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Straight Talk Promises Unlimited Service Really Is Unlimited
After Users Revolt Over 1.5 GB Invisible Ceiling
Straight Talk, a MNVO from TracFone Wireless, took some heat this week after numerous Facebook users accused the company of promoting an unlimited service, then capping users at around 1.5 GB of usage. One of the company's reps didn't help its case by confirming that usage was capped at 1.5 GB. Taking to the company blog, Straight Talk promises that aside from throttling their unlimited service truly is unlimited, and that the 1.5 GB cap "only applies to Bring Your Own Phone (BYOP™) AT&T-compatible SIMs on our sister brand, NET10." The company currently offers unlimited voice, text and data starting at $45 per month.
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Boricua
Premium Member
join:2002-01-26
Sacramuerto

1 recommendation

Boricua

Premium Member

Unlimited? Really!?!?

Whenever anyone sees any of these providers harping how they are unlimited, always view them with suspicion.

MovieLover76
join:2009-09-11
Cherry Hill, NJ

MovieLover76

Member

Re: Unlimited? Really!?!?

they threatened to cancel my account at 3.5 GB on t-mobile, never throttled me, and this was in November of last year, well after they claimed they only throttle connections.

TheHelpful1
Premium Member
join:2002-01-11
Upper Marlboro, MD

TheHelpful1

Premium Member

Re: Unlimited? Really!?!?

said by MovieLover76:

they threatened to cancel my account at 3.5 GB on t-mobile, never throttled me, and this was in November of last year, well after they claimed they only throttle connections.

Same here. Got a call saying if I continue to go over unlimited they would cancel my account. At one point they disabled my data and left me with just voice. So I dumped them and switched to T-Mo. So far I average a consistent 6/1 on my international SGS2. Yes I'm paying more, but at least I know there is no imaginary line where crossing it has me severed.

kw0
Premium Member
join:2004-06-12
New Albany, OH

kw0

Premium Member

Re: Unlimited? Really!?!?

T-Mo has a 100minute, unlimited text/data plan for $30 a month. Why not switch to that?

MovieLover76
join:2009-09-11
Cherry Hill, NJ
(Software) pfSense
Asus RT-AC68
Asus RT-AC66

MovieLover76

Member

Re: Unlimited? Really!?!?

Not to reply for someone else, but for many people 100 minutes is nowhere near enough minutes, that's the case in my circumstance, I switched to solavei, only a few bucks more $49 unlimited talk/text and unlimited data 4GB at 4G, then throttled afterward.

Much more generous data allotment, and no cancellation threats.
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN

Chubbysumo

Member

Re: Unlimited? Really!?!?

said by MovieLover76:

and no cancellation threats.

as of now, but how long will it last.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA to Boricua

Premium Member

to Boricua
Exactly. They offer unlimited mobile web or something, not unlimited data.

inteller
Sociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK

inteller

Member

that's really fucking convienent to say..

...now that they have stopped selling ATT compatible SIMs. I guess that means their next steps are to start kicking off ATT SIM customers for using their "unlimited" service.
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN
Ubee E31U2V1
(Software) pfSense
Netgear WNR3500L

Chubbysumo

Member

Re: that's really fucking convienent to say..

said by inteller:

...now that they have stopped selling ATT compatible SIMs. I guess that means their next steps are to start kicking off ATT SIM customers for using their "unlimited" service.

when did they stop selling AT&T SIMS? I wonder how much fuss AT&T pitched. Too bad Tmo service up where I live sucks, and would never work
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina

Member

Straight Talk

As a person who recently switched to ST from ATT, I do enjoy the savings over AT&T but the data experience isn't as good. Since I'm using the exact same phone (iPhone 4) on the exact same network, why isn't my experience the same?

