Category: Straight Talk

How I buy a Prepaid Cellular Phone without worrying!

Paul1 Reply

English: Cut-away cell phone Image via Wikipedia

“Will this matter a year from now?” — Richard Carlson

Let’s face it, sometimes I often wonder if buying a cell phone will survive a couple of years.   You really don’t want to have to replace every year and thus you try to find that one cell phone that will stand the test of time.

You walk into any phone store or grocery store and you will find either phones or cards to put more money on the account.   That makes me worry how effective the cell phones are going to last and the quality.

Buying prepaid cell phones can be even more hassle because of not knowing which network they are on or the capabilities of the cell phone.   If you been looking at their online store say for instants Cricket Wireless, you will see that there are many phones but yet no important information.    It’s is like they left stuff out intentionally that should be there.

Looking Under the Hood!

Sometimes when I am looking for a cell phone to buy, I start my process off going to a wide range of sites like:

Let’s face it, if you know the phone you are most likely wanting to buy then you will at least know the model number and thus you can use that to find the information your looking for.  Although that will provide the significant amount of the information, there will still be a few things that they will be able to tell you.    Which Network is that Phone one?

Network Usability

Most carriers have a limited amount of coverage around the US and the World and thus can be quite confusing going to their website and trying to determine if you are under their coverage area.   Why do they make it so hard?   I can’t answer that but I know how I solve that problem for me.    I’ll share a trick that probably no one else has thought of.   Just let your fingers do the walking.   Is this some kind of Joke?

I’ve found that just calling the local providers let’s you know if they are reliable or not, if your really search savvy you can find out what others are saying about that carrier your local area.   This can be a great tool to judge if that phone or carrier is going to be a head ache or a really jewel.    Most times carriers will try to hide some of this so you may have to dig down deep to get to the good stuff.

What are your steps to buying a Prepaid Cell phone?

Paul Sylvester

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Finding out which network carrier you are using with Pre-paid Cellular Companies!

Paul

Movida 2011 – 01 Image by radiofabrik via Flickr

Not all Carriers are the Same!

Hey Let’s face it, you thought it would be so simple to have a prepaid cell phone account. You just can’t figure out why your signal or speed is just so terrible. If your like me, when you create an account with Tracfone, Straight Talk, Jitterbug, Movidas, MetroPC and Cricket Wireless.

Although you might of thought it wasn’t going to be all that hard to figure out why.   It  could just be simply your wireless network that you are being leased or rented from.   Those prepaid companies don’t really have any actually networks, some of them might work different in each region and you will only know by trying.

Finding out your Network

If your in a hurry, you can always go to whoismycarrier.com and have them text you your carrier information.   I however feel that might not be the best approach because of Privacy and there is no way to know what they do with the number once they have it in their database.   I prefer to find it out myself.   Here is How I find out which carrier I am on when I need to know!

Create an Account with Google Voice

 

After Setting up a Phone Number!

Tell Google Voice which number you want to forward to!

Once you Verify Cellular Phone Number.

Go into your Setup!

Just Click on the Sprocket and Settings!

Go to the Phones Tab

Edit Phone Number

Click check operator!

Once you update that, You will see which Carrier you are using!

That’s It!

If you follow this tutorial, you will find out which network you are on.   You won’t have to worry about spam from unwanted companies and thus.   It will however cost you minutes but if you don’t mind spending a few minutes on your phone you will find out just as quickly as anyone else.   You may have to wait an hour or two before you can find out the carrier but mine was instant.   It will be different from carrier to carrier.

If you are using Straight Talk, please feel free to visit my other post and tell people what phone your using and which network you are using to better help others find out what to expect.

Paul Sylvester

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Four Phones/Devices that Straight Talk might release in 2012!

Paul


TracFone Wireless

Let’s talk Straight Talk Phones!

Although this isn’t going to be anything major, I do think we will see more devices that will come to Straight talk next year and I have a few predictions on which ones will come but again, I’ve been wrong in the past.

I’ve not see very many predictions about Straight Talk but I wanted to at least try to help people anticipate what may come and what may not come.   Remember, I do not know anymore than anyone else but I do understand the market and what may happen in the future.   So nothing I say should be consider as being set in stone or that they will do this or that.   It is going to be another prediction on what they may bring out.

What Might come to Straight Talk!

 

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 inch to 10.1 (Affiliate Link)i— There is a good reason why this will probably happen and I know why.   Cricket Wireless (Affiliate Link) and T-mobile(Affiliate Link) are doing this right now.   The idea of having a tablet like the Kindle(Affiliate Link) fire is going to be a real big deal to have for Straight Talk.   I don’t know how they will do this but I am sure it will be an exciting time.

 

Nokia Lumina 710 (Affiliate Link) — This is one of those possibly that may happen but also remember this is a Windows Phone and thus is going be the first time Straight Talk tries the waters, if they do this.   I am real optimistic about this being a real possibility and thus I can not see them not doing this.

 

Mifi Hotspots (Affiliate Link)— I can see this as another Real Possibly because this would be a great idea for students and people always on the go.   I don’t know if they will do this but If Straight Talk wants to compete with other prepaid wireless networks they will have to get their feet wet.

