Straight Talk Phones

[Sonya Playmate]

Originally Posted by dent

Straight Talk is a Tracfone brand. Unlike Tracfone & Net10 (another Tracfone brand) some ST phones are CDMA which means those phones are carried on Verizon's network here in SA. The other ST phones are GSM like all Net10/Tracfone phones: in SA Tracfone buys GSM spectrum from AT&T.

I have a LG 800G Net10 smartphone (not Android based) for my hobby phone. Data access is 3G EDGE, though I don't use data all that often. For comparison, the first iPhone data was EDGE. More recent iPhones have gone to UMTS and asynchronous HSDPA (the 4 and 4S added HSUPA), which is faster than EDGE. However I also have a Samsung Galaxy S II for my personal/work phone which has AT&T FauxG (HSPA+) and the network speed difference is drastic compared to any AT&T iPhone, even though it's not real 4G (LTE).

That said, Net10 has just rolled out a couple of LG Android phones on their $50/mo unlimited plan. Not sure if they are EDGE, UMTS or HSPA/HSPA+ devices.

Honestly, no carrier will be perfect. I had Sprint then Nextel then Nextel/Sprint for 10 years: no complaints. I have had AT&T for 5 years: no complaints. Boost was Nextel's prepaid brand running on iDEN. I believe Boost (and Nextel) still runs on iDEN, despite Sprint's annoucement a few years back to phase out iDEN by 2010. Virgin Mobile, however, is a MVNO operating on Sprint's CDMA network; I don't believe Sprint has a CDMA prepaid service of their own. EDIT: Looks like Sprint bought Virgin Mobile in 2009, so VM is no longer a MVNO.

If it were me, I would seriously consider Verizon's prepaid service or a Virgin Mobile payLO phone & plan. Both have unlimited plans in the ~$50 monthly range, and a good selection of Android smartphones to choose from. It will be a year or two before LTE phones trickle down into the prepaid and MVNO markets, so not having an GSM phone won't be the worst thing in the (pre-paid) world. Don't expect to have super fast (LTE or HSPA+) data, but you should try to find a phone & carrier that allows you access to something faster than EDGE (GSM) or RTT (CDMA).

I also recommend porting your current phone number to Google Voice before you terminate your Verizon contract. nb This will cancel your Verizon contract as you will not have a phone number with Verizon anymore. If you are not at the end of your contract, this will trigger an ETF.

Porting your number to Google Voice will allow you to keep that same number, no matter which carrier you switch to now and in the future. Just point GV to your new mobile number and everyone who has your "old Verizon" number can still find you without further effort from you. Google Voice integrates seamlessly with Android phones, making it easy to manage voicemails, phone calls, contacts, etc.

[-dent-]

WOW, you know your stuff