Updated 2/7/12: This morning, Straight Talk began selling SIM cards and service without the need for a hardware purchase. It is now easier than ever to use Straight Talk’s popular $45 unlimited talk, text and data pre-paid plan with your AT&T or unlocked iPhone. For details, see this post.
What would you say to an unlimited plan for $45 per month? With no contracts? Running on the same nationwide AT&T network? Do I have your attention yet? Introducing Straight Talk’s unlimited plan:
That’s a savings of over $70 per month from AT&T’s postpaid offerings, and you’ll be free of any contracts. There was little doubt that it was possible, but I can now confirm that there are no issues using the new iPhone 4S with the $45 unlimited everything (talk, text, data) Straight Talk prepaid plan. This doozie of a deal has been around for quite a while, but it’s worth a quick review for those who haven’t heard about it before.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Any iPhone that works with AT&T. It doesn’t even have to be unlocked, because we’ll be using Straight Talk’s AT&T-powered MVNO.
- A Straight Talk smartphone. I recommend the Nokia E71, because it has been widely tested and confirmed to contain the correct TF64PSIMC4 SIM for use with the AT&T MVNO. Those in a rush can pay a premium for the smartphones available at your local Walmart, or you can order a refurbished E71 from their website for
$99$49 with free shipping.
The procedure is quite straightforward:
- Activate your Straight Talk smartphone from their website with the included SIM.
- Verify that your Straight Talk smartphone can make an outgoing call.
- If you’re using the iPhone 4 or 4S, take our that SIM and punch it down to size. (If you don’t already have one, I have had good luck with this inexpensive Noosy micro SIM cutter.)
- Pop that slimmed-down SIM into your iPhone. It will take a moment to acquire service, after which you should see “HOME” displayed in the carrier field.
- To enable Internet access, email yourself this configuration file and open it. (If you don’t trust me, go to unlockit.co.nz or help.benm.at and generate your own configuration file using att.mvno as the APN.)
- Done. Enjoy the same AT&T service for a new, low price.
Not too difficult, right? As always, there are a few other caveats worth mentioning:
- If you’re going to port your number from your current carrier, do so when you first activate the phone. You will not be able to do so after you’ve activated the SIM.
- If you want to use “classic” MMS with this plan, you’ll need to jailbreak your phone. I didn’t bother, because I only send pictures via iMessage or email.
- Don’t push it with the “unlimited” data consumption. I’m certain they monitor your bandwidth, and I guarantee there’s some fine print somewhere that says that unlimited is actually quasi-limited. Just use your phone as a smartphone, and don’t go nuts with tethering and BitTorrent, and you should be fine.
- I know you’re tempted to unload that unused Straight Talk smartphone on eBay or Craigslist. Resist the temptation. If you ever need to deal with Straight Talk support, they may require you to use their handset to duplicate the issue. The cost of the phone is a small price to pay, and it will pay for itself in just a few months of savings.
All things considered, it’s an excellent deal.
Is anyone else using Straight Talk with their iPhone? What are your thoughts?
Not sure if anyone else has experienced this at all with an Unlocked 01.59.00 iPhone 4 at all but when “leaving home” wifi networks, and the phone needs to switch to 3G (with Straight Talk of course), do you ever get occasional no-internet issues where you have to play with Network Settings or Airplane mode to get 3G working again? Sometimes it’s really frustrating.
I have not yet seen that issue. It switches between wi-fi and 3g without any issues.
I have to thank you for posting this, I have just completed the process and I can honestly say, WOW, I’m unemployed right now and this is really going to make a difference. The only thing that I wanted to mention is that I was testing it at the gym tonight where I do stream audio for about a half an hour to an hour while I’m working out and and I noticed that the stream would stop about every 5 minutes or so forcing to restart it at which time it would continue again for another 5 minutes and so on instead of just playing for the full half hour or hour I usually have it on. I’m going to keep testing it because I cannot be certain that it isn’t maybe some sort of problem with the stream provider itself so I’ll keep you guys posted but, again thank you so much for this, you’ve really helped me out a great deal!!!
Just warning I got a automated call from straight talk warning me on data consumption like month ago telling me I must lower usage so I been taking people’s advice on staying at 2gb a month to avoid getting terminated 2gb is actually a lot for surfing and checking email and using shop aps I just download apps and music now when on wifi
In the month that you received the warning, did you happen to take note of exactly how much bandwidth you actually consumed?
Thx.
I never kept track till after warning never reset cell usage in settings till got warning so sorry
Internet not working on iPhone 4s with 5.0.5 (9A405). Get the message “Cannot activate cellular data network. You are not subscribed to a cellular data service.”
Any idea how to get this working? Any help with this?
Have to thank Oliver for helping me out with the setup. Phone is working great!
Thanks Oliver!
Normal if you skipped this part from this post:
“To enable Internet access, email yourself this configuration file and open it. (If you don’t trust me, go to unlockit.co.nz or help.benm.at and generate your own configuration file using att.mvno as the APN.)”
