I have been a loyal customer to U.S. Cellular for the last 10 years. As with all my bills I do my best to shop around for the best prices and stay on top of changes made to my cellular plan. For the last few years we have been on their 1000 shared minutes family plan with no text, no data for $80 a month (if we don’t have surprise charges) not including taxes, etc. I have shopped “cheapest family cellular plans” several times only to get the same results. Virgin mobile, T-mobile, U.S. Cellular, Verizon and AT&T; are always the top results, but not for long.
We liked the technology of smart phones, but were not willing to fork up the extra $25 a month per line for 2g of data (Cellular phone users have no clue what 2g is a month). And texting at $20 per line was certainly not worth it. I hated worrying about minutes used and I didn’t want to add data charges to my list of extra cellular phone charges.
Unlimited Talk, Text and Web
Wal-Mart offers a variety of unlimited phones, mostly prepaid flip phones or cheaper. At around $50 dollars with unlimited talk, text and web they are still cheaper than plans I’ve looked at from other cellular companies. Wal-Mart’s phones are serviced through the same cellular phone services: Verizon, T-Mobile, Tracfone, and U.S. Cellular are the main plans used. If you don’t want all of this there are cheaper plans to choose from for around $35 (why not spend $10 for unlimited). Some articles state that they will limit your speeds if overusing and a Wal-Mart associate said they will cut your area if you talk too much. For a reasonable user like me, I don’t see this ever being a problem.
Wal-Mart also has family cellular phone plans. These plans are a little cheaper than Straight talk for multiple lines with unlimited talk, text and data. They are $45 a month for the first line and $35 for additional lines. (I liked being able to pay for the full year.)
Straight Talk Phones or Unlocked Phones
Straight Talk shares a variety of Verizon and T-Mobile towers and when shopping Wal-Mart’s cellular phone plans online you’ll reveal several different Straight Talk smart phones, but quickly realize only select phones are available in your area. Not a problem if you pay for an unlocked smartphone, because you can purchase a Straight Talk sim card for $15.
Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy Proclaim Prepaid Cell Phone with $10 Lunch on Us Gift Card. We bought this smartphone android for $179, because it uses Verizon towers that have better service in the TN Mountains. Smaller than some smart phones, it’s easy to use with a nice display. One downside to this phone is you will need to charge it often as battery life is short. Also, Wal-Mart has sold this phone for over a year, but doesn’t offer any accessories for it like cases or screen protectors. We found many options on E-Bay for cheap. We paid about $20 for two cases and 3 screen protectors.
Services and Reception
Straight Talk offers no contracts and several payment options. Straight Talk sells month to month that you can buy and load at any time, or six months and even a year. You save $15 on six months for $255 and $45 on a year for $495. U.S. cellular offered 2% off with auto pay (about $1.50 a month). I have read many reviews on Straight Talk and most of the problems seem trivial or customer service related to Straight Talk. After calling their customer service and using the phone we’ve had no problems for over a month other than the phones were down for a few hours one day (don’t know why).
I paid $1545.94 for two new Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy Proclaim smart phones / 16gig micro SD card / two 1 year Straight Talk cards / one 18 month replacement plan ($40). U.S. Cellular would have cost $149 for talk and text and $25 per line for 2g data with a two year contract.
We are enjoying our Straight Talk Galaxy Proclaim smart phones and have already sent hundreds of texts (enjoy returning text without paying a quarter), downloaded tons of games, live wallpaper and other cool apps. Best of all I won’t be calling U.S. cellular to dispute charges or pay bills for an entire year all while saving hundreds of dollars.