1) The download test on the Ookla SpeedTest app rarely, if ever works. Switch to WiFi, works fine -- it isn't Ookla. I never had this problem on ATT. Other speed tests don't have this problem -- except for upload tests stalling (#2 below).
2) When uploading photos, the upload seems to stall after 10 seconds. This seems consistent. Sometimes it goes through, sometimes not.
3) Sending MMS pictures -- hit and miss. Sometimes it stalls after about 75% of the picture is sent.
4) PITA setup. I had to use the swap-SIM method to get the phone setup correctly.
5) No visual voice mail -- although I have not yet tried jail breaking my phone and installing potential replacements.
6) No tethering option -- even if I was willing to pay for it.
7) Hit or miss as to whether or not I can install or upgrade ANY app over cell data.

Regarding usage, I reset the iPhone data counter on March 29th and so far I have sent 29MB and received 112MB. Most of the time my phone is on WiFi and I don't use that much cell data.

It's like the ST settings identifies me and/or points me to infrastructure that purposely screws with the data service. Either that or the infrastructure is overloaded and causes my data connection to consistently choke. If I'm getting throttled, then EVERYONE is getting throttled. While I can become a heavy user when on vacation or travelling, my typical usage patterns should qualify me as a profitable and perfect customer.

The only other redeeming quality is I can switch any time I want. I've been considering T-Mobile since 1900mhz service is offered in my area.

Hey ST -- are you reading this? If so...George is getting upset!

trparky
Premium Member
join:2000-05-24
Cleveland, OH
·AT&T U-Verse

trparky

Premium Member

Re: Straight Talk

I believe that ST uses a different set of APNs. It's there that they throttle you at the network layer.

In some ways, if you want your mobile experience to be good you're going to have to pay for it. It's cheap for a reason, don't expect it to work as well as the service that you pay more for. There's a reason why it's cheaper.
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina

Member

Re: Straight Talk

Yes. They use different APNs. ST advertises same network. Either they do or they don't.

I have no problem if they don't. I'm saving a lot of money over ATT but it is only advertised as something less expensive. They are claiming to resell the same network. Regardless of the ole "if it's too good to be true, it probably is" saying, the marketing implies I'm getting the same gallon of gas for a better price. It's not readily apparent that I'll only get half the mileage.

MovieLover76
join:2009-09-11
Cherry Hill, NJ
(Software) pfSense
Asus RT-AC68
Asus RT-AC66

MovieLover76

Member

Re: Straight Talk

I think the iPhone experiences more issues on Straight Talk than other phones, I used straight talk AT&T and other than some throttling I had very few issues on an Android phone.

Of course it could be a difference in how loaded the network in your area is, mvno traffic is deprioritized on AT&T
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina

Member

Re: Straight Talk

But again -- they court the iPhone users. Look at their home page. They are selling the iPhone 5 -- some sort of installment plan. Only in the fine print do you start to realize there's no visual voice mail and other potentially "at their discretion" limitations. Of course ATT probably has the same jargon in their SA too.
tanzam75
join:2012-07-19

tanzam75 to rradina

Member

to rradina
said by rradina:

Yes. They use different APNs. ST advertises same network. Either they do or they don't.

Where does Straight Talk advertise "same network?"

Most cellular networks prohibit their MVNOs from advertising that they run over their network.

AFAICT, Straight Talk's website states that "you will be able to enjoy nationwide coverage on one of America´s best networks." Similarly, PagePlus states that they have "nationwide coverage on one of the largest networks in the United States."

You can look at the coverage map and figure it out for yourself, but they're not allowed to say.
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina

Member

Re: Straight Talk

They say same towers. To most, that means "same network". Even though towers support multiple networks, that would not occur to most consumers.

It's another case of misleading marketing much like the term "unlimited" doesn't really what folks think it means. It's like the water company offering a flat rate but after you use 1,000 gallons, they halve the pressure in your home and after 10,000, they cut it to a trickle. Technically, you still have service and you still pay one flat rate but at some point it might take hours to fill a toilet after a flush and forget about taking a shower. That won't happen until a new billing cycle starts.
MRCUR
join:2007-03-09
Lancaster, PA

MRCUR to rradina

Member

to rradina
While StraightTalk may be running on top of AT&T's network, you are *not* using the same network as far as QoS is concerned. MVNOs do not have priority over AT&T's own traffic, so this is why you'll see much slower data speeds on the likes of ST.
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina

Member

Re: Straight Talk

Data speeds aren't the problem. It's duration of transmission burst that is my current key issue. Also, the purposeful blocking of one speed test vs. another?