I also had to reboot the phone after applying the new APN.
4s Jb is out so u can get tether me tweak now but I would just use for normal surfing not go crazy on data consumption
I just activated my Nokia E71. Tested texting, calling and voicemail. I should receive the iPhone via UPS later today. This is a gift for the wife so I may not be able to do this today. I will post later with updates.
This was easier than I thought. I didn’t go with the Jailbreak steps since I will not be using MMS.
One thing I did was test outbound/inbound calls and text messages, as well as internet on the E71, before trimming the SIM card.
Hi,
Thanks for great help in saving money to many people by publishing it.
I am planning to get iphone4s for my straight talk. Currently I am using NokiaE71. Right now I am able to use internet on my pc using nokia pc suite with E71 mobile. Can I do the same with Iphone 4s? If so please send me the procedure.
Once again thanks for sharing this information and posting reply….
Apple seemed to have left out the tether feature on the iPhone 4S. Once it’s jailbroken it can be added back in, but the 4s hasn’t been jailbroken yet. So until that happens, no.
What all straight talk phones work with this plan and can I buy just the some card?
Only Nokia E71 works.
E5 works 2 that’s what I used
Where is a good place to get an I Phone 4S?
Try this. It worked perfectly for me
http://www.apple.com/iphone
p/s – DON’T get the Verizon or Sprint phones. Either get the unlocked phone, or, if you are willing to go through the hassle of breaking the ATT contract and paying the termination fee to save a few dollars, you could go that way. Personally, I just got the factory unlocked phone.
Phone does not need to be unlocked
You are correct, of course, but that would only be relevant if he had an old ATT iPhone and was out of contract with AT&T. He’s asking about getting a *new* 4S for use on ST. If you buy a new locked 4S through AT&T for the subsidized price, you will be forced to pay a $35 activation fee up front, sign a 2-year contract, and then pay ~$325 early termination fee on top of the discounted price of the phone to break the contract and keep the locked phone to use on ST. In the short run, you save less than $100 compared with the price of the factory unlocked phone, BUT you end up with a phone that you can only use on either ST or AT&T – forever. If you spend a little bit more now, you get a phone that will work with any SIM card, including t-Mobile domestically, and any GSM provider worldwide. That makes the resale value of the phone much better as well.
Does anyone have a iPhone 4s running with full functionality on the straight talk network? I don’t want to spend the money on the 4s not knowing if everything(talk,text,internet) is confirmed to work. I know the iPhone 4 and 3gs will work perfectly but I’m mostly worried about the jailbreak for the mms on the 4s, is it available yet ?
Thanks in advance for any input
I am using it on iPhone 4s. Works great. Text, talk and internet. For MMS, you need to jailbreak the iphone. Jailbreak for 4s is not yet available.
It is but it’s tether
Go to cydiahelp .com the full jailbreak untethered is out
I am using the 4s for talk, text, and 3g internet. No MMS because i don’t use it
I am doing this. Pretty much everything works. There are two things that are worth mentioning however.
1) There is no Jailbreak for the 4S yet. Therefore, no MMS yet.
2) The factory-unlocked doesn’t seem to have the tether feature.
There’s no JB yet, but significant breakthroughs have happened in the last few days for the A5 based devices.
I have only used my factory unlocked 4S on StraightTalk since the day I got it. I can confirm that everything works, but I don’t use MMS. If you Google MMS plist and ibackupbot, you will find a work-around for configuring MMS by editing a copy of the phone’s backup on your copmuter, and then restoring it. You can do other things as well, like enabling a hidden panorama feature for the camera. I haven’t tried it but people that have say that it works.
is it possible to use a tmobile iphone 4s with straight talk’s unlimited pay as you go plan?
There’s no such thing as a t-Mobile iPhone in the US.
If you are talking about an ATT iPhone that has been jailbroken and unlocked for use with a t-Mobile SIM, that phone is ideal for use on ST, because you can easily gain access to the APN settings required for MMS.
Oops. I just realized you said a “4S”. The only way you could have a 4S on t-Mobile would be if you purchased a factory unlocked phone for big $$$. There’s no jailbreak or unlock for that phone at this point.
If I purchase a Factory Unlocked iPhone 4S, then take my current activated Straight Talk E71 Sim and trim it down, put it in the iPhone, Talk and basic text should work? Then make the VPN changes to enable 3G internet to work. My main question is: Will the classic MMS work right off with this Factory Unlocked iPhone 4S, or will it need to be Jailbroken once its available, if ever?
You mean “APN changes”…I know. Too many acronyms
AFAIK, MMS will not work at all until you edit the configuration. The good news is, if you have a mac, you can probably get MMS to work without a JB by backing up your phone in iTunes, then using a trial of ibackupbot to edit the APN settings in the backup, and then restoring that backup.
