AT&T vs Straight Talk cheapest plan (Contract or No contract ).... please suggest.

[Mr37]

Hi guys, I just need a quick suggestion from you. I'm a bit confused between choosing the right plan ... Here is the breakdown. (I had to attach a picture because editor will remove the spaces)




The difference is $233 (It could be $183 if I'll be able to get them give me $50 BlackFriday discount ). Now I don't know if I should just get the Lumia on AT&T contract or go with the straight talk. There is freedom of having unlimited data on ST but I have NO idea what the speed would be, and what do they actually mean by unlimited "web access". Plus I am worried if they will still have the 14 day return period in case of any defects, since it will be off contract. Any feedback would be helpful. I just wanna hold my Cyan 920 asap.

 

[independentvolume]

Pay for at&t. Straight talk throttles streaming and has zero lte. If you got to 3gb on straight talk they would throttle you to the point of insanity. Straight talk isn't bad for a casual user. I'm betting you want a full experience though.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Is LTE available on AT&T where you live? You will only get HSPA+ on Straight Talk or another MVNO. The MVNOs do not offer LTE.

How much data do you think you will use? Straight Talk really is not truly unlimited. If you are a heavy data user, they could cut your service off completely. From their Terms and Conditions:

Straight Talk reserves the right to cancel or deactivate service, and/or reduce data throughput, without notice, in order to protect the Carrier’s network from harm due to any cause including, without limitation, the excessive and/or improper use of Straight Talk service. Straight Talk reserves the right to limit or reduce data throughput speeds or the amount of data transferred, and to deny or terminate Service, without notice, to anyone Straight Talk believes is using the Straight Talk Unlimited Talk, Text and Mobile Web Access Plan in any manner prohibited above or whose usage, in Straight Talk’s sole discretion, adversely impacts the Carrier’s network or customer service levels. Straight Talk will presume you are engaging in a prohibited use in violation of these Terms and Conditions if in Straight Talk’s sole opinion, you are placing an abnormally high number of calls, or repeatedly placing calls of unusually long duration, or if your talk, text or Mobile Web usage is harmful or disruptive to the Carrier’s network or services. If we determine, at our sole discretion, that you are using an unlimited service in violation of the Straight Talk Terms and Conditions of Service, or in any other manner that we deem to be unreasonable or excessive, then we may terminate individual calls, terminate or reduce the speed of data connection throughput, Mobile Web Access or terminate your service, decline to renew your service, or offer you a different service plan with no unlimited usage component. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Straight Talk reserves the right to deny service, deactivate or cancel existing service, terminate data connections and/or reduce data throughput speeds, to anyone for any reason at any time, in Straight Talk’s sole discretion.

 

[lordofthereef]

He's got it right.

Also, don't forget that you will be getting a free wireless charger if you buy on contract. Furthermore, you may be able to get $50 off if you buy this weekend (again, on contract) sice select states had the $49.99 black Friday sale. If you can't get that, MS store is offering $25 off any handset (this may work off contract, I am not sure) if you take the windows phone challenge.

Lastly, make sure you get in on the free earbuds as well. I am not sure if this goes to off contract buyers too, but I believe that it does. Thats another $100 value.

 

[Mr37]

If you got to 3gb on straight talk they would throttle you to the point of insanity.

OOoo Alright didn't know they had a 3GB cap, does it depend on the market or it's their general rule !!!

Is LTE available on AT&T where you live?

Well LTE is out of question since I live in Rochester,MN so it's probably just 4G or HSPA+ (whichever one is the right term). 3GB seems very little, I was hoping around 5,6 GB on Straight talk before they start throttling.

He's got it right.
Lastly, make sure you get in on the free earbuds as well.

A little bit confused here .... Who's got it right. Plus will they honor the ear-buds if I order on-line ?

 

[Laura Knotek]

If you read Straight Talk's Terms and Conditions, you will see that throttling or canceling is totally arbitrary. "Straight Talk reserves the right to deny service, deactivate or cancel existing service, terminate data connections and/or reduce data throughput speeds, to anyone for any reason at any time, in Straight Talk’s sole discretion." That does not really offer much leeway to customers.