I have no beef with them if they do this but the marketing suggests same network, same service, unlimited data. Either it is or it isn't. They should be required to say it isn't.

Regarding paying for better service -- that's an opinion based upon the carrier-inspired legend that cellular data is a rare metal like platinum. Give it 10 years and suddenly we'll all discover it was never rare and we've been getting screwed for years.

saronian
join:1999-09-07
Oakland, CA

saronian

Member

Re: Straight Talk

When I left the "MMS UA Prof URL:" setting blank I was again able to use the speediest.net app on my iPhone 5 using StraightTalk AT&T plan.

There was a period of time last year when the data flow was inconsistent, but it has been solid for the past 4-5 months during my use in San Francisco, Oakland, Central Valley and Southern California.

No LTE, but you can't beat the price. 90 day's for $126 from Walmart.com with no taxes.
elefante72
join:2010-12-03
East Amherst, NY

elefante72 to MRCUR

Member

to MRCUR
That is 100% incorrect. 100%. It has been told many times that (at least for ATT) that internally you show up as an ATT SIM and that the tower has NO IDEA you are on an MVNO vs postpaid, meaning you get the same priority queue as postpaid, UNLESS ATT determines that you are a data hog on a tower and then they deprioritize you.

You can even troll how people were buying ATT retail phones, moving to ST and not getting hit w/ ETF because their system doesn't know any better. In fact you can use ATT APN settings with mixed results (since MMS is a web service it won't work properly as you need to use Straighttalk MMSC settings.

I would like you to show the data on this, I would be happy to entertain.

aSic
application specific
Premium Member
join:2001-05-17
Wakulla, FL

aSic

Premium Member

Re: Straight Talk

No, you cannot use ATT APNs while on ST. You will receive no data service. The SIM cards themselves (serial number) tell ATT that you're an MVNO sub and not a mothership sub. Works the same way as an ESN does in a CDMA network.

Since ATT has so much trouble maintaining their network, it wouldnt surprise me a bit that things might operate differently up in New England and you can use ATT APN settings for service. Across the south, you will fail.

nunya
LXI 483
MVM
join:2000-12-23
O Fallon, MO
·Charter

nunya

MVM

Re: Straight Talk

I'm not on ST, but a different AT&T MVNO. I was trying to access speedtest.net when I noticed it was blocked on 3G. I deleted the "att.mvno" on the data portion of the APN and was able to access the speedtest.net site. It's still working while blank (as of right now).

I have to say, as difficult as AT&T appears to make it for MVNOs and their customers, it's no wonder people are flocking to other options. If I didn't already have an AT&T iPhone 4, I would have gone with Virgin Mobile or Republic Wireless.

The rest of my family is on Republic Wireless because they needed new phones anyway. If RW starts offering some decent phones, I may sell my iPhone and jump over to RW.
derek44845
join:2013-04-05

derek44845 to rradina

Member

to rradina
There are a myriad of issues you probably are experiencing. I have set up many iPhone 4's on using the Straight Talk bring your own phone sim card for AT&T for friends and family members. You just cannot plug in the ST sim card for the AT&T network and get data. Phone calls and SMS will work, but that's it. No data and No MMS. First of all is as others have said they use a different APN. So you must get those settings in to iOS. You can do this by going to unlockit.co.nz and letting it automatically install a file that sets up the APN for you for cellular data. But this will NOT get you MMS capability. The ONLY way to get MMS capability is to jailbreak your phone and then install TetherMe, then go into the cellular data network settings and manually enter the correct MMS settings there. Then everything works and works pretty well. You will NOT get the 4G icon representing AT&T's HSPA+ but you will get 3G and pretty good speeds. I've consistently seen 2-4M down and 1-2M up.

nunya
LXI 483
MVM
join:2000-12-23
O Fallon, MO
·Charter

nunya

MVM

Re: Straight Talk


The ONLY way to get MMS capability is to jailbreak your phone and then install TetherMe, then go into the cellular data network settings and manually enter the correct MMS settings there. Then everything works and works pretty well.


