FYI... According to Ts & Cs: "Any unused Services you may have in your account at the time you refill your account or at your Service End date will not “roll over” or accumulate from one Service period to the next."
What do you do if you occasionally need more than 1000 minutes? Can you also buy an $80/1400 min card that will supplement your 1000 minute plan for the year?
john89 said: FYI... According to Ts & Cs: "Any unused Services you may have in your account at the time you refill your account or at your Service End date will not “roll over” or accumulate from one Service period to the next."
And that, ladies and gentlemen kills this so-called "hot deal".
It doesn't kill the deal. I can't think of any non-att MONTHLY service that rolls over the unused minutes let alone a plan for $30. It's the best in the no-contract month-to-month category. Their only setback would be lack of phone choices.
1lossir said: john89 said: FYI... According to Ts & Cs: "Any unused Services you may have in your account at the time you refill your account or at your Service End date will not “roll over” or accumulate from one Service period to the next."
And that, ladies and gentlemen kills this so-called "hot deal".
rubbish.
a lot of cell phone plans with the major carriers don't roll ever either.
Looking for a hot wireless deal? Right now you can get 1,000 wireless minutes, 1,000 texts/MMS and 30 MB of data over Verizon’s network for just $30 a month.
The new pre-paid plan, called “Straight Talk,” is being offered by TracFone, a budget wireless operator. You’ll need a special handset – three are available, from $30-$100. There are other freebies, like free 411 calls, which normally cost $1.50 apiece or more.
In his “Fierce Wireless” e-bulletin, wireless analyst Mark Lowenstein says Straight Talk is a bargain, even by the cut-rate standards of the dirt-cheap pre-paid world.
“It is the best deal in the business,” he writes.
According to Lowenstein, one major advantage of Straight Talk is the Verizon network – considered tops in the industry. Then there’s the price -- $30. That’s significantly cheaper than other pre-paid plans, including Boost’s super-hot $50 offering. Boost’s service runs on Sprint’s “CDMA” network. (Boost is the pre-paid division of Sprint.)
Straight Talk can be purchased through Wal-Mart, or via the Web (www.straighttalk.com). The service is doing a limited rollout; for now it’s only available in limited markets, including Atlanta, Phoenix and Denver, Lowenstein notes.
Looking at that map, I don't buy the fact that the network is running off of Verizon's towers. What is with that big white space in the middle of the country? Surely Verizon has service there?
No matter what, it's deals like this that might start pressure on the postpaids. The fact that this plan doesn't rollover or doesn't have nights and weekends isn't a factor. A similar plan from postpaids would run at least $60/month.
EDIT: Didn't realize it, but Page Plus has a deal going for 1500 min/1500 text for $40/month, which is a bit more enticing, given that PP has a fairly good track record and truly does use all of the Verizon network.
disturkis4u said: It doesn't kill the deal. I can't think of any non-att MONTHLY service that rolls over the unused minutes let alone a plan for $30. It's the best in the no-contract month-to-month category. Their only setback would be lack of phone choices.
Can't you activate any verizon phone?
I occasionally need more than 1000 minutes? Can you also buy an $80/1400 min card once a year that will supplement your 1000 minute plan for the entire year?
boujie
Member
posted: Jun. 5, 2009 @ 8:46a
Is there any way to use your existing phone with this service? Ie I have a first generation iPhone I'd like to use.
disturkis4u said: It doesn't kill the deal. I can't think of any non-att MONTHLY service that rolls over the unused minutes let alone a plan for $30. It's the best in the no-contract month-to-month category. Their only setback would be lack of phone choices.
From their terms and conditions
With each refill you will lose any unused Service balances (including any remaining days, minutes, text and/or multimedia messages, megabytes of data usage) and your account will reset with the refill amount of the new Service balance. Straight Talk Services are non-refundable.
This is NOT a monthly service it's a prepaid service that totally expires monthly. Nothing like AT&T and T-Moble prepaids which do roll over.
pacmantech said: Looking at that map, I don't buy the fact that the network is running off of Verizon's towers. What is with that big white space in the middle of the country? Surely Verizon has service there?Either the map is out of date or they will use the pre-Alltel prepaid coverage area.
BTW, Verizon InPulse and Page Plus roamed in those white areas before Verzion acquired Alltel.
truthseeker1
Happy Member
posted: Jun. 5, 2009 @ 9:04a
I use Virgin Mobile prepaid & when you top up/add minutes you do not lose previous minutes & they do "roll over" so to speak. No contract.
FirebirdGA said: This is NOT a monthly service it's a prepaid service that totally expires monthly. Nothing like AT&T and T-Moble prepaids which do roll over.It's a prepaid monthly service, not a Pay As You Go service.
boujie said: Is there any way to use your existing phone with this service? Ie I have a first generation iPhone I'd like to use.
Maybe if you have an old NON-Sim CDMA phone. Since it runs on the Verizon network you will need a CDMA phone. AT&T and T-Mobile use the GSM network and a sim card for access.
FYI, the web browsing is through the Straight Talk Mobile Web home page. I don't know whether you can get to non-Straight Talk pages.
Garstud asked "I occasionally need more than 1000 minutes? Can you also buy an $80/1400 min card once a year that will supplement your 1000 minute plan for the entire year?" He can buy 1000 minutes at any time and they will last 30 days. They don't seem to have anything that will last more than 30 days.
I would like to know if we could use any other phones. I'd love to use a Blackberry for $30 per month!
If you don't care about web, I would go with VirginMobile Unlimited Texting plan. For $19.99 you have unlimited text, pix, email... plus every minute of talk time cost you $0.10.
I don't see why people post without understanding the 'deal'
This definitely is a 'HOT' deal. why?
1. No contract 2. Cheap $30 3. Includes Talk, Text AND Data (PP or any other plan this cheap does not include data) 4. You can auto-refill every 30 days or earlier (so no disruption of service and you pay early ONLY if you use up your minutes) 5. Not to mention verizon service and coverage (not sure if other verizon phones will work here) 6. What's the big deal about roll-over? I would be happy if I don't get charged huge overage charges. None of those issues here. You just start another 1000-minute cycle.
It seems the Howard Forums folks have caught on as well. kudos to livin5885 for NOTICING THIS IS A TRACFONE, as explained at the bottom of the straight talk website.
Most prepaid phone plans do roll over unused minutes if you replenish before expriy date. If 1000 minutes isn't quite enough, you do want rollover, and you do want Verizon coverage, check out Page Plus Cellular. They have a 1500 minute/1500 text plan for $39.95 - http://www.pagepluswireless.com/. Here's a little shameless promotion of the thread I posted a while back:
Why could they not partner with ATT and come up with a GSM version - the plan is awesome, but the phones suck - Maybe they will offer a better phone in the future - a Pre maybe?
freeguy007 said: If 1000 minutes isn't quite enough, you do want rollover, and you do want Verizon coverage, check out Page Plus Cellular. They have a 1500 minute/1500 text plan for $39.95 - http://www.pagepluswireless.com/.IIRC, the Text n Talk plan does not rollover.
this is a good deal, but only if you currently spend more than $30 a month, and use less than the limits/1000min,1000texts, and 30mb of data. But be aware that your $30 recharge lasts 30 days only, and then it goes pffffft. So other services that let you keep your minutes till they expire may make more sense.
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