 

Samsung Galaxy S (Affiliate Link) — This is after all another Android Phone but is possible on the Sprint Network thus will probably be ported to the Straight Talk Network because Straight Talks uses Sprint with Android.   So I see this as another good possibly and I think more customers are going to want to have more Android Devices in the coming year.

As you can see these are all just speculation and thus could possibly come true but only time will tell.   I thought I would at least try to have a little fun and tell you what I thought was going to be most likely.

Paul Sylvester

 

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How to get the most out of Straight Talk phones (Tips and Tricks)

Paul1 Reply

English: Hands-on with the Galaxy Nexus at its... Image via Wikipedia

If your like me!

You will always want to get the most of your Straight Talk Phone (Affiliate link). I’m going to talk about how to get the most out of your prepaid phone and not have to worry about signal strength as much.   I know it can be difficult to figure out which one is right for you but I will discuss some of the things that you might need to know before buying your Straight Talk Phone.  It only takes a little research to find the answer to the next few questions.   Once you answer these questions you should be far better off.

The questions you need to answer are:

  • Where will you use the phone primarily?

  • What features are you looking for?

  • Which carriers are more reliable in your area?

  • Is it important to always receive phone calls? Can they go to Voice mail?

as you can see there are several things you need to consider when you about to buy a Straight Talk phone.   Phones are linked to different carriers from what I can see and understand.  That is the may reason why you might not have much success with one phone and have great success with another.

Do your Research!

This is the most vital thing you can do.   Even though most times doing the research will lead to nothing it is very important.  Some things to help you find your answers to those questions are just asking Google or your favorite search engine these question:

  • What carrier is the (INSERT Straight Talk phone) on or Uses?

  • What are people saying about (INSERT Straight Talk phone)?

  • What is the coverage area for (Sprint, AT&T, Verizon, ETC) in (Zipcode)?

Now doing that will provide several different results and each one is going to have to be considered before buying your phone.   However you know which carrier each phone uses than you are far better off with knowing if you will have great coverage or bad coverage.   This is the essential because you will not enjoy your phone if it does terrible.

Here is what I know!

I’m going to help you figure out some of what has been said in the mobile industry as to which carriers are using which phones.   I won’t have a complete list because even I don’t know all the phones but I will generalize some of these and let you decide which ones you might want to buy and use and maybe even help me by commenting and tell me your phone and what carrier.

  • Straight Talk Android Phones(The Samsung Galaxy Precedent (Affiliate link) and LG Optimus Q (Affiliate link)) — Will run on the Sprint Network

  • Straight Talk Samsung T404G (Affiliate link) — Runs off the At&T network.

  • Straight Talk LG 620g (Affiliate link)– Runs off the T-mobile Network.

These are the only ones that I have heard about but at least this will give you a starting place to look and use when you are looking for the best possible coverage for your prepaid cell phones.   If I find out more phones this will be updated but as for right now this is all I have and if you have more information on phones just make a comment and I’ll will update the list.

Paul Sylvester

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First Impressions of the Samsung T404g

Paul2 Replies

The Phone is Awesome!

I’ve had several hours to play around with this phone and I must say I like it. The Straight Talk Samsung T404G (Affiliate Link)is by far a better phone. I won’t say it is the best phone but it is far better than the LG 620g Straight Talk phone.

The Spec’s of the Phone are:

  • Slider QWERTY Keyboard

  • Mobile Web

  • MP3 Player(cable and microSD card not included)

  • 2.0 Megapixel Camera and Video Recorder

  • Bluetooth® Wireless Technology

  • MMS Picture Messaging

  • Text Messaging

  • External microSD Card up to 16GB (not included)

  • LCD Color Display

  • Hands-free Speaker

  • Voice Recorder

  • Voicemail and Call Waiting

  • Caller/Picture/Ringtone ID

  • Auto Redial

  • Key Pad Lock and Alarm Clock

  • Phonebook with up to 1,000 entries

  • Battery Talk Time up to 4 hours

  • Standby Time up to 21 days

  • Includes Charger and Services Guide

The Phone is Linked to the Carrier!

When you buy a Phone for Straight Talk you are buying the phone for a certain carrier.   Every phone is probably for a certain carrier because when I first linked the old phone to Google voice it was a T-mobile carrier now when I updated the number using Google voice it is showing an AT&T carrier.   So I am getting way better signals then I did with the LG 620g Phone.   So if you are having problems with one phone then the chances  are another phone will be better.   I know I didn’t change the number for my phone just the phone itself.   I would love to compile a list of which phones are tied to each carrier.   One way you can find out which carrier you are using with Straight Talk is by using Google Voice to find out.   Just got to the settings page to either add or update your carrier.

You can use an External Antenna!

There is an external antenna connector on the phone, you have to peel away a small square just above the battery to use the connector but have yet to see which connector works with it just because I get such a good antenna strength with it.   I really haven’t had the need to worry about boosting the antenna strength but I am sure there are places where you might need it.

More to come!

Paul Sylvester

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