The Straight Talk Experiment

[shady195]

So for the past 7 years I've been a verzion Customer, in that time I have had every major smartphone at one point or another and in my search for the perfect phone after all these years have without a doubt chosen android as my all time love.

This will probably be long winded, random and completely all over the place so bare with me.

The thing about android and verizon phones is the complete lack urgency on verizons part when it comes to releasing updates, and some 3rd party developer roms because well, CDMA android phones seem to be the red headed stepchild of the family. Finding a completely working stock vanilla android rom for some of these phones is nearly impossible, they may mostly work but there always seems to be a quirk somewhere that drives me insane.

Did I mention the Verizon bloatware?

I like stock android especially since ICS came out, thats when I fell in love... When the Galaxy Nexus came out for Verizon I was ecstatic to finally have a phone that was promised to get updates from google in a timely fashion, well that never seemed to happen and well there is no more nexus phones available on verizon

I have unlimited data with verizon, I have jumped through hoops, spent long hours on the phone to keep it, I have battled and tricked my way into keeping the holy unlimited data plan with my amazing 4G LTE speeds. To be honest for the longest time i abused it because I could, id tether wheneve rI was out and about, id stream music all day without a care in the world.. However none of that really started to matter recently when I was dieing to just have a stock Android 4.2/4.3 rom without any issues.

I use my phone heavily for work, but mostly stay under 2GB of data a month, once in awhile ill tether to take care of some remote access on servers and switches through our VPN but thats few and far between.. I get coverage everywhere but in the areas im at the most I hardly get fast 4G let alone 3G speeds and end up connected to wifi most of the time.

I have been burning inside to have a pure google device, specifically the nexus, call me a fan boy but thats what I want. I want what google considers there bench mark phone, did I mention the price? Being able to buy a phone outright under 400 dollars is just insane how could you not want that?

Enter Straight Talk. I spent hours reading through people testimonials, some damning them to hell others praising the great service (depending on the carrier and location) with the few caviots, some saying they get throttled going over 100MB a day, others saying they dont. Some saying they go over the 2GB cap without throtting more saying after 2GB they basically get the big middle finger from straight talk..

With all this in mind I bought myself a nexus 4 that arrived on wednesday, and with that I have paired it with Straight Talk on the ATT network. My plan is to use this for the next month, really use it (not abuse and push the limits just because I can) to use my device in the most heavy use scenario im typically in throughout the month and see how I end up. The thing is I don't expect much issue with talking/texting its the DATA everyone seems to worry about..

So far I have had straight talk for 3 days. off the batt I can tell you in my area I am getting much better reception and data speeds than I have with Verizon (except when i go into the heart of a couple of areas where there are 4G towers and I could hit 40MBPS) the best speed Ive gotten so far with my nexus 4 is around 10MBS, but I average around 1.5-3MBPS in my home and at work (where I normally only got 150KBPS-1MB with verizon on 3G) now this is just my own experiance in my area, that doesnt mean one is better than the other for everyone.

I have used about ~350MBPS (over 100MB a day) so far, streaming some youtube when I was bored on my lunch in my car, downloading apps.. Some light web browsing, some instagram etc..

While I don't plan to update this thread with every little thign I plan to update it as I get towards my end of the month, and if anything major happens which better or worsens my opinion of straight talk.

I'm not trying to ABUSE my data to see if I can hit a cap, im simply trying to use it as much as possible in a real case scenario for me and to use as much as possible to see if I can hit some sort of wall, to see if this really will work for me..

If it does, and to be honest ai am REALLY hoping it does I plan to cancel my verizon.

These are simply first impressions, I could totally end up changing my tune, but honestly my love of the Nexus 4 is keeping me optimisitc.. After having the Galaxy nexus, then the S4, HTC one recentely to try out.. I must admit I am extremely in love with the nexus 4 and how it fits in my hand, how great the stock experiance with no custom BS feels..

I know I could get this with the MotoX, but in a year, maybe two am I going to want to jump through hoops and hope verizon keeps the unlimited? Do I really want to spend 600 bucks on a phone outright? do I want to pay subsidized pricing anymore and end up paying for it later?