 

[lordofthereef]

A little bit confused here .... Who's got it right. Plus will they honor the ear-buds if I order on-line ?

Sorry, when I was writing the post, lak hadn;t posted yet. She snuck that in before I hit post! I was referring to independent volume.

As far as the earbuds, it says you need to buy them from AT&T, but you could certainly try (or call Nokia and ask). The form I filled out only required a copy of the receipt with date, a copy of the entire UPC on the box, and a form where you fill out mailing address, IMEI info, and the color of buds you want (can only pick white, black, or magenta).

Also, VZW has LTE in Rochester now, so I would think AT&T is going to try and follow suite here shortly. I guess it depends on how soon you plan on getting rid of the phone. You were comparing two year prices. If two years is your number I would think AT&T would have LTE in that time.

 

[palandri]

OOoo Alright didn't know they had a 3GB cap, does it depend on the market or it's their general rule !!!

You'll hear varies claims. Some people will claim it's unlimited where they are, and they use 4GB to 6GB a month. Others will tell you they get throttled after 2GB

Well LTE is out of question since I live in Rochester,MN so it's probably just 4G or HSPA+ (whichever one is the right term). 3GB seems very little, I was hoping around 5,6 GB on Straight talk before they start throttling.

First, I am surprised they don't have LTE in Rochester, MN where they have the most famous hospital in the U.S., the Mayo Clinic.

I get 6GB down on HSPA+ with AT&T in Chicago.

As far as speed goes, Some people will claim that streaming isn't possible with Straight Talk, and others will claim they stream all the time with Straight Talk.

I'll be honest. I think about switching to a MVNO every time I pay my AT&T bill. :grin:

 

[Mr37]

Currently I am a sprint customer so don't know much about AT&T LTE coverage here ... I just checked this link to compare 4G LTE coverage map
Now for the love of God, I can't understand one thing ... They offer blazing fast LTE speeds and then they jack up the data prices so much. 3GB on 20Mb/sec down is a joke, it should be at least 7,8 GB... It's like here we give you Bugatti Veyron on German autobahn but You can only drive 30 miles in a month.

 

[m_kock]

I used Straight Talk with my Lumia 900 and loved it, however, I only spent $200 on the phone this past June; I got it brand new on eBay. My biggest complaints while on Straight Talk were that I couldn't use the visual voicemail feature or mobile hotspot, even thought it was an unlocked phone. I streamed youtube videos frequently and while most of the time it worked perfectly, I occasionally had a videos just stop loading in the middle. I tried netflix a couple times and had no issues, but I didn't use netflix on my phone too often. I'm fortunately near wifi majority of the time, and so I only used about 1-1.5GBs a month; that's well under the 2gb that people have said is their cap. I never received a text or call from them for streaming video, but I had to occasionally reapply the straight talk apn settings in the network setup app because my picture messages weren't coming through all the time. This is just my experience, but hopefully it helps.

Personally I think with your IBM discount and the fact that you want the phone now, I'd just go with ATT. You'll most certainly have a better experience on their carrier, even if it is a bit more expensive. I love Straight Talk for what it is, and highly recommend it to anyone that isn't on a plan with more than two people, but data heavy users like yourself and as someone who has that discount, you're not saving that much money. Plus you get LTE and maybe mobile hotspot? I actually recently joined a mobile share plan with my fiance's family, and lucked out by getting the 920 for $49.99. My share of the plan is only $50 a month. I'm only paying $5 more when compared to Straight Talk and I get all the perks of ATT.

 

[socialcarpet]

Pay for at&t. Straight talk throttles streaming and has zero lte. If you got to 3gb on straight talk they would throttle you to the point of insanity. Straight talk isn't bad for a casual user. I'm betting you want a full experience though.

Precisely. Straight Talk is only a good idea if you don't care about your data speeds.

 

[zukirin]

I actually was going to create a similar thread to this so this is great! I'm glad to see the different perspectives on the 'issue.'

