Remember yesterday when we said that pre-paid carriers have been an intense area of interest since the $299 unlocked Nexus 4 was announced? Well one of the biggest competitors in the pre-paid market has been Straight Talk. The prepaid carrier caught on with many customers because it offered unlimited talk, text, and data for just $45 a month and was compatible with both AT&T and T-Mobile SIM cards and phones. According to a new statement from the MVNO, however, AT&T SIMs will no longer be available and it will solely sell T-Mobile compatible cards for the time being. Straight Talk gives no explanation for this abrupt change in plans, though it says it will honor SIMs already purchased and actively being used. So if you’re using Straight Talk with AT&T, you’re in no jeopardy of having your service shut off.
Straight Talk’s full statement follows.
Hi p49k. Straight Talk Wireless is not selling SIM cards that are compatible with AT&T devices at this time. We’ll bring them back as soon as we can and will work to keep you up to date on this issue. Thank you.
As you can tell, the carrier leaves the door wide open as to it offering AT&T SIMs again at some point down the line. This leads us to believe that it was AT&T who forced the MVNO to stop selling its SIM cards. Given that it would cost nearly $90 to get what Straight Talk offers for $45 on AT&T, it’s all together possible that it was loosing customers and therefore loosing money thanks to the pre-paid carrier.
T-Mobile on Wednesday confirmed its plans to offer a pre-paid service. Plans for its network will be similar to Straight Talk’s.
- $30/mo – Unlimited calling, unlimited texting
- $35/mo – Unlimited calling, unlimited texting, unlimited 2G data
- $45/mo – Unlimited calling, unlimited texting, 5GB “high speed” data
One reason customers would choose Straight Talk over T-Mobile’s GoSmart MVNO is that you had the option to use either AT&T or T-Mobile. But since that is no longer the case, who do you choose? Let us know what you think down in the comments! If you really want to use AT&T with Straight Talk, head out to your local WalMart and see if it still has any SIMs in-stock.
Source: XDA