Tracfone introduces discount service provider Straight Talk
It looks like Tracfone is up to a new project. They already have Net10, the provider which charges 10 cents per minute all day every day, no matter what. Now we learn, from USA Today, that they will begin a new service dubbed Straight Talk. This will act in the same capacity as Net10 — a subsidiary with a different plan scheme. While Tracfone users incrementally valued pay-as-you-go cards and Net10 has a one-rate scheme, Straight Talk uses a flat monthly rate for a bundle of services.
The plan is quite attractive, actually, It includes 1,000 minutes, 1,000 text and multimedia messages, 30 megabytes of data, and unlimited 411 calls for $30 per month. That’s quite the haul. USA Today reports that this will run on Verizon’s CDMA network. As we learned from Page Plus, the Verizon-Alltel merger providers a larger service area to these MVNOs.
It’s not quite unlimited, but the deal is undeniably attractive. It’s less than the Boost Unlimited plan, has nationwide CDMA coverage, and provides more than enough minutes and messages for even heavy users. The small chunk of data is a bonus, as users can browse headlines and sports scores from their handsets.
As with Tracfone and Net10, Straight Talk will not provide the best of handsets. There are two Motorola mainstays, the W385 and the RAZR V3A, plus the bland LG200. Still, it’s a great deal if you’re not a data-intensive user. Then again, it means dealing with the reputedly horrible Tracfone customer service if something goes wrong. It’s a game of balance, though, and on the plan end of that, this one is unbeatable.
You can sign up for Straight Talk at their website. We’ll have a review up shortly.
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Well, looks like Net10 unlimited is still stuck at $80 a month. But this provides a great alternative to heavy but not unlimited users. The plan’s only real weakpoint are the phones. The V3A Razr looks so 2005. The LG has no web. The W385 is the only phone worth considering in my book. It’s still a smart looking pone even two years later. The two Motorolas are expensive though relative to Tracfone and Net 10 going at $80-100 each.
Posted on June 8th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
I’ve been researching prepaid plans in-depth for a few weeks in advance of ending my contract and going in a new direction. Next to T-Mobile prepaid and their Flexpay monthly Straight Talk looks good. Their network carrier is Verizon, however, check the Straight Talk coverage map on their website with that of Verizon. It’s considerably smaller and not as extensive as Verizon’s total coverage footprint. The only other downside is a very limited number of phones that are not fantastic.
Posted on June 13th, 2009 at 10:41 am
Run, run away. Straight Talk customer service is a complete and utter JOKE. I ordered my service on June 12th and am attempting to port a number from a Tracfone, who is the parent company of Straight Talk. Anyway, their website says it usually takes 2-3 hours for the phone to become active. Not true – what you find out is that if you are porting a number it is 7 days. It it is a land line it is 30 days! Period. What they don’t tell you is that you will have not cell phone service for 7-30 days. Well I am now on day 4. My old cell is useless. My new Straight Talk phone shows that it has been activated but will not dial BUT it will receive text messages. According to Straight Talk it takes even thought their literature says 2-3 hours to port a number it is always 7 days.
Well, I will see what happens in 3 more days and post an update.
One other note, if you want to email them good luck. They don’t use email and have not email address posted on their website or available to their operators.
In conclusion, run don’t walk to another service provider.
Posted on June 16th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
I agree with Tim. Don’t just run away, bolt! It took them 4 days to port my number. My number and text messaging works but the web doesn’t. Also, when I dial 611, I get Verizon’s customer service, not Straight Talk. Their customer service reps are absolutely useless. All they do is verify information and endlessly thank you for choosing Straight Talk ad nauseum. Looks like I’ve wasted money on a phone and service.
Posted on June 17th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Well I’m sorry for you guys because I had no trouble changing to Straight Talk,(you must have had there teething problems) they ported my number without hassle and everything is working well. I can’t believe that Straight Talk can offer such cheap rates and the other carriers are still cheating there clients. Where else can you get 2 cents per minute, 2 cent per text and free data?
Posted on June 22nd, 2009 at 6:22 am
Oh, correction, That’s meant to say 1 cent per text
Posted on June 22nd, 2009 at 6:23 am
To add fuel to the fire, it is now available in unlimited at $45. Unlimited talk/text/411 with the same 30 megs of data. BUT, Verizon has stipulated that it be a 6 month trial so it won’t overload their networks or steal their customers without an “off” option. Hopefully the flagship plan sticks around. I heard the $29 phones are vanishing in Walmart.
Posted on July 3rd, 2009 at 2:07 am
I wish I could use my own cell phone. They need an upgrade with their phones.
