Just wanted to add a little information that I think some ppl will be interested in. I got the unlimited ST service and the 451 phone for the grandson about 2 weeks ago. So far the service has worked perfectly including data and 5 bars everywhere he goes. I wouldn't personally care about ringtones or wallpapers but it seemed to be a big deal for him so I went to newegg.com and ordered an Asus usb to bluetooth adapter for the pc. It cost $13.00 with shipping. We paired the two and now he can send ringtones (.mp3) and wallpapers, (.jpg) to the phone. He uses a free program called mptrim to cut the full mp3's down to about 20 seconds and when he sends them to the phone they go straight into ringtones. He uses google images to find the wallpapers he wants and they go into the images folder on the memory card and can then be set as wallpaper. He now has dozens of rigntones and wallpapers and couldn't be happier with the phone. Hope this helps ppl who are interested in this kind of thing.

called yesterday, somehow the order for my replacement phone got cancelled, he said he could reorder, or I could exchange at Walmart. So off to walmart today...going to talk to them there, and see if I exchange, and it still doesn't work, if I can get a refund. Giving it one more shot.

Hi Joanna!
In sending and receiving pic msgs, it also uses data. So I would suggest u add the Unlimited on ur next redemption

get full bars in my house samsung 451 pretty good phone got voice and text internet fair but for 45 a month ill live with it

Hi humnbird!

Yes u can download real tones.
www.straighttalk.com (Select Mobile Web)

HI truckinbozo!
Yes u can port ur # from AT&T. just make sure it's active with AT&T until the port will be completed. just be ready with ur account # and pin if u have from AT&T. max TAT is 7 days

HI fightingsaints!
you're right, we can't download games on ST phones :)

To ST Users:

U may use this line:
"Please turn off the Pre-call announcement of my phone"

Hi Joanna! Nice question that u have raised on text messaging. I'll work on that and get back to you once I'll have the answer. U may also ask from Pbushblog :)

Love my ST service and 451c phone I've had for about a week now. However tried to buy a ringtone and while it appeared to download to my phone ok, it didn't play. Called customer service and spent almost an hour with them trying to figure it out. While they were very polite,(english was also fine) it was an exercise in extreme patience for me as I was put on hold probably 8 times. When it became obvious that the issue was not fixable I asked them to send the ringtone to me again to try to reload. I was then offered a refund. No big deal, I will probably just use one of the rings that came with the phone. I am saving $80/per month from what I used to pay, so I can't complain. While on the phone I did get them to remove the time remaining msg so that is much better. Just make sure that when you call CS you have enough time to allow them to walk through the scripts and talk to their supervisors and have patience. I felt like they were genuinely trying to help to the best of their abilities.

Since the call center English isn't very good it is necessary to be very precise and use as close to the exact words on their script as possible. When calling CS, tell them, "Please remove the time remaining message that is played before the call." I used this phrase to get what I wanted. Perhaps, when the representative is confused he or she just uses the default "No" as an answer.

RE Remaining time message. ON first call I talked to a supervisor and was told it could not be turned off for R451C. I called back and was given a case number and forwarded to another group. They reprogramed my phone. I then had to power it off and, yipee - no more time remaining message.

Called monday and they said they were sending a new phone and should have it withing 3-5 days...no phone yet. It's Saturday...hmmmm...not real sure about all this..

They refuse to remove the very annoying and time wasting minutes available for this call -- 16 hours and something.

I am gong to dump this phone at my earliest opportunity

I live in Northwest Florida and have been having sporadic issues of signal coverage along a major highway and other areas of town. My signal will be nothing or full bars. In fact I went almost 8 miles without any service. I recycled the phone and this didn't do anything. I also updated my roaming capabilities and re-programed the phone. This is my second phone. I'm considering chalking it up to the Verizon and Altel merging of towers in the area. Heads up. If you think you are having phone problems and want to try another phone or model. Buy it first, go online and go under phone upgrade and actually put the phone on your account. Then return the old phone back to Walmart. Otherwise you will end up canceling your account and losing all your plan minutes for the month and telephone number.

Also, save your self heart ache and do as much as your can on-line at Straighttalk.com. Most of the call center employees speak good English which is a change from other carriers who contract out to different call centers throughout Southeast Asia. All in all its a great deal......

Yes you can turn off the pre-call recording. Call customer service and ask them to remove this feature and they will.

Got my Samsung on line and activated it on line. Everything went smoothly and the phone works great. Calls are clear and texting works great.I am still learning how to navigate on the web but I get there with no problem.

Got the Samsung R451-C phone last night. I had an initial problem with the web browser not working. I called them this morning and they said wait 48 hours. It has bee 5 hours and the browser is working. I do not like that I can not play games on the phone, but I hope that the savings make up for this. Over all I have no complaints...YET.

Forgot to include this in the last review: I ported my Tracfone number with very little trouble. Again, I did it by calling the 800-876-5753 corp. #.

Follow-up to post on 11/9: I like the phone a lot, but apparently there is a web connectivity issue with Straight Talk that the co. does not want to acknowledge. Haven't been able to do anything on the web AT ALL. Keep calling, and they have said it was a known problem and would be fixed, then I called again (when it wasn't fixed), and they said they had to escalate the issue. Then I see on here that many others have the same problem. Wouldn't be a big deal, but I also can't send media messages (like pictures to grandparents...). So I basically spent $100 to get a pretty phone that is no more functional than the $12 one I've had for the past year. BUT I DO RECOMMEND CALLING 800-876-5753 INSTEAD OF THE REGULAR CUST. SVC. #. THIS GETS YOU TO THE CORP. OFFICE. NO LANGUAGE BARRIERS, AS OF YET! Hopefully I'll be able to post a better update soon...

I had no problem porting my number-it took less than an hour. The yahoomail is still not working though.I had ask customer service to cut off annoying auto voice annoucements about calltime available but there should be a way to check your account balance on screen. I called customer service and was sent to representative for this simple task? When these kinks get ironed it should be great service worth 4 stars

One thing that is not right with the auto billing option the first month, they bill you when you sign up for it, not when your month ends. I signed up for the auto billing 3 days after I got the phone so basically got charged twice for the first month. They don't tell you this on the website. I'm disputing it with my CC company. Otherwise the phone took some time to get setup so everything works but now works very well. Just remember to setup the auto pay right before your month ends or you will be charged extra.

I was taken in by the price immediately, but when I went to activate my phone the nightmare began. I went on line to activate my phone easy enough.I at first entered in that I would like to activate my phone using my old number, then my friend calls me and says that they told him that it would take two weeks for AT&T to release my number and therefore two weeks before I would be able to use my new phone so I tried backing out of it and just activating the phone using a new number, using the form I was currently filling out online,and it would not let me so I called the activation number and tried to explain to them my problem I was asked my serial number and activation code about 25 times and transferred between about 15 different people.Not one of those people were fluent with the English language which made it that much more of a frustrating experience that lasted for 3 days then my phone decided that it needed a code that I did not have to activate my voice mail this time I was hung up on the first time I called and the second time I had to explain myself over and over again before the guy even knew what my problem was,30 minutes later I had voice mail but my blue tooth still wont work and I think I need to learn a new language before I am even willing to call them back!

Horrible!! I just got the phone yesterday, and activated it ok but was not able to access yahoo email. I called tech support today and the second person I talked to said they were having a problem with yahoo email and that it would be fixed soon. BUT that I had been on the internet last night for 86 minutes and already used all of my 30mb of data. WHAT? I haven't even used the internet yet. The phone was just sitting on my desk all day with the slider closed, which closes the browser/web functionality! I talked to a supervisor and he said that their wasn't anything wrong with their system, or errors on their end, and basically he didn't believe me. And he could not do anything about the 30MB that were gone that I did not use! WOW. So this phone is going back to Walmart ASAP! Talk about lousy service, that's no service at all. I paid for something I couldn't even use.
-Mike

StraightTalk - nice and cheap, great alternative to a land line. Browser is not Google, the OpenWave browser is limited, but able to retrieve emails (Yahoo not working, but likely will soon). Sending/receiving files like pics and sounds is limited... one reviewer said you can hook up the Samsung R451C to the computer and change ringtones, etc.... go there is this stuff is important. Cust Service is obviously a weak point, if that is your main objective then go to AT&T. Once you quit talking to them the phone is great

First of all, I've never written a review for anything, but thought I just had to this time! I got the ST service with the $45 plan for unlimited everything with the Samsung R451c slider phone with the full QWERTY keyboard. I love this phone and the plan...best thing since sliced bread. I'm sorry to hear about others having phone or CS problems. I charged my phone, activated it online and immediately was able to make & recieve calls, text message and my browser immediately went to my homail and facebook accounts. It wouldn't go to my yahoo, but I've seen that this is a problem they're working on, so this is something I can do without until they get this bug worked out! I bought all the accessories at WM that this phone needs to work to it's optimum level: the bluetooth headset, and a 4 GB Micro SD memory card for the picture and MP3 features that will allow for 1000 songs and tons 'o pictures and ofcourse I got the cord to be able to plug into the computer to download music and transfer pictures! I love the video/picture quality of this phone, just vivid and crystal clear resolution!I haven't tried the MP3 player feature yet, but I'm sure I'm not going to be dissappointed! I hope everyone doesn't read the negative experiences of the few, and tries this phone and service. I am dropping my Tracfone phone and plan as soon as my minutes expire, since I was spending $40/mo for 400 minutes, and now only have to spend $5 more for unlimited EVERYTHING! A no brainer! CS sucks everywhere else, so I guess it's just luck of the draw and ask to speak to someone who speaks English as their 1st language!

I live in Northern MN and bought the ST Samsung R451C. I went online and activated it with the unlimited plan including porting my number from Alltel prepaid in less than 10 minutes. Everything works, voice, text, web (slow but usable for me). Signal strength is much better than what I had with Alltel. Phone is real nice and the qwerty keyboard works well. My only complaint is it appears you can't download games on ST phones. Other than that I like it a lot after the first week.

is this service like booast mobile...cus booast was horrible i couldnt get text messages up until 3 days and people would attempt to call me and the message on the other end would say unable to locate server blah blha i wonder if this is how straight talk is..it sounds like an afforable plan but i wouldlike to know what the real deal is????

I've got 2 ST phones, they are horrible!! battery life is ridicilous, customer service is extremely bad! I could've kept my plan for 55$ a month and had great a great phone, and great service,

i am very upset with ST right now! i am so tired of them telling me that they will call me back or i need to call them back within 4 to 24 hrs and then 24 hrs go by and they havent called u back! so u call them again, and what do they say?????? they tell u to call back in 24 more hours!!! and im even more tired of hearing..."can u hold on for TREE minutes while i update your information to my supervisor". yes that is how they say it TREE minutes!i have the samsung... the phone is nice! CS SUCKS! I AM REALLY THINKING ABOUT CALLING THE "BBB" TO COMPLAIN! It is against the law for them not to let you talk to a representative that speaks English as their first language!!!!!!!! my web browser doesn't work! just like everyone elses on here that ported their # to the ST samsung phone! i am calling tracfone corporate office tomorrow! i really really hope that they can help me!

Horrible!! I got the phone yesterday, and was not able to access my yahoo email, so I called tech support and they say there is a problem with yahoo email that will be fixed soon, then they tell me I was on the internet the night before for 86 minutes and my 30MB of data are all used up. WHAT? I didn't even connect to the internet at all. The phone was sitting on my desk with the slider closed, which disconnects the browser/web functions! And the supervisor tells me there is no error on their end, he doesn't believe me, and he can't change my minutes/mb's. Thanks for nothing! So the phone is going back to Walmart ASAP!

I left 1 star because I do not have the service yet. I do have a question though. Does anyone have ST in Minnesota (about an hour north of the cities) and what has your reception been like? Thanks in advance!

I switched from Verizon family plan, I had 3 phones and I was averaging $300 per month and I had limited texting and no overage...go figure...I have the lg290,two of them and my youngest son has the one with the keyboard, I forgot the name. I have read all posts above, I ported all three of our numbers and we have internet, everything, I love it, and last I checked customer service has sucked at every cell phn company...

I changed over to Straight Talk for the simple fact that it is a monthly plan and not a contract. Straight Talk runs on Versions network so there is great national coverage. I chose the Unlimited plan of unlimited minutes, texts and data for $45 per month.
Great value!