Not true. You can JB and use EditAPN for FREE:

»youtu.be/-wYN1SnEFnk


Then you simply plug in the APN settings for ST.

I almost went with ST, but they dropped AT&T support. I decided to use Good2Go instead. Excepting visual voice mail, everything works the same. I use YouMail instead. I like it better than stock VVM anyway.
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN
Ubee E31U2V1
(Software) pfSense
Netgear WNR3500L

Chubbysumo

Member

Re: Straight Talk

said by nunya:


The ONLY way to get MMS capability is to jailbreak your phone and then install TetherMe, then go into the cellular data network settings and manually enter the correct MMS settings there. Then everything works and works pretty well.


Not true. You can JB and use EditAPN for FREE:

»youtu.be/-wYN1SnEFnk


Then you simply plug in the APN settings for ST.

I almost went with ST, but they dropped AT&T support. I decided to use Good2Go instead. Excepting visual voice mail, everything works the same. I use YouMail instead. I like it better than stock VVM anyway.

editAPN has issues right now, and will not install on many iphones. I tried on both mine, my wifes, and several friends, and only got 1 successful install.

nunya
LXI 483
MVM
join:2000-12-23
O Fallon, MO

nunya

MVM

Re: Straight Talk

Are you confusing EditAPN with APNediting? The app APN Editing (std. Cydia repositories) does not work well at all, where EditAPN is stable. EditAPN requires the addition of the LEIMobile repo.
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina to derek44845

Member

to derek44845
Setup isn't the issue. You can use the SIM swap method to get MMS. Speed isn't the issue. It's data consistency and the fact that upload sometimes hangs and the selective blocking of speed tests. I also have to disable cell data to get on my work's wandering WiFi connection. Once I authenticate for the day, then I can turn cell data back on. It's a lot of little things that make for a frustrating experience vs. genuine ATT.

I've been through what you've suggested and once I discovered the SIM swap method, I removed the unlockit profile because that didn't give me MMS. SIM swap doesn't require jail breaking although I'm considering it because I'd like to get back visual voice mail.
Zach
Premium Member
join:2006-11-26
Llano, CA

Zach to derek44845

Premium Member

to derek44845
I used the method linked below to enable data and MMS on my wife's 4S running iOS 5.1.1 on ST. The phone is unlocked but not jailbroken. It wasn't difficult but the items requiring an edit weren't at the line numbers indicated in the post(s). It was pretty easy to deduce what had to be edited though.

»www.sinfuliphone.com/sho ··· t=109505

She reports everything besides call forwarding works as it did with ATT postpaid. The phone nearly always shows the 4G icon in our market and data is usually snappy. She's not a huge user but manages to use ~250-300 Mb, ~500 minutes and ~300 MMS/text monthly.
elefante72
join:2010-12-03
East Amherst, NY

elefante72 to rradina

Member

to rradina
You need to totally clear your cellular settings (reset them) and put in the APN settings that straighttalk recommends, and unfortunately due to APPLE, MMS is not a walk in the park.

BTW, the reason it is SO difficult is that APPLE doesn't allow mobconfig MMS settings. On you friendly android the process takes all of one minute. I had the Mrs Nexus4 on the network lickety split.

However if you want MMS to work properly you need to have ALL of the APN settings match ST recommended and don't muck with them and will have to use SIM swap method (you did), and unlockit makes things easier....

Also phones BEFORE the 4s don't play as well with 3PP, but at a minimum you need it UNLOCKED.

If continue having MMS problems, you need to delete ANY in the queue otherwise it will never work properly.