Posted on July 3rd, 2009 at 2:58 am
people – who talk shit about tracfone’s strait talk plan – they just work for one of the tracfone’s competitors.
I work for radioshack and let me tell you – this is the best plans around with the best coverage across all of the prepaid networks.
Once I quit Radoshack (hopefully very soon) I’ll port my number to tracfone.
Why? -because it’s very similar price to my employee plan with AT&T!!!!!!!
after years of working in radioshack and calling different tech support centers every day – I can rate tech support quality like this:
On 1 to 10 scale (1 being the worst)
Virgin mobile: 1 – absolutely impossible to find a human being.
AT&T: 2 – the same. support closed on sundays. and they don’t work 24×7
Boost: 7 – pretty good support. does take like 10 min to get through though.
Tracfone: 10 – very fast answer. usually within the 1-st minute.
Net 10: 10 – very fast answer. usually within the 1-st minute.
So -yeah – viva staighttalk!!!
finally – i can ditch these annoying contracts.!!!!!!
Posted on July 6th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
I’m very excited about ST. I’ve been reading a lot about how much better a deal T-Mobile and Boost are, BUT the coverage for both is none whatsoever as good as ST. I’ll say this to anyone worry about the spots that appear to lack coverage on ST’s coverage map, QUIT WORRYING. The Verion Network map is a more accurate depiction of the coverage ST customers will receive. Compare Verizon coverage to T-Mobile and Boost and there’s no competition. Verizon is more reliable and the call quality is better.
The bottom-line is that if you are looking for plenty of minutes for talking & texting ST is the best deal out UNLESS you need a fancy phone and the ability to send a lot of data from your phone. Most people only use their cell phones to talk & to text and occasionally send a few pics. ST has you covered!! I hope a gang of people drop their contract cell phones and move to deals like ST so that the big boys will start treating customers under contract better. I really wish ST offered better looking phones, but I’m willing to give them a lil time to get rolling. Hell they’re only a month into this thing, but things seem to be going quite well for them thus-far.
Posted on July 10th, 2009 at 1:03 am
I’ve heard a few complaints about the “look” of the RZR phone and think it’s just way too shallow to understand. Folks, this is a great plan!! Just $45 for unlimited text and voice – who can top or even match this? Tracfone’s concern is to offer an affordable plan with a decent phone that can keep you connected whenever, where ever. I’m not one to fall for the latest gadget so for me this is a top plan. I can text and call and save the money, so I’m good. Thanks Tracfone – at last a provider that cares about the user!!!!
Posted on July 11th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
You can’t go by the Straight Talk coverage maps.
Straight Talk works in a LOT of locations that are not on the coverage map, but are in Verizon territory.
Posted on July 16th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
LOVE the Straight Talk plans, LOVE the Moto W385 phone, LOVE the reliable coverage, HATE the customer service. It’s the most stressful experience I’ve ever had with customer service….EVER! They don’t know their product well enough and there are many kinks to still be worked out. We’ve had a lot of problems so far and we’re only a month in….very frustrating.
Posted on July 21st, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Straight talk is a very attractive bargain for the money. I had purchased my phone on a friday and it is now sunday afternoon and not yet been able to use my phone yet. I have wrapped up $150 dollars and nada yet. As for their customer service they definitely need some help. I could barely understand all 3 of them I talked to. Telling me to push this code in, turn your phone off and try this…o and also punch these numbers in very quickly to get the phone to work. What the heck. I have never had an experience activating a phone like this in my life. Oh and bottom line…they said corporate isn’t open right now cause it’s the weekend and this problem may not be resolved til Monday. Let’s see your partner is Verizon one of the main cell phone companies in America and you can’t get your network straightened out till Monday?????? Can you hear me now??? Umhh no you can’t cause my phone don’t work! Thanks Straight Talk. I think you shoulda ironed out your kinks before you introduced your product to America.
Posted on July 26th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Straight Talk has been great for me. I purchased my phone at Wal-Mart. Within an hour of purchasing, I added the $30 plan to my phone via the internet and I was up and running in less than 10 mins after that. I purchased the $30 plan and have 2 more weeks to go; still have over 500 mins left. I think it will work out fine for me. I just wish there was an upgrade so I could get one of the other phones available. I purchased the least expensive at the time.
Posted on July 29th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
StraightTalk has been a good experience so far. Easy to get account but had to use support for activation. Person was great, cordial, and we got it done in the first attempt. In the Phoenix area no drop offs yet. On the $30 plan and all is well.