I do think that there are problems. Customer service has acknowledged that there are some problems with the Internet on services where a number has been ported. But after everything is working, it works well and there is no need to contact CS.

You know Mark, I think sites like this largely attract people that have problems with a service and want to vent. This is not just specific to ST. Reading the reviews of all the other prepaid providers, you read nothing but complaint after complaint after complaint.

For every person complaining, there is probably another 10 that have experiences like yours and mine where everything works fine.

My number ported from Sprint in less than 10 minutes! Did I just get lucky or is this the norm, and the horror stories below only happen to a rare few?

I was thinking about getting the LG 290C...can any one tell me whether or not if it is a good phone. and also can ST phones get animated picture messages?

I purchased a ST phone last month I love the talk service but don't purchase the ringtones they have they don't work and it's HELL to get your money back for the ringtones credit back to your account they will take your money and act as if you never purchased the ringtone and you have to file a dispute with you cardholder to get that money back. The internet doesn't work at all.

This is the Samsung slide qwerty phone, the $99 which should be awesome for internet. But the internet doesn't work on it. WTF

Yeah the guy at Wal-Mart told me the 45 dollar plan is good for unlimited calls, text, and web and 'would be good for youtube.' I had my number ported over from an old net10 phone that died of water damage. Phone works great except no web....

"Error: Requested content 'tfdevice.home/' cannot be accessed. You do not have access to the site."

So.... no internet on this phone.

I love Straight Talk. I live in an area where very few phones have worked. Alltel and Verizon were the only choices until Straight Talk. Well, I got two plans for less than what I was paying Alltel for only one. I am VERY HAPPY with Straight Talk. The signal is BETTER than Alltel and Verizon and I have UNLIMITED EVERYTHING (talk, text, and internet) for only $45 dollars per month. THANK YOU STRAIGHT TALK. I absolutely love my LG 290C and everything about the service. They are positively the best deal out there ANYWHERE.

has anyone ported a number from ATT prepaid to ST ?? I have been with them for over a year would like to keep my number, How would you guys rate ST over some of the other prepaids ? I have had virgin and ATT was looking at boost but there coverage area looks weak, Virgin/sprint had the best coverage area even over ATT, I would like to hear overall value opinions not just CSR issues.

Hi all...Just switched over from AT&T iPhone to Straight talk. So tired of paying $110/mo. just to have the # of minutes I needed. (I love to talk, ha)Was very nervous after reading about porting my number so I planned to do it 8 days before my next billing cycle to allow for the inevitable screw up that was about to occur during the process. Went online and followed the port request procedure. The instructions said it could take a few hours to a few days and then when my current phone stopped working I could call to activate the new one. 5 minutes later I tried to use my iPhone to make a call. It said no service. Called the activation number and my new phone was up and running right away! The internet part even works. I have the Samsung 451c. AT&T had half a bar at my house. Verizon just built a tower 1/4mile from my house and I get full bars. Made a phone call and the earpiece sounded a little tinny so I'm wondering if it's the phone, the network, or the other persons phone. It was fine though and no worse than my old att service. I will miss being able to surf the internet from my iPhone whereever I happened to be, but with the prevelance of wifi I will still be able to use it in those places. Internet on the Samsung is nothing like surfing on the iphone but it would do in a pinch if I needed to look up something online. Seems very slow and difficult to navigate but maybe I'm just not used to it yet. I was able to get onto facebook and look around ok. I will give this service a shot. It's definately going to save me a ton of $$$.

i have my lg for about 2 weeks i stay in town alot i have no problom yet.

Seems like most of the problems are relating to porting a number. If you don't have to port it, don't and ST works well.

I have ST for about 3 weeks and love the service. I activated my phone online and was up and running in about 5. I did call customer service to get the min remaing message removed. I was threw with a representitive in under a min and she removed the message quickly. Love the service, highly reccomend it.

I have been trying to port my number over for three weeks now and no luck. I have to say Straight Talk has the worst customer service I have ever experienced. I have called 8 times in the last 3 weeks and its always the same story. Ugh!!! As for the phone service itself; I really would not know how it works. If I find out I will let you all know. Good Luck!!!

@Erin. I have the samsung and they took the message off my phone. I would ring back and hopefully get a different person to talk to. Ring from a landline and check your cellphone when they tell you it's done. I access gmail through this phone too. Sometimes it goes straight to gmail from my favorites, sometimes I have to open browser, go to email, go to gmail.

going to call later today and check the status of my account. They are supposed to send me a new phone, but read someone else's experience on here, and going to make sure they are shipping it. Phone will send and receive texts but will not send or receive phone calls. Get three beeps, and then disconnects.

Fixed my problem, it was not their fault, just my own stupidity. The only problem I had is that I could only understand parts of what the CS rep said. The part I did understand is that when I asked about taking the minutes remaining message off so I don't have to hear it every time I dial, they said they cannot take it off that particular phone (the Samsung slider phone). Go figure... But the phone sounds good and the internet is wayyy faster than T-Mobile. Could not get it to sign into gmail though. Hopefully the savings will make up for the lacking other areas.

Stay as far away from straigt talk as possible, No customer service to speak of and the help is out of the usa and with a heavy accent that cannot be understood. I am returning my phone to Walmart and hoping for a refund, if not I just threw away 130 bucks away! STAY AWAY from this company!!!

I like my new Samsung R451-C model, despite the keyboard is larger than the keyboard on my old cell and is harder to use. I seem to have trouble receiving pic-messages and I have no idea why. Any suggestions? Help is greatly appreciated, thanks!

Don't count my stars, I just activated my new phone five hours ago and the number still has not ported, but my other phone disconnected immediately. I understand it can take up to seven days, but is it normal for both phones to be non-working?

@meetoo. I rang the CS number from the website and within minutes the annoying message was gone. Ring them from a landline so when they tell you it's been updated you can doublecheck with your cell, there and then. I believe other people have called Tracfone's number too which is listed below somewhere.

is there anyway to take off that annoying message of how many minutes you have for a call?

i a have service with st for 2 weeks now, and i still love it i have the samsung 451c and its great only problem is it doesnt have camcorder but other than that i'm pretty content with the service, by the way i have the $45 plan cuz i talk alot for the price i think the service its great! actually better than boost mobile.

Hmmm - seems like there is a problem with the Samsung R451C. I have RAZR v3a and was thinking of upgrading. Now, I think not

Ok..called the corporate number (800) that I found here that was posted a few days earlier. They are going to have to send me a new phone (after being on phone with them for an hour and several instances of being put on hold). I read all these reviews before purchasing, and saw there were more favorable than unfavorable...and now here I am..waiting for another phone...they said 3-5 days...hope it doesn't just turn into another nightmare. Didn't try to use my old number either...

@humnbird - Call the TracFone corporate office at 800-876-5753

@T. Lane - We complain and warn so that people understand that the whole thing is not quite as rosy as it may seem. TracFone has not really made strides to improve customer service since they first started Straight Talk in June. And, you get a call center in Cebu, Phillipines - perhaps you want to check your facts before posting them.

Bought the Samsung last night..activated..when trying to make calls, get three "beeps" then it hangs up...tried calling it...same thing. called CS and with them got a call to go out. now getting the beeps again...any suggestions?

TO LET YOU PEOPLE KNOW: STRAIGHT TALK IS NOT ALL BAD. TRACFONE NET10 AND STRAIGHT TALK ARE THE SAME COMPANY JUST DIFFERENT ENTITIES.IF YOUR 451C IS NOT CONNECTING TO THE BROWSER AND YOU HAVE TRIED WITH NOT SUCCESS STRAIGHT TALK WILL SEND YOU ANOTHER HANDSET AND IT WILL GET TAKEN CARE OF. STRAIGHT TALK IS A NEW ENTITY WICH STILL NEEDS TO WORK OUT A FEW ISSUES AS FAR AS CUSTOMER SERVICE. WHEN YOU CALL THEM YOU GET THE COMPANY WICH IS NOT LOCATED IN FLORIDA BUT AT THE CALL CENTER IN QUATEMALA, OR THE PHILIPINES. WHEN YOU HAVE A PROBLEM YOU HAVE TO KEEP ON THEIR ASS ABOUT IT. OVER ALL THEY HAVE A GOOD THING GOING. DONT BLAME VERIZON ITS JUST BUSINESS AND BE THANKFUL FOR THE SERVICE.

Just bought the Motorola Razor last night; trying to port # from Tracfone, so it SHOULD be fairly simple. I skipped the hassle (I think!) and went directly to the 800 # posted on this site (800-876-5753). The lady there was EXTREMELY helpful and friendly! I don't expect any problems, based on that phone call. Put 4 stars b/c I'm not positive yet...will try to come back and let y'all know!

I have had the sevice since its inception many months ago. NOT ONE PROBLEM NOT ONE DROPPED CALL FROM MY END. This is bar none the best plan i have ever had period!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No problem so far. Everything works flawlessly with service and the Samsung phone. Price is great, son and daughter are switching to ST as well. Originally bought LG290 phone but wanted to upgrade to Samsung 451. Upgrade went seemless, all completed in 5 min. Daughter inherited LG290 and will reactivate when her current service ends later this month. For our family this has been a wonderful cell phone "pay-as-you-go" service. We've set up automatic monthly payments, kids will probably do monthly activation cards. If you want a cell phone service without a contract that is incredibly reasonable for what you get, ST works well.

For those of you out there, who have a Simple Freedom phone (bought out by Alltel, then Verizon) and don't know your pin # you can call Verizon CS & ask them for it. I was having a problem at first trying to port my number.I've had Simple Freedom for at least 5 years or more, I didn't know my pin # & got a text msg from Verizon re: to porting my number,I went to the local Verizon store & the sales girl was rude, said it certain terms there was "NO_WAY" that they will port over my number. I called ST this morning with the pin # & within a couple of hours my new phone is working. Also I live out in a rural area with lots of dead zones and now I get one to two bars in the house. So far I'm thrilled with my Samsung R451C and service.

@Jennifer - I travel a lot and yes, coverage is good. I've used it in Las Vegas, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Tombstone (AZ), and up and down the California coast. Just don't port a number to Straight Talk. Highly recommend letting them assign you one.

@Ray - Yeah, all they do is parrot back to you what you told them in the first place. All they do is apologize and make excuses. I think Walmart my need to step in and "encourage" TracFone to improve its customer service.

Good competitive rates. Extremely poor customer service. I was frustrated and infuriated by ignorant customer service.

COuld not activate Was told to wait 48 hours while they escalate. Also told me no supervisors are on duty

What?

I just wrote a really long text and it wouldn't let me go over the 160 characters. My old phone would automatically send my message as two texts. Does anyone know if the Samsung can do this? It's annoying to physically write and send two texts. I've looked in the manual but can't find anything to say it will allow more characters to be typed and will send as two texts.

To humnbird.... I bluetoothed with my old phone to get my ringtones. My original ringtones were part of songs that I had downloaded and were mp3 files. I haven't downloaded songs to the Samsung yet, sorry.

Don't have a review but I would like to know if anyone travels with this phone I travel alot and need to know is the reception good?

Considering Im saving $80 a month that in itslef is worth about 3 stars. So far the phone is great and the service has been pretty good. Cant get the internet working but a new phone is in the mail. Didnt have internet before so its really not a big deal.
One thing (not that I care) is that the phone is NOT new. Was playing with the ring tones and there were some songs that they must have forgot to delete off the memory. Camera works fine, no video though. Service is pretty good but long holds. Walmart employees were very helpful as well.

For everyone that gets the web error when trying to surf, the phone isn't broken. Just call the TracFone corporate office and explain the problem. They just need to update the home page on your phone. If you look, the service has very mixed reviews. What really is hurting Straight Talk is its customer service and its representatives that have no training whatsoever. I usually ask what call center I get. If they mention Cebu, Phillipines I say, "Have a nice day." I have found the call centers in South and Central America to be good. The most problematic has been Cebu.

can someone out there with one of the Samsung phones tell me...can you download real music ringtones on them??

