Look out Virgin Mobile and Cricket, Walmart is coming for you. The infamous retailer announced today that they are launching their own no-contract cellular service on the 18th, called Straight Talk.
The retail giant has teamed up with TracFone, and is going to be offering two plans: The “All you need” $30 a month version with 1,000 minutes, 1,000 texts, and 30mb of mobile web access, or the $45 a month, unlimited voice, data, and texting option.
There doesn’t appear to be an activation fee, but you will have to purchase a phone from Walmart in order to make the service work. There are currently three different phones listed on their site, a bare bones LG200C, a Motorola W285, and a MOTORAZR V3A. Price vary by phone, and by the plan you select of course.
I do have one question however. If you use a Walmart phone to send a picture to people of Walmart, will the network crash?
Isn’t competition GREAT! Ive had a cellphone since 1987 in Boston and have seen my rates go from $.90 a minute and a $60 a month access fee with limited service availability to $45 a month with unlimited everything and awesome service availability here in the mountains of east Tennessee!
Great move on Walmart’s part. Cell phone service is unnecessarily high and this should bring the rates back to Earth.
By the way, Walmart has phased out the yellow smiley face as their “spokesperson”, so you should re-think your editorial illustration.
Why would Tracfone do this; this would be taking away from there own business and driving it to this joint venture.
Ask 1000 people if they have ever heard of Tracfone. Ask that same1000 people if they have ever heard of Walmart. I think you can see why they did it now.
If Tracfone is able to use Verizon’s more dependable and have no out-of-coverage, then I am in.
Will I be able to transfer numbers from SPRINT?
@Jim Liu
Yes, you can port your number from another carrier to Straight Talk.
Australia’s Woolworths supermarket chain launched a prepaid basic mobile service called Everyday Mobile a few months back which has had huge take-up, particularly with low- to medium-use callers who don’t need multimedia messaging and web access on their mobile phone.
Calls to any Australian landline or mobile number are 15 cents flagfall plus 15 cents per minute. Text is 15 cents to any Australian mobile.
The clincher is that a $20 recharge lasts 100 days, so light users (like my wife and I) get three months’ calls for $20, and the rare occasion we need to make a lot of mobile calls we are not penalised with heavy per-minute rates. This works out at about $7 per month for each mobile.
(For USD comparison, reduce the above numbers by ten percent.)
http://www.everydaymobile.com.au
“Australia’s Woolworths …”
I wouldn’t get too excited. You might get a husky employee throw you out and tell you to…(Dare I say it?) STAY OUT OF THE WOOLSWORTH!!
“O Brother, Where Art Thou”
HA
(Been waitin’ awhile for that one)
Nice that is good news for Walmart fans..
Shop from here. http://www.justcompareit.com/m~c-cell-phones~b-11580100.aspx?ag=3
Just to be clear, Wal-Mart has carried Virgin Mobile USA and other no-contract products for years. We’re still a proud partner of Wal-Mart’s.
what about NATIONWIDE ROAMING?? I’m a former ALLTEL customer who was purchased by VERIZON. wherever i went there was never a ALLTEL signal, no problem!! i had free nationwide roaming..i didn’t care, always a signal from somebody. what if i can’t get a signal using this service?? Guess i’m out of luck. Remember!! you’re always buying a signal with wireless phone service, NO MATTER HOW CHEAP THE PLAN MAY SEEM. no signal, no NOTHING!!
Boost does offer nationwide roaming in their $50 plan, something to consider when comparing costs.
Straight Talk users can call from anywhere in America to anywhere in America, anytime as long as there is Verizon coverage (which is pretty much everywhere.) So you don’t need to worry about roaming because Verizon’s network is the best and it’s nationwide, that is why Straight Talk is so appealing. I have one and I haven’t had any problems.
if you don’t use all of your minute will they roll over
@Ladora, the minutes do not roll over. If you are a very light (or occasional) user you will probably be better off sticking to another prepaid plan. What Straight Talk does do very well is give the middle and high usage users a very cheap but good quality alternative. If you are spending more than $30 on your cell every month, chances are that one of the two plans will save you some bucks.
I used to pay close to $50 for just 450 minutes. No texting, no data. Now I’m on Straight Talk’s $30 plan. I don’t care if the minutes don’t roll over. I’m getting more than double the minutes AND 1000 texts for $20 cheaper.
Chris i couldn’t agree with you more. I used to have a bogus 60$ for 500 min plan. I am saving so much more with straight talk that rollover minutes aren’t even a concern to me.
So far Straight Talk has been a real pleasure. The connections are clean and I LOVE my Samsung phone with a real keyboard.
The best thing about Straight Talk is its simplicity. I am so tired of wading through funky phone bills with mysterious charges and fees.
I really appreciate the savings, of course, but not having those awful and undecipherable bills has been a great stress-reducer.
Being a person who is always on their phone and wants to avoid deal with extra fees and outdated contracts, Straight Talk is the prefect fit for me.
The savings are huge over my previous carrier. I’m saving nearly $50 a month with Straight Talk’s $45 unlimited plan. I no longer have to worry about a contract or paying for time I’m not using since I charge my Straight Talk phone each month and pay only for that month.
Best of all, Straight Talk is on the dependable and strong Verizon network. While I used to drop calls or miss messages with my previous carrier, Straight Talk has made this not a problem for me any longer. Their selection of phones is pretty extensive and well priced – I purchased the Samsung Finesse and I am so glad I finally have a Smart Phone without creating a new contract.
Straight Talk is the best way to save money and still have great service.