TracFone launches new sub brand: StraightTalk w/ no contract unlimited voice+sms for $45/month

TracFone, a prepaid mobile virtual network operator in the United States who peddles to drug dealers and illegal immigrants, just launched a new sub brand called “StraightTalk.” Prepaid never really was big in America, while in Europe and Asia it is the way a majority of users consume, but with the economy in a nose dive, and The New York Times stating today that unemployment has hit the highest levels in 26 years at 9.5%, people will want to control their spending.

For $45 per month, with no contract, you get unlimited voice, unlimited SMS, unlimited 411 and 30 MB of data. That is what I call a steal. If it still isn’t cheap enough for you, you can opt for the $30/month plan which provides 1000 minutes, 1000 texts, 30 MB of data, and unlimited 411.

This isn’t prepaid how I’ve grown to know and love it in Europe. In many of the countries I’ve been to and picked up prepaid SIM cards, you load the card with credit and then when you reach closer and closer to zero remaining credit, you top up your SIM card. With StraightTalk you pay a monthly fee, regardless if you use your mobile phone or not. That $45 will get you unlimited voice and SMS for 30 days, after that you have to pay another $45. In Finland if I go on vacation in a cottage and don’t touch my phone except to send a few text messages, I pay for those few text messages and that’s it. If I was on StraightTalk, I just wasted $45.

There will be taxes and other fees, so who knows how high that $45 will really become, and you can only choose from a Motorola W385, Motorola RAZR V3A or LG200, but still, this is crazy cheap for America in terms of rates per month.

[Via: Phone Scoop, hat tip to @caaarlo]

About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

andy

Wish we had such a deal in canada.
Xavier

“peddles to drug dealers and illegal immigrants”.. This is one agressive accusation. Where are your facts and your credibility?

It seems that you can’t even tell the difference between PEPAID and UNLIMITED or a hybrid between the two. There are many offerings in the USA that offer what you call “True Prepaid”; TracFone being one of the more generous ones with unlimited stacking of days and minutes.

It seems to me that StraightTalk is geared towards a different niche. To each his own. If you compare other offerings out there StraightTalk seems to be the best available for somebody that intends to send much more than two text messages a month.

-X
JasonB

I use a prepaid Tracfone for all my cell needs. Does that make me either a drug dealer or an illegal immigrant? What an incredibly obnoxious and insulting thing to say about the millions of people using this provider. As Xavier said, you have no credibility.
Actually, I think it’s just sour grapes. You are probably one of those poor souls stuck into a two-year contract with some carrier ripping you off.
These are great monthly plans, providing great value on an excellent network. Why not just stick to writing that?
Penelopy Clew

I agree with Xavier and Jason, how can you make such a statement? Besides the way a prepaid package works is that you buy up front, how are they going to charge extra taxes when they are charging $45 and that’s what you pay? I think it’s a really fantastic offer and I’m all for it.
Cris Chan

I did a little digging around and I think that the best bang for your buck is Straight Talk. $45 a month for unlimited nationwide anytime minutes and texts. Pretty awesome!

I ordered mine from the website and will let you know how I like it. Can’t beat the price though!
eric raab

Cris Chan you are so very right my friend. This price is incredible. I feel like Tracfone hit the bulls eye on this idea. I’m switching from virgin mobile to get this deal tommorrow. With Virgin I am paying like three times this amount.
BriMan

Well done TracFone. They are surprising me more and more everyday with the great values that they are offering. Similar to Chris Chan, I did alot of “digging” around before I finally took the plunge and switched to prepaid. I found out that TracFone has the best testing value in the books. I am not surprised at that statistic after having used the phone for over a month now. Keep up the good work TracFone!
mindy

Now I just need to figure out the right “address” so I can send text messages from my PC to a straight talk phone.Can anyone help?
Don Juan

I think this is a great plan. One thing missing….I love my smart-phone and the ability to get my workplace emails to the phone. I don’t believe the straighttalk phones have this capability….is that accurate??
Elaine

I am a retired teacher – fartherest thing from a drug dealer. I loved tracfone- just to get emergency calls and not talk all day. Think I will have a happy few years with Straighttalk –works great-very happy.

In my opinion the real crime is some of the other companies-charging outrageous prices for what you get–hoping to get rid of my landline–goes up every month. It can take a few days to get your number transferred- cause the “overpriced” carriers are not too happy about this.

Also could not get this at the Walmart in my town- had to drive 55 miles. Verizon had Walmart in a squeeze or something in my larger town-was told so by the marketing manager.
Believe me Straighttalk is a good deal-however I would suggest the autorefill plan–so you don’t get cancelled and have to remember every 30 days!
754boy

I’m curious about this. Right now I’m with Cellular South paying $80 for unlimited everything. But I’m using a Blackberry. Would I be locked into using only these phones or could I hack a smartphone to work with the service?
Ricky Guthrie, Jr

Just to let everyone know: Straight Talk/Black Berry Plan in the Making! Please read!!!

I recently switched from Verizon to Straight Talk. I initially had a prepaid account with Alltel, but they recently were combined or bought out by Verizon and the switch over was insane. Many burps in the system for a while.

Anyway, my Verizon-Alltel hybrid prepaid plan was a whopping $69.99 plus taxes for 30 days and included 700 anytime mins, free nights/weekends (after 9:01pm), unlimited text and unlimited mobile to mobile. My problem was I would run out of anytime minutes about a week before my 30 days were up each month and was forced to dump another $10-$20 in my account to keep people from reaching a ‘Subscriber Not Available’ message (which was embarrassing).

