Alternative cell phones/plans suggestions

Hey all, I am looking into using Straight Talk prepaid cell service and dumping Verizon's sorry butt. Looking at their plans, you can get unlimited everything for $45/month for domestic use. I'm presently paying almost $130/month for Verizon for 700 minutes talk/unlimited messaging and no web for 2 phones. Most of their phones work off the Sprint network (which sucks around my house) but they do have a Samsung Galaxy Proclaim smartphone that uses the Verizon network and can be had for less than $200 from Walmart. Also, they do have a plan to let you bring your ATT, T-Mo or unlocked GSM smartphone to their service by buying a sim card from them for $15.

I am thinking of getting the Galaxy Proclaim for my wife, but I am thinking of getting an unlocked Google Nexus for myself and buying the sim card for it. The part I have to make sure of first before doing the Nexus is that the sim card goes on the ATT network and not T-Mo, as their coverage sucks down here too, just like Sprint. I can't call while here on the rig, but plan to call them up when I get in from the job.

Every time I have dealt with Verizon's customer service, I have felt like I needed a bath afterwards. I still have 6 months left on their contract, but I'll eat the early termination fees to dump their butts.

I guess what I am asking here is if any of you have used Straight Talk and if there might be any potential pitfalls of using them over the major carriers. BTW, they are a division of TracFone.

So you can use CDMA phones on their service (that's what Sprint and Verizon are)? I'm not aware of any CDMA phones that use SIM cards other than global phones (like the ancient Touch Pro2) so I wonder how one would go about using a Sprint phone on their network?

ghost_recon88 said:

So you can use CDMA phones on their service (that's what Sprint and Verizon are)? I'm not aware of any CDMA phones that use SIM cards other than global phones (like the ancient Touch Pro2) so I wonder how one would go about using a Sprint phone on their network?

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According the wikipedia (best source I know), it seems they roam on at least at&t, Verizon and Sprint networks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TracFone_Wireless#Straight_Talk

GSM phones are at&t, where cdma use Verizon and sprint as relevant.

Have you looked at metropcs in your region?

Well my point was, in order to roam on a CDMA tower (Sprint & Verizon) your phone has to have CDMA technology. And since you can't use SIM chips in one, I was wondering how abouts you'd get a CDMA phone on their service. Right now I have a SERO Premium plan through Sprint, so I don't plan on leaving them anytime soon. Even the corporate Verizon discount at work can't put them close to Sprint.

Looking for suggestions from all of you. I am on verizon currently, 2yr contract wrapping up in December and I'm planning my exit... Spending WAY more than I need to - cut back my plan from $110 to $80 lately (including taxes and stuff) by dropping text messaging and reducing phone minutes, but I believe I could spend half that and get what I want.

What I want to do with my new device:

1. Internet access anywhere (I have 3G coverage pretty much everywhere on Verizon, and having internet access without relying on wifi is very important to me)
2. Wifi
3. Good device hardware (modern screen/processor specs)
4. Minimal phone minutes (If I can buy minutes as I need them that would be ideal, like tracfone - many months I use 50 minutes or less and currently I just lose them)
5. Ability to use apps (nzbair, plex, pandora)
6. GPS (I use google navigation all the time - its free and GPS is good)

I think those are all my main requirements!

Check out Republic wireless. They are using sprints network and its unlimited everything for $20 a month. The catch is that they want you to use WiFi whenever possible to keep cell usage down. The phone also can auto migrate from WiFi to Cell and back again automatically.

Nice option. Sounds pretty fly. I already use VOIP for my home/work phone, so VOIP on the cell would be legit. Doesn't sound bright from their forum however:
http://republicwireless.com/forum/n...rget-hybrid-live-handoff-just-get-damn-phones

I don't know anything about the LG Optimus, or if they are sending old versions of the LG Optimus or new ones. Any details there?

Still very interested in other options.

I'm in the same boat as IMOG here. So I'm just going to tag along on this this thread, if he doesn't mind.

I'd really like to cut down the $140 /mo for two phones, considerably.

you can flash many phones over the the smaller companies like metro pcs or virgin. just have to figure what baseband they are. metro pcs can use many of the verizon phones, but not sure how the service itself is. have considered moving to them on many occasions. Verizon is extremely lame as far as making you fell like you matter at all to them, so the wife is the sole reason we are still with verizon as they have had me fuming on many ocasions

I.M.O.G. said:

What I want to do with my new device:

1. Internet access anywhere (I have 3G coverage pretty much everywhere on Verizon, and having internet access without relying on wifi is very important to me)
2. Wifi
3. Good device hardware (modern screen/processor specs)
4. Minimal phone minutes (If I can buy minutes as I need them that would be ideal, like tracfone - many months I use 50 minutes or less and currently I just lose them)
5. Ability to use apps (nzbair, plex, pandora)
6. GPS (I use google navigation all the time - its free and GPS is good)

I think those are all my main requirements!

Click to expand...

Wait a month or two and buy that Intel Phone we saw at CES 2012. Then buy this for $30 a month, you can use the SIM card that comes with the plan in any unlocked AT&T or any T-Mobile phone:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Tmobile-30-Wireless-Airtime-Card/15443357

4G Unlimited Web & Text [but only 100 min of talk, 10 cents per minute after the first free 100 minutes.]
Full T-Mobile coverage, no contract whatsoever.