(You can do all kinds of cool stuff with ibackupbot, like enable panorama).
Google “ibackupbot APN” and StraightTalk. It’s out there.
So I’m assuming that you have to punch in the number on the straight talk card to get your minutes and stuff each month (as you would with a tracfone). My question is how do you do this on an iPhone?
Also, does one HAVE to use the $45 unlimited plan, or could you use the $30 plan as well?
Just trying to get all the facts before I do this, thank you!!
I use their website. Payments can be made in various increments, or you can setup scheduled payments to your credit card.
Yes, you must use the $45 plan phones, which use the required SIM.
All you do is put the sim card in your iPhone and pay by using the ST website. If you prefer, you can setup auto refill and they will charge your cc every month until and unless you cancel. The only option will be the $45 unlimited plan. No other plan is offered for these sim cards.
Thank you both very much!!
I was wondering because I have AT&T go phone right now for the iPhone 4s running on ios 5 can I have the same number when I switch
Will this work with the iphone 3gs phone on ATT?
Thanks
Yes, you may use Straight Talk with any AT&T (GSM) iPhone.
how does that work? i can buy any att phone and call straight talk to activate it?
AT&T service doesn’t pick up very well at my house. Will this be the case if I used an AT&T GSM phone on Straight Talk? I was always under the impression they used Verizon. My husband has ST and his service works fine.
The service provider for the smart phone plan and SIM that work with the iPhone is AT&T — you will receive the same signal quality as AT&T.
I just inherited a Verizon iphone 4s and want to do the same thing, what are the differences?
You can only use Straight Talk if your Verizon iPhone 4S has been unlocked — which is unlikely.
I use Straight Talk on an AT&T locked IPhone 4S that I purchased on eBay for $535. No MMS but everything else works. iMessage and FaceTime with my sister who has a regular AT&T contract. So it is great.
I put Straight Talk on my unlocked iphone 4s, but personal hotspot is missing. I tried reset but didn’t work. Is there any way to use personal hotspot?
I ran into the same thing. I have a factory unlocked phone, but evidently that didn’t mean all of the features were unlocked. I exchanged my phone twice, but never achieved success. Apple told me that the reason the personal hotspot wasn’t available was because the mobile config I was using disabled tethering. If that is the case, then there may be a way to edit the settings in the mobile config. I tried using iBackupBot to search for the appropriate settings in the backup, but was unsuccessful.
Ultimately, I was in the process of returning my 4S for a full refund when Apple “accidentally” let a USB tethering app slip through the cracks for about 12 hours, and I was able to snag it before Apple pulled it from the iTunes Store. It works great, but it doesn’t provide WiFi tethering, which is what I need to use my iPad.
If anyone happens to have a solution, I would LOVE to hear about it.
I can see personal hotspot if I uninstall the mobile config. But someone said ST don’t allow tethering. I viewed the term and it does say so.
7. STRAIGHT TALK UNLIMITED PLANS CANNOT BE USED FOR: (1) access to the Internet, intranets, or other data networks except as the device’s native applications and capabilities permit, or (2) any applications that tether your device to a laptop or personal computer other than for the use of Wireless Sync.
Apple pulled every tethering app before I got my iphone. It seems I have to wait for jailbreak. But carriers can tell whether you are tethering. There should be some safer way.
Indeed, there should be a safer way.
I have been tethering for free for years with ATT, T-Mobile and ST. You can even enable tethering on some of the ST phones – no jailbreak required. The reality is that ST doesn’t know or care if you tether. They care *a lot* if you consume excessive amounts of bandwidth, whether you are tethering or not, and they will cut you off if you do. Lucky for me…I don’t use a lot of data. I tether for business purposes, and only then when there are no other alternatives. I don’t use tethering to stream movies, watch youtube, etc. I’ve never had an issue with any carrier. Also, for the most part it’s not as easy as one might think for carriers to tell if someone is tethering. To do that, they would need to examine the content of packet headers and track your activity. That gets into some very sticky privacy issues, as has been demonstrated by the recent flap with Carrier IQ. Besides – as far as I am concerned, it’s none of their damn business whether I am using a laptop or an iPhone. They are both computers. One just has a bigger screen and a more comfortable keyboard. It doesn’t cost the carrier one cent more if a byte of data originates from an application on a phone or an application on a computer. By eliminating the tethering apps, Apple is simply enabling carriers to charge extra for bandwidth the customer has already paid for. Apple should play no part in that relationship, but they do due to pressure on the part of AT&T. At some point, the law here may change and locking down a person’s phone will become illegal – as is the case elsewhere.
I understand the iPhone set up, but I wanted to know if i could buy the 499$ One year plan from Straight Talk, It offers the same thing as the 45$ plan but it’s all in one payment. This would be awesome if this works can anyone let me know if they know???