Steevee thanks for the post. I too had the same issue. My web was not working, same error you mentioned, they took my info, told me they were sending a new phone. I then lost the ability to make a call and then later to send a text. So I called back, same day calling back, and told them this new issue. This girl sounded like she was at a ball game. There was so much back ground noise ! Anyways, she had me wait a few times and then told me she was going to send me a new phone. I told her No that is OK, they are already sending me one. She then replied that they were missing information to send me the new phone. I had enough ! I left the phone P$*. They were never going to send me a phone. I would have been waiting the 7 days until it did not show up, however what info could they possibly be missing. They have my address, home phone, credit card, name, etc. I told them to just send me the phone I was not giving them my info again. Although I screamed all of the info they would need to send me a new phone. If it is not here in 3 days or they don't fix it on their end, I am cancelling the service and putting a hold on the credit card bill and returning the phone. Steevee, from your review, I suspect I will be returning this. The first thing that set me off with all this, I was keeping my phone number, well, they quickly had my service shut off on the original phone, but then I had to wait a full 24 hours until they activated my new phone. It's still not right ! Really wish Verizon was not associated with this. I like Verizon, but now I'm actually afraid of them as well from all this. I need to separate the two and Verizon should separate as well.

... and that should be 5 stars. First time to rate a product - missed the star rating box. Done.

...Oops - make that "now" saving $600 per year...

I have had the unlimited Straight Talk service and the Samsung R451-c for a week now. No problems period. CS set me up in no time... friendly, knowledgeable... english in my case. Service is super. I do a lot of travel in my business. I was with ATT for 6 years and it was fine - but with ST I am not saving $600 per year and have data and unlimited service (didn't have same there!) If there are no surprises to come, I'm a big fan... would definitely recommend it.

I would so far give this zero stars. I had a trac phone, not a bad service under the same company. Been on the phone 5 times now for straight talk. Issue with my Samsung with the web browser. Then I later went to make a call, said I had inadequate funds, then the text messaging did not work. (First TIME I used the service, how can I have inadequate funds!) The first technical call about the web browser they were going to send me a new phone 3-7 days, took all my info., the second call about the inadequate fund issue, they said they needed my information. I explained I already did this, but they said it was not correct. They already have this information, why do they waste my time. I have spend over 2 hours on the phone trying to get this resolved. I am going to return the whole thing does not resolve in 3 days. I was extremely angry, however their customer care really does not "care" very much. I would not recommend this service. It is too cheap to be real. Wonder what it will sky rocket to after the new year. After they get their Christmas sales.

@Me. I had to look that word up because I didn't know what it was. I am not a shill. If you look back at my posts you'll see I didn't port my number due to other posters complaints about it. A shill would of said "no problem porting my number". I asked questions just like other people. Some of my posts are answers to other people's questions. I did not come on here to argue with people like you. ST is a new service, and just like other people, we all have questions that need answering, so if I can help anyone who's thinking of switching over, because I do have ST service in my hand, than that is what I will do. You and people can think what they want. If the person who owns this website thinks I'm a shill, then ban me from posting. Like I said, I had ATT, I switched, I love ST, and I'm trying to help others. I have no way to prove to you that I am who I am, I'm sorry for that.

Here is a link to the Samsung website to read up on the R451. http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/mobile/mobile-phones/more-carriers/SCH-R451ZKGTRF/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail&tab=features

I went to the support section to find out why I could not synch to pc with the data cable I bought. Here is where I found my answer: http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/mobile/mobile-phones/more-carriers/SCH-R451ZKGTRF/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail&tab=support&subsubtype=tracfone

Now I do not have to take the micro SD card out to add files. By the way, this is is stated on the support page, "This handset does support the use of a microSDHC 16GB capacity memory card." Hope that helps!

I have found that Google Mobile (http://m.google.com)works great with this phone. I set this as my homepage. (Google Mail works really well with this particular phone browser.) I purchased the Samsung R451-C from Wal-Mart this month. I have found that this network (Verizon/Tracfone) works much better were I live than my previous provider. I live in the"boonies" and I am able to receive calls and get online with no problems. I have dropped my other carrier and am staying with Straight Talk.

So far my husband and I love this service as well as our phones! We both bought the Samsung R451C. No problems as of yet. We transfered our numbers from AT&T and now have no contract!!! It took 5 minutes to transfer the first and about 20 for the second. Not much of a delay at all so don't let that keep you from switching. Now my only question is does any one know how to do facebook mobile with these phones? Any suggestions?

Got the Samsung R451-C on Halloween and ported my number from Virgin Mobile. It took about a day for the whole porting process to go through, though it seems there was a hiccup in the system. I don't get text messages from outside the Verizon network unless they send it to xxxyyyzzzz@vtext.com, or reply to a message from me using their similar address. Called CS and they set up an escalated ticket.

Like Nikki, I blame Virgin Mobile for that one. CS is WAY better on Straight Talk than Virgin Mobile (better English ^_^). I work in retail electronics, so I talk to pretty much all cell phone CS for some issue or another. While I wouldn't say ST is the BEST, they're definitely better than most so long as you can calmly and clearly explain your situation. They need details about what's wrong to figure out what to fix. Just like if your computer has an error, you can't just yell "Fix it!" and expect anything to get done.

If you have any problems, any good Walmart associate from the Connections department (not always an electronics associate, but sometimes) should be able to help you out, or at least call on your behalf. They'll need some of your info (phone serial, cell number, pin, etc.), but you can rest assured that they speak English if you have problems understanding CS.

Lastly, I LOVE the coverage area! Verizon is pretty much king where I live, so I get full bars everywhere except in basements and bomb shelters (and at least 2 bars there)!

Everything is working great! I ported my number which took over night to go through, however, once it did, it worked great! I can hear so much clearer on this phone, and pic mails and messaging works great! The only issue I have is the connecting to the interent. Same issue serveral people have had. Anyone have this link they can post that helps you fix this issue? That would be very helpful!!!

I just rang the CS 1 877 number (not the Tracfone number listed below). Got through straight away, and asked for the "pre-announcement" prompt to be removed. He took my serial number, asked me my name and within 30 seconds he said it was successfully removed. He asked if I wanted to check (I rang from my landline). I rang my house from cell and it rang, no voice. I am so happy with this service right now. Don't be afraid to get this phone just because of what people say about CS. I activated mine online, no problems, and I just rang and it was a very pleasant phone call. I often had to wait longer when ringing my last carrier.

humnbird - Page Plus can use ANY verizon phone - what is so difficult to understand. go to target, buy verizon prepaid phone and activate it with Page Plus. by the way, check howardforums.com and you can educate yourself bit more.

so here I have another question. Was checking out the Page Plus reviews (they also use the Verizon Network). They say you can use ANY Verizon phone with their service as long as it has a clean ESN. Sooo...can you use them on Straight Talk, or do you have to purchase one of their phones??

Virgin Mobile had horrible customer service. English is their second language. I have had to file complaints with the BBB to get action taken against them. I wish the CS was better...I would have stayed with them. The reps in customer service keep repeating the same stuff and make no sense. They repeat everything you say to try to figure out what you are saying in English.

Me again! I just sent a picture from ST to ATT and it used up 136kb. (I'm testing all sorts of websites and pics to see how much space is used). I also just went back to ST's website and it does say 1000 text/pic messages plus 30mb, it doesn't say pic message will use data. I'm sure it might in the small print though.

I have Virgin Mobile and I was interested in switching to Straight Talk. I bought an LG 290c. The phone is lovely. I love the candybar style, but this slider is much nicer than the truer candybar style I saw online. Anyhow, I really like the interface. It's nice to look at and very intuitive.

My only issue with Straight Talk was number portability. I tried to activate the phone with my Virgin Mobile number on Tuesday. It was never transferred. So, I called Virgin Mobile today (Thursday) and was first told that their system wasn't working and to wait an hour. I wound up calling back and waiting a total of two hours.

After the second wait, I made a third call. By that time their system was working. The person I spoke with called tech support and then told me it would be a four hour wait until my number was ported. So, I waited four hours and nada. I called the customer service line back and was told that my VM pin number was wrong. I know that's not true because I gave her the exact pin number that they had on file again. Also, I logged into my VM account (just to check) and the number I gave them was correct. Funny enough I am blaming this situation on Virgin Mobile. Their port-in/port-out services are lacking (Trust, I know this through experience and had to contact the BBB). Anyhow, I cancelled the port-in without activating the phone.

IMO the service is fine. CS was fine. Contrary to what a lot of people said, I could understand all of the CS reps perfectly fine. Their speech was perfectly clear, so perhaps a lot of reviewers need to exercise patience, calm their prejudices, and clean their ears.

I really want to keep my number so I'll probably wind up returning the phone. However, I totally recommend using this service if you don't mind activating it with a new number.

My husband ended up taking his phone back to Wal-Mart (he is blind and decided to get a phone that was more accessible.) We ordered the 2nd one from the ST website and had to call today when it arrived to set it up - long story, but someone must have the other phone that he took back and we needed to get assistance with changing service over. There was NO hold time to get a CS rep (Silvette) and she kindly and aptly assisted us and also deactivated the "time remaining" message you hear before you make a call on both of our phones. I can now say that we are completely satisfied with ST after getting better CS with them than we ever had with AT&T. Hubby loves his new phone even more than the previous model and for anyone who is visually impaired, several phones that ST offers have Voice Command software installed and it is terrific! It makes the phone accessible for someone is blind. You can use your voice to make calls, check the phone status, like battery level, signal strength, etc. I feel bad for all of those having issues, because having this service and being able to save so much money is something just about everyone could benefit from.

If anyone is getting Error:Requested content 'tfdevice.home/' when they try to surf the web, the fix is simple and straightforward. Tell the representative that you need the Straight Talk home page sent to your phone. I had this same problem and it was fixed with this request.

Nothing new to say really...just the same stuff thats been said before. The unlimited minutes and texts are great but I've not been able to access the web since i bought it (about 2 1/2 weeks ago) i've called close to 10 times and keep getting the same run-around, was told once that they'd be sending me a new phone and took my address and some other info, but called back 3 days later just to check if it'd been sent and they told me they had no record that it was supposed to be sent. I asked for a supervisor and while she seemed to be more helpful, i waited the 24-48 hours (again) for her to escalate my ticket and get it fixed, when i called back its like I'd never called... they took the same info ran my thru turning off the phone and resetting the memory and still nothing (same result as the other times obviously) they finally told me (again) that they'd send me a new phone...but something just didn't sit right with me so i call the corporate office with the number someone shared in one of the above posts and the lady was very nice (and i could understand her perfectly!!!) she took my callback number and said she didn't know how long but that she'd call me back today sometime to let me know that the problem is resolved. Hoping that it starts working soon *crosses fingers*
ps: the error message i am getting is "Error:Requested content 'tfdevice.home/' cannot be accessed. You do not have access to the site" get the same msg for every site i try to go to...anyone else getting this msg when trying to connect to the browser?

I have sent pics from my ST to my ATT, and to my friends with ATT and Verizon, and I think one friend on Sprint. They all received them. The picture looked clear, it was just a close up of my daughters (heads and shoulders). I'm sure there are better camera phones out there, but it certainly did the job. I sent pictures within the same state of SC only.

Ok...so I'm thinking about getting one of these phones. Im looking into the Samsung slider. Any users out there from Maryland or Indiana? Wondering about the reception. I'm in Maryland visiting my daughter, but live in Indiana. CAN you get/send pictures???? I have seen more good reviews on here than bad, and as a past customer service rep for a major electronics brand, I do know that there are FAR more people without problems with their equipment than those with. Have read reviews on several different prepay services, and this one by far has more favorable reviews. please let me know about getting/sending pics, though, as I'm here seeing my granddaughter, and sending pics home is a MUST..lol.

Maybe the complaints on this board represent a small portion of people in comparison to the people that have had good experiences. I think that many users including myself have had wonderful experiences. I switched from Boost Mobile (now that is worst phone I've ever experienced) to Straight Talk. I have the Samsung and have loved it so far. I ported my phone online (9:55 A.M.) I called to check status of port request (about 3:00 P.M.). CS rep told me they I provided the wrong Boost mobile account number . I called Boost to confirm number (which was correct) and called ST right back. CS rep at ST put me on hold while he inputed info. within 1 hour my Boost went out. I picked up my ST phone, followed instructs and my phone was working within 5 min. Mobile web is very nice and I got Full bars everywhere. I don't know why so many people complain abot CS. If everything is setup well, maybe you will never have to use them. I didn't buy the phone to talk to CS anyway. quit complaining and just follow instructions. be patient becuase they are new. Folks, ST is wonderful to me.

