Walmart boards the “unlimited” boat with Straight Talk mobile plan
In a move that is doubtless making some people nervous, Walmart has announced its very own mobile plans. In Walmart stores, or on-line, you can now buy a devices from the shopping giant on its “Straight Talk” plans - which offer unlimited talk time for as little as $45 a month.
How are they doing this?
The service has been organised through TracFone Wireless, a subsidiary of Latina American mobile operating giant, America Movil. TracFone doesn’t have a network of it’s own in the States, so it’s buying voice, text and data from other operators (mostly Verizon, so far) to power Straight Talk.
What are the rates?
There are two plans launched on Straight Talk so far. The cheaper plan is for $35 a month, and comes with 1,000 minutes voice, 1,000 texts and 30 MB of mobile data. The more expensive plan is $45 a month, and that comes with unlimited voice, text and data.
What kind of devices can you get?
Walmart is carrying three devices so far seem, all of them flip phones - including the reliable Motorola RAZR:
What we think?
I think this is a pretty damn good deal. You can walk out of a Walmart with a brand new device and 1,000 mins talk and text in your pocket for $65. I went phone shopping in San Francisco less than two weeks ago, and the cheapest I could get the same deal for $120 from T-Mobile (check out that article here). So in terms of price, this is pretty good news for consumers.
I have to wonder what the consequences of this deal are, though. You have Walmart here, buying space on networks through an intermediary… and selling it on at cheaper than the networks sell it. Frankly I’m pretty surprised that this service got launched at all - just how much are networks willing to undercut themselves? Or it could be a case of Walmart being able to afford to pay the operators the difference from their own pocket, in order to attract subscribers. If so, to what end?
I’m pretty amused by the $45 dollar tariff as well - pipping Sprint by 5 bucks a month at the unlimited game is quite a little PR coup.
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Who cares how willing the networks are to undercut themselves as long as consumers are finally no longer getting the short end of the stick? It’s about time U.S. cell phone costs were lowered. Good for StraightTalk - and for Walmart for making such a good deal easily accessible.
I canceled my contract and bought a Straight Talk phone while it was still on trial, it’s great and I’m saving $55 /month (that’s a lot in my book). I have the unlimited plan and I love not getting that bill with those added extras that the other carriers think they can justify while they are actually just ripping you off.
I can make as many calls for as long as I like to any phone in America and from anywhere in America which I need because I travel a lot on business. Straight Talk is on Verizon’s network, nationwide which I must say gives me far better coverage than I had on contract.
This new plan is great. They even have some nice phones. The only thing is that it is not available everywhere. Just make sure you check before you buy. You can check availability here:
http://saveonprepaidphones.com/straight_talk_availability_check
The best thing about Straight Talk is its simplicity. I am so tired of wading through funky phone bills with mysterious charges and fees.
I really appreciate the savings, of course, but not having those awful and undecipherable bills has been a great stress-reducer.
And being on Verizon is cool, too.
I’m very happy with Straight Talk and am impressed with their coverage on Verizon.
To me, the $30 - 1,000 minutes, 1,000 texts deal is unbeatable. I travel and have never had a problem. But if I ever go over, I’ll get the unlimited deal which is sick!
When I had Metro POS, it worked fine in town but as soon as I got outside the city, fuhgeddaboutit!
You get what you pay for, or in the case of Straight Talk, MORE than you pay for!
The program sounds great. I changed from AT&T service and wanted to port my old number, this is the fifth day and over three hours on my home, still hasn’t happened. They debited my credit card the first five minutes, it show on my back account that the funds were taken out. Now, they can’t find the charge. Customer service gave me a reference number the first day, couldn’t find the second, so they gave me another and a ticked number. So, the jury is still out on Straight Talk, not impressed at this point.
We switched from Sprint. We were with them for 8 years, paying 200.00 a month for a family plan. After buying the phones and the first month of service, Straight Talk is gonna save us hundred’s over the year, and thousands over a decade. Its the best damn deal out there(Period). The only downside, low tech phones. But at the cost were still saving a crapload of money. And I can switch to my Ipod Touch to email on free Wi-Fi when I find it. I highly recommend this program to everyone thats tired of paying the mainstream cell companies a fistfull of cash.It really does give you a fair service. TheSarge
I have Straight Talk. I previously had Verizon then switched to AT&T but the bills were CRAZY!.
When I heard about Straight Talk I couldn’t believe it but got it from Walmart and have had it now for 2 months and it is just sick! I’d heard that it was on Verizon and the coverage is rock steady, so yeah!
I switched from AT&T to Straight Talk almost 3 months ago and I couldn’t be happier. Verizon coverage where I live is amazing, and 45 bucks for unlimited talk, SMS/MMS and data? WOW !! Or I can choose the $30 (not $35 as stated) choice and that’s still an amazing deal. The only thing that bothered me was the phone choices (lack of them to be exact), I first bought the LG290 and I loved it except that it didn’t have expandable memory. Such a disappointment for such a nice phone. So I returned that and got the Samsung R451 messenger phone… which DID have expandable memory. The keyboard was a nice feature but the phone was clunky and slippery and I dropped it constantly. No scratches though… I have to say it was durable! But I still wasn’t happy….. then I saw that they released the Samsung Finesse R810 touch screen and I was elated… FINALLY a phone I could love! I had owned the R451 for over 3 weeks by then but my WalMart let me return it and my fiance bought me the Finesse for Christmas. I could finally be happy… or could I ??
I LOVE the Finesse…. it’s a fantastic phone! Calls are clear… speaker is great… the camera takes an unbelievably beautiful picture and it even takes short videos with the camcorder !! No I have no problem with the phone, but I do have a problem with Straight Talk crippling it! Why no games on this phone? With such a nice screen to play them on I just cannot understand this! And I think you should give us the opportunity to add more apps than the ones you’ve chosen for us. I love the Facebook app and also Photobucket, but I do not Twitter or use Flickr. I’d rather have Bejeweled Blitz any day of the week! C’mon ST… you can make this phone worth the 300 bucks it cost !!
I have a friend who has Straight Talk and yea it may be cheap but the reliability and reception for this service is horrible. Why do you think Verizon cost’s more because the service is faster and more reliable it’s as simple as that. The cheap your provider is the shittier the service is. You’re better off with Sprint, AT&T or Verizon
This plan is absolutely wonderful - just $45 for UNLIMITED calls and texts. Could it get any better? I do most of my shopping at Walmart to save money so it was perfect since Walmart carries Straight Talk exclusively nationwide now. Plus this prepaid plan is on the Verizon network so I get awesome coverage. My family and I are saving over $500 a year by switching to this plan. Its too good to be true! (but it is true!)
I purchased the Samsung SCH-R451C from straight talk and the phone sucks, the features on the phone don’t work properly and customer service sucks as well. I love the $45 unlimited plan. I bought my daughter the $40 phone and her service works fine. I contacted (walmart) the store where it was purchased about a return policy or exchange and they have a 15 day return policy which wasn’t explained at the time of purchase. I called straight talk and they have a 2 week wait on reutrning a phone and receiving a new one. I should have gone to Cricket and called it a day… They should have waited and gotten all the kinks out first… Good-luck all….