Anyways, considering I do not plan to abuse the data usage, (I am usually in areas that have wifi ala college/home) would ST be a better idea even with the throttling? I am completely new to smartphone data usage, and have no idea what will fill up 2GB etc... I will probably stream a few youtube videos here and there, mostly web browse/facebook, and maybe pandora a few times since I am satisfied with my personal playlist of songs that I can put in the phone. Thanks!

 

[inteller]

ONLY your deep IBM discount makes it semi-worth it. You left out the $36 fee you'll pay up front with ATT though. Of course, if you were to buy 6mo or 1 year ST cards it would stretch that gap a little more. If LTE and VMM is worth $200+ bucks to you then by all means hop on it.

 

[jsgiv]

IMHO get the plan with LTE. Coming from an iPhone 4s with "4G" to LTE on this device is literally night and day. As noted though YMMV depending on your location. I live in an area fully covered with LTE (Atlanta) and currently average 14-20+ depending on conditions. I've already used over 4GB since I bought it on launch day.

That will naturally come down quite a bit once the honeymoon is over and I go back to "regular" usage

Luckily I'm grandfathered in on unlimited - but I can say I won't ever go back to anything less than LTE

 

[jsgiv]

ONLY your deep IBM discount makes it semi-worth it. You left out the $36 fee you'll pay up front with ATT though. Of course, if you were to buy 6mo or 1 year ST cards it would stretch that gap a little more. If LTE and VMM is worth $200+ bucks to you then by all means hop on it.

I guess it depends on how long youve been with att - you can usually call into 611 and have them waive the activation fee (even brand new customers). I've never paid an activation fee ever since joining. The fact he has an IBM discount probably means he is a premier account which should be actually easier to get the fee waived

 

[inteller]

i tried to help a colleague get the fee waived in store and no amount of begging/asking/threatening got it removed. And you get ABSOLUTELY ZERO value out of that fee. It is simply a "because we can" fee.

 

[Mr37]

data heavy users like yourself and as someone who has that discount, you're not saving that much money..

You are right but I will have only 3GB of data for a month on AT&T, I was hoping for more data on straight talk even at lower speed.

IMHO get the plan with LTE. Coming from an iPhone 4s with "4G" to LTE on this device is literally night and day. I've already used over 4GB since I bought it on launch day.
Luckily I'm grandfathered in on unlimited - but I can say I won't ever go back to anything less than LTE

Well I don't have LTE here anyways :eck:, only Verizon offer true 4G here. So I think for me I will have about the same speed with either AT&T or Straight talk. "MAY BE"

 

[Laura Knotek]

You are right but I will have only 3GB of data for a month on AT&T, I was hoping for more data on straight talk even at lower speed.


Well I don't have LTE here anyways :eck:, only Verizon offer true 4G here. So I think for me I will have about the same speed with either AT&T or Straight talk. "MAY BE"

The difference is that AT&T would charge more if you exceeded 3GB of data, but would not cancel your service. There is no arbitrary cancellation of service with AT&T.

It is also possible that AT&T will roll out LTE next year. I did not have LTE when I got my device, but it was available about 1 1/2 months after I got the device.

 

[jsgiv]

i tried to help a colleague get the fee waived in store and no amount of begging/asking/threatening got it removed. And you get ABSOLUTELY ZERO value out of that fee. It is simply a "because we can" fee.

Thats probably your problem -

The stores will typically never give you the credit (in fact they tell me its company policy but it doesn't keep me from asking each time)

You have to call 611 and speak to a rep. When I do this each time I always get the credit.

Again it depends im sure on the type of customer you are. I have been with them for over 10 years - have multiple lines and NEVER pay my bill late. So a credit here and there makes sense from their point of view. And if I get pushback - I simply indicate that I really don't want to go thru the hassle of returning the unit. That usually gets the credit finalized. Remember they want you on the contract for that 2 years. You have the right (within reason) to negotiate the reversal of the fee as part of the deal.

 

[KoukiFC3S]

Another option if you want a lot of data is Tmobile $30 plan with a dev or Rogers Lumia 920.

$720 for 2 years of service + 700 for the phone = $1,420 two year cost.