OK, just found out something new. I've had the phone five days now, still very happy but..... on my old ATT phone I used text/pic/voice message a lot. The Samsung has menu's for text/pic message, but if you scroll down in the pic one, you can record your voice. I was happy about this until I saw that any pic/voice message you receive (and send) will eat into your data time. This did not happen with ATT. I have $30 plan for this first month, have accessed gmail maybe 2 or 3 times and replied to one email and have received four voice messages and I've used 1826kb. I know that's not much for four days, but majority of that was from the voice message so if you're a fan of that, just know that maybe the unlimited data is the way to go.

I don't think this phone has IM, don't know if yahoo mail is working but gmail is. I did activate FB mobile web to update my status, but turned off texts, so don't know if all of FB works but I can change status through cell phone.

I am thinking of going with Straight Talk...I don't have a review, just a few questions for those who have the unlimited service and the Samsung slider phone-- does that particular phone have Instant Messenger capabilities (AIM, Yahoo), and is Yahoo mail still not working on the web browser? Last question-- does anyone have Facebook on this phone, and if so, does it work? Thanks for all your input everyone :)

yeah don't do it people, bought my phone on halloween and four days later have not been able to activate it. spent at least 5 hours on customer service and have been to wallmart twice. Their c.s. is crap, they keep saying 2-4 hours or 24 hours and if you heard their english you would realize they are both reading the same thing they just can't differenciate between them. I ported my number that ive had for 8 years now I have neither a number or phone. They keep giving me these #'s after spending an hour on the phone with them, now i have five refference #'s. To me straight talk is the dark side of cellular phone networks! -5 STARS-------

Just a hint. If you quit Straight Talk, the Razr v3a, Motorola W385, Lg 200c and Samsung R451 can all be moved to Page Plus Cellular with at least talk/text working with minor effort. Web takes some work. Don't know about the Lg 100, 220, 290 yet.

My wife and i got the lg220c and we love our phones we have had them 2 days and things are good just wished i had pay att. to the phone not being able to get pics or ringtone o well my bad

I got my phone yesterday. Activation took 5 minutes, and the service is working great.

I came over from Net10. I had an issue wih the Web, but they sent me a new phone and all works fine. I'm told that CS can stop the "time remaining", if you ask. I did ask (during a call for another reason), but I still get the message. I'm hoping that I'll be able to switch it directly when they get their Web site fully up.

1-800-876-5753 is in fact the magic number. Finally everything is working perfectly and I am satisfied. No one should have to go through all of that to get a phone fully working so I am only giving a final rating of 4 stars.

I have previously mentioned that I love this service so far. I'm new to having data so wanted to know if anyone had found a way to write an email to someone BEFORE opening up the browser? Again, if anyone finds out how to turn off the "16 hours left for this call" message, please post it. I'm on day three of this plan and I still love it.

Looks like that 800 number for TracFone Corporate office is the magic number. Fixed a texting issue immediately instead of confirming and apologizing constantly. Found out that Straight Talk's contract call center is in Cebu, Phillipines. They need to train them much better

I'm very happy thus far with the service. We have two of the Samsung R451C's and the voice and texting work flawlessly. Also, we get a stronger signal strength than with any other cellular service in our area. The only drawbacks have been the inability to get to Yahoo Mail and the auto disconnect from tech support when you try to call. However, the 1-800-876-5753 number someone else provided does work and after a three minute wait, I was able to speak to someone who confirmed they are working on the Yahoo Mail issue but no time table for a solution was given. Prior to my call, I was able to get into my mailbox once so I'd guess they are making some sort of progress. Overall, I'd say it's a very good deal.

I have had my phone (Samsung)for 10 days now, not really much of a problem, was able to get myspace and now cant , something about java script. Today my phone kept shutting off and the battery is almost full, so looks like I might have to take it back and get a new one. The web site never works for me when I get on, I have only had to call CS once and that was to activate my phone took me a few tries and a little while on hold then I actually got an english speaking person who was very friendly and helpful, didn't port my number no problems with the activation and they browser worked right away and perfectly... as long as my next phone is ok I am extremely happy greatest plan ever

works good activation was slow took 4 hours but works only problem was voicemail had yo reset password then it worked i travel all over country with this and it works great.

I should have mentioned in the previous review that I did not port a number. I know this has been a major issue for some people.

Just my 2 cents worth. I orderd the Samsung R451C and the "all you need" plan from the Straighttalk website. I was charged $130.00. I had the phone and the minute card in about. The minute card I got was the $45.00 unlimited card. That's ok, I only paid for the $30.00 card. I went to the Straighttalk website for activation. The first couple of times I tried it, it didn't work. The site looked text based, (no java)?. It also said my serial number was invalid. I then closed and re-opened my IE browser and tried it again. This time the page looked right and the activation took about ten minutes. About ten minutes later my web access was working. All in all, not a terrible experience. The phone seems very nice so far and the service has worked flawlessly for the 24 hours that I have had it set up. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because the activation was a bit of a pain and I don't know how the phone and the service will work over the long term. So far, so good.

Despite reading so many negative reviews from other customers I decided to try the service out anyways. Prior to purchasing this phone (LG290CM) and plan ($30/month) I was using T-Mobile's prepaid sidekick service. I was paying $1 per day for unlimited internet and text messaging plus an additional $0.15 per minute of talk time. Total came out to $70+ some months with like 100 minutes. I registered the phone online and ported my number over. I had no issues and the port finalized in about 5 hours. The site gave clear instructions on how to activate the phone and I followed them exactly with no issues. Turned on the phone, great service. Talk is clear, texts are fast, and internet speed although top notch is tolerable. Obviously this service isn't right for the person who cannot live without mobile internet but come on what do you expect. The time remaining is rather annoying, but oh well, it beats paying twice as much per month for the same service. With t-mobile I had one bar in my house, calls dropped, internet never worked and now, perfect, I can talk, text, browse with no problems. Next month I will reup with the $45 plan simply because I don't have any issues at all. I highly recommend this service to people who genuinely need affordable wireless without a contract not for people with high expectations that no carrier could meet. To those reading these reviews and being scared away, if you follow the instructions given and give the service the benefit of the doubt you will find that this is no worse than issues with any other carrier. Example: T-Mobile just recently had a global outage of their data services that last a week and a half. It took 4 or 5 days of 2+ hour hold times before they finally put a recorded message telling customers of the issue with the explanation we are working on it and no definitive resolution date. Additionally, Verizon over charges for their service, AT&T is a joke, and well the list could go on and on. (I would have given 5 stars but the time remaining message is annoying.)

Happy as a clam. Ported mine and my wifes #'s over. Did it online and it took about 24 hrs. Spoke with IT when I was checking on my #. Could not have asked for a more professional CS rep. My only complaint is same as others, hate the time remaining message prior to call going through. Outside of that this has been great.

Pure crap. Do not buy this thing. While there have been some good reports on it I'm seeing more bad and I personally had a bad experience with the whole thing. I'm normally not the type to rant and rave about how horrible something is but this product has ticked me off so bad I'm going to scream it from the rafters. Customer Service is essential regardless of crappy product. I wouldn't have gotten nearly so angered had it not been for the horrible service.

I made a mistake as far as the date,
it was 10/23/2009, since that date they have been feeding me BS, about 2 to 4 hours and that they will call back and never did, I cant not rate the actual phone service but the Customer service is Garbage

No stars, I have been trying to port my number from Verizon since las month, first time I called they guaranteed me and promised me they were going to be able to do it, tahat was Oct 29, 2009 today Im still waiting for them to complete the process, I gave them all my info from my verizon account, based on that they told me 2 to 4 hours for my phone to be active, Verizon released my number to them the same day and today almost 2 weeks later nothing, the whole bunch of dummies have a script set up, everytime I call the say the same stupid stuff, something about calling anither department and the inepts at the other department say I need to wait 2 to 4 more hours, its been to week and these bunch of morons do not do anything to get my line active again.

How do you turn off the voice prompt that tell you how many minutes left?
phone service works great and is best price around.

I bought a Samsung yesterday with ST. It looks better in person than on the screen although it's a bit "shiny". Didn't port my number due to reviews that it didn't always work. Got a really nice number now. Phone/text/data worked immediately. Would not allow me to check email through charter.net who I use, but in charter's website I can forward all emails to gmail, so I go to gmail on the phone. Worked perfectly. Haven't used data for anything else, don't really plan to, so $30 is perfect, can check email when I'm out of house for a few hours. Only annoying thing is the "time left for this call is 16 hours...." at the beginning of each call made..... anyone know how to turn that off? I do not work for any company, I'm a stay at home Mom, this plan/phone is perfect.

this is a scam. i had it for 13 days and it stopped working and it says the serial number is invalid so i cant even get help. and the customer service people are never available. do not buy it. its great for like 2 weeks then the screw you over

Went to a Samsung 451 and I come from T-Mobile Sidekick. No, it's not T-Mobile or sidekick. But at least they haven't lost my data and then kicked me in the teeth like T-Mobile did. I did not do port and was up and ready in 5 minutes. However, now that I do want to port I cannot get a hold of customer service. Oh well, but hey for $45/month unlimited everything, I guess you gotta sacrifice on customer care. Like it matters anyways, every time I called T-Mobile the CS rep never was able to get me what I needed anyhow. So, I call it a good trade off. Who cares if India is my CS rep, as long as they can help me I don't care for only $5/month.

Brought the samsung r451c phone last week. Haven't had any problems except I can't access my twitter or yahoo email. I keep getting the http error:502 Bad Gateway :( That's the main reason why I brought the one with the qwerty keypad. Hope they will fix this problem soon

I purchase straight talk over the weekend and had no problems so far I really like my phone and service

I have had this phone for less than a day and I am already regretting it. I cant get through to customer service ...i did get through to one number wich they said they would transfer me to another person to help me activate my phone...but they hung up on me...anyone else having this problem??

Great for voice and text but can't get internet. The LG220C was defective (junk?) so I returned it and upgraded to a Motorla W385 as using their customer service was too frustrating . I wish that I could review call records (call logs) from my computer .

Yahoo sent a link to my cell to access mail. It did not work at first, but somehow I managed to read yahoo mail using the link.

BEEN DISCONNECTED ALREADY and have not had the phone service for 3 days. Customer Service issued a phone number that is not a valid number for their company. Shut my service off within 12 hrs and didn't even notify me. Also, I can not access the web. I guess my 30 days maybe cut short with this so called good service.

I am happy with the phone itself and the $30 plan. However, I ordered 2 ringtones, 1 for my phone and one for my grandsons' phone. I was charged 2x for the ringtone on my phone. I was charged for the ringtone on my grandsons' phone but it never downloaded to his phone. I spoke with a rep for the company and was told the fees were reversed, that my bank just did not credit my account. My account has never been credited, my grandson has never received his ringtone. So I would recomend the phone, but not the extras they offer.

5 stars for what it is. All I have are high end phones so it's difficult but so is a couple hun a month. There have been glitches, this is a brand new phone. Went to a call center, advice, if you can't understand him/her keep calling until you find someone that speaks English. Any problems take phone and card back to Walmart for a trade. One of ours couldn't get the internet. I just took it back and got the last slider. If it doesn't work straight away, take it back. Remember the C at the end is for Verizon, the G at the end is T-Mobile or ATT.

In my honest opinion, this crap doesn't even deserve one star. I have had it. If I ever even DO get ahold of a CS Rep., I just want to slap him/her in the face. I hate this company. I hate this phone. It needs to be run over by an eighteen-wheeler a million times, shot in the face, and thrown in the middle of the ocean. UGH.