Sure you can. But I think if you evaluate the difference in plans with regard to savings, you will find that you don’t really save very much at all going from the 3-month plan to the annual plan. Going from one 30 days to three months is where most of the discount is achieved.
Price on the Nokia has dropped to $49.99.
I also compared this route to buying thru AT&T on 2 year contract. This route pays for itself in less than 4 months by comparison!
Yep.
But then you do miss out of AT&T’s world famous customer service
What’s the difference between mms and SMS?
SMS is like a simple text message. An MMS message is a picture message.
I am considering this phone plan; I would like a more affordable plan and Straight Talk seems to offer just that (and the perk being that everything is unlimited, call, text, and data).
I am skeptical because I have watched videos online demonstrating how to convert the iphone to a straight talk plan and each video has stressed the importance of sticking to a 2G minimum data use per month or else you become “flagged” by straight talk and potentially kicked off their service.
My concerns are how do you have the ability to purchase “apps” for the iphone while on straight talk plan (what is the apple ID/where does the charge for the app purchase go/etc.)? Also how can you limit your data use per month to the 2G allowed so that you are not “flagged?”
Good questions….
First, as far as apps, the user experience is exactly the same as if you were on any other provider. Apps are purchased through an iTunes account with Apple, and have no dependency on who you choose for service.
As far as the 2Gig limit, I don’t think there is a hard limit. I’ve seen the same posts and they vary from 2-2.5 GB. That’s still a lot of data, and if you seek out WiFi as your first option whenever it’s available, you can easily avoid an unnecessary usage. Regardless, ST is still a MUCH cheaper option than going with a contract provider.
On iOS 5, you can easily keep an eye on your cellular data usage. It’s under Settings->General->Usage->Cellular Usage. I reset my usage statistics every month on the day that I re-up with ST. That way, I can easily keep a handle on things.
Great tip! I was doing this with an app…like this better. Thanks!!
any ideas on where i could get a at&t iphone 4 or 4s for less than $749
Well, I don’t know if these numbers are still in effect, but you could sign a contract with AT&T, get the phone for $299 +$35 activation fee, break the contract (which will cost you another $325). I think that actually works out to about $90 savings over buying it outright. lol – that sounds like a lot of aggravation just to save $90 though. And in the end, you would still have a phone that is locked down on AT&T’s network.
The Death Star did in fact offer refurbished iPhones at a substantial discount at one point.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
yeah theres no way i could afford that right know do you know if i could just get a used one and use that??
You can find a used 4 on eBay for less, but you’d better know what you are doing, because you can get taken. If you want to know the going rate, then do a search for “completed items” and look for the color green. That will show you what the phone is actually selling for. Only consider phones that are in near-mint condition, preferably with the original box and packaging, from a USA seller. Don’t buy from anyone with less than 100 transactions and a rating lower than 98%. Beware of cheap Chinese iPhone knock-offs.
I don’t think you are going to find much in the way of a 4S for less. It’s too new.
BTW, you can knock off $100 by going with a 16GB 4S instead of the 32GB.
We’re drifting way off-topic, though. There are other resources on the web that offer better info on purchasing a phone. Good luck in your quest.
alright thanks for the info i was thinking more along the lines of craigslist because i have issues with buying things (expescially when there over 150 dollars) without laying my hands on them anything i look into ill throughly check out im pretty good with phones hopefully ill find something thanks (:
No need to get the AT&T version. You can get an unlocked iPhone 4S 16GB from the Apple store for $649. An iPhone 4 is less.
oh and can you use a used iphone from at&t? or do you have to have an unlocked one??
That’s the beauty of ST. Any AT&T iPhone will work, because ST actually uses AT&T’s network. It doesn’t need to be unlocked unless you plan to use it outside of the US at some point.
I bought the “reconditioned” e71 last friday got it today the 18th, tried to activate it and it didn’t work. It got hung up at the enter sim # part. Called CS and literally went through the same steps with 4 different people including the “supervisor”, I swear they are robots hahah. They had the same problems as me, the sim didn’t work. They elevated the issue wrote up a report and asked me to call them back in 24 hours. Hell of a first impression.
So I called CS back today after the 24 hour period and they were not able to do anything (I don’t think they even tried). So, I was transferred to the “manager” 1 step up from the “Supervisor” and they said they couldn’t do anything and had to send the problem off to the “engineers”. Now I’m waiting again. This time for 12 hours. They for some reason are unable to send me a new sim card because there is no actual error that shows up when they try to activate my phone. Man ‘o man this company is SHARP. I almost just want to bite the bullet on the $100 and not deal with them any more. I have a really bad feeling on their service. At least I am able to understand most of them…. I guess. :/
I went through hell with them for the first 3 weeks – many long calls, many idiots on the other end, utterly clueless, dump-as-a-rock agents. But don’t give up. I eventually got through to one guy who knew what he was doing, and that started the sequence of events (including sending me a THIRD new sim) which ultimately fixed things. It’s all working great now, after a month of problem-free service. It’s just the luck of the draw: we bought 2 phones, my wife’s worked perfectly right out of the box, but mine required 3 weeks of agony to get squared away. Stick with it, it’ll work out eventually, and it’s worth it – once it’s et up, you’ll never have to deal with them again (set up autopay and you’re done). Hang in there.