No visual voicemail or tethering allowed on ST, so keep those settings blank.

Upgrading apps over cellular - Works fine on my phone, but I typically never do that because I can wait until I get home and have access to wifi. Why take up 80Mb of your cell data, and yes I know "unlimited" is total bs, but why poke the bees nest.

IMHO, this is where Net10 is better (still tracfone). You can bring it to a dealer and let them set it up properly for you. I would call around and see if Net10 dealer can do it for you, because the process is the same.

And don't blame ST for Apple's lack of openness, you will have this problem on any MVNO.

HTH.
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina

Member

Re: Straight Talk

I was under the impression it's the ATT SIM card that locks the APN settings menu. If I put the T-Mobile ST card in the phone, the APN setting menu appears. Is this temporary and if I activated T-Mobile, the APN menu would disappear?

Regarding setup, I've setup everything exactly as mentioned although there are numerous forums that have slightly different recommendations. Perhaps I'm using one that isn't best. I'll check them again against the ST documentation. Perhaps something is off. However, when I upgraded to iOS 6.1.2 (need to upgrade to 6.1.3 now), I had to reset all of them. I don't recall whose recommendations I used. Perhapas I messed something up.
jimolson4
join:2008-05-25

jimolson4 to elefante72

Member

to elefante72
There is probably a wealth of technical information in your posting but you used too many acronyms for me to grasp it.

Could you re-post it with more detail? Thanks.

bobjohnson
Premium Member
join:2007-02-03
Spartanburg, SC

1 recommendation

bobjohnson to rradina

Premium Member

to rradina
Their network management is designed to prioritize postpaid traffic on crowded towers but they seem to set the MVNO and their own prepaid traffic on a very limited number of channels and what you're dealing with is what happens to most everyone.
elefante72
join:2010-12-03
East Amherst, NY

elefante72

Member

Re: Straight Talk

I thought that they used profiles set by HSS, which is APN dependent and I know they definitely control UE-AMBR (meaning you don't get the full "4g" speed), but I was unaware that BY DEFAULT MVNO was put in a lower QoS bucket--meaning deprioritized.

If that is the case, then by all means I would never have an AT&T SIM. Its one thing to cap the pipe, but it's another to throw you in a lower class if you are a light user and essentially slow your bandwidth and response time.

I can tell you that is NOT the case w/ ST TMO SIM. I regularly get 7-8 Mbps (100-300ms) and in fringe areas 1-2 is still cool assuming I have an HSPA signal. TMO seems to quickly swap between HSPA/EDGE pretty regularly. I find it to be more aggressive on the Nexus 4 than the HTC glacier previous. I think it's because they are starting to refarm in my area and the Nexus is all over the place as it supports all those bands.

I have to compare to Virgin Mobile which we left 6 months ago where the loading was so bad, on a full 3G signal we were lucky to see 128kbps.

bobjohnson
Premium Member
join:2007-02-03
Spartanburg, SC

bobjohnson

Premium Member

Re: Straight Talk

said by elefante72:

I thought that they used profiles set by HSS, which is APN dependent and I know they definitely control UE-AMBR (meaning you don't get the full "4g" speed), but I was unaware that BY DEFAULT MVNO was put in a lower QoS bucket--meaning deprioritized.

If that is the case, then by all means I would never have an AT&T SIM. Its one thing to cap the pipe, but it's another to throw you in a lower class if you are a light user and essentially slow your bandwidth and response time.

I can tell you that is NOT the case w/ ST TMO SIM. I regularly get 7-8 Mbps (100-300ms) and in fringe areas 1-2 is still cool assuming I have an HSPA signal. TMO seems to quickly swap between HSPA/EDGE pretty regularly. I find it to be more aggressive on the Nexus 4 than the HTC glacier previous. I think it's because they are starting to refarm in my area and the Nexus is all over the place as it supports all those bands.

I have to compare to Virgin Mobile which we left 6 months ago where the loading was so bad, on a full 3G signal we were lucky to see 128kbps.