I bought the R451C the day they came out and called customer service to get it started and after giving them tons of personal info to get started they found my phone's serial number had not been put in to their system so it was going to take 1-2 days to get that problem solved. I waited but decided to call on day two to see what was up. I found if you don't get a good customer service rep off the bat hang up and call back you will get someone else who is hopefully better. I did finally get a rep named Hilary who wouldn't let me off until she figured out my problem...that was comforting and at the end of our 45 minute call my phone was working. As well Teresita at the home office was also working on my serial number problem and she initially helped get the serial number registered and let me know a few other phones were coming up with the same problem. The number to the home office is 1-800-876-5753 use it if your still having major problems.
Since then, my phone has been working flawlessly. I get great service, all my texts, pics and internet access. I too have not been able to get on yahoo email but overall this is a small hick-up for me. I am confident with all the complaints they will get this working soon. Oh one more FYI if you pay with a credit card you will have to pay for the local phone taxes 2-3 bucks extra, so buy the refill cards from Wal-mart to avoid this.
All in all this has been a great purchase for me!! The savings is so worth the pain. Like with all things new you will find some things wrong but I do belive they will iron them all out. There is NO other service out there that gives this value NONE, so for now I'm a loyal customer...to everyone having problems just be persistent and hang in there it's worth it.

I dont know how to access my straight talk email address. When I try to get yahoo mail i get HTTP Error:502 Bad Gateway. thats the only thing wrong with things so far only had it for a few days though.

So far everything is working great !!I think i will like ST its a good buy !

After I finally got customer service to enter my pin and my phone serial number they gave me a number to activate it. If you are waiting on activation you might try *22890.

went with the 451c. New ph nbr so no port issues. Voice setup took 5 minutes.
Web didn't work first day but next day started working just fine.
Voice works well even with 1 bar.
Internet it to slow to really do much more then check weather. Real web browsing is to slow and screen too small to really work.
Yahoo mail does not work, gmail does.

Now I could could just get the 451c to auto check email account every 1/2 hr I could actually like this phone.

I was scared by the reviews and just signed up a new number with my samsung 451C. Didn't even try porting.

Everything worked right away within minutes. I haven't had any problems and the coverage is outstanding. So maybe that is the trick. Don't port if you can and just get a new number.

I'm sure the customer service sucks but I haven't had a need to use it.

I don't know what people are expecting. You don't get pricing like this without a trade-off. But then again I've had lousy customer service with AT&T and Sprint for plans that cost twice as much. So far I've been impressed with the value of straight talk.

After 6 days not real impressed.
I bought a 30 day card with my phone (Moto V3a)the activation went smoothly.
6 days later I find out I'm unable to receive pictures in an MMS message. I called ST "customer service" waste of time. The guy did something, he said, and told me to ask someone to send me a pic. I asked a friend to send an MMS didn't receive the pic. Tried to make a phone call later in the evening and I get a message saying I have no money in my account. Called ST "customer service" held for 20 min. finally spoke to a person and 40 min. later after he spoke to his supv. 3 times, had me turn the phone of and on 5 or 6 times, remove the battery once and dial an over the air programing number. He tells me he is going to "escalate" my problem and maybe in 24 to 48 hours I get to call back and see if they have done anything or can do anything.
I'm not even going to go into the setting up recurring payment debacle.

Someone made a comment about ST folks posting on here. LOL, I was wondering if any of the negative posts were added by competitors. ;) My hubby got his phone a couple days ago and loves it as as much as I do mine. (See my previous review below.) We are both very pleased with the phones and service, not to mention all the $$$ we will be saving now since we switched from AT&T.

I purchased 2 LG220s for my children; set them up online no problem. They both worked fine...the 1st day.
Day 2...one of them wouldn't receive text messages. After only (I know this is hard to believe) a 10 minute wait got a Customer Service rep, reset the phone; no problems...thanks.
Day 3...the other phone no longer receives text messages; can send them, make and receive phone calls, but gets no text messages, not even from a phone on the same network. Customer Service? Yeah right, been trying all day, keep getting the "No reps available, please try back later." The unlimited plan seemed so much like a winner because of their usage, but...I might as well just get a family plan and pay the higher price for an unlimited everything plan so that I can actually get in touch with customer service. My frustration level will hit peak in 2 days and then I cancel the service! I too can't believe that Wal-Mart and Verizon would be affiliated with a company that can't get their ***t together.

Negative reviews made me wary, but I took the plunge anyway... glad I did.
Got the R451C + $30 card from wally world.
Online activation (new #) was quick and painless, up and running 5 minutes l8r!
Nice phone, let's you record your own alert sounds. Sweet!
Web works well, with expected limitations; sticking with text-heavy sites. Sorry others are having issues. central NC's ok. issues: clock ticks even if you don't connect. verbal "time left" b4 calls gets annoying.
H A P P Y H A L L O W E E N

For someone like me who doesn't need or care about all the bells and whistles that phones have nowadays, this plan is amazing. It's cheap, it's easy to use, and you don't have to enter into a contract. Awesome.

I bought the Samsung R451 c thinking I could check email and browse the web (limited). As with others here, I cannot access Yahoo email. I get an error message HTTP Error:502 Bad Gateway. As I understand this error it is a problem with the Straight Takk network. I called CS twice (was disconnected the first time). The second time they took a lot of information from me and said they are aware of the problem and are working on a fix. Can you believe them??? I really would like to access Yahoo mail! Anyone else have any luck getting this issue corrected??? Other than the web browser issue, the ohone seems ok. I am coming from a Verizon contract phone.

This company has horrible customer service,I have never been thru anything like this before and I have a Dell computer I cant believe Walmart and Verizon have there names tied with these people.

It's seems obvious which of these reviews are written by the Straight Talk people and which are real reviews...LOL...some of them seem way too much like advertisements and so artificial. Kinda funny...

Tried to renew my phones online and don't know if the pymt went through or not. Last month I got double charged on my credit card. Tried to call cust. svc. first time earlier today and was told by recording to call back later. Tried to later (11pm) and was told by recording that they are CLOSED FOR THE DAY. Absolutely the worst service I've ever encountered. PS - If you haven't used the service for a least a month you probably shouldn't be reviewing just yet, right? I'm just sayin......

Ill give it 5 stars but im told that if you lapse with the plan at all you;l lose your number

been 2 days with the service and no problems so far, i surf the web most of the day, teh only problem i just get 1 bar here inside my own home but it works, great service for now. plus i love my samsung keyboard phone

One week still no web access on the Samsung R451C. Everyday I'm told 24 hours for it to be fixed. My blood is starting to boil now.

Their customer service issues are going to kill them. I'm looking for other options for next month. There's no way I'm going to renew this.

To the person that had problems signing up for alerts, I just say "Verizon". I have not had any problems with this and I get my text alerts from Facebook and the bank.

Purchased the StraightTalk LG220C about 10 days ago. Haven't had any problem with dropped calls. Was able to browse Web until several days ago, since then have not been able to access Yahoo website...keeps giving "error message 502: Bad Gateway." Was working fine until about 3 days ago, am able to access all websites except Yahoo. Have tried calling customer service several times, but no one seems to know what the problem is. Also have had a problem registering the phone online to receive alerts because StraightTalk is not a recognized service provider, and the phone model that I purchased (LG220C) is not listed at all. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I bought the Motorola W385. It took 6 phone calls,5 days,a number of choice words and tons of frustration to get it activated. Each call the rep told me something different. Finally it is working. So far it is working great. I just hope it lasts. If you can get thru the untrained reps it is a really good deal.

I bought the Samsung R451C yesterday. Setup and activation was simple; less than 5 minutes. Talk & text are fine. But if you are buying this for the browsing capability, don't be mislead. Straight Talk does NOT use the current Verizon network. It uses a Verizon network introduced in 2001. Thus, compared to today's standards it is extremely slow. Also, their customer service is rated the worst in the industry. So don't expect much help there, or plan on spending alot of time on "hold."

I bought My straight talk phone 2 days ago The only problem i have is my phone (LG220c) Does not support Picture messages Or Ringtones.

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 (Boost Mobile). 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 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.

The StraightTalk people should have gotten their act together before they started actually selling the service. They are really NOT PREPARED for the technical difficulties that I personally have had and also most of the reviewers on this page. It's really a shame because the phone and coverage itself is great, but the tech problems and customer service issues are going to sink this boat. I'll give them another month or so, but if they still can't get it together, I'll be checking out the competition.

I received my LG-290c package two hours ago and [using the online form] requested my number ported from AT&T wireless. 37 minutes later, my AT&T phone stopped working, and my new phone is working fine. I can send and receive calls and browse the web. So, take heart, the number porting doesn't always go badly. I suppose the trick is not having to use the dreaded Customer Service. Hopefully, I never will.

WE'RE SORRY AT THIS TIME THERE ARE NO CUSTOMER SERVICE REPS TO TAKE YOUR CALL PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER THEN IT DISCONNECTS YOU. GREAT SERVICE THERE. I'M CANCELLING THIS CRAP.

Day 6, no web service.

Just got my Samsung R-451C got my service activated in less than 5 minutes I live in the country and still get 5 bars in my house much better than AT&T tha i had

Hello Tracfone Customer,

My name is Elston and I am here to assist anyone that is having any issue with Net10, Tracfone, Safelink or Straighttalk you can contact me by email at elombillo@tracfone.com

don't buy this service!!! have spent over 4 hrs with their cust. service dept. trying to get web access and the only respose i get is that it needs to be escalated. each supervisor promises to resolve and call me back and yet, they don't. wht good is cheap service if you're not able to useit. i'm going back to verizon.

WAY too many hours on phone with tech support that have such thick accents and are so robotic I can barely understand them.
My web browser has never worked, the phone itself I like, and I can make and recieve calls and text.
I bought my mom a phone at the same time and she doesn't even get all her calls.
IF the service was what they claim it to be this would be the most awesome service out there!

My browser doesn't work after 2 phone calls and being on hold forever. I bought the new Samsung model last week. What's the point of paying for web browsing if it doesn't work? I range from no service to 1 bar at home. I get 5 bars with Net 10 at home. I'm not all that impressed with the service but for the price I'll keep it until something better comes along.

I bought a new ringtone like 2 hours ago. Apparently I was supposed to get a text right away then open my web browser to download it... but no text. I called the company to get help and the man was polite. He told me to just try shutting it off then turning it back on. I did, still no text. Don't get me wrong, its a good phone, but i would like to know where my money went...

I purchased a Straight Talk phone 3 days ago and still cannot get it activated. At first I wanted to port my number from a Verizon prepaid phone. I was told I couldn't because I had to have an account number. I have made 3 calls to customer service and stayed on the line with them for 30 minutes each time. I was told I would have a new number with activation tomorrow and to call them back a 4th time. If I don't get it resolved by then the phone is going back. It's funny you have to push 1 for English but no one that you talk to speaks English. I am really frustrated with this company!

I purchased a moto v385, activated today in just 5 minutes online. I did not port my number, so I got a new one. Great signal what it matters for me. I tried all providers and always I had dropped calls o no signal. Verizon-straight talk was the only one left to try, so far so good.

They are 100% INCOMPETENT at porting!

I made DOZENS of support calls, over a week. Case# 101 479 47 67
Still NO Web Browser; today they managed to completely deactivate the voice too! (working with "corporate" 800-876-5753; anyone know ANY TracPhone Director/VP's direct ph#s???)

They are RUINING WalMart reputation! I hope WalMart DUMPS them, QUICK!

I just purchased a motorola razor straight talk phone from walmart last weekend. I had read some of the reviews indicating problems with porting old numbers so I just went with a new number. Love the phone and service so far. I did purchase a ring tone from their website and so far I have not recieved it in last 24 hrs. Customer service is trying to help, hopefully they will get this issue handled. Other than that, I give straight talk an A- so far. Anyone have any issues downloading ring tones??

I have the Samsung R451C and it does keep track of call history, including numbers called and call duration and also keeps track of data used. It seems like right now this phone is out of stock on the Straight Talk website and also at the Wal-Mart site. I have had absolutely no issues at all with the phone, activation, or browsing. I did not want to wait to change from AT&T, because I am saving a bundle by switching now.

Sounds alot cheaper than any other service... I think I will give them some time to get some more bugs worked out before I get my phones, but I will be keeping an eye out as I do want to switch from Verizon... So how does the usage history work? Can you see numbers called and call duration and all that jazz? As well as texting?

I am now on my fourth month and the service is incredible. It really takes the stigma out of using a pre-paid service. I love not paying over a hundred dollars a month. It would get a fifth star if customer service is not so bloody poor. But, in order for TracFone to make money, something must be skimped on and it is perfectly reasonable to skimp on customer service versus network coverage or quality. For the quality of the service, I'll willingly look the other way on customer service so long as I am not ripped off.