No i really dont, and if google keeps on their trend and I hope they do, the ability to by a phone outright at a reasonable cost will keep me on this path for as long as it goes on.

 

[sheallwayswins]

Sounds like att with ST is your ticket. I've benn with ST about 4 months, and have been throttled twice ,allways when I used over 200 MB in a day . I use around 2 G a month. Good luck with your trial.$$$=

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with nexus4

 

[clavodulce16]

I'm in the NYC area and i'm using ST+Tmo, however i have no complaint with my services as of yet (finger crossed). My avg speed is about 5-10Mb down and about 1.5-2MB up stream. I know Verizon coverage is extremely well but if ST ATT is working just as good, hey why not save the money and be able to change phone when you want.
Just for FYI ST now offers with compatible ATT phone and sim card.

 

[shady195]

I am currently using the ATT sim with ST

As I said I have not been abusing my DATA to find a limit, however when it gets close to the end of the month I may try to just do a little more to see if I can find a limit and get myself a good idea, some say say 1.5 gigs, some say less, some say more depending on how quickly they used it etc etc..

I streamed pandora for about an hour and a half yesterday on my way down to NYC, did not use much data (I seldom use pandora anyways) but I used it just to see if anytrhing bad would come of it.

So far I really can't complain, ive been very happy with ST however I will admit im still a little weary to pull the plug on verizon, I may give it 2 months instead of the 1 intially I was planning on. I keep telling myself that well with verizon I can do whatever I want, and I immeidately ask myself how I can switch away from that? but I also think to myself and look back on how much data i actually realistically use when im not abusing my unlimited data powers and its rarely over 2 gigs..

If I can consitantly get 2 gigs of data a month with ST without getting screwed over by them I think it will totally be a viable option.. and to be honest I am in LOVE with my nexus 4.. Especially with the Ringke Fusion case, may sound dumb but that case by itself has me in love.. Honestly one of the best cases ive ever had on a phone..

 

[Sophos]

I've been using 5 lines with ST in my area for over a year without issue. That being said Verizon just rolled out LTE here so if you are looking for someone to take over that unlimited data plan.....

I play with my food

 

[shady195]

Well this will be short lived, while I won't be able to give long term impressions on ST, in this short term I see it being a viable option for those who don't use a lot of DATA

For peace of mind I'm going to head over to AIO, because well they at least tell you when your going to get throttled, and even still when you do its still a somewhat useable speed ~200KBPS if you need to do something in a pinch (Google Maps, look something up through your browser etc)

For 5 bucks more a month than ST, knowing that your getting actual ATT service and a no BS terms of service that outlines and doesn't lie.. well thats worth just going over without question IMO

 

[Tom Westrick]

I've been using Straight Talk (ATT) for about 9 months in/around San Antonio, and haven't had any complaints so far. I just ordered one of their new SIMs that works with LTE and can't wait to get it.

 

[clavodulce16]

Why is there such need to find out where you will be cut off, i used to do the same when i first came over to ST, however i found myself doing dumb speed test to run up the data. I just used my phone as needed and desire. i do not limit myself from using my phone because of an invisible data cap. however i do monitor the amount of data i used every month when my Credit card gets charge and to be honest i yet to go over 2GB.

I am currently using the ATT sim with ST

As I said I have not been abusing my DATA to find a limit, however when it gets close to the end of the month I may try to just do a little more to see if I can find a limit and get myself a good idea, some say say 1.5 gigs, some say less, some say more depending on how quickly they used it etc etc..

I streamed pandora for about an hour and a half yesterday on my way down to NYC, did not use much data (I seldom use pandora anyways) but I used it just to see if anytrhing bad would come of it.

So far I really can't complain, ive been very happy with ST however I will admit im still a little weary to pull the plug on verizon, I may give it 2 months instead of the 1 intially I was planning on. I keep telling myself that well with verizon I can do whatever I want, and I immeidately ask myself how I can switch away from that? but I also think to myself and look back on how much data i actually realistically use when im not abusing my unlimited data powers and its rarely over 2 gigs..