Posted on July 31st, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Rate ST 10 out of 1o. Have not dropped a call in 2 months of use Called C/S once get past the accent and they are very helpful. Only complaint please add new phones
Posted on August 2nd, 2009 at 8:24 am
I bought a the Razr on Walmart online and it arrived within 3 days or so. That’s where the good news ends. Since then I’ve had to call their DREADFUL customer service every single day. They keep making you try the same things over and over until you want to kill yourself. Then they say they’ll escalate this to their supervisor and their corporate office. When I ask them how long it will take to get a response they say 24-48 hours. But, it’s already been 72 hours since you first escalated it. That’s when they start running you in circles and repeating themselves even though none of it makes sense. The customer service is bad enough that it makes me not want to go to Walmart anymore.
Posted on August 2nd, 2009 at 5:16 pm
I agree with Neel. I had my phone almost 3 weeks and have not been able to access the internet. I made 4 calls to them, each lasting close to an hour pressing buttons, removing batteries, clearing caches only to make no progree and told my call would have to be escalated and would be resolved within 24-48 hours. It has been 2 weeks since I was first told this and another week since the last time. I called today and was told to be assured tahtit would be addressed within 24-48 hours. I would be dead if I held my breath the last two times I was told this. This is very frustrating as you can bearly understand the CSR’s.
Posted on August 5th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
This phone facility is amazing everything is good in it. I bought this phone last week n seriously its voice clarity is great. I had Sprint connection before but it had some cracked sound but after got this phone voice is crystal. I would recommend this phone. Superb service in just $30 and unlimited calls in $49.Great mind behind this service. Salute them.
Posted on August 9th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Oh ya… My T-Mobile contracts up Oct ‘09 & unless T-Mobile matches the Straight Talk plan feature for feature & dollar for dollar WITHOUT THE HIDDEN PREDITORY TAX & ADMIN FEES! I’ll be switching over before I’m off the phone with T-Mobile 1 second after midnight on Oct 22 2009 baby!
Posted on August 31st, 2009 at 5:41 pm
I just switched over to straight talk and must say I have been AMAZED at both the quality of service and value. With verizon my bill was 75 a month for 900 min, now I pay 32.65 (with TAX!!) for 1000 minutes! The coverage is GREAT! It did take them 24 hrs to port my number but still…. That’s GREAT.
Posted on September 4th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Just bought the phone today. The LG phone is a phone and texter only. No web. The phone service works great. I have the 30 dollar plan with 1000 min. The system tells you how many minutes are left in your plan before the call is placed. I find that helpful. Beats my old 150 dollar a month blackberry plan. arg.
Posted on September 4th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
I left att for straight talk because att charges $99+fees and taxes for individual unlimited call and text. With straight talk it’s about $49. That’s the only reason to get this service. Otherwise, it’s a huge pain in the a**. Three crappy phones to chose from (which you can only buy online from walmart of all places), poor, poor, poor customer service, and a website that is completely useless. When I first got the phone I called to activate it (couldn’t do it online because their site features weren’t working. a month later the site still doesn’t let you do anything. a child could build a better website.) and they said it would take up to 7-10 days for my phone to activate since i ported my number from att. So I thought I was supposed to wait for my phone to turn on. On the 7th day I still had no service so I called them only to find out I was supposed to call them to activate it. They never told me that. Their customer service is weird. They sound like very polite robot aliens. If you speak with them you’ll know exactly what I mean. They sound like they’re reading from scripts and I had a hard time understanding them. They also sound very far away/bad connection every time you call. Anyway, I called and got my service turned on, which i could have done the next day, had they told me that. Also, the activation process is like trying to defuse a bomb. They give you a bunch of different codes to put in and put you on hold in between codes, and you pray you don’t get disconnected or else you’ll have to call back and start the process all over again. Great. Originally I got the 1000 minutes card. That didn’t last long, so I called to add more minutes. If you do this, you will lose any time you have left. So I waited until I had about 20 minutes left and called to sign up for the unlimited recurring monthly service plan. They said they would have to deactivate then reactivate my phone to change my plan (whatever), and then I had to go to another phone and call them to put in a new code so I could reactivate the phone. So here I go putting in codes again, and it didn’t work. It didn’t work, and I lost the rest of my minutes. The cs woman told me she would have to hand my case over to a supervisor and that someone would call me in 24-48 hours! So now I have no phone, no minutes. I was so angry. I called back a few hours later to complain to someone else, and I guess the person I got on the line this time was more competant because they were able to activate the phone in less than 10 minutes. So maybe it depends on who you talk to. My advice is, if you have straight talk, don’t settle for what one customer service rep tells you. Keep calling and talk to at least 3-4 different people. It’s like that at Dell too. Some of them do a great job, others have no idea what they’re doing. It’s a crapshoot when you call: good rep, bad rep, who knows? So far the process of actually getting unlimited service for $49 a month has been incredibly time consuming and annoying. When I have more money, I’m going to switch to an iphone. It will probably cost close to $115 a month though for unlimited talk and text. That seems so unreasonable, but then again, it’s also unreasonable to have to deal with a shady company with virtually no website and mostly bad customer service. Only twice have I called and got a cs rep (both were men) who sounded reasonably intelligent. The others could have been people they hired off the street that day to read a script and put your info into the computer. They didn’t seem capable of doing anything but those things. Buyer beware with this service. It’s okay if you’re desperate to cut your cell phone bill in half. Otherwise, it may be worth the extra money to get a better phone with better features and better customer service.