I PURCHASED STRAIGHT TALK AFTER GOING TO WALMART AND SEEING IT ADVERTISED IN THE ELECTRONICS DEPARTMENT.MY SERVICE HAS BEEN GREAT NO DROPPED CALLS MY BROWSER HAS NOT FAILED ME YET. THE ONLY PROBLEM I HAD WAS SWITCHING MY NUMBER BUT IT WASNT AS LONG AS A DELAY AS I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE.ALL IN ALL I AM SATISFIED WITH MY SERVICE SO FAR

GREAT SIMPLE PHONES!! great plans great everything jus wish they had the En V =)

We tried Straight Talk this weekend, since a bit of investigation showed that this pre-paid plan seems a far better value than most other pre-paid options, and even a better value than what I could get with a contract. I've got the Samsung phone with Qwerty keyboard, and the unlimited plan.

We've run into a few problems. We had to call Customer Service to initially get the phone activated, but they were very helpful and pleasant to work with. A few hours later we had to call again, because my number was disconnected. Again, customer service was efficient and capable,.. our only complaint was that the person didn't explain things very well. This is bound to happen when talking to someone over the phone.

Straight Talk is a relatively new service, and I'm glad to try them out, and I'm willing to give them some wiggle room to figure out the kinks. So far, yes, there's been some bugs, but they're happy to work with us. I'm excited and hope to keep this service for the foreseeable future.

After learning that Straight Talk had an unlimited plan and phone with a slide-out qwerty keyboard (Samsung R451C)I went to my Wal-Mart yesterday and bought the phone and the $45 card. I decided not to port my number, so it took me less than 5 minutes to activate and get my new number. I LOVE the phone and the slide out keyboard! The phone is very user friendly and in a short time, I added pictures and music from my pc onto a micro sd card to personalize my phone and use the mp3 player(which is great!) The unlimited service would have cost me twice as much from AT&T. Also, I live in a VERY rural area and had full service at my home and have been told that coverage is awesome since they use Verizon's towers. I have had cell service with quite a few companies and never had a plan or phone that I was this satisfied with.

Great service plans. Next time you have any issues with customer service simply ask for the executive esacaltion resultion department. They habdle all escalated issues and took care of my immediately!

Best cell phone plan out there because it uses Verizon infrastructure, recognized as best in country and teams with a steady hand like Walmart. The plan was being tested in a few markets to work out the bugs but rolled out nationally October 19th, 2009, so any complaints prior to that may be moot.
The walmart I visited had only 3 models but online there are many more (don't count on the WM clerks tobe knowledgeable like cell phone salesmen).

Boost and Metro suck bigtime compared to this plan. My metro made me choose coverage in S. Cal or N. Cal?? Not both. And, both had sketchy coverage.
Free 411's compared to everyone else's 1.50 charges.
Taxes and fees were less than 1.00 a month tack on! Yay!
The plans are the simplest in the market. No activataion fees, surprises, contracts.
This will change all the future wireless offerings and purchasing expensive blocks of minutes with contracts will soon be thing of past.

How does this phone compare to metro PCS? Metro does international calls, but I heard it doesn't cover as much area as some cell phones. It sounds like straight talk might be a great investment.

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."

I left straight talk after trying to get my 9 yr. old phone number ported to them from Verizon. I was continually told call back in 4 hrs.. AFTER 25 Plus phone calls over the span of over a week I gave up luckily Verizon was able to yank my ## back from their system. The actual phone service is great , Phone selection is meager BUT CUSTOMER SERVICE IS HORRENDIOUS !!!!!

You constantly get the run around and it is like a monkey humpin a football. If customer care is important if you need help on phone warranty or account info let me suggest you RUN RUN AWAY from straight talk wireless ..

Hopefully they will resolve the cs issues or I cannot see them staying in business for long even if they do offer a cheap unlimited plan...

The actual phone service is great. The Customer Service is HORRIBLE. Unlike everyone else it only took a week to get my phone number ported in. Which isn’t great but at least I didn’t have to wait 30 days.

My phone started acting up after a week and a half. So, I called and since my phone is still under warranty they said they would send me a new phone.

3 days later I received a Tracfone (which isn‘t compatible with Straight Talk) I called again to tell them they sent the wrong phone, they apologized and said they would send me another phone but I had to wait 3 days for it.

3 days later still no phone, so I called to find out where the phone was and they told me there was a glitch in there system and that my phone never shipped! I was irate. I asked to speak with a supervisor (who was hard to understand) and he promised me that I would receive a phone in 3 day.

3 days later I finally receive my phone and it was refurbished!

It took a total of 2 weeks for me to get a replacement phone. If you can make it past their horrific customer service your home free.

Here's my list of suggestions for straight talk: Make 4 card levels.. $45 unlimited voice+text+data, $30 1000/1000/30meg (30days), $35 1000/1000/30meg (60days), $40 1500/1500/90meg (90days). Also, more and cheaper phone selction. Some of us just can't afford the $45 a month for unlimited, but would like Verizon instead of AT&T on Tracfone/ST service.

I've had the straighttalk service for about two months and I haven't had any problem with it. I bought the unlimited minutes and text for $45 since I do tend to do both a lot. I haven't had any dropped calls even when a plane flew overhead. My last plan, AT&T, had tons of dropped calls! Also, since I don't go for all the bells and whistles and all the fancy stuff, I just had the cheap-looking LG 200CM. The screen is small but I don't care. My cell bill has gone way down. My last bill came to $235! Man, I didn't know I was such a big mouth. So I'm happy with the Straighttalk. If you want all that fancy stuff, this isn't for you. It's for cheap asses like me. Also, I read previously about people having trouble porting their numbers. I avoided that and just told my friends, family, and work my new number. I didn't want the hassle of waiting a week. Who needs that crap? Just tell everyone your new number. It's not that hard. So unless Straighttalk changes, I'll be with the service for a long time.

Love the service and the phone. I bought the Samsung R451C phone from Wal-Mart and activated online. I ported my number over from Sprint and it took only 15 minutes to port the number. After 15 minutes, the new phone from Straight talk was ringing and the Sprint phone did not work. After few days, I so far had no issues. The plan I picked is the unlimited $45 and with tax it was $49. Good Choice.

Tired of paying Sprint excess $$$, I tried Straight Talk. Wow! What an experience. The support agent was very supportive. He told me that they could port any number, from any service. I almost went for it. Then I found this webpage! Ootchy-ouch! Not willing to take a chance. WalMart-living up to its reputation--giving you the least; for the least! (Often). Oh well...you get what you pay for:) And I ain't payin' for this crap!

Had the service for 4 months now. No dropped calls but I got 2 new phone numbers so I can't comment on the number portability fiasco. Customer service is really lacking. Double charged me and then wanted me to wait 7-10 bus. days to get refund. What?!? Demanded that they take the refund money and apply it to other line. Took them awhile to do it but they did. Really need to add phones and availability in Walmart stores.

We have two of these phones. The first (new number) went fine and coverage seems pretty good. The second (number ported over) has been a disaster. Customer Service is very lame. I was told everything was in order and the phone would be activated within 24 hours. It wasn't. I called back and was told one more hour and asked to call back. I called back and found nothing had happened and it would be another 24 hours. Still nothing. These guys seem totally clueless...like working with the Department of Motor Vehicles, with sincere apologies to the DMV.

I am disappointed in this plan. I was not able to get online after talking to several representives. I was not able to serf the web as it states. I had to buy a new phone because my USB port messed up do to a faulty charger. When I asked for them to transfer the number. They told me that I would have to buy another $45. card to put on my new phone. I told him the problem and he said that the number can transfer but not the minutes I have left. I still have over 2 1/2 weeks of minutes. I should not have to buy another card just because my phone messed up. He can't even offer me a refund on the card that has minutes left. I don't understand why I am suppose to be able to get online like they say and can't. I also don't understand why can't the minutes transfer with the phone humber instead of staying with the phone. I can see that if I was having a new number but not because I had to get a new phone. I wanted to keep my phone and the number. I feel that the minutes should go with the number not the phone.
It is ashame that you are losing a valuable customer just because of the phone change. You might want to chack into that so that you can keep your customers happy. Or least make your phone cheaper like other companies do.

If you are porting a working cell number to Straight Talk, "run" don't walk from this company. What most other companies do in minutes or at the most, two hours, take them up to 7 days to get done. I am returning my phone back to Wal Mart and living without a cell phone until my frustration cause by Straight Talk subsides. I wished I had read the reviews before I made my purchase.

It took 6 days to port my old number and activate the RazerV3. Quality of voice calls good and can text, but am on second week of web browser not working. It took a week for my number to be recognized on their web site on ring tone section.

It took 4 days to port my # and an additional 3 days to get the web browser activated. During that time I made multiple contacts with their tech support personnel. They were polite and responsive, just not very fast. They did address the issues within the time period they gave, so I can't complain too much.
Actual cell service has been excellent. Call quality has been excellent with clear service and no dropped calls. The web browser is limited in its capability but I am able to access quite a few sites as well as email so I'm pretty happy with it.
If you are porting a number expect it to take a while to get it all in order. Otherwise, I have no complaints.

I absolutely love this service! I'm not too crazy about the choice of phones, however, which is why I decided to only give it 4stars. But, with that being said, the service is great! I shopped around for deals with other pre-paid phones and couldn't find anything better! I have heard that the phone gets the same coverage as Verizon, and I believe it! I use it all over Atlanta, have travelled to Athens, GA, and to south ga, and it has ALWAYS worked! My boyfriends phone with AT&T didn't even work last week when we were in Athens, but mine did! I am very happy with the service and my plan. I pay $30 a month and I never have to worry about if I'm calling during the right hours, or someone on the right network. I have had my phone for about a month now, and might opt to get the $45 unlimited plan, but I actually think that I'm good with 1000 mins. I'll decide that when it has been a full month next week. I also like that 1000 text messages are included with both plans. I just hope that they will come out with better phones, maybe one with a querty keyboard would be nice! If you are considering a pre-paid phone, definitely get this one! And no, I don't work for them or anything like that, I'm just a happy customer! : )

Great service, no problems activating or porting in numbers. I bought an LG200 for use as a business phone because it works EVERYWHERE with the service carried on Verizon. My daughter, who had Net10, was using so many "cards" that she converted to ST unlimited plan. Her old Net10 was a SIM based, Cingular carrier with poor service. Her new ST (Motorola 376)works everywhere on Verizon lines, she has had no problem with on-the-go email checks (she uses her laptop for regular browsing), and now calls from college more often since she doesn't have to worry about minutes. At $30 for the business phone, and $45 for my daughters phone, and I cancelled my land-line, we are saving over $150 from our old services. I have not had to call customer service yet, but I suspect that they use the same India/Philippino connections so I expect mild frustration.

Customer service is horrible! I had a terrible experience when I discovered that they had shared my credit card information with another shady company called Net10. It turns out I was billed twice! What would be a simple transaction for a refund is currently taking up to 45 minutes and will take longer (I'm still on the phone)! If you're considering using Straight Talk, run for your life for another company! Worst cell phone experience of my entire life! So wish I had not left Sprint!

If you are getting a new phone number Great- however if you need to transfer your number RUN. I purchased my Striaght Talk 09/13 today is 10/04 and they still have not imported my number, my previous carrier disconnected service due to the importing. Good Luck- i now must return to my previous provider and resign a contract. They should promote the service only for new assigned numbers. Surprised at Walmart for allowing this type of service.

finally after 30 days my old number was ported over, i was with out my old number for about a 2 weeks , but it works now and thats all i wanted i cut my bill by $90 per month this includes my cell phone from att and my house phone from vonage. so at this time after a couple of weeks of madness it was worth the hassle, I knew the long wait i would have to wait but i was willing to go through the pain, the only thing that im working on now is the web access, so im sure it will be another month buth thats ok, the $90 per month that im saving will by my new 52 inch hdtvd

Update to yesterday's posting. It took 5 days for them to port my Verizon number. I then had to find a pay phone to call them from so the Razr could be manually activated. The CS had such a thick accent that the I kept putting in the wrong information because I couldn't understand him. I asked for an English interpreter 6 times. I said even if it is the janitor please put someone else on the phone. You tell them what to say in English with heavy accent and this will work. After 20 mins. he finally put his supervisor on. I could understand the super and was able to input the info correctly.
Bluetooth headsets are not being recognized and web browser not working. I really don't want to call CS again.

