StraightTalk was recommended by a friend. During one of our visits I was going on and on about how expensive Verizon Wireless service was especially since I had been on a month-to-month with that provider for almost five years. When we had phone problems my spouse and I would purchase used handsets instead of diving into a new two or three year contract.  I’d always felt that customer loyalty should count for something and one of those somethings should be guaranteed month-to-month and no long contracts. The handset deals started coming with three, instead of two-year commitments even after we had been with VZW for over ten years.

StraightTalk had what we needed for thirty dollars a month. We were paying $69 per month (with taxes, fees, 411 charges almost $80 per month actual for two simple no-frills phones.)  The extra money every month didn’t buy us any additional consideration or convenience. All we ever seemed to get was more marketing and spend-more messages for services we did not want or need.

Then our nephews matured and got cellular phones. Texting became a problem for us. The kids had great plans but we were limited and at some point started paying on a per-text basis racking up $15 per month or more in texting charges. That and a few other petty complaints led us to check out the pay-as-you-go plans.

We needed to transport our existing numbers to the new service. We needed less than 400 minutes between us ion voice minutes and perhaps 500 text messages a month. Web access would be nice but we both had an iPod Touch we used at hotspots and cou;d not justify having anything more.

StraightTalk’s $30 per month plan fit perfectly. We are in our second month now and so far all is well.  Porting the numbers from VZW to StraightTalk did take some intervention by customer service at StraightTalk. I am convinced their porting system has a flaw and they need to do more testing.  When following instructions isn’t enough to make it work then a software engineer needs to make some quality control assesments.

I had to get in touch with their customer service first via FaceBook. Once I was able to find the correct link on that page to send a message I was finally able to get my phones activated after 24 hours.  The second phone went easier than the first.

The Samsung slider phones we purchased from Walmart’s website which access the Verizon Wireless system work better than our LG phones ever did. We actually get better service at home with these two new phones and I have no clue why.  Battery life is better now. Our Samsungs stay lit for quite awhile between charges. That said we are now considering abandoning our land-line which is costing us an outrageous $69 per month. (It’s either that or Vonage.)

The browser in the SCH-451 is not ready for prime time. I find it it useless. There are obvious software, speed, and security, and bandwidth limitations that make using web access to painful. We simply don’t bother.  Just as an example if you try to use the FourSquare social media service this browser will not allow a connection because of a certificate error of some type. I figure if the phone is incapable of using the popular services it should be DESIGNED to use then I probably shouldn’t bother to worry. Attempts to discuss it with StraightTalk were ignored or lost and FourSquare didn’t have an opinion either. I can only assume there are just too many subscribers and not enough time.

We have not come close to reaching any of our plan limits. The auto-pay option works well though I cannot get StraightTalk to adjust the date closer to the beginning of the month. The activation date sets the renewal date in stone. Hello! I’m a customer! I’ll pay you earlier! How come I can’t?! Ever begin to notice that satisfaction can almost always be measured by our reactions to service, billing, and payment issues?

The only tooth-grinding feature my spouse found was the 411 service. It’s free yes, but you must wait an inordinately long time between commercials and press opt-out requests ad nauseum. Now I had always disciplined myself never to use Verizon’s 411 service. It was ridiculously expensive and only contributed to my month’s end bill-paying headaches.  My spouse is making adjustments. That’s the way it is.

So I got what I always wanted:

No contract, cheaper service, text messaging I’ll never hit the high number on, enough voice minutes, and a phone that can send and receive pictures. That last feature came in handy at work.  Going into this we believed that customer service would be on a par or perhaps worse than Verizon’s. I’d have to say that even though StraightTalk’s is done mostly by e-nail and Facebook it gets done to my satisfaction most of the time.

I can recommend StraightTalk.

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Apparently when you travel to a foreign country INCLUDING CANADA VIA turns off your ATM card. My wife is currently traveling in Toronto and has NO ACCESS TO HER ACCOUNTS.

When I called my BANK, PNC Bank based in Maryland, and D.C. all they could do was tell me to call a VISA 800 number.

This has been going on for TWO DAYS and she has yet to be able to access an ATM there.

This was NEVER a problem beofre and now it apparently is a VERY BIG problem.

I am POISED to take all of my accounts out of my current bank PnC Bank for their INABILITY and UNWILLINGNESS to help my wife access her funds a few hundred miles outside of the USA.

When you travel to Canada be SURE to call VISA AND TAKE AMERICAN EXPRESS. I am calling American Express Gold Card people next!

I am SO TIRED of being treated like SCUM by so-called American businesses. Damn tired.

(Smarmy marketing behavior 101: This ALL got started when Apple sent an install of Safari through the Itunes automatic update. Many of us didn’t really get it until it was done. I thought Safari was part of Itunes. Silly me. Safari is Apple’s browser! Itunes users everywhere were tricked into installing a new piece of software. Couldn’t Apple think of a better way to encourage others to use their browser using polite competitive marketing technique instead of trickery and deceit?

Interestingly the smarmy marketing people FORGOT to update the product eula that said Safari could be installed on Apple products only. Ooops they were caught! They changed the eula within hours of the world noticing the discrepancy. What was noticed was the trickery. Why does a big company marketing group behave in a smarmy way? Are there smarmy universities that teach smarmy? The world would be a much better place without smarmy.)
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