It's not QoS specifically like CDMA networks but it goes alot farther as to who gets what. In short, HSS authentication identifies the sim and service profile which would tell the internal software what service you are using no matter what the apn settings are.
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN
Ubee E31U2V1
(Software) pfSense
Netgear WNR3500L

Chubbysumo to rradina

Member

to rradina
said by rradina:

As a person who recently switched to ST from ATT, I do enjoy the savings over AT&T but the data experience isn't as good. Since I'm using the exact same phone (iPhone 4) on the exact same network, why isn't my experience the same?

1) The download test on the Ookla SpeedTest app rarely, if ever works. Switch to WiFi, works fine -- it isn't Ookla. I never had this problem on ATT. Other speed tests don't have this problem -- except for upload tests stalling (#2 below).
2) When uploading photos, the upload seems to stall after 10 seconds. This seems consistent. Sometimes it goes through, sometimes not.
3) Sending MMS pictures -- hit and miss. Sometimes it stalls after about 75% of the picture is sent.
4) PITA setup. I had to use the swap-SIM method to get the phone setup correctly.
5) No visual voice mail -- although I have not yet tried jail breaking my phone and installing potential replacements.
6) No tethering option -- even if I was willing to pay for it.
7) Hit or miss as to whether or not I can install or upgrade ANY app over cell data.

Regarding usage, I reset the iPhone data counter on March 29th and so far I have sent 29MB and received 112MB. Most of the time my phone is on WiFi and I don't use that much cell data.

It's like the ST settings identifies me and/or points me to infrastructure that purposely screws with the data service. Either that or the infrastructure is overloaded and causes my data connection to consistently choke. If I'm getting throttled, then EVERYONE is getting throttled. While I can become a heavy user when on vacation or travelling, my typical usage patterns should qualify me as a profitable and perfect customer.

The only other redeeming quality is I can switch any time I want. I've been considering T-Mobile since 1900mhz service is offered in my area.

Hey ST -- are you reading this? If so...George is getting upset!

On your points, a few hints that come from someone who had the exact same issue with their Iphone4 on ST. First off, its not just ST that is throttling you, its AT&T too, i can confirm this.

1) This is because with ST, you are going thru their "proxy", which uses horrid QoS settings to slow your data down and delay it. With the Iphone, you cannot disable or ignore this proxy because you do not have the option too. If you use an android phone(I recently switched to an SGS3), you can disable the proxy server(set to ignore) and its just as fast as AT&T services should be.

2) this, again, has to do with the fact that the iphone cannot ignore the proxy, and has incorrect APN settings. They tell you to use port 80, but if you use port 8080 on the iphone4, things seem to work better.

3) wrong APN settings for AT&T, and its a confirmed issue with the iphone only. Try using »mmsc.cingular.com instead of the IP they give you, or try .33 instead of .32 as the last octet. Since switching to my SGS3, i have no issues sending and receiving picture messages to/from anyone, and im using the same hit or miss APN settings that would work 80% of the time on my iphone4. Both ST and AT&T confirmed that it was an issue with the way the phone is software setup to only send MMS to AT&T servers(if its an AT&T phone), and some of the time, ST servers catch it, and sometimes it just goes to an AT&T server and gets blackholed because its a non-account.

4) instead of using SIM swap, why not load a profile? unlockit.co.nz works just fine, and has updated their settings on ST for AT&T to reflect known working settings(and they have several AT&T variations you can try)

5) VVM is a feature, and is not detrimental to the function of the phone. Its a service that requires a backend that AT&T and other major providers have, and even some MVNOs, but ST does not have, or does not want, the apple rented backend software and hardware for VVM to work. VVM is nice, but its not a deal breaker, and its not the end of the world either. Before VVM, you had to do the the same way you do now, so whats the difference?

6) Again, this is a phone related issue. If you jailbreak, and install tetherme, tethering works just fine. I did it all the time(and still do with the SGS3, which was even easier to do). As long as they don't catch you, and you don't use tons of data(like torrent), it does not matter, and they cannot tell the difference.