There customer service is in india...So what. They want to help you. Phone works great on the verizon network. Cheap to talk and worth it. Pay double if you want someone who speaks good english. Everytime Id call sprint..Im on hold for 30 min...whats the difference.

I have had straight talk for 4 months now. I have to say i have not had one dropped call. I have had a few issues with customer service but who hasnt with any company. But as far as i see it. I will be a straight talk customer for as long as they have it. Excellent service and cheap. I had a problem porting my number but it took them about a hour on the same day that i bought the phone and it works great. I have to give 5 stars to straight talk. was a boost mobile customer and i hated it. I could never finish a call without it being dropped.

I attempted to activate my MotoRazorV3 last Friday and port my existing 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 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.

hadto come back and beetch! called cs when we tok phone back to walmart and told them we returned the phone DO NOT auto enroll us for any more minutes lo and behold I get my credit card statement and was charged $48 for a phone that was never even activated! blood pressure way up this is the worst service ever. I immediately called straight talk AGAIN to remove this charge and they kept saying the phone was activated and kept asking for the phone # WE NEVER EVEN GOT ONE. had to cancel my credit card because of this co and am disputing the charge rally am thinking of taking them to small claims court

I love this phone. Got a Razr, it works better than at&t did! I can check my gmail, check on news/weather/sports. All I need in a phone with out a contract!

Its been close to a month and I have not been able to use my old ported number, there response varies from there is a problem with our billing system, or call with in 24 to 48 hours I finally cursed at them, i called verizon and asked them to check on my number they told me that it was a problem with straight talk. for those of you who can get through a freakin person thats reading a script here is the port number center # 800-876-5753
ITS BEEN A NIGHTMARE not sure why verizon allows these clowns to ride on their network. Im still keeping the service because the price is pretty good, I think they straight talks customer service needs a little more training, I had to tell them to call what ever department they talk to and tell them that I have contacted verzion and that verizon told me that they did not have a problem with my number - so at this point its on straightalks hands.

NO! STRAIGHT TALK IS NO BETTER!!!!!!
1. if you get a $45 card the first time you put a balance on your phone, you MUST stay paying the $45 unless you want your phone to be de and reactivated 3 TIMES!!. i tried and 3 days after the fact ive had nothing but problems.. yesterday, it said that after a 3min phone call, i was out of money even though at the begining of that call i had over 16 hours. NOW today i couldnt listen to ringtones, view pictures or videos nor take any. so my mom and i called the company and when we did so, the “oh so great” gentleman that we got wiped out EVERYTHING and i mean EVERRYYYTHINGGG on my phone. i now have no pictures, no videos, no messages that i had locked, and all the ringtones i downloaded, yea they’re gone too. and when we talked to the supervisor, his exact words were “Thats impossible” so i get angry (even more than i was already)and they never even tried to repair it.. nor did we get an apology for the inconvenience. we then call back to give him the code that we were given that had “accidentally” cleared my phone and the actually very nice lady we got said that it CAN happen and that SHE was SORRY!. the person who has no say in anything says shes sorry but the person in charge NOTHING..

On my second month, looks like the web may roll over month to month? Not sure on that but excellent service and saving $25+ from the Cricket service I had which only covered the local area and not state coverage, can't complain. The web took about 24 hrs to activate but fine since. Customer service been helpful, verified I was signed up with the unlimited plan. Definitely check into StraightTalk.

After being a verizon customer for 12 years my contract was up and my plan was no longer available. I did not want a contract at a higher monthly fee, so I have been seeing the adds for Straight Talk and found out it uses verizon network thought I'll give it a try.Bought moto V3a, dispite the reviews, it has the features I need. Activated Tue. night my old phone was off the next morn. But after I reread the paper work and relized that you need to call Straight Talk to activate the phone. It took about 20 min. Back in bussiness.I am doing the $30.00 month plan which is more than I need.Customer Service was fine. I called back the next day and turned off the minute minder. I cannot tell any difference in service. So far this is great. NO CONTRACT TO DEAL WITH, And this does not work out I can go back to Verizon.Thanks Straight Talk.

Can't complain about the phone nor reception.

BUT, customer disservice is horrid! I spent 52 minutes on the phone getting them to understand I wanted to upgrade to the $45 unlimited plan from to 1000 minute plan. (Hell I don't spend 45 mins closing a real estate deal)

The person I got just couldn't understand that I am already on a direct debit plan and don't buy cards. After the first 16 mins and requests that I speak with the supervisor, he understood, sort of. Then lots of mumbling and "system updating" excuses, he said I was already enrolled in unlimited. Not true. I get those very annoying "you have 2 hours 10 mins left" type of announcements whenever I place a call. More delays. I have never endured so much to try to spend more money with a firm. This is totally the result of poorly trained staff. The rep was, however, polite.

God forbid one has a serious problem!

im looking to buy the razor w/1000 min.i hope this works out better than my last new phone.i got a tracfone 2 yrs ago when i moved back to upstate ny. i had cingular in fl for previous 4 yrs with no problem, (anywhere)... even when i visited up here...till at&t took them over.then service went in the crapper.i got the cheap lg w/tracfone, the cheap one offered with straight talk now, and it has worked great. i decided last year to upgrade to a better phone that was blutooth and it was a nightmare.terrible signal where i live,it had zero bars and old phone had full bars sitting on table right next to it.spent 3 hrs on phone with customer service trying to fix problem or give me a refund since phone didnt work,finally after a major headach they did somthing to give me 1 bar and i was able to recieve a call from them.i was told since i was able to get the call the phone was working fine and no refund would be given.next day back to same problem,no signal with new phone.i called back and pitched a fit, after 2 hrs on phone with them i finally backed the tech in a corner when she said i had no towers where i lived so i wont get service here. i asked her why then did i have perfect service with other phone? after several stutters and hmms, she admited that the cheap phone used analog signal and new phone was digital with sim card and towers in my area werent digital. needless to say,i didnt get refund but since i kept old phone and didnt transfer service it still was working.i still have it and im keeping it just in case.im going try this straight talk and i'll update here when i see what happens.if anyone is having this kind of problem too,maybe its the towers your phone is using. later all

you can not get ahold of anyone to get min they say you can but in this area I can't even get a customer service person to refill my min. and now they own alltell. Heaven help us all!!!!!!!

Well I'm trying out Straight talk, a great deal. I can check my email on the go, I'll be doing a road trip soon with it. It didn't take me long to activate it. I think the people who rate them 1 star just don't get it.

I decided to just go with a new number. Works fine so far. I'm looking forward to only paying thirty dollars a month. Have fun. Bye

i have not tryed straight talk yet but am planning to do so, as i have net ten now and plan to keep it as i have bought so many cards im using 600 minutes or more a month, and my service doesent exspire until 2014, so ill keep it but will get straight talk,because they will give you 1000 minutes for thirty dollers, as i have not had any problems with net ten customer service, there very good i had a problem with a phone it stoped working called them and they sent me a new one at no charge thats why i think sraight talk will get better as there the same company as trac phone and net ten. my friend got booste and she lives in a big town in n.h and she dosent even get service in her house, and a lot of dropped calls and there owned by sprint, so go figure,

I live in Los Angeles. I heard about straighttalk in consumer reports magazine.I can't buy a phone in california yet. So I bought one from walmart web site. They said it would take 7 days to port my old number. I'll let you know what happens. I've read alot of bad reviews about their customer service. I'll come back in a week or two and let you all know what happened. thank you

I enrolled with straight talk after listening to Clark howard and the first thing I saw was that I could not log on line with them. I called them and spoke to someone thst assured me the problem will be taken care of in 48 hours. time went by and I still could no log on. I called again and was told that because it was a new number it will be okay after the first month. I tried to log on when my first month was up and I was assured that the problem was on their end and I was not to worry about my minuites. I purchased a $30.00 card and called them back to tell them I had a new card and this was the new number for the additional 1000 minuites. they assured my not to worry abiut the count down and some one would call me in 48 hours.I waited and no phone call. I tried to log in and it kapt comming up as an invalid ESN. I was on the phone and it dropped a call. I tried to call out and a message kept comming up as you do not have enough minuites to make this call. I called straight talk and explained my situation with referrance#s thay had given me and thay had the same answer, someone will call you in 48 hours.I asked them how that was possible when the phone did not work and thay said if we call you the phone works.
I would not go with this company and someone needs Carlos know in Mexico what his company in the USA is doing.

I got a LG200 three weeks ago. I have one bar of signal at home. I tried resetting the phone countless times to no avail. I bought a motorolla phone to see if I had any better signal at home...no dice. I went to make a call on each phone and both did not dial out. Now I have two phones which do not work at home and am out the minutes....no refund on minutes. The customer no service is from India. They sent me to escalation and they said I had accepted a call from them and my new phone is fine. No....I still can't talk in my house. My neighbor's Sprint phone has five bars here in my house. I have a good signal everwhere else except home. It is infuriating. Also be warned...if you do what I did and buy another phone the unused minutes from the old phone are not transferrable to another phone with Straight Talk...even if you keep the same number. I have tried Cricket and Boost as well. Boost kept dropping calls in good coverage areas and Cricket had fewer dropped calls but outside of my area...no service at all. Is this how the Big Cell Phone companies plan on keeping customers..by having lousy signal and customer service on the off-brand names? Now I have no idea which one to use! Maddening!

I used to pay about 150.00 per month for cell service through Verizon. Then I discovered this plan which uses the Verizon network and love it. I purchased the $45 unlimited phone and messaging service. Not only is the basic price much less, but I save about $23.00 in taxes and fees. The service is first rate, just like Verizon. The Phones are functional, but selection could be better.

Me again..... I have been reading the rest of the reviews and I am disapointed. For those who say I can't get on the internet.... Get a laptop.... Straight talk is a cell phone buisness. I didn't no they had the straight talk internet pakage. Come on people, you buy a phone to what... Make phone calls. Thats what Straight talk said the product did so why complain. And for the rest of complaints on the customer service and getting it activated Im sure sense the company is fairly new that thay are working on it. Lets all be patient and give it some time.

As a Police Officer I use my phone all day everyday and the cell phone I had was a T-Mobil deal where I had 600 minutes and 400 texts for 60 dollars a month. I saw the straight talk plan at wal-mart and decided to try it out. I bought the low end lg model phone and got the 45 dollar unlimited plan. So far it has been worth it. I can talk however long I want and text without worry of going over. If you can get over the message of them giving you your balance every time you use it then I would recommend this phone and plan to anyone. On another note the coverage is great. I havn't lost a call yet. The LG feels a little cheaply made but come on for 30 dollars its worth it and more. It makes calls and it even came with more games than my blackberry. lol. look if you want a phone to do what you need it to than I recommend this package to everyone. In two weeks of having it my freinds and family have dropped there cell phone carriers and got the straight talk plan. Overall Im glad to see a company that is not trying to nickle and dime you.

Service sucks!!!!Customer Service Sucks!!! Manager won't return calls. I was only able to use the phone for 1 week! I am out of about $100.00. Company gave my number away and then would not give me a new number. Save your money. Not worth it!!!

Purchased the W385 from Walmart. Ported # from Vonage which took 7 days. CSR called and took 15 minutes and 3 tries to activate phone. Works just fine in the Atlanta metro area, well except as some have said the bowser doesn't work. About what I expected. Just canceled my AT&T cell service after 9 years, ie goodbye.... Hm, just started my 2nd month and everything appears to have ROLLED over? WOW, that would be awesome if they did that, but still ok if they don't.

The coverage and network quality on this phone is unrivaled. As a matter of fact I read somewhere they won the JD Powers & Associates award for best prepaid network. I have used it for just over a month now and I can say most emphatically that I will not even consider any other phone carrier. There are one or two cheaper options out there but their reviews are enough to scare me off.

I switched from T-Mobile's "customer loyalty" plan to Straighttalk. I use between 700-800 minutes a month on average. I was paying T-Mobile, for Unlimited Voice and 400 text messages monthly, about $63. I use about 700-800 minutes monthly, so I am on the 1000/1000 plan for $30 (+tax), so have essentially cut my costs in half. In the Puget Sound region of WA, T-Mobile coverage is pretty good, Verizon's is as good or better. The $99 phone I got from Wal Mart for Verizon is the same Motorola I was using for T-Mobile. The old phone I am converting to a T-Mobile pay-as-you go for my child and as a backup. I could also use that backup phone for our few trips to Canada,as it will GSM-roam up there, while the Straighttalk phone will not CDMA-roam anywhere. For where I use the phone 99% of the time, I simply cannot currently find a better $$ deal for this amount of service.