Was your problem the same as mine? when trying to activate the phone the system just won’t accept the sim number? its just gets hung up and doesn’t produce an error?
WOW I just looked through my bank account statement and they decided it would be nice to charge my account for an arbitrary amount of 108.63?!?! I am about to lose it!! THIS COMPANY SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!! btw now my online account says its in the process of activating my phone.
So, I want to post an update. The money issue got sorted out pretty efficiently. I FINALLY (72 hours later) got my phone activated. After that ridiculous headache I am pretty pleased with the actual service. I have very good signal everywhere I go regularly. The 3g data works well, even though I’m not going to use it much since just about everywhere I regularly go has wifi. Sorry for using tho site to vent hahahah but its important for people to read the entire process of dealing with this company so they can make informed decisions.
I’ve read this on other forums 2 seems to only be a issue with refurbished phones and crummy sims they put in them as far as I can tell just my theory.
What carrier will this setup be using? The same as the nokia e71?
Thanks.
Network = AT&T
Carrier = Straight Talk (Will appear as ‘Home’ in the status bar)
Straight Talk buys GSM service at wholesale from AT&T and resells it under their own brand name.
Thank you!
As a truck driver I confirm it’s not full AT&T coverage go to AT&T website the coverage you will get will be same as the coverage for the go phone which is AT&T prepaid coverage which for we’re I drive is still ok
Although this is not a thread about jail breaking your phone, I thought it would be helpful to mention that earlier today the ‘official’ jailbreak for A5 devices (4S and iPad 2) was released. It’s free. It’s called Absinthe. Google it or search YouTube to see it in action.
This is only relevant to this thread because there are tools in the jail-broken community that will allow you to edit the APN settings and enable MMS on your 4S with Straight Talk. This is not an endorsement of jail breaking or an offer to assist you with it. There are plenty of resources you can turn to if that’s the route you want to go. There are some risks to jail-breaking your phone, however, so do your homework beforehand.
— Read twice… Jailbreak once
So it has to be a AT&T iphone? Cant buy a sprint one off of ebay?
figured it out, thx anyway
I was wondering if Straight Talk could be used on the iPhone 4S? With the new jailbreak released I was wondering if it was possible, I know for a fact the the iPhone 4 does work on Straight Talk, I’m really tired of paying 270+ a month for AT&T. If you could reply ASAP it would help a lot.
A Jailbroken 4s on ST is being used to reply to your question.
CAn you please email me @ joshua.reyes9029@yahoo.com so you can tell me the steps because the steps on this post seem not to be working.
There’s really nothing I can tell you that hasn’t been covered here. The possible reasons it doesn’t work are:
1. The SIM you have is not the correct one (Make sure it’s got a compatible serial # as described above).
2. You damaged the SIM when you cut it or you cut it in reverse orientation. The beveled cut of the SIM should match the bevel on the uncut SIM (Use an adapter or the original cutout frame and put the SIM back in the ST phone to see if it works).
3. You are not using a compatible iPhone (you need to use either an iPhone that is locked to AT&T or a factory unlocked iPhone. It will not work with an iPhone that is locked on any other carrier).
4. The iPhone you have is defective.
5. You have not installed a mobileconfig profile to enable cellular data per the instructions above. You need to mail the mobileconfig to yourself and open the mail using the iPhone’s mail app. You need to connect over WiFi to do that. Even if you haven’t done that, you should still be able to make calls with the ST SIM installed.
When you put the SIM in your iPhone, what do you see on the status bar?
Have you tried powering off your iPhone and restarting? Sometimes that will fix a problem.
Good luck.
I rebooted the iPhone and the jailbreak any everything disappeared from my phone:( Since you are the only person with a 4S on Straight Talk that I can find can you tell me step by step because I obviously did something wrong the sim does read TF64PSIMC4. What other phones should I try?
Here’s something I found very helpful (and pretty funny at 2:35):
I used that clip as my guide. He is using a 4, but the procedure is identical for the S. I had to wait for the jailbreak to perform the last step.
Just do exactly what he does, except for the part at 2:35
Good luck.
Do I have to buy the app? And also does Straight Talk know what phone your using?
What app? There is no app involved. Did you watch the clip and follow along or what?
I don’t care if ST can tell what device I am using. If they cut me off tonight I am only out a portion of 1 month. I would pop a tMobile SIM in my factory unlocked phone, which still saves a ton of money over ATT, although it would be slower. If I had a phone that was locked to ATT, I would have no choice but to go back to them. It is unlikely there will be any software unlock in the future according to the devs. That’s why I opted for the factory unlocked phone as insurance in case ST got stupid.
