I don't know if this illegal, but at best, it's unethical.

[I_AM_THE_ENTIRE_INTERNET]

ST phones do not come with SIMS. The phones are attached to the service themselves through said phone's serial. I already looked into this.

Never mind. I am researching it further. It may not be that black and white.

 

[planoman]

Why not a T mobile SIM card? Unless I assume you have no coverage with T mobile?

 

[anon(5719825)]

I think the law to ban unlocking phones made them hesitate with stocking anything new. I assume you can still get ST phones with a sim inside easily?

There is a new bill being introduced to reverse that law - once the dust settles, they will restock.

I bought a cheap Walmart phone last month that had a regular sized sim card in it. I had planned on activating the phone and then using the sim in an old 3GS but I did the activation wrong. I activated the phone with the sim in the cheap phone which locked the sim to the phone. If I would have not put the sim in that phone but placed it in the iPhone, it would not have been locked to the phone.

I used to do this all the time with GoPhones when AT&T started locking sims to GoPhones.

 

[jdbii]

I am beginning to think that ST micro Sims have been phased out permanently. At least that is what some of the sites on ebay are suggesting. Maybe they are trying to move customers over to Net10.

 

[I_AM_THE_ENTIRE_INTERNET]

I'm not familiar with ST's policies - so do they not allow you to buy the SIM cards from them for $15 and if so, why can you get them from Walmart for $15?

They sell them on on their website and through Wal-Mart's website. They're also available in a few brick and mortar Wal-Marts. But mostly, you have to buy them through walmart.com or straighttalk.com. The thing is, there is a couple of power Ebay/Amazon users who have depleted all of ST's stock and are charging $90 a SIM simply because they control the market now.

 

[CoolBeit]

I had the same problem you're having as I really need an ATT sim. I ended up getting an ATT Net10 sim on ebay. I really don't see much difference as the auto-refill price on Net10 is $45. See this thread:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/google-nexus-4/259451-anyone-using-nexus-4-att-mvno.html

 

[androidluvr2]

They sell them on on their website and through Wal-Mart's website. They're also available in a few brick and mortar Wal-Marts. But mostly, you have to buy them through walmart.com or straighttalk.com. The thing is, there is a couple of power Ebay/Amazon users who have depleted all of ST's stock and are charging $90 a SIM simply because they control the market now.

This doesn't make business sense from ST's point of view. Each one of those SIM cards represents a potential $45 a month customer. ST is the one hurt by this the most. It doesn't make sense for them not to issue more SIM cards UNLESS they are not allowed to because of the terms of the contracts they have with the network owners.

I would think they would restrict the number of SIM cards they will sell to a single address to stop this. It is in their best interest to do so.

 

[minnemike]

I bought a cheap Walmart phone last month that had a regular sized sim card in it. I had planned on activating the phone and then using the sim in an old 3GS but I did the activation wrong. I activated the phone with the sim in the cheap phone which locked the sim to the phone. If I would have not put the sim in that phone but placed it in the iPhone, it would not have been locked to the phone.

I used to do this all the time with GoPhones when AT&T started locking sims to GoPhones.

Interesting.... I wonder if it was locked to the cheap phone from the start regardless? If not, you'd think many would be getting these and cutting the sim down.

 

[minnemike]

This doesn't make business sense from ST's point of view. Each one of those SIM cards represents a potential $45 a month customer. ST is the one hurt by this the most. It doesn't make sense for them not to issue more SIM cards UNLESS they are not allowed to because of the terms of the contracts they have with the network owners.

I would think they would restrict the number of SIM cards they will sell to a single address to stop this. It is in their best interest to do so.

If true, I bet they want to phase out phones on their network that aren't their own phones (eliminate phones without capability embedded to detect stuff like wireless tethering). I bet the carriers are giving them grief about this.

 

[Saiga]

Not to be a jerk, but if ya snooze ya loose.

A lot of people had warning about this coming. The reports that Straight Talk was no longer offering the At&t SIMs appeared on several websites. The news was even mentioned on the website you're currently on. I seen the news and I immediately went to walmart.com and ordered enough of the SIMs for all the members of my family and a few spares. At that time, they were already sold out of the micro cards so I bought a cutter and paid $15 bucks each for the regular sized SIM cards. I'm waiting for the going price to reach $100 and then I'm selling my extras off so that I can cover the cost of the cards I'm using, the cutter and couple months worth of straight talk service.

If you're wanting one, let me know, I'll even cut it down to micro for free

 

[androidluvr2]

The reports that Straight Talk was no longer offering the At&t SIMs appeared on several websites.

That makes sense. It is as I said, simple supply and demand. ST is no longer selling them. So the price goes up if there is demand and a limited supply.