7) This is again, an Iphone software issue. Since AT&T limits OTA updates and app updates to 50MB, and this software is built into the phone, you need to jailbreak to set up something like 3G unrestrictor to ignore the AT&T limit. I was happily downloading 1GB games and huge updates long before AT&T upped the OTA limit from 20MB to 50MB. I could also use Facetime over 3G, which still sucks, and sucked then too, long before AT&T started allowing it.

Many of the issues you are having are because the Iphone software is configured to work with each carrier specific model of phone, and those limits are imposed right into the software based on what the carriers want. If you want some other known working APNs for AT&T, google around. There is more than just att.mvno, and if you jailbreak, there are ways to set up your iphone to ignore the proxy that ST defaults you to, which greatly speeds up data(but you are still throttled by AT&T)
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

1 edit

tmc8080

Member

read between the lines

You will slowly see the real agenda behind this.. they will offer you unlimited.. but it will be on carriers such as Tmobile & Sprint where available and then Verizon, then AT&T probably in that order-- switch around Tmobile & Sprint if you wish, but those are the cheaper carriers to do mvno business with. Also, a heavy emphasis on phones that can't consume lots of data... such as 3g phones & feature phones. At $40 - $50 a month your overpaying for data on a FEATURE phone.. it should be around $20 - $30 a month for unlimited, so they literally pocket a 30% profit above the normal profit margin.
decifal7
join:2007-03-10
Bon Aqua, TN

decifal7

Member

nother

Another prime example why we need more "true" competition, not just resellers... If "the gang" decides they don't want you having unlimited, your not getting it...
MRCUR
join:2007-03-09
Lancaster, PA

MRCUR

Member

Re: nother

Both T-Mobile and Sprint offer unlimited data service (not including tethering on either carrier). It is really only Verizon and AT&T who no longer want you to have unlimited.
decifal7
join:2007-03-10
Bon Aqua, TN

decifal7

Member

Re: nother

said by MRCUR:

Both T-Mobile and Sprint offer unlimited data service (not including tethering on either carrier). It is really only Verizon and AT&T who no longer want you to have unlimited.

For now
jimolson4
join:2008-05-25

jimolson4

Member

Straighttalk's Hard Cap?

Straighttalk's posting in their user's forum about only using hard caps for Net10's bring-your-own-SIM (BYOD) customers is factually untrue.

My daughter has an ex-AT&T IPhone on Straighttalk's own BYOD program (not Net10's). Her account is indeed hard-capped. Her 3G service is zero'ed out mid-month and only turns back on if she loads in a fresh $45 refill card.

I'm not against hard caps. My daughter uses her 3G service excessively. However, I growl when Straighttalk doesn't tell users this.

It took me three months and a dozen "we don't know what's happening" calls to Straighttalk's blasted customer service number to figure out that they were hard-capping her.
perk52
join:2001-07-20
Columbus, OH

perk52

Member

enoying st

I've had their service for a few years now and not had any problems, although im not a heavy data user, speeds are always great for me. Its bs that they still say unlimited when obviously its not and everyone knows it, how long can they keep this up?
kevin_pink
join:2006-10-15
Bronx, NY

kevin_pink

Member

Re: enoying st

ditto

I don't use that much data myself at the moment. My highest usage-months have been around 1GB from Pandora streaming, occasional Youtube videos, & Twitter/FB/finance apps/etc. I have no problem with the blocking of speedtests, & I know the speeds are decent from FB/IM picture uploads.
Only way i've been able to run a speedtest on StraightTalk was through my VPN at home (FiOS) & my speeds were 3/1Mb.

I can't complain. I love StraightTalk!

buzz_4_20
join:2003-09-20
Dover, NH

buzz_4_20

Member

A Dictionary

Does the ad department consult with anyone.
Have they read the definition of the word Unlimited?