The TetherMe app from cydia? And since im probably going to give the locked att phone to my sister im gonna get a factory unlocked version of the phone.
No, you shouldn’t need to purchase any app. I know that I didn’t have to with the 4S.
That was only necessary under iOS 4. With the latest jailbreak under 5.0.1, you should be able to edit the APN settings directly under Settings->General->Network-Cellular Data Network. You will find everything for configuration of Cellular Data, Visual Voice Mail, and MMS.
Were you able to get to the mid-way point that that you can make calls with the iPhone on ST?
Its fully working
And since my cousin wants to do the same thing on a brand new iPhone 4S can he activate it by jailbreaking it? And if he wants to sell it later can he just reset it?
Great!
Yes. When he resets it to factory it will wipe the phone and upgrade the firmware to the latest version, which will prevent it from being jail broken again unless another exploit can be found.
BTW, you don’t have to JB a phone to activate it. You just need to have a SIM card in the phone.
I would stick with the factory unlocked phones. They have much better resale value because the locked phones can only be used on AT&T and ST networks.
When he resets the phone does the jailbreak wiped from the phone?
In iTunes, just select restore to original settings. That will install the latest firmware from Apple, and wipe out whatever you had on the phone before, including any trace of a jailbreak.
Well I’m glad to say that you helped a lot. And thanks. ST is really good it get 3.5 download and 2.9 upload here where I live.
I have seen comments that the Nokia 6790 also works and comes with the unlocked sim card. ST has a reconditioned 6790 with a 30 day service card for $95 on the website. Can anyone confirm that this works ?
I just recieved my Nokia 6790 and will try it tomorrow; stay tuned as the E-71 is very hard to find anymore.
Have any luck with the 6790 ?
It works and so does e5
It took only 20 minutes on the phone with ST to get the ‘porting’ process started (taking my old number and routing it to ST); it will be a few hours to “as long as 2 days” to complete the process, according to the ST agent.
So, far (be patient with the customer service agents) everything should work but I am still using my old carrier until the number is ported over to ST. I will update as things progress (or regress).
So the phone does come with the unlocked sim, I think I will go ahead and order one why they are still available on the website.
NO, the unlocked phone comes with an empty SIM tray. YOU have to provide the SIM. In this case, we are using a ST SIM, but it could also be from any supported GSM provider, anywhere in the world.
Oops. My bad. I thought I was replying to a different conversation. Please ignore.
Ok, it has been 2 hours but…
Yes, the other Nokia does work with the iphone 3gs. It is safe to say it will work with the iphone 4 (with a SIM cutter as stated above).
Tips: follow everything in this post and you will have talk, text and data.
For MMS, things are a little tricky but patience and web searching will get you taken care of.
Here is another informative link for MMS
http://wiki.howardforums.com/index.php/Straight_Talk_iPhone#Questions
Now, I had to pay $5 for ‘tether me’ as my Data Settings option disappeared when going to ST. After installing that app on my jailbroken phone and changing the APN settings, things are now working great.
Remember, your speeds will be 2g (edge) on the iphone but the $ savings is worth it for some.
Hope this helps, have a good week.
I’ve been getting 3G on ST since day one. It drops down to Edge once in a while in weaker cells. I just ran Speed Test. At the moment, I am getting 2.15 Mb down, 512kbps up. I’ve seen it get as high as 6 Mb down in AZ. Those speeds are much faster than Edge, which tops out around 400 kbps in my area. I know because I used to be on T-Mobile for years, and I was only able to access Edge on my iPhone.
Ordered my 6790 supposed to be here Thursday, going to port my number from AT&T so hopefully everything goes smoothly. I will post my results, looking forward to saving a few bucks every month. Thanks for sharing your experience with the 6790.
You get 3G or edge based only on what is available in your area I drive a semi sometimes on edge other times on 3G. 3G is nice surf browser and talk same time but not work on edge
I live in the US close to the Canadian border, and ATT has stopped crediting me the roaming charges when I am in the US but the phone picks up a Canadian signal. How does Straight talk deal with Canadian roaming? Thanks very much.
What did they tell you when you called them?
http://www.straighttalk.com/Contactus
3 day update: Everything is still working fine on the iphone3s with ST.
HOWEVER: My battery life is draining very quickly (I am turning edge/data and wifi OFF) and it still is draining very fast.
The phone is acting like it is on ‘roam’ and using the battery life; anyone have a fix for this please?
thank you.
If you have a jailbroken phone, there is an app in Cydia called “BatteryDetective” that will test the amount of battery drain that background applications are are pulling, and also how much battery the various settings use. It costs $2. You can combine that with SBSettings toggles to optimize your charge life. That may help you get a handle on things. If the phone is a few years old, it could be that the battery is just nearing its useful life.
