TracFone Debuts StraightTalk Flat-Rate Service

[...] 1 votes vote TracFone Debuts StraightTalk Flat-Rate Service Venerable prepaid MVNO TracFone has launched a new flat-rate service called Straight Talk for [...]

Might want to mention that it uses native Verizon coverage.

Does that mean that it won’t work in an area where the only CDMA coverage is Alltel?

Also, is there a list of which Wal-Mart locations are participating?

Here’s the coverage map:
http://www.straighttalk.com/Coverage

And here are the retail stores.
http://www.straighttalk.com/retail

Remember, you can purchase the phone online even if there’s no participating local Walmart.
http://www.straighttalk.com/ServicePlans

It will work in alltel areas in which verizon has taken over alltel. Most alltel areas that verizon took over are being upgraded to work with verizon.

So far I believe that the areas Straight talk is being launched in are:
Atlanta , Albany , Dallas , Raleigh , Chicago , Las Vegas , Louisville , Cincinnati and Rochester.
But I expect that it will probably expand throughout America as soon as Tracfone is geared for it. I for one am very keen to buy a Straight Talk phone.

Unlimited for $45 on Verizon network and no contract? Sounds like a VERY good deal. This totally blasts away the unlimited options from Boost etc. Not hust cheaper but so much better coverage and network reliability.

Maybe, since it runs on Verizon’s network, Verizon will think about lowering the cost of their own $99/month with contract unlimited plan. I like Verizon but it seems like they’re far behind in the cost competition.

I am overall pleased with the service for $30. There was a glitch that left me without service for a few days, and customer service at their call center was abysmal. However someone really goofed up and my last call somehow got routed to the corp office. 30 minutes later I had full service restored. Do not expect much help from customer no-service, but 1000 minutes for $30 mitigates that frustration very much

Hey when do you all think tha they will come out with another phone? I know its new and all but there afre 4 phones lol. and I wonder if it has a sims card to change phones.

@ray What kind of features are you looking for? The 3 current phones are it for now, but who know about the future…

And no sim card switcheroo.

With regards to Straight Talk, I like what I’m experiencing so far. [I bought into the service a couple of days ago.] Customer service is top notch. They are so eager to help you setup, answer questions, etc. And, since Straight Talk is based on a trusted carrier, Verizon, I have no doubt that they are poised to surprise the competition and change the status quo for good. We could be witnessing the beginning of a turning point in wireless service in the great US of A; and, resisting the change may be fruitless.

My Name is Elston and I am a Tracfone Employee and I am here to assist anyone that needs any assistance. My contact information is 1.800.626.4883 ext 6107

I did a little digging around and I thing that the best bang for your buck is Straight Talk. $45 a month for unlimited nationwide anytime minutes and texts. Pretty awesome!

I ordered mine from the website and will let you know how I like it. Can’t beat the price though!

Yeah, this does sound like the “Plan of the Century.”
OK, 3 different phones are offered.
I did some surfing around. I found that the “Moto W385″ got good reviews.
The “Motorazr” (the most expensive phone got horrible reviews.
I can’t find any info on the cheapy, “LG 200cm.”
I know that my workplace got 50 LG phones with 48 of them needing to be replaced immediately, not a good track record.
Anyone using the LG 200cm? Sure would like some input on it
Thanks, Jim

i have had straight talk for about 2 months so far so goood……but no warning when time is about to run out and the LG 200 sux. as soon as i can afford it iam upgrading

does straighttalk use sim cards in their phones?

Got the Straight Talk W385/Motorola with 1000 minutes.
Had an issue with my phone being “recognized.” Called the CSR who spoke English without an accent (that’s a biggy to me). She resolved the problem. My interaction with the Customer Service Rep. was superior. Phone is working perfectly in my home (Philadelphia, PA).

When my contact with Sprint is up in about 10 days, I want to “port’ my cell number to my new Straight Talk. Was told by a ST CSR that I have 14 days after initial set-up to do that. I really hope that is true. I’ll be back here to report on that.

@todd: no sim card switching. ST saervice works only on ST phones

@dawn 30 days is how long each period lasts. The MotoW385 seems to be the most popular ST phone.

i looked on the coverage map, and i can’t relly tell if it covers my area. the only way i can contact c.s. is if i call or write them snail mail. i have a pay-as-you-go phone and don’t want to use up the minutes. i noticed in reading the reviews that someone from s.t. is answering questions, so i’d like to ask if s.t. covers pensacola, florida?

@jane: what’s your zip code?

It probably does work (Do you know people who use Verizon in your area? Is so, that’s a big clue since ST runs on VRZ’s network.), but please provide your zip code to confirm.