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Which is why I have Verizon

At least I know what my cap is. And I'd rather pay overages than get throttled.

My cap is 4 gigs, I use about 1-2 gigs per month between my two iPads, my Jetpack, and my iPhone. The dumb phones don't use that much data as they are used for voice only.

I like Verizon's plan better, especially since I can spread the bucket of bytes between the devices instead of multiple plans for each device.

I think the ShareEverything is a better deal for multiple devices.
elefante72
join:2010-12-03
East Amherst, NY

elefante72

Member

Re: Which is why I have Verizon

@IC

Prepaid does not have a good story for jetpacks/tablets, so if you want these devices postpaid and shared data really makes sense. I looked really hard, and since my company has major discounts I only pay $28 for 5GB of data which I can now tether on my ipad, so I eliminated the jetpack.

In your case, postpaid makes the best sense considering your usage profile.

I know w/ ST that I have NO idea what the caps are or if I will be throttled, and I am OK with that because it's my wifes phone and if she uses 500MB that is a heavy month. However TMO SIM never had any problems, almost 100% of them are w/ ATT SIMs, meaning ATT is the problem, not ST.

The issue is simply that ATT has not offloaded enough 3G people to LTE yet because their network is not as complete as Verizon who now offloaded 50% of 3G to LTE, so they have to play all these parlor tricks to juggle prepaid/postpaid. Also Verizon prior to LTE also had a superior 3G network, so now it just looks that much better. And that is why now ST and Verizon are cozying up, and ATT is out. So ST is going TMO on GSM and Verizon on CDMA. ATT will be out until they offload (probably next year) enough to make it profitable enough to do so, and manage traffic better.

Prior to this month, Verizon has been downright hostile to MVNO except PPC because they HAD to. Now Verizon needs to use that evacuated 3G network. I can tell you both (LTE, EvDO) operate great as I have one device on each. LTE is just wicked fast.

greg
Greg
Premium Member
join:2003-05-30
Louisville, KY

greg

Premium Member

Still deceptive

I don't particularly care about their breathless blog post claiming they don't have limits (on which they're censoring comments that mention they still have limits). They have a hard cap at 2 GB on AT&T SIMs. Yes, this includes Straight Talk branded service; I know because I used to have one (until January). I used a lot of data in December (oh, just kidding, I used 2034 MB) - got an unintelligible mumble message from them that I couldn't understand and my data was turned off. I called in and was told I had violated the T&Cs and was "abusing the network" (I had only ever used apps on my phone -- no tethering) and that my data speeds would be 'restricted' for the remainder of the billing cycle, oh or I can pay them $45 and magically I'm no longer 'abusing the network'.

So I told them to suck an egg and my data speeds were 'restricted' to (seriously) 10 bytes a second, and literally no apps worked. This restriction was scheduled to be in place for the month after the month in which I used too much 'unlimited' data. I did a chargeback for that month and the previous month, got my money back, and threw the SIM away.

I don't understand why they don't just say "You get 2GB"; 2GB is more than generous at that price point including unlimited voice/text, so they should just own it. I am increasingly agitated at their continued insistence on defining what is clearly not an unlimited product as unlimited.
Cobra11M
join:2010-12-23
Mineral Wells, TX

Cobra11M

Member

ya...

They say this after pulling the AT&T sims.. funny

whiteshp
join:2002-03-05
Xenia, OH

whiteshp

Member

New phone plan!

I'm going to offer a new phone plan! I will call it the "FCC Value Truly Unlimited Wireless Plan" (named after my heroes in wireless regulation).

The plan is simple and offers completely unlimited data for $1* a month! Just $1 for TOTALLY UNLIMITED internet!!!!**

You may now all kiss my pinkie ring for offering said service!

* - Before taxes and fees.
** - Unlimited to 1kb. After the first kb data overages are only 1 cent/byte. Great value!
*** - FCC encourages carriers to list "Unlimited Up To" (there is "no such thing" as a unlimited amount of limited item) as just "Unlimited" with their policies.