EDIT: You do not have to buy a phone from Wal-mart - regardless of what they say, SIM Card works in any phone which works with T-Mobile, in other words, any T-Mobile phone or any unlocked AT&T phone since both use SIM Cards.

ghost_recon88 said:

So you can use CDMA phones on their service (that's what Sprint and Verizon are)? I'm not aware of any CDMA phones that use SIM cards other than global phones (like the ancient Touch Pro2) so I wonder how one would go about using a Sprint phone on their network?

Click to expand...

The CDMA phones are made for Straight talk and don't have sim cards. The Galaxy Proclaim is one made to work for them by Samsung and for connection source it uses Verizon's network instead of Sprint. AFAIK, all of Straight Talk's other smartphones connect over the Sprint network and for me that's a no-no because their coverage sucks down here. But if you bring your own phone, they also have agreements with ATT and T-Mo and they have their own sim cards to install in your ATT, T-Mo or unlocked GSM phone. The GSM phones to be used on their network with their sim cards have to be able to broadcast on the 850 and 1900 MHz bands. You cannot bring a CDMA phone from Verizon or Sprint over to their service. You can just bring locked GSM based phones from ATT or T-Mo or use an unlocked GSM phone that uses the above frequencies.

Shelnutt2 said:

According the wikipedia (best source I know), it seems they roam on at least at&t, Verizon and Sprint networks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TracFone_Wireless#Straight_Talk

GSM phones are at&t, where cdma use Verizon and sprint as relevant.

Have you looked at metropcs in your region?

Click to expand...

No, I haven't checked out MetroPCS. I will give them a looking at though. Thanks for mentioning them to me.

I.M.O.G. said:

Also looking outside of Verizon, but planning ahead... I'm not giving them an early termination charge. In case it may be relevant to you as well:
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7224072#post7224072

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Thanks for the link to your thread on this Matt. Sounds like you and I are rowing in the same boat right now, trying to cut monthly costs.

Since I need talk minutes moreso than data, I am using Walmart's Family Mobile plan for

$45 first phone and $25 each additional phone, for a family plan that averages out to $30 a phone. But that plan has taxes and fees added. Plus they increased the price now to $45 + $35 each additional phone but they give you unlimited everything on T-Mobile network, no contracts whatsoever.


I hear their $30 individual plan has no taxes and fees. SO that would be a sweet deal for just $30 out of pocket for unlimited web and text. Does not work for me because they only give you 100 minutes of talk but sweet deal cost wise for some I think. 100 minutes is free then 10 cents a minutes after that, unless you can figure out a way to use minutes through data.


Beware of unlimited everything $4x plans with certain other providers which give you painfully slow data speeds. Make sure you know exactly what the speeds are. The good thing about these is there are no contracts so the only thing you are out if things don't work out is the $25 activation fee.

Dang, if I could get a phone that uses Verizon's coverage without paying Verizon's fees, and have their 3G coverage, that sounds really ideal!

Month or two from now its coming? I'm not buying until the end of year, so that may work for my timing and I'd like to try an Intel processor in my phone.

ghost_recon88 said:

Dang, if I could get a phone that uses Verizon's coverage without paying Verizon's fees, and have their 3G coverage, that sounds really ideal!

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The exact phone I am looking at that works on Verizon's network is this Samsung Galaxy Proclaim, which you can get from Straight Talk or through Walmart.com. Buying through Walmart will let you get extra warranty for $39 extra. The phone isn't bleeding edge, but looks to have roughly the same basics specs as an iPhone 3GS. But it does have a micro sd slot so you can put up to a 32 gig card in it.

I was also told that if you pay on Straight Talk's website instead of buying your cards from Walmart that you don't pay tax either.

I really meant to research this but I thought the early models were arriving toward the end of summer. They will definitely be available in the fall.


Last I heard, single new Intel CPU was smoking multi cores inside top current performers.

We should really merge the talk with Glorious Leader's thread.


I just posted in his thread that Intel's coming to the market soon. We saw a presentation of their new phone CPU at CES 2012 and I know that initial tests had it smoking anything on the market now.

Thanks, also something I'm very interested in that I didn't have top of mind. I'll look into that option more.

muddocktor said:

The exact phone I am looking at that works on Verizon's network is this Samsung Galaxy Proclaim, which you can get from Straight Talk or through Walmart.com. Buying through Walmart will let you get extra warranty for $39 extra. The phone isn't bleeding edge, but looks to have roughly the same basics specs as an iPhone 3GS. But it does have a micro sd slot so you can put up to a 32 gig card in it.

I was also told that if you pay on Straight Talk's website instead of buying your cards from Walmart that you don't pay tax either.

Click to expand...

Hmm it's a single core Right now I'm paying $55 a month for unlimited data/texts, and 500 minutes which is way more than I ever use. I can roam on Verizon's towers for data, but when I do I only get 1x (2G) speeds. Here, and most other places I believe, Verizon has way faster network speeds than Sprint.

Does T-Mobile coverage suck in your part of the country, is that why you're not considering it?