A quick web search pulls up the articles on this and they go back to January. So this isn't about anyone being a sleaze. It is about the OP talking grandma into a deal that no longer exists. ST isn't offering the AT&T SIMs anymore but allowing the existing customers to stay. So if you have a ST AT&T SIM, it becomes valuable. No sleazy mass purchase of the SIMs wiping out the stock. ST and AT&T couldn't come to an agreement that made it worth ST offering AT&T SIMs. They made this public knowledge over a month ago.

So, moral of this story is do your research before you buy or in this case, convince your grandmother to buy. If I were the OP, I would buy grandma the SIM since he talked her into this without researching it.

 

[jdbii]

but if ya snooze ya loose.

don't get too greedy. markets are fickle and upredictable.

 

[jdbii]

A quick web search pulls up the articles on this and they go back to January. They made this public knowledge over a month ago.

I must not be a very good web searcher, because my google searches pull up nothing on the lack of micro sims from Straight Talk. I've been trying to figure out for a month why ST micro sims disappeared and even posted on this forum asking why and nobody gave an answer. Nor have a seen any reports. Now I am not the brightest person, nor even above average, (and peope aren't shy about telling me) so if you could kinldy post anyof these news reports it would be much appreciated.

In the meantime, I'm willing to start a fund for Grandma. I'll donate $5, and I think the guy (or gal) above who posted he is hoarding them should give the OP a 50 percent discount. I think it is kind of touching that the OP is helping Grandma out. OP is going striaght to Heaven when the Almighty (or Budha) calls.

 

[androidluvr2]

don't get too greedy. markets are fickle and upredictable.

Yep, at any time ST and AT&T can come to agreement and then ST will be back to selling AT&T SIMs for $15. From everything I can read, ST is still trying to negotiate a deal with AT&T. It all depends on the price/profit/network capacity whether they will or not.

 

[Saiga]

I must not be a very good web searcher, because my google searches pull up nothing on the lack of micro sims from Straight Talk. I've been trying to figure out for a month why ST micro sims disappeared and even posted on this forum asking why and nobody gave an answer. Nor have a seen any reports. Now I am not the brightest person, nor even above average, (and peope aren't shy about telling me) so if you could kinldy post anyof these news reports it would be much appreciated.

In the meantime, I'm willing to start a fund for Grandma. I'll donate $5, and I think the guy (or gal) above who posted he is hoarding them should give the OP a 50 percent discount. I think it is kind of touching that the OP is helping Grandma out. OP is going striaght to Heaven when the Almighty (or Budha) calls.

What if the guy just cooked up a story about Grandma not being able to use her shinny, new Nexus 4 because he doesn't want to pay $70+ for a $15 sim card? Not saying he is doing that (because I honestly have no way of knowing), but it sure wouldn't be the first time someone made up a story to try to get sympathy and/or donations from people on the interwebs.

 

[androidluvr2]

I must not be a very good web searcher, because my google searches pull up nothing on the lack of micro sims from Straight Talk.

You certainly aren't a good web searcher. Just google "straight talk AT&T sim" and the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th hits talk about it.

I've been trying to figure out for a month why ST micro sims disappeared and even posted on this forum asking why and nobody gave an answer. Nor have a seen any reports. Now I am not the brightest person, nor even above average, (and peope aren't shy about telling me) so if you could kinldy post anyof these news reports it would be much appreciated.

Here is the 2nd hit from googling "straight talk AT&T sim"

Straight Talk no longer offering AT&T compatible SIMs | TalkAndroid.com

The 3rd hit is from AC and the last post references that talkandroid article linked to above.

 

[Doc Marten]

I don't think it's fair, I know it's fair.

First of all, nobody corners the supply of Walmart. Without knowing anything about this situation i can tell you that with certainty.

Second, the act of taking what is cheap and marking up the price is actually beneficial to the market. You can call it trading, scalping, or flipping. You could fill volumes on the benefit of these acts on an efficient market. They range from price discover to supply protection and distribution.

The notion of market ethics is very complicated and having a good grasp on what is or isn't ethical requires a solid foundation in economic theory. You would be surprised how weird economics gets.

In what way is this beneficial to the market? Looking at the big picture, surely a countries population paying more than they need, to an exceptionally tiny minority of people is taking money out of the system and putting it into the hands of the few. This leaves the majority with less disposable income which means they have less to spend in the round. Blatant profiteering can only be bad for the market imo.

 

[androidluvr2]

surely a countries population paying more than they need

What are you talking about, more than they need? The market has determined the value of these cards in the face of ST stopping selling them. When there was a supply that exceeded demand, they were $15 and anyone could by as many as they wanted to. Now there is a limited supply due to ST stopping selling them and the market is determining their price.

Simple supply and demand. Macro Econ 101.

 

[jdbii]

What if the guy just cooked up a story

Just make a check to me then..........CASH...........I'll make sure it is all legit......

Just call me stupid........andoridluvr2 solved something for me in 2 seconds that I had been trying to solve for a month.

 

[gone down south]

Tmobile gives you sim's for free ;-)

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