Hey guys,
I’m a canadian in vacation to the US, and I would like to take advantage of this deal to use my iPhone while in the US. However, the Straighttalk website is refusing my canadian credit card, it seems, so I cannot order the E71 from the site. I tried 6 walmart today, in case I could find the E71 or 6790 locally, but without any success.
So I was wondering if someone would be interested in buying the E71 from the website for me, and shipping it COD (or something along those lines) to me once received. Of course, I would compensate for the trouble, and pay for the shipping also.
If you’re interested, please email me at simon at wegel dot ca, or comment here. Thanks!
Hey Guys,
I am a dealer in the twin cities and I am trying to sell Straight Talk to my customers. I used to sell H20 but they lowered their data to 1GB but now I am sell Red Pocket to my costumers. The Red Pocket is solid with 59.99 Plan unlimited talk text and 2GB internet. I am looking more information about this 45 unlimited everything and here is some questions I have:
1- Is buying Nokia E71 a must to get this going?
2- Can I activate the sim online like red pocket without the hassle of going to Wall-mart?
3-I have a micro sim cutter at the shop so can I cut the ST sim and put it on Iphone 4s or Iphone 4 right off the bat without using Nokia? I am busy and I cant afford to do these little nagging process.
4 Finally, Is there a limit for how much you talk and text? I have some customers complaining about their phone cut off after they passed some limit that I don’t know yet
I just bought Nokia E71 one from ebay , and they told me , they need to send me new sim card , hope its the rite one , the sim card have to have P , and you need there E71 to activate and then to cut it and put it in iphone 4 / 4s and you will get unlimited talking texting , and about 2g of data if using iphone , s45 plan comes to like $103 all together , or u can buy new Nokia E5 it should work from walmart .
lol. Longest sentence ever.
Warning to anyone who is considering using Craigslist or eBay for the purchase of a ST phone: DON’T. There’s a long list of people out there that have been taken. In fact, there’s a very high probability that the phone and SIM card you end up with will be worthless.
Once a SIM is activated under someone’s ST account, it cannot be re-activated under a new account. Sometimes, you will get a phone that appears to be working – until the current subscriber’s prepaid period expires, that is. This is often the case with a stolen phone.
You MUST have the NEW, unactivated ST SIM card with the phone. Straight Talk will not sell you just the SIM card, either. To make matters worse, you cannot use a non-ST SIM in a ST phone, so the phone is worthless except as maybe an ipod. ST phones are locked, and there is no known JB/Unlock available, so even if you have a prepaid SIM from another carrier, it won’t work in a ST phone.
So, to summarize:
ST Phone w/o a new SIM = Brick.
well i bought one with a sim card on ebay, called the St and they told me i cant use , the sim card so they said they will send me a New one 3 to 5 days, then i i have to call em again and , they said my phone be activated , so yea its better if you buy new one or refurbished from st site
That’s great that they offered to send you a SIM. I hadn’t heard of that happening before.
I hope you get one with a compatible serial number.
Good luck!
One more thing…
How much did they charge you for the SIM, and did it include a month of service?
Did you have to give them the serial number on the phone prove you had a ST phone?
Thanks.
Thanks i let you know when ill get it and how it will work
, ye i gave them the serial number , and they told me they will send new one free of charge , i bought the service card $45 at wallmart
Everything up and running on my iphone 4, it was pretty painless. Took them a few hours to port my number, bit all in all I am pretty happy. Hope there isn’t any truth to the post about the battery drain, has anyone else experienced it ?
HOw can I activate my iPhone 4S? Can I put the straight talk sim in the iPhone after the Straight Talk phone has been activated? Or do I have to activate it by jailbreaking it? Please help!
No jailbreak required.
All you need to do is to cut the SIM, put it into the iPhone, turn the iPhone on, and follow the prompts. Once the phone has been activated by Apple, you should be able to make calls and send text with the ST SIM in the phone. Next, you will need to follow the remainder of the steps outlined in this post to enable cellular data, and optionally, enable MMS.
p/s — The last step, enabling MMS, does require a jailbreak. If you don’t need MMS, then you can skip it and still have unlimited talk, text, and internet.
I already have the jailbreak file on the iPhone now, just waiting for the reboot to occur. Do you recommend any tweaks for my nearly ready jailbroken iPhone 4S? I hear SiriToggles is good?
SiriToggles is fantastic.
Consider: iFile, SBSettings, FolderEnhancer, f.lux, DreamBoard, OSX Theme, PkgBackup, PrivaCy, Veency,xGPS,VLC Media Player
How can I control my data? And how do I make payments?
Question about data usage was already answered. You can’t automatically limit it, but you can easily monitor it. It’s under Settings->General->Usage->Cellular Usage. Reset your usage statistics every month on the day that you re-up with ST. That way, you can easily keep a handle on things.
As far as payments, you log in to ST website and pay in advance for whatever period you feel comfortable with – 30 days, 90 days, 180 days, or 1 year. There’s only one plan – unlimited.