Posted on September 5th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
For those complaining about the phone selection, you will be pleased to know that they will have new phones coming out sometime soon…
Posted on September 8th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
The service for the most part is great. Yes it is a LOT for the money. However, customer service is a joke. I’ve had the phone 3 months, Internet browsing has never worked, we’ve talked to them numerous times. Each time Straight Talk will get back to us- and of course they never do. Yet, every month some of my bandwidth is used??? I guess the phone uses bacndwith to tell me it cannot connect to the Internet?
Coverage is flaky even in area that Verizon phones get good coverage. I work at a school, many people have Verizon service and no problem. When I was with TracFone I had not problems at school. However since I started school (right after getting Straight Talk) school is a GIANT dead zone. Once again, numerous calls, no results. This may be a deal breaker for me, since the main time I need to be able to use my cell phone is if we are outside the building and there is an emergency. For the record I have the Razr- so I have the high end phone.
GRRRRR…. I was so happy with TracFone, why can’t they do Straight Talk the right way too?
Posted on September 17th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
I attempted to activate my MotoRazorV3 last Friday and port my exiting Verizon number. They turned off my Verizon phone at 2 on Saturday and told me to carry my new phone with me all day because the new one would start working within three hours. It has now been 5 days and I have NO PHONES WORKING. I’m still getting charged by Verizon and can’t cancel them until port is complete. I had a car deal fall through because I couldn’t communicate effectively when I was going to get the car inspected and bring the check.
On Sunday they told me it would be working in three hours. On Monday they told me three hours. On Tuesday they told me two hours. It is now Wednesday and I’m mad as hell.
They also told me the phone model I chose requries some manual activation once the number is ported. I will have to call them from another phone to finish the process. I do not have another phone line. I live alone, work 3rd shift when their customer service is closed and I also don’t have a land line. I have had to explain this to 5 different people and they don’t get it.
I will probably send the phone back, but I want to make sure they can port the number back to Verizon and haven’t totally screwed me over.
Posted on September 30th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
My girlfriend has had this service for three months now, It is suppose to automatically re activate the minutes. It has never done this. The phone Deactivates, I have to call costumer service, every month and spend four days trying to activate the phone again.
Attempting to activate on the web does not work, it is not an active service number, when I call they tell me it is not an active service number, while I am calling from the phone itself?
I have called to attempt to add time before the due date comes, and still it deactivates.
Leaving at least four days with no service, yet charged for the full 30 days?
I know the script they read by now, and repeat it to the customer service person whom I am speaking with, who assures me this will not happen again and this problem is being escalated, and they will fix it this time? Here we are again?
Customer service is in India, they seem to read scripts, and they always consult their supervisors, who are standing there, if you ask to speak with a supervisor, they tell you they are standing there. Never allowing you to speak with a supervisor. It will be escalated.
Every month I go through this.
If you attempt to activate the phone, do it on a Monday, not Friday. Hopefully it will work by the following Friday?
The LG phone is terrible, I would have purchased the Motorola phone, I didn’t buy it?
As for the phone service itself, it seems to work, the customer service is terrible.
This is just the basic talking phone, all that is needed.
We know someone else whom has the same phone and plan. They never have a problem, I guess it might be hit or miss with this service. I might attempt to write their address to see what will happen?
Straight Talk, Inc
Attention: Executive Resolution Department
9700 NW 112th Avenue
Miami, FL 33178
Posted on October 5th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Follow up to activation. It took 6 days but they finally got my number ported over and my phone activated. Quality of phones calls is good. Web browser not working and have been working with CS for 2 weeks to get that taken care of.
