Straight Talk vs. T-mobile prepaid

[mindy976]

Good morning and here is my quandry. I have a T-mobile phone (Galaxy S) that I was using on a contract plan and recently de-actived because their bill is ridiculous. I am now debating using the T-mobile prepaid service VS. Straight Talk with a T-mobile compatible SIM. Where I live at, if I stick my phone in the window the right way or catch a signal outside I can get 4G once in awhile; usually it's just G though which generally is tolerable, just slow. Would there be any difference in the coverage/service between those 2 options? I assume they would be the same but I have read many conflicting accounts online. Anyone have any opinions?

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum

 

[Algus]

StraightTalk is a brand of the same company that operates TracFone and a few other low cost Pay As You Go phones, though StraightTalk is an exclusive branding that they only sell through Walmart stores. TracFone is a "reseller" in that they lease space from the major providers towers and sell you access to the space that they've leased out. The good news is that depending on your phone model, area, and so on you might get a SIM that will connect you to a different provider's towers. Generally GSM phones connect to AT&T and CDMA phones connect to Verizon. If you're moving from a T-Mobile Galaxy S, you ~should~ be going to an AT&T Tower. So to find what your coverage would be like, you'd have to check AT&T's coverage maps in your area.

The one bad thing about using StraightTalk (and other TracFone brands) is that you are given low priority access since you aren't directly a customer of the main provider's tower so if things are really congested (data/calls) your service might get interrupted.

 

[mindy976]

Yeah I have been with Straight Talk off and on for a couple years; I dropped them to take over this T-mobile phone for my mother so she didn't have to cancel the contract, only to have to do it anyway because of their hidden and unexplainable charges mounting up to $80+ a month. Now I have what seems to be a decent phone and want optimal coverage, whichever carrier I use. And what you said about connecting to an AT&T tower would actually be awesome, since I had an AT&T phone with the compatible SIM from Straight Talk and had great service, all over. With T-mobile contract, however, AT&T is an option in my phone's connection settings but when I attempted to use that one, it said my SIM did not allow connection to AT&T. So yeah, all this researching is confusing but interesting at the same time. Thank you for your help!