day card, you end up with 30 days of service rather than extending it to 45 days. (You have more options on the unlimited plan.)Auto-Refill or Reserve to SaveThat’s why using auto refill or reserving cards are your best choices. You automatically renew so you don’t lose service, and you renew on the last possible day, so you get the most days out of your card. Otherwise, you would have to remember to always refill on the 30th day of service.You can enroll in auto-refill when you activate your phone or at any point after that. Cost Per Minute, Per Message, etc.Just CallsIf you only make phone calls and use your full Straight Talk prepaid allotment of 1000 minutes for $30. That’s 3.3 cents per minute. 1000 minutes per month translates to about 33 minutes per day. Good enough for one or two good conversations and a couple of short calls.Calls and MessagesIf you also use your full allotment of messages? Then let’s say half your cost ($15) is for your calls and half your the messages. Then, that’s about 1.7 cents per minute for your calls and 1.7 cent per message. 1000 messages translates to about 33 messages a day. Assuming you’re awake for about 16 hours, that’s two messages per waking hour per day. Assuming you get more during peak times and less at other times, this may be enough for you!Calls, Messages and Web30 MB of Web traffic is equivalent to about 300 web pages. If you also use all of that, then dividing $30 by 3 gives you about 1.1 cent per minute, 1.1 cent per message and about 3.3 cents per web page.The important number, however is $30 for 30 days or about $360 a year. What Web Sites Can You Access?While the web access sounded great. So I began looking for the phones. The Straight Talk prepaid phone tutorials indicated that web access was limited to just a few sports and weather news services. So I called up . . .Straight Talk Customer ServiceI called Straight Talk customer service at 1-877-430-2355.I was told at first that you can access only the web sites Straight Talk allows. Later on, these restrictions appear to have been lifted, though you do need their better phone to make full use of this capability. Yahoo, Gmail, and Hotmail Included!Luckily, you can access the big three email services: Yahoo mail, Hotmail, and Gmail on all their phones that include mobile web access. For many people that’s enough because you can usually set up Yahoo and Gmail, for example, to check your other email accounts.International Outbound CallingYou can receive international calls. To make international calls you have to set up an international calling account and fund it separately by adding money. You can add as little as $5 at a time to the account. Once activated, you dial a special access number. There is an additional cost for these calls which is deducted from your international calling account. You can also set up auto-refill that kicks in when your balance of your international account goes below $2.This was because it was impossible to include free international calling at this per-minute price without ruining the simplicity of the plan. You also cannot make calls with your phone when you're outside the continental USA. Will You Save MoneyIf you have a standard long-term cell phone contract and and use a significant number of minutes a month, then you would probably save quite a bit with a Straight Talk prepaid phone without feeling that you have to restrict your calls.One estimate from the Straight Talk blog is that you can pay up to $78 per month for 1000 minutes with a standard cell phone plan. At $30 a month, you would save more than $48 er month. That comes to about $500 per year even after you add in the cost of the new phone. Straight Talk prepaid is a really good deal, but you have to look at how much you will use your cell phone to decide if it's for your. If you find that you actually need even more minutes, you can check out their Unlimited Plan. Ringtones and DownloadsYou can also spend money on ringtones and other downloads. A few are included free on the phones, but you can get more if you like.Straight Talk Phones
You’ve got a good choice of Straight Talk prepaid phones. Here's a quick description. Before we go on, let me mention that there's . . . Free ShippingShipping is free when you order from the Straight Talk website as long as your purchase is over $29.99Back to the phones. Best PhonesThe top phones compatible with the All You Need plans are the LG 511C, Samsung T528g, Samsung T404g and LG 900g - all of which can run mobile Java apps.In addition there are other pretty good Straight Talk prepaid phones that do the job if you don't want to spend a lot of time fiddling with your phone. New: Android TouchscreenAndroid Samsung Galaxy Precedent and LG Optimus Q are now available but only with the unlimited plan.LG 900g QWERTY Phone 49.99The LG 900g has a 2 MP camera, mp3 player, bluetooth and a QWERTY keyboard. This phone can also run java apps. The Net10 version of the phone tested out well.LG 620G Slider refurbished freeLG 620g Slider Phone has 1.3 MP Camera and Video Recorder, MP3 player (cable and SD card not included), mobile web, and Bluetooth. Good solid construction.Check if the refurbished LG 620g LG 420g Flip PhoneThe LG 420g is a flip phone with basic VGA camera and Bluetooth. A refurbished is sometimes available for free, otherwise it costs $29.99 new.Check if the refurbished LG 420g Samsung T404g $89.99 ($20 refurbished) and T401g freeThe Samsung T404g and T401g have slide-out horizontal keyboards. The T401g has a 1.3 mp camera, mp3 player and bluetooth. The T404g has an upgraded camera and the ability to run java apps. The T401g tested out as a sturdy, reliable phone that takes excellent pictures.Check if the Samsung T404g or T401G Samsung T340g Slider PhoneThe Samsung slider phone has a 1.3 MP camera and "java" music player. This phone appears to be an upgraded version of the T301g with a better camera plus a music player.Check if the Samsung T340g Motorola W418g flip phone refurbished freeThe Motorola W418g flip phone has a 2.0 megapixel camera, music player and includes a 2 GB microsd memory card. This is an update of the awkward Motorola W408g - the Net10 version of which didn't test particularly well. The W409g and this W418g are better.You can get a FREE Motorola W418G Flip Phone when you buy the All You Need Bundle for $30. LG 220C refurbished free(plus $30 for 30 days service)The LG220CLG100C for $19.99(plus $30 for 30 days service)The only open-face, non-slider phone available for Straight Talk. The LG100C for $19.99Good TutorialsYou can also access some good tutorials from the Straight Talk website. These give step-by-step instructions for the most common things you need to do with your phone. Check out the Straight Talk prepaid phone tutorials here.Limited Availability PhonesThese Straight Talk prepaid phones are not usually offered though refurbished model sometimes make an appearance.Samsung R451C for $20 (reconditioned)(plus $30 for the first 30 days of service)Qwerty Keyboard, MP3 Player, 1.3 MP CameraThis relatively new mobile phone has a qwerty keyboard, 1.3 megapixel camera, mp3 music player and Bluetooth compatibility. The keyboard and the large horizontal screen make this the Straight Talk prepaid phone to get if you send and receive a lot of texts.Check to see if the Samsung R451C for $20 (reconditioned) LG 290C $10 (reconditioned)(plus $30 for 30 days service)This new slider phone is notable for its 1.3 megapixel cameraThe LG290C for $10 (reconditioned)Samsung R810CStraight Talk had introduced a touch screen phone, the Samsung Finesse R810C at a high price point. It was taken off the market. The gap in touchscreen phones was filled with the introduction of new smartphones available with the unlimited plan.LG 200CM $29.99(plus $30 for 30 days service)The LG200CM is another option if your mainly interested in talking. The LG200CM for $29.99MoreHere's a little more about Straight TalkVoicemailHere's how to setup and check your voicemail.Unlimited PlanYou can find out more about their unlimited plan here.Smart phones availableThere are now five smart phones available with the unlimited plan.Compare to Tracfone and Net10You can compare the Straight Talk prepaid plans with the Tracfone and Net10 plans to see what makes sense for you. |
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