If I can consitantly get 2 gigs of data a month with ST without getting screwed over by them I think it will totally be a viable option.. and to be honest I am in LOVE with my nexus 4.. Especially with the Ringke Fusion case, may sound dumb but that case by itself has me in love.. Honestly one of the best cases ive ever had on a phone..

 

[shady195]

Get lost somewhere and have your GPS fail or have to look something up in an emergency
Have your power go out at your house with massive storm warning and need to get news or other information quickly

Network here at my job goes down and I need a way to get out remotely to our other devices through our VPN

This isnt something that happens often, but its something that can surely rack up DATA very quickly, I need to know that my provider won't just give me the boot if this happens. I understand throttling with the MVNO's.. I totally get that.. I understand WHY carriers limit data and hard cap

There are just WAY to many horror storries of data getting shut off that the more I read the more worried I get, don't get me wrong ST this week has been great to me.. the speeds are quite fast and that actually makes me a little sad that AIO will cap me at 4MBPS when I can get ~10 with ST (not needed 99.9% of the time but good brtagging rights regardless of rhwat it is)

I want to know that if I hit 2GBPS I wont get cut off completely, that I won't be shunned from the servce. I can still do my work at 250KBPS.. Hell I can still stream music in a power outage at 256kbps, I can still look up weather info and browse the internet

How am I going to do that if ST sees me use 500MB+ in a day in an emergency and decided to turn my data off?


EVERY single good report i hear is of low data users, people that dont abuse their data and use it for cehcking mail, uploading pictures to instagram, a little youtube and music.. Every bad report I hear is from people that use a spike of data in a day, some are lucky and get there speed back, others have been limped for good or cut completely..

I can't live with that uncertainty

 

[clavodulce16]

hey is part of "you get what you pay for" there is day that i do use 200mb plus but there are days i only use about 15mb. so i do not worry but i do understand your concerns.

 

[voghan]

I'm in a similar boat. I'm taking my phone away from Verizon and am running on ST for now. So far I have not heard many good things about any of the small carriers. For me ST has been working fine but I haven't really stress tested it yet. To cover the data issue I have purchased a hotspot from Verizon and plan on keeping that going on a minimal data plan. This way if I lose data and I can fall back on the hotspot.

 

[Venom4u]

I have been on Straight Talk for over a year. My two daughters were also initially on Straight Talk also. We had T-Mobile sim cards and all use the HTC Amaze 4G. I do not root our phones as of now, I had in the past. They are just unlocked. Getting the Straight Talk Service set up properly on your phone takes a little more work and knowledge than with other carriers. Add the somewhat non existent customer service and you are pretty much on your own. It took about a month to find and configure the proper APN settings to have everything work properly including picture mail. Straight Talks APN settings worked but MMS was flakey at best. Once we had the best APN settings things were good. Knowing they would throttle eventually, I became very aware of free Wifi wherever I went. For myself and my oldest daughter, we had no problems with the data and speeds. My youngest daughter started to encounter problems in the second month. It was the amount of data she was using daily that triggered the messages from Straight Talk claiming excessive data usage and possible termination. The youngest daughter is on her phone all the time and streaming music. She will listen to Pandora her whole shift at work. In the third month, we knew she was going to be terminated so we went to T-Mobile and she got a true unlimited plan. For my oldest and myself, Straight Talk has been great. We have not been throttled at all, I think mostly due to all the Free Wifi spots we have saved into our phones. Just recently T-Mobile was screwing with the cell towers in my area and we started to barely have a signal in our home. We have just changed our sim cards to Straight Talk ATT sim cards. Now I am going through trying to figure out the best APN settings again. All in all, I would say Straight Talk works great for us.

 

[Hiberny]

I'm in a similar boat. I'm taking my phone away from Verizon and am running on ST for now. So far I have not heard many good things about any of the small carriers. For me ST has been working fine but I haven't really stress tested it yet. To cover the data issue I have purchased a hotspot from Verizon and plan on keeping that going on a minimal data plan. This way if I lose data and I can fall back on the hotspot.

Will that really be cheaper? If your don't mind my asking, what's the price break down?

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