Walmart and Talkabout phone plans

[Hooty Hoot]

Both my wife and I are retired now and I am looking at reining in wasteful spending. My current Verizon phone bill is $154.20 for all our devices. Contract is out and they are still charging for the equipment that is long past paid for. This angers me.

I was in Walmart last week. After checking out, I wondered over to the cellular phone area at the front of the store. They had a prepaid cell plan for the both of us. Cost was $60.00. I think 2 gigs for each phone. Verizon towers.

What does this service not provide that Verizon does. Does anyone have this service? Can you keep your number? What is the down side? Seems to good to be true.

 

[mikesjk8]

Wife and I both switched from Verizon to straight talk a couple a year's ago. Bill went from about 150 a month to 90 a month. Now wal Mart has there own plan like u seen. Haven't switched to it yet but Clark Howard says it's a good deal.

 

[K80Shooter]

I too switched to Straight Talk after being with Verizon for over 20 years. The only difference I see is it's cheaper. Yes you can port your old number to another carrier just make sure to do so "Before" you cancel your service or you'll lose the number.

I also switched my home phone to Straight Talk and ported that number also. My home bill is now 15.00 a month and that's a lot less than it was and it includes caller id which my old company was charging for.

Now for the down side. I have a metal roof on my house and cell service went to nothing when it was 1st installed. Verizon sold me a booster (not really a booster but the correct name evades me at this time) at a discount which helped a lot. Once my contract was up with them the booster no longer worked. Now I have a booster that works with everything and nobody can turn it off.

 

[georgia_home]

verizon, imho, is the best service. but dang $$$.

we switched to metropcs @30/line/6gb/month deal. and the big issue is service. where we live, and in metro areas, it's pretty good.

when traveling from atl metro area/the beltway/gwinnette county, etc, coverage was as good as verizon.

in rural areas, not so much, like oglethorpe county. a friend next to me, with verizon service, had full service phone/web/text and we watched the thunderstorm walk right over us. att was just as bad at the farm too.

there were also a number of rural areas from rayle down to ft stewart that were dead zones.

if you are gonna try it walmart, or any other service, see if you can find friend with a plan/phone you are looking at and have them visit or loan you their phone. it stinks when you get where you are going and you can't use the phone if you needed to.

if the places you go have good coverage, it wont be a problem. and saving money is always good.

 

[ClemsonRangers]

we have 2 straightalk phones and they work fine

actually, last week we were in the mtns and the straightalk phone had better signal than my work verizon phone

you can keep the same number, but i have never done that

 

[Silver Britches]

If looking to go as cheap as possible, my dad has the $20/month Virgin mobile plan. Of course, he is using a flip phone and not a smart phone. You can choose to have unlimited talk, or unlimited texts. Which ever you choose, you'll get 50 of the other. He gets unlimited talk a month, but includes 50 free texts, which he never uses. Pops don't text!

Service seems to be decent, but will lose reception at times when we ride way off out into the woods. But most likely, that is due to the weak antenna in his cheap phone. At home and around town, reception is pretty good.

 

[Hooty Hoot]

I've used Verizon for a long time. I definitely works better than anything else for the areas that I need. This Talk About on Verizon towers sounds like a no brainer to me.

 

[JohnK]

Check out:
https://www.puretalkusa.com/cell-phone-service-provider.php
Service is the same as AT@T and I've used them for years. it's fine. I suggest looking for the phone elsewhere and just use their sim card.

 

[bassboy1]

A few years ago, I swapped from AT&T to Straight Talk. No complaints, and the $$ went down. Couldn't tell a difference in service.

Early this year, the wife and I swapped to Cricket. Still no complaints, and with Crickets multi line discount, the $$ went down even more.

I can recommend both Straight Talk and Cricket, with no hesitations.
After having both, though, my preference is Cricket - cost is lower, and a real human at a local store ports the number and gets everything working at setup.

 

[K80Shooter]

A few years ago, I swapped from AT&T to Straight Talk. No complaints, and the $$ went down. Couldn't tell a difference in service.

Early this year, the wife and I swapped to Cricket. Still no complaints, and with Crickets multi line discount, the $$ went down even more.

I can recommend both Straight Talk and Cricket, with no hesitations.
After having both, though, my preference is Cricket - cost is lower, and a real human at a local store ports the number and gets everything working at setup.

That's funny, I do think that to work for straight talk one has to be a foreigner and not able to speak or understand English

 

[NOYDB]

not able to speak or understand English

Don't need to.

You can start your own cell service.

The big carriers have already built the hardware. They will sublet it out at a rate that you and they will be profitable. They charge enough now that they still make money off the little carriers that are on their networks.

That's what is being done now.

 

[walkinboss01]

May want to check out Clark Howard's website. I heard him discussing a great cell deal "t mobile I believe " that was around $60 a month- unlimited everything including data for 2 people. One person had to be over 55 years old to qualify for the plan.

 

[Hooty Hoot]

Well..............I ended up with Total Wireless. Verizon system, 15 shared gig, same number, unlimited talk and text. $60 a month and no junk fees. Woot!
AND NO CONTRACT
I might belly-ache in a month but right now I'm good.

 

[K80Shooter]

You should be good to go, they are owned by Tracphone, same as Straight Talk. For the life of me I don't know why one company has so many branch's/names and all with different plans. All the carriers are doing it. Verizon's network to me is better than all the rest and I've had them all.

 

[caughtinarut]

I thoughg the straight talk 5 Gig plan went to 8Gig but when I went to refill it was still 5Gig

 

[K80Shooter]

I thoughg the straight talk 5 Gig plan went to 8Gig but when I went to refill it was still 5Gig

Mine is 8 gig. Did you buy a card or refill online? Log onto straight talk and see what it says there. You could have just gotten an old card saying 5 when it's really 8

 

[Hooty Hoot]

I went to south Georgia on Saturday. We are in an area where other providers struggle to provide service if they provide service at all. My phone worked just as good as ever. I am happy with my decision.