The first time I saw Straight Talk’s tv commercial stating they were to start offering unlimited plans for $45 a month including data, I was impressed. Then, to add to my delight I found that Straight Talk ran on Verizon’s already proven to be wonderful network (and helped to insure to me, their service should work in MY area).

The only thing is their phone selection but do not fear!!! I recently spoke with several reps from Straight Talk and they confirmed that they are in the works of adding Black Berry phones to their wonderful unlimted $45 line-up. THIS my friends, makes me very happy. They also stated that they are basing their final decision upon whether or not their customer base demands this type of service or not so PLEASE Call Straight Talk at 1-877-430-2355 and Tell them YOU WANT BLACK BERRY!!!

Black Berry Straight Talk $45 Unlimited— What a Wonderful World!
c2a0n0e8s

I can tell you that when it says 45 buck for unlimited, it means 45 bucks for unlimited. I get unlimited talk/text/web browsing with no hidden fees or all around sneakiness. I just got the new samsung phone with the slider keyboard and I LOVE IT!!! I was very impressed with the selection of phones off of the straight talk website, heck they even have a touch screen available.
egonzalez

Is the right phone for drug dealers, illegal immigrants and motherfuckers like u.
keke

my drug dealer uses strait talkkkk. therefore it’s a valid point. hahahaha
CindyH

I just got the new samsung phone with slider keyboard and I LOVE IT!!! I was impressed with the selection of phones from the straight talk website, heck they even have a touch screen phone on there. I still can’t believe I only pay 45 bucks for unlimited talk/text/web browsing, and all on the Verizon network…was being ripped off before by ATT and the iphone. I have the $45 unlimited plan and love it. The converage area is great. I only use the phone for talking/texting so I can’t really give a review on data. Also, never had to call Customer Service..the phone is working great so far!
CELLPHONEUSERSINCE96

yeah, pardon my french, but I’ve been fucking screwed by t-mobile, and before that it was cingular wireless and sprint. I was paying around 300-400dollars a month on these bullshit cellular service providers. AND, on top of that, their customer service is awful, uninformed, and most of them can not speak english when you call their customer support line. I love straight talk, there are NO hidden fees, you simply buy the 45dollar card, buy the phone, and activate it. They don’t ask for ANY personal information at all. In fact, you don’t speak to any humans, it is all automated. It is on the most reliable network, verizon, and it is simply amazing. THIS IS THE MOBILE PHONE SERVICE THAT CINGULAR, SPRINT, AND ALL OF THE OTHERS ARE GOING TO HAVE TO COMEPETE WITH. ONLY FOOLS GET THEMSELVES CAUGHT UP IN LONG TERM CONTRACTS THAT WILL EVENTUALLY SCREW YOU….I KNOW, I HAVE ALREADY BEEN THERE. HOORAY FOR STRAIGHT TALK!!!!!!!
Kimberly

Straight Talk really is the company you want to have if you want savings and quality. I was paying more than $150 a month with my previous carrier with a basic plan and my usual overage fees. The ST $45 unlimited use is helping me save more than $50 a month as well helping me avoid those costly overage fees. The ST Verizon network is strong and dependable and I have yet to drop a call – in Miami that is a major plus. It can’t get any easier than Walmart for the pickup and a less than 20 minute call for activation. And despite so many negative reviews concerning their customer service, I had nothing but a positive experince when I had a minor minutes issues. Straight Talk is a company that I am glad I bought into.
wondering

can the Straight talk connect to a desk to and get internet on that or maybe just a monitor?
wondering

I meant Desk top.
phone guy

If you insert the Straight talk SIM into any unlocked phone it will work, even HTC android phones.
Chris

Does the phone you have give you fast internet or is it he service? Can I have fast internet with straight talk?
Lito

I am in the business of selling phones, I just came across a customer who uses Straight Talk and wanted to reload their $45 unlimited plan. I was surpriced I did not have pins for them since I use 3 companies who provides pins for well over 30+ providers. I found out Strainght Talk is part of Tracfone. So it uses Verizon’s Network. (so I dont think any GSM -SIM cards will work).
The only issue I find is such few phone models. Plus, since walmart is exclusive seller, they want people to buy their phones only and drive trafic to their supercenters.
If you want more options for models I suggest Pageplus, any CDMA phone can be used and the $45 plan unlimited is almost identical even using the same V network!
Also I really doubt a Blackberry (if we ever see it with S. talk) will be $45 only. Blackberry has a standar for their brandname and servers. I am pretty sure it will be around the $60 a month.
Big man Joe

When I switched to Straight Talk the most reassuring I heard were, “If you aren’t satisfied, you can leave whenever you want. Their are no contracts and no fees for leaving.” I was sold. With all my financial worry, I was finally sure of one thing, I could save hundreds over my last phone bill. Straight Talk has a $45 unlimited plan that allows for unlimited talk and text. I use those minutes and text to talk with my family and business partners, and since I am always on the road, their reliable network allows me to never worry about missing a call or not being available when my family needs me.
Louiscalmer100

This company knows what they are doing. im glad that metro pcs has competition now cus i really disliked their service. we have Straight talk here offering unlimited no contract plans for 45 bucks a month and awesome deals on phones. i tell you i cant put down my LG900G!!!!
Xavilender02

the more competition the better for us consumers lol
i give you that Straight talk has awesome phones but you cant forget about Net10 and their nation wide coverage. encompassing both At&t and verizon towers to push the service up to where it has never gone before. They also have no contacts and offer more flexability in their plans than some other companies, check em out.