Posted on October 9th, 2009 at 3:41 am
after reading the fine print in their terms and conditions, it mentions that we can’t roam. i understand they don’t have international calling, but what if i leave my calling area? will my phone not work if i go to another state, or half way across the u.s.?
Posted on October 9th, 2009 at 8:08 am
not sure where my question went to, but it’s not here anymore!
just wanted to follow up with a comment about the st phone. i called and the man i talked to had pretty decent english and was very helpful and patient. i actually got my phone ported in less than 2 hours! and it works great so far! hope the good service continues……..
Posted on October 9th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Browser finally working. I activated my phone on 9/25 and it took six days to port the old number and get it working. It took until 10/9 to get the browser to work. It took repeated calls to India, but it is finally working the way it is supposed to. The call quality is good.
Posted on October 10th, 2009 at 1:30 am
Does anyone know if you can use a verizon phone or any other phone instead of having to buy one of their crappy phones?
Posted on October 17th, 2009 at 6:40 am
The reason ST’s coverage map doesn’t match Verizon’s is because ST’s coverage is not as good as Verizon’s, even though ST uses Verizon’s network. Just because ST uses their network doesn’t mean they utilize ALL the coverage Verizon offers. How do you think they do it so cheap? Plus their phones do not roam, as stated in their Terms and Conditions. Make sure to check ST’s coverage before buying.
Posted on October 17th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Activated my phone (LG 200) on their website this evening. Phone was working within 5 minutes, called and set up voice mail almost instantly, and all is smooth so far. Don’t need data capability; just make calls, and maybe I’ll start texting. Huge improvement over NexTel in coverage and cost. Very satisfied so far.
Posted on October 18th, 2009 at 4:00 am
Purchased the LG 220c phone at walmart today for my daughter. Got the 30.00 plan on straight talk took it home and activated online with no issues. She loves it and I feel good about her being on the verizon network. I think the phone is cheap but it is her first phone and I’ll see how it goes with it but for now . Love the plan and easy setup.
Posted on October 18th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Roaming is still not allowed but is less of an issue now as they have finally integrated all the former Alltel areas into the Verizon prepaid map available to ST. No roaming, but with a larger overall coverage area, it largely compensates for lack of off network roaming.
Also, no Verizon handsets can be used on their network. But they have the lowest price for unlimited Verizon talk/text/web in the nation.
Posted on October 20th, 2009 at 4:50 am
It took 48 hours to port my number. After a second call all was well. Phone works ,text works and data was good after 2 more hours. After two days of talking all is perfect!!!
Posted on October 22nd, 2009 at 9:22 pm
I was wondering when you say that the phones don’t roam if that means that when it says it is roaming that it won’t work? I bought the r451c yesterday and will be waiting at least 7 days for port. My phone currently has two bars and says roam. Does this mean I will not get service at my house?
Posted on October 23rd, 2009 at 3:40 pm
This was posted on another site. If you need help with technical support regarding issues such as browser not working then “- send an email to Elston at elombillo@tracfone.com, he is very helpful with this. My wife’s web browser didn’t work from the start, less than a day after contacting Elston, it was working perfectly.”
Posted on October 24th, 2009 at 1:41 am
ST appears to be rolling out to even the smaller markets in the US even though they were not quite ready on Sunday.
Saw the local Walmart with their full rack of ST phones two days ago. They are still using the older original fliers though with the unlimited talk/text/30 meg plan on their brochures with the first gen phones like the Razr which are all being phased out.
None of the phones they had were the first gen ones. All newer ones.
ST is going to do really well with Walmart and Verizon behind thme.
Posted on October 24th, 2009 at 5:55 am
On Monday, October 26, I purchased a phone for Straight Talk. I went online to activate the phone and requested that my current phone number be ported in from my wireless carrier. After I completed all the steps online, I received an error message.
Since then I have had nothing but headaches. I have called the customer service line multiple times a day to check the status of my request and to see when my service with Straight Talk will be activated. Each time I am given a different response and a different time frame.
On Wednesday, October 28, I called my current wireless provider to see if a port request had even been initiated on my behalf. I was informed that there was no active port request. Of course I again immediately called Straight Talk customer service. No one seemed to know why my port request had not been put through, but I was assured that it would be processed ASAP. Well here we are at Thursday, October 29 and the port request still has not been made to my current wireless carrier.
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
I was planning to switch our phones over to ST from Verizon (2-year plan is up). However,I’ve read enough comments about problems and delays with activating phones, porting phones, customer service, ‘limited-unlimited’, and other issues that I’m going to hold-off until ST debugs their initial problems. – Thanks
Posted on November 2nd, 2009 at 7:49 pm