Dumping AT&T and going Straight Talk. Opinions? Experiences?

[Drawmonster]

Since ST is now selling AT&T cards again, with LTE, I'm dumping AT&T. It will save me $70/month or $840/year. Plus, I currently only get 1gb of shared data for the $150 I pay a month on two phones. With ST, I'll get "unlimited", or 2.5gb of LTE per phone, with unlimited 2G. Since we rarely ever hit our 1gb limit on our current plan, this should be perfect for us. We're essentially getting 5x the data per phone vs. our AT&T plan.

I don't know about you other AT&T users, but my bill has steadily went up every year. And it's never the same each month. Seems like they are always tacking on little fees here and there. I will have to pay a $400 total ETF for both our phones, a Note 2 and GSIII, but will make that back in 7 months, and then it's profit.

I then plan on putting the monthly savings into a separate checking and naming it "Phone Fund". When we want a new phone, we'll sell our old phone and take what we need from the phone fund to purchase a new off contract phone of our choice. No more contracts, No more AT&T.

Anything I need to know or any holes in my plan?

 

[dr.stevil]

I would recommend it to anyone, honestly. I've been on ST for the past year or so and all in all, the service is pretty good. For the money, you really can't beat it.

There are a few catches though. For one, the way I understand it, is that you're not getting unlimited 2G/E. You have access to data, regardless of if you're using 3G, 4G, LTE or E... it's just that if you go over 2.5Gb, then you're restricted to 2G/E for the duration of the month. I know that they have completely turned data off (for the rest of the month) on people for abusing it (and in some cases, kicked them off the network completely). It sounds like it wont be an issue for you though.

The other thing to be aware of is that it doesn't work nearly as smooth as AT&T/Verizon... but it's easy to overlook when you consider the price, even though you're using the major networks. I notice at times, occasionally, where data stops working completely even though I have full bars. To fix it is usually as easy as turning airplane on and off so it can obtain a new IP... but still a hassle.

I also have issues with dropped calls and texts not sending occasionally but... again, for 45 a month it's easy to overlook.

On the positive side though, I took a drive down the east coast last year and 99% of the time, I had full 4G service. Only once, and for a short time in PA, did it switch over to 2G/E. I always had service though. So in that respect, the coverage is pretty nice.

 

[Ultima99]

Since ST is now selling AT&T cards again, with LTE, I'm dumping AT&T. It will save me $70/month or $840/year. Plus, I currently only get 1gb of shared data for the $150 I pay a month on two phones. With ST, I'll get "unlimited", or 2.5gb of LTE per phone, with unlimited 2G. Since we rarely ever hit our 1gb limit on our current plan, this should be perfect for us. We're essentially getting 5x the data per phone vs. our AT&T plan.

I don't know about you other AT&T users, but my bill has steadily went up every year. And it's never the same each month. Seems like they are always tacking on little fees here and there. I will have to pay a $400 total ETF for both our phones, a Note 2 and GSIII, but will make that back in 7 months, and then it's profit.

I then plan on putting the monthly savings into a separate checking and naming it "Phone Fund". When we want a new phone, we'll sell our old phone and take what we need from the phone fund to purchase a new off contract phone of our choice. No more contracts, No more AT&T.

Anything I need to know or any holes in my plan?

You've pretty much described what I've been wanting to do for a long time, its just been a matter of waiting for MVNO data offerings to get good enough. Things like LTE availability, and data caps 3+ GB a month are a must for me and the options are slowly getting better.

 

[Drawmonster]

Well I just ordered two of the ST micro sims from Wal-Mart, so will be making the switch as soon as they arrive. I really can't stand Verizon or AT&T, having had both in the past. I read there's some issues with MMS that can be fixed with APN settings. Anyone have that issue?

 

[dr.stevil]

Well I just ordered two of the ST micro sims from Wal-Mart, so will be making the switch as soon as they arrive. I really can't stand Verizon or AT&T, having had both in the past. I read there's some issues with MMS that can be fixed with APN settings. Anyone have that issue?

yup. It's a royal PITA on iPhones, but I'd assume it'll be easier on Android as long as you have access to the APN settings. With the iPhone, you have to trick the phones into letting you change the APN data with a Tmo sim... or need to be jailbroken, which isn't always convenient.

The other thing that you might lose is visual voicemail but there could be a workaround on Android. On iOS, you're stuck using the oldschool 'call your own number' voicemail or using a 3rd party service. It's probably also a good idea to keep that APN data written down somewhere as I've seen the settings get reset before as well too. Sucks when it happens and don't have access to wifi.

 

[Drawmonster]

yup. It's a royal PITA on iPhones, but I'd assume it'll be easier on Android as long as you have access to the APN settings. With the iPhone, you have to trick the phones into letting you change the APN data with a Tmo sim... or need to be jailbroken, which isn't always convenient.

The other thing that you might lose is visual voicemail but there could be a workaround on Android. On iOS, you're stuck using the oldschool 'call your own number' voicemail or using a 3rd party service. It's probably also a good idea to keep that APN data written down somewhere as I've seen the settings get reset before as well too. Sucks when it happens and don't have access to wifi.

Yeah, a few taps and I can access APN settings. And I use Google Voice for voicemail, so no biggie there. Can't wait to call AT&T and tell them to hit the road.

 

[Ultima99]

Yeah, a few taps and I can access APN settings. And I use Google Voice for voicemail, so no biggie there. Can't wait to call AT&T and tell them to hit the road.

I envy you. There is so much money to be saved.

If only Page Plus (uses vzw network) had LTE access....

I am on ATT now but their coverage isn't as good as VZW where I live.