You can also purchase a refill card at any WalMart and apply it to your plan using their site.
You can also setup auto-refill using the CC of your choice.
cheers…
Thanks so much.
Will this work if i have a verizon iphone but have it unlocked by them??
Actually, that’s a good question. Verizon uses CDMA. I know for sure that the Verizon iPhone 4 won’t work, as it is CDMA only. I’m not sure about the 4S, though. Does your phone have a SIM card slot?
yes it has a sim card…..verizon will unlock it for me also
That’s great news. That’s completely opposite of AT&T’s policy. They never unlock any iPhone, even the ones they sell for full price without a contract.
Please let us know if you are successful when you try using it with ST.
Thx
My iphone 4s is at&t so i hope my sould work fine, and Verizon or sprint 4s should work too but i think u need unlocked , and i dont know when will unlock come out for Iphone 4s
Is there any way to ensure you are on the Att&T network (not the T-mobile network – as both are GSM). The reason I ask, is that if you are with T-mobile, then the data goes through the “edge” network, while the 3G network is much faster. Basically, I’d like to use the faster network obviously.
On a jail broken phone, I believe there is an SB Settings toggle to disable EDGE.
The downside to that is that if you are in area that has no AT&T 3G coverage, you won’t have service at all.
By design, the phone will default to AT&T’s 3G network service. In areas where the 3G signal is low or non-existent, it will connect to the strongest roaming partner, usually t-Mobile, which (on the iPhone) will result in a slower EDGE connection. This is due to the fact that t-Mobile only offers EDGE service on the frequencies that the iPhone uses.
If you live in an area with weak coverage, one way to help ensure you get 3G is to do what I did and purchase a cellular signal amplifier. Mine is made by Wilson Electronics. It wasn’t cheap, but it does a decent job. They make these for use in buildings as well as in vehicles.
Hi, can someone help me on what I need to do this? I have a AT&T branded iPhone 4S, what type of Straight talk phone do i need? Since the E71 is no longer sold which one should I get? I already have the Jailbreak on my PC.
I just bought the Nokia 6790 and the sim is working fine in my AT&T iphone 4. I bought it off the ST website for 49.95.
Either the E71 or 6790 will work. ST is currently offering refurbished Nokia 6790 for $49.99 on their site. Better move now, though. As always, before you activate, make sure the SIM card from either the E71 or 6790 says TF64PSIMC4 on it. If it’s missing the P in the part number, it will not work.
Is Siri working? And how much data does Siri use?
Yep. Siri works.
Doesn’t use much data at all from what I can tell.
Is there an app where I can control my data?
http://appadvice.com/appguides/show/data-usage
These are apps to monitor usage. I don’t think there’s an app that will control data or cut it off at a preset limit.
I don’t use an app, since I can monitor usage on the phone for free, and have Siri remind me to reset the stats on my renewal date.
Can this work with an AT&T phone that is NOT an iPhone, like say the Pantech Link?
You need to be able to edit the APN settings.
As long as you can do that, I don’t see any reason why it would not work.
The only way to know for sure is to try.
ok. thank you so much!
Can this work with an AT&T phone that is NOT an iPhone. Say the Pantech Link?
Can anybody help me? I’ve done all steps, emailed myself a file, installed it, reboot the iphone 4s and it stopped downloading at all!!! Before it worked at 0.10mbps speed and now it is 0!
Let’s do some forensics…
First, do you have a compatible SIM card? Does it have a “P” in the serial number?
Are you able to make a call on the phone?
Do you see “HOME” or “AT&T” on the status bar?
Do you see “3G” or “E” o n the status bar?
When you e-mailed the file, did you open the e-mail using the iPhone’s mail app, and see the confirmation that a profile was installed?
If you look under Settings>General>Profile, what do you see?
My thoughts, exactly!
lol…
One thing just occurred to me:
If you were only getting .10 mbps before, it sounds like you are in a fringe coverage area. The problem you are having could be due to the fact that it takes your phone a little while to lock on to a tower after a restart.
I am not sure about P in serial number since I’ve cut it. I cannot see it on sim card
I am able to make calls, send messages and even do some browsing but it seems like it is 2g and very unstable
I see HOME and 3G on status bar
Yes I opened with default mail app and saw confirmation
And this is what my profile settings look like:
https ://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-6OkJoDrOeoM/TyX8z9tTi6I/AAAAAAAAGp0/etguA6wkuF8/s512 /photo%2520%25281%2529.PNG
I am not sure about P in serial number since I’ve cut it. I cannot see it on sim card
I am able to make calls, send messages and even do some browsing but it seems like it is 2g and very unstable
I see HOME and 3G on status bar
Yes I opened with default mail app and saw confirmation
And this is what my profile settings look like:
https ://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-6OkJoDrOeoM/TyX8z9tTi6I/AAAAAAAAGp0/etguA6wkuF8/s512 /photo%2520%25281%2529.PNG