I love this service!!!! I had the phone for one week and OMG I finally have a full signal. I've tried Sprint,Nextel with the newest and lastest phones I had dropped calls 95% off the time.

I had to have the coolest phones but I had no signal all the time. The Ravor phone is cool. But, I really wish they get more phones. The service is throught Verizon it seems to have the best signal for my area. People are crazy for paying 100 or more for unlimited calling. IT'S TRULY SUPERIOR SERVICE AT A DISCOUNT PRICE. I just tell people that I'm on the Verizon network(which is the true)

had this phone for 8 days could not get it activated even after calling 3 times a day finally took it back to walmart but am now out of $45.00 for the card since it was scratched off I am going to dispute this charge with credit card company. every time we would call customer service we would hear a different story ended up walking into a radio shack bought a boost mobile unlimited phone and text for $50 month and it was activated within 10 minutes

Browsing the web looking for a lower price wireless carrier I read the article that StraightTalk had been launched by Tracfone and that intrigued me. I did a search on StraightTalk and found the website, saw they utilized the Verizon Network and have state coverage compared to just area coverage with Cricket. I ordered the phone from Walmart.com and it arrived 3 days later after processing - better than site to store shipping, good going FedEx. Signed up yesterday and within and hour, my number had ported over and even received a call to make sure I had the correct roaming and other software updated for the phone. The web was about 24 hours out to fully activate, nice layout. Strong cell phone signal. I am saving $25 a month and have the entire state now instead of area, am in Utah, where if I traveled out of area I would be roaming with Cricket.

I just travelled to Danbury, pretty little town next to the Hanging Rock state park in North Carolina. Stayed at the Hanging Rock Retreat Log Cabin community which is beautiful. However, my $600 At&T iPhone, which costs me about $120 a month to service didn't work! It was my teenager's no contract Straight Talk, run on the Verizon network, which gave us coverage throughout our vacation. It just goes to show you that less is more. Needless to say, I'm getting buyer's remorse over the iPhone, which has more apps than I care to learn how to use.

I have had my phone for about 5 weeks now and once I finally ported in my old number and was up and running there seems to be no problem. But porting in my old number took 2 days. They cut my old phone off immediatly to start the porting,, so I was without a phone for 2 days. And customer service gives a new meaning to the word bad, very bad.I called one time and the recording told me my wait time was approx. 20 min. I bought the cheap LG phone, haven't had any problems with the phone. It just doesn't have a display on the outside of it to let you know who's calling. When I wear this phone out then I'll get the Motorola rzr ($99).Unlike my old Net10 phone this company's phone's are not equiped to tell you how many minutes or time is left unless you call cust service or use thier web site (which is down sometimes). I guess there's a give and take to this company. Outstanding value compromised by poor customer service.

I could not have had a worse experience. I live in DC and it is currently day 13, and the phone still does not work. I have called in and talked to their customer service 9 times now. Today I finally asked them to refund me the service. It's just not worth the hassle. I've spent a total of 6 hours on the phone with them trying to get it to work. They say they're going to escalate the matter, but nothing happens. "escalating" is supposed to take 24-48 hours, but they said that every single time I called in, never did get an answer on what was going on.

I bought the W385 Motorola phone from Walmart yesterday. Came home, called the customer service, and the line was activated (with a new number) in 10 minutes. Tracfone's customer service cannot be compared to Verizon's or AT&T's. The call went to a country outside the US - I could clearly make out the foreign/ spanish accent and the call center was pretty noisy. IMHO, the reps are able to answer standard questions, but will go around in circles if you ask them anything other than standard. I bought this phone expecting sub-standard customer service, so as long as you keep your expectations realistic, you will do fine. The phone/ device itself is very good - Motorola brand that I love, lightweight, good battery life, crystal clear voice, etc. So far, the signal has been pretty good and strong - just like one of the major providers. Works great in my basement, and the 4-5 stores I took it into. I plan to travel next week, and will test the phone in the new city as well. If you dial 611 on your phone, the call goes to Verizon Customer Service, so I am expecting good coverage on this Tracfone line (FYI, you have to dial a 1-800 # to get to Tracfone's Cust Srvc, not 611). Tracfone only offers 3 phones in the unlimited (and $30) plan. My phone was $80. The Razr costs $99. I would stay away from the cheap LG. The W385 I bought is not user-friendly for web surfing, and I expected that. Therefore, I bought this service mainly for unlimited calling and texting. If you primarily want to use this service for web usage, you are better off getting a good device from one of the major providers. I do not have any complaints about the signal strength though - the drawback, with surfing, was with the device itself. Lastly, I believe Tracfone has disabled the option to upload your own pics and ringtones (through a PC) on their phones. Once again, not a big deal to me. I bought the service mainly for unlimited calling, and so far I am pretty happy. Total cost with taxes = $47.20 per month.

It is horrible because i can not buy ringtons or graphics

I bought mine from walmart in Atlanta. Activation was fast and the phone very strong signal bars especilly indoors. I ported my old number without any difficulty. So far so so good.

I just renewed my unlimited plan with no problem ... I live in the country and my service works great. My account is showing that I have 55 mbs of data so my old data rolled over. I love this service!

I HATE IT! It's definately one of those you get what you pay for phones.

I have had a Straight Talk Razr phone for three weeks now, and I am still unable to access the Internet from my phone. I have called Customer Service in excess of 10 times, and so far they have been unable to resolve the problem. At the very least I would expect them to replace the phone and reimburse me for the minutes I have spent on the phone with Customer Service or waiting for a customer service representative. However, so far they have done nothing other than to assure me that the problem will be resolved in 24-48 hours and tell me to call back if the phone still does not work. I have never encountered such poor service!

No problem starting online account, but trouble activating. Customer service was superb and well spoken. Hand held me through my Razr activation and got it on the first try. No drop offs yet in the Phoenix area. Good stuff!

We were looking for a reason to get rid of our land line and have finally found it. The total for ST's unlimited plan with taxes and fee's is about 46.60, which is almost identical to what our 24.95 land line totaled after taxes. The plus is we now get unlimited long distance and can take the phone with us. I ordered the phone online from Walmart and had it in 3 days delivered to my local store. It took 2 days to port our existing number, although we were told it could take much longer. Customer service was always very polite/knowledgeable and I never found anyone that had an accent so bad I couldn't understand them. I bought the W85 for 80$. Yes, there are only 3 phones offered are are not the most feature laden. But, for phone use and texting are fine. I do not plan on using the data so it is a moot point to me that the phones are not that great for web access. The phone gets a better signal and is clearer than my expensive ATT smart phone. We are able to get a signal at remote places where my ATT phone gets no signal. I think this is a great plan to replace a land line. I plan to set it up to auto pay from my credit card so I don't have to refill it each month. Also, we will keep track of the minutes each month, and if we consistently use under 1000 minutes we will switch to the 30$ plan.

I just switched to Straight Talk, and I am so frustrated. It took a week to activate the phone even though I was moving a phone number from Tracfone to Straight Talk, both owned by the same company (I think). I still cannot access the Internet from my phone. When I call customer service, they tell me they can't do anything to help until I call from a different phone - kind of defeats the purpose of having a cell phone. Additionally, when I call Straight Talk, I have to wait 5-10 minutes for a customer service person. Then when I do have someone who helps me, the person is often very hard to understand and repeatedly says condescending and patronizing things such as "Thank you so much for being so patient." If you want to contact someone at Straight Talk, you have only 2 options: make a phone call and wait for a representative (while your cell minutes click away) or contact them through snail mail. The website does not even list an email address! I am frustrated and would not recommend Straight Talk to anyone until their phones and service improve!

Our experience with this Tracfone spin-off Straight Talk has been the cause of my latest nervous breakdown.....just kidding. But in all seriousness, it HAS been an incredibly frustrating experience...to say the least. Although we like the phone and the plan is perfect for our 16 year old, their customer service is completely unreliable and inefficient. Like Tracfone, Straight Talk's customer service is outsourced to a foreign country....nuff said? If not, I'll elaborate. Although the reps are nice enough, they provide canned, robotic responses that rarely answer your question...as they rapidly type away at their computers telling you they're updating their system. However, each time you call back to follow up on an unresolved issue, you have to start all over again like they're hearing of this issue for the first time. It's as if all that data they were entering during your last call is mysteriously wiped from their hard drive the minute you hang up the phone. Further, we get a different answer for the same question depending on who we speak with, and, you're kept on the phone for an insane amount of time for what seems like it should be the simplest of tasks. Further, if they tell you the issue needs to be escalated to their corporate office and proceed to provide you with a reference # and tell you it will be 24/48 hours to remedy the problem........DON'T COUNT ON IT! It took us a full week to get one issue resolved, and in that week we had no use of our phone and were ultimately provided with FIVE different reference numbers.....for the SAME issue.....NO LIE! See what I mean? In a nutshell, they don't know the product well enough to provide reliable support for it AND their customer service departments mode of operation is completely inefficient....and INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING!

What good is cheap phone service if you can't use it? I purchased my phone from Wal-mart, waited a week for my number to be swithed over. Now I can't get the phone to activate. I've discussed this 4-5 times with customer service and have dialed *228 until my fingers are bloody. Then I just get told that my problem is being expedited to their supervisor and to wait 24 more hours. I've now been without cell service for 8 days because my Straight Talk won't work and my other service has been shut down. The irony of it is I switched from Verizon who is one of the partners with Straight Talk and now I can't get the service activated! I'm giving it one more day. It it's not fixed I'm going somewhere else. Hopefully I won't have to wait another week for my phone number to transfer! Very frustrating.

I've only had it for a day, but I'm pretty happy with it so far. I had no problems activating my account and the service is great where I live. My only complaint is the phone models. I got the LG200CM because I'm on a serious budget at the moment. It is an alright model, really very basic. I'm a bit disappointed that there aren't any better models for the price, especially when tracfone and net10 have much better models for less than or the same price.

Horrible customer service. The phone is decent but I cannot get my web browser activated. Straight talk has assured me that they are working on this and everytime I call tell me they will have the issue fixed witin 24-48 hrs. That has been 2 weeks ago and I have called 5/6 times. It does not good to talk to a supervisor, they tell you the same thing. If the customer service is this bad with my browser, I am not about to be out of phone service this long. Now I am just worried I will have trouble moving my number. Do not get this service.!!!!

I'm not impressed at all.I've had it for about a week and they still can not get it activated.Their cust. service is based in the Phillipines and when you call you can barely make out what they are saying because of the bad connections.And it is the same story everytime," We will make this our top priority,remember this reference number." If it is this hard to get it turned on, whats it going to be like when I have a real problem.I'm canceling it!!!

I am really impressed with this phone service - for under 50 dollars a month I get better service that I ever have with AT&T, I get a bar out in te potato pasture! - not to mention we moved from texas to north dakota and my AT&T service is not avaliable here, but they are so tight on that contract I will have to pay for 4 months for service I cannot use! no more contracts for me, ever - if this service is not for your area check out boost - it's good too.

sounds like a great deeal i will call and see if i have service in my area...

I ordered my ST Razr on the afternoon of July 1st from the Wal-Mart website and received it the morning of July 3rd. It was shipped out of Dallas and I live about 2 hours south of there so it didn’t take long even with standard shipping from Fed-Ex. I live in the boonies about 20 min west of highway 35 between Waco and Temple Texas and I’m getting good service. I can get on the web and go to any website. I bought the unlimited plan on the ST website when I activated my phone and had no problems. When I had to complete my activation by calling *228 it said that it was the Verizon network. When I e-mail from the phone it is a Verizon address of @vtext.com. I paid $45.00 for the unlimited plan … $3.49 in state tax and $.78 cents for Federal Universal Service Charge for a total of $49.27 for 30 days of service. I love the phone and service and plan to get rid of my land line.

great phone i was a little hesitant beacuse you usually get wat you pay for i have better service with this phone than i do with my at&t contract phone