******TO: THE STRAIGHT TALK REP AT THIS SITE *******************
AND all who monitor this site:
Well, my honeymoon with Straight Talk appears to be over. Before I activated my Straight Talk phone ten days ago, I called a CSR who informed me that I had two weeks after activation to port my old number to my new S.T. phone. Sounded great to me. I believed the S.T. rep. (silly me!)
I just called today to port my number. Spoke to CSR “RYAN” who informed me that he could process the ‘”porting,” HOWEVER it would require a new purchase of minutes for $30.00. When I told him that my current balances were 950 minutes/talk and 975/text, he told me essentially
‘too bad, buy new minutes or it doesn’t get done.’ According to Ryan, balances can’t be transferred to a new number because of the way the computer is set up.
I WORK WITH COMPUTERS—ANYTHING CAN BE DONE.
When I asked for a supervisor, first, he said that there were none; then said they were all on a very important Conference Call. I’m used to Conference Calls and know that for an important matter, the Conference Call can be interupted. OBVIOUSLY, CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NOT IMPORTANT AT STRAIGHT TALK.
When I asked when a supervisor would call me back, there again, first, he told me I would have to call back; then said a supervisor would call me back in 24 to 48 hours. For some reason, I won’t hold my breath.
Keeping my Sprint account is sounding better and better.
Congratulations, STRAIGHT TALK is proving itself.

To the Straight Talk Rep on line here: Is this issue resolvable?
And please, say hello to Ryan from me. I spoke with him today, Aug 29th @ 0827hrs.EDST Conversation lasted 19 minutes

To all others here: I will keep you informed !!

Well, the 24-48 hours have long been up and still no call from a supervisor. I sent an email to the company, advising that I was requesting that my TracFone minutes be transferred from my old TracFone number to my new TracFone ported number. Gave the serial number on my TracFone phone and the TracFone phone number. Received a reply telling me that I couldn’t transfer my Sprint minutes over to tracfone, which I never asked to do and, additionally, informed me how I could buy a TracFone. If I didn’t have a TracFone already, I’m wondering how I could have provided them with the TracFone serial number and a TracFone phone number.
The saga continues.

straighttalkme,
my zip is 32504. i’ll take a look at the verizon coverage map as well.
thanks!

@jane I’m told that there IS Verizon coverage in your zip, so you’re good to go (or is that the wrong slogan?) LOL!

@JimInPhila It looks like CSR Elston has offered to help. Have you contacted him directly?

It took a week to speak with a CSR in the company who actually was willing to assist me with porting my phone number and it is a done deal now. I suspect a secret may be to call during “day shift” hours. Never got any results when calling in the evening.
Thank CSR Elston, but it won’t be necessary now. Not sure how I would have contacted “Elston” had I still needed assistance.

straighttalkme,

thanks for your help!

[...] Operators (MVNOs) Following up on the initial announcement of the StraightTalk service plan this summer, Wal-Mart has confirmed it will begin an exclusive [...]

Have not bought Straight Talk yet and desire to know about the Web services they have. Is it real web browsing or is it the worthless “Open Wave” that Tracfone uses?

deos this phone have any covers for it bvecause i want to make mine look stilyish and i really want a cove

mail me back bye

Im having a big pain with straight talk thus far. Im switching from Net10 to Straight talk along with moving my net10 number. I was told no problem !!! Well my Net10 phone no longer works and neither does my Straight talk phone !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish I had kept my net10. Customer service is a joke, cannot get an answer , the only answer I get is Im trying to call the other department please hold this is over and over and over !!!!! So now I have neither phone that works. It would help greatly If you could understand the customer service reps I have yet to get a rep that spoke understandable English. This is very frustrating !!!!!!!!!! If it sounds too good to be true it most likely is.

russell,
sorry to hear your problems. i too used net10 until i switched to straight talk. i really liked net10, but the price won me over to straight talk. i had no problems switching. i got my number ported over in an hour or 2, and actually got someone who spoke pretty good english.
all i can suggest is to keep trying and you should be able to get someone who can help.

You would call Straight Talk customer service a joke but there is nothing funny about it. The majority of the staff could care less. There’s an Straight Talk “observer” who comes to this site, maybe once a week, He “pre-dates” his replies so it looks like he’s answering the day you write here.
Yep, I’ve been where you are. The old service off and the new not started.
It’s a very simple process but it took days for Straight Talk to activate it.
Multiple phone calls, when I could get to talk with a rep, was “we’re working on it.”
So I see nothing has changed.
The final straw for me was when I couldn’t connect the Blue Tooth. So, I took it to 2 different stores. Both techs said, ” Your phone is too cheap a model to handle it” even though the phone listed supposedly as blue tooth compatible. That’s the phone, btw, that Straight Talk has increased the price to $100.00 now. I paid $80 two months ago for the same phone.
Straight Talk literally tourmanted me every step of the way. Two weeks ago when I got out of their nightmare, I had my number ported to my new service. When the number wasn’t ported (transferred) to my new company in 7 days, I called the new carrier and asked what the problem was. The new rep. called Straight Talk to see why there was a delay on such a standard procedure. The Straight Talk rep. replied, “Yeh, we got the request 7 days ago. We just haven’t gotten around to it.” BTW, my new carrier rep. informed me that the FCC “standard,” but not law, is to transfer the number within 2 hours of a request.
Russell, I found that customer service is slightly better in the daytime than at nite, but not by much. You might try that. But, Pal, I’m giving you fair warning, you problems and frustrations have only just began.
I am so glad I’m out of the Straight Talk nightmare.
My sympathies to you, JimInPhila@Gmail.com

I suggest that anyone who has any issues get in touch with Elston (above) who writes:

“My Name is Elston and I am a Tracfone Employee and I am here to assist anyone that needs any assistance. My contact information is 1.800.626.4883 ext 6107″

Others have had success after speaking with him.

It’s always better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, imho.

They got my phone working when I called TracPhone directly. But I still cannot access the internet. So far Im very unsatisfied with the quality of my experiences with ST. Im second guessing my switch, I will be calling to get my browser straightened out. We will see how many hours this takes. My experience thus far is the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing.

“It’s always better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, imho.”

Darkness? I got out of the nightmare.

I am using a bluetooth blue ant speakerphone with a Motorola RZR Straighttalk phone. The bluetooth disconnects and does not automatically reconnect. You must manually reconnect the bluetooth every time you use it. This is wrong.

“Bob,” Oh no, not at this site. You must be wrong. See, no matter what the pay, it just doesn’t work…Dude, take it from me, RUN, run for your life. Its only going to get worst.
You could call “Customer Service.” I’ll let you in, from personal experience, it will take you weeks to straighten it out, if at all.
Gee, you could ask to speak to a supervisor, that’s what I did. I’m still waiting for that to happen (weeks later).
Asked to have my number ported, the standard is 2 hours. Straight Talk said, “Yeah, we know about it, we just havent’t gotten around to it yet.”
I came into Straight Talk 100 percent positive. I was fought 97 percent of the way. Then it was suggested that I light a candle, rather then ‘curse the darkness.’ There was NO ONE there to offer me a match.
I don’t understand why I was told by one CSR that I had 2 weeks to port my phone number but when I attempted to do it I was charged for another full month…..That has never been answered—humm. No other carrier I know does that. Gee, what a great carrier. I guess I’m just “cursing the darker,” while they are collecting more money.
I wish someone could tell me why I’m still waitinf for a supervisor to call me WHEN I was told it would take 24 to 48 hours. I admit, I’m in the darkness!
I am also in the DARKNESS why I was told I had to pay additionally to have my number ported after I was told by a CSR that I had 2 weeks to port my number.
I am in the dartkness why my phone would not accept a bluetooth AFTER STRAIGHT TALK advertised it as acceping BLUETOUTH.
Please, light a candle to the above. Gee, is that supervisor calling me now?
Why have I had 45 minute convertions in the evening only to be told “Gee,. I don’t know. Call back tomorrow.” I guess I’m in the darkness,.
When I called back the next day, there was no record of me call the night before.
CAN SOMEBODY “”"”"LIGHT A MATCH”"”"”?

Hi, I noticed that w/Trakfone… your “units” reduce @ different rates. One guy calls me for 7 minutes & my units drop about 22! Someone calls me & it drops : 1 unit per minute… another time someone calls for a minute & units don’t drop at all. I have done this experimentally & found alot of variation & I wonder why?

I am a verizon Blackberry who was an Alltel customer until the merger….

Anyway, I’m paying over $229 per month for two blackberrys and I’m draastically looking for a way to cut my bill. The main thing I need is a way to sync my contacts and calendar between my phone and PC (outlook, and yahoo). Does anyone know if any of the straighttalk phones will do that? If I do activate a straightalk phone, can I later port my number (I use it for my business and DO NOT want the task of getting everyone a new number) and I want to try the service before I switch for good.

Thank you for your help!

hi joe,
i don’t know about sync-ing everything over to a straighttalk phone, but i know you can port your number over. i had no problem doing that and it was done in about an hour for me.
and when i’ve had to call customer service, i’ve been able to talk with people who speak good english and were very helpful. i’ve been pleased for the most part with their phone service. the only complaint i have is that sometimes i have to dial a number 2-3 times before it connects. i’ve been using their 1000 minute plan, until i got a card for unlimited minutes (which is nicer since i don’t have to listen to the recording of how many minutes i have left). and in using the unlimited minutes i haven’t had a connection problem.

jim
i think we are both walking around in the same darkness. got my phone this past saturday ported the number and had no problems was thinking wow i going to like this wrong went to try and download a ringtone and could not get on the web on thier website or from my phone called csr and got someone who told me my phone could not do that but on thier website my phone say graphics and ringtone downloads and on the box phone came in..to make a long story short 7 phone calls and more than three hours of useless talking phone still does not work and they want another 48 hours to fix the problem 1 scr phone does not do that 2 crs phone does 3crs does not 4 crs does 5 crs supervisor does 6 crs tech does not oh wait yes it does ….i’m still in the dark with you anyone have a match PLEASE

I have been on this plan for about 4 months now and it has been great! I picked mine up at WalMart & for $45, I get unlimited text & unlimited minutes. Oh! And no contract which is a BIG PLUS. I just started school in Chicago and love the fact that I don’t need to be worried about going over my minutes or texts for the month! I can keep in contact with all my friends and family stress-free! Love it!