Does Straight Talk use the Verizon network?

[hometheaterman]

I've had people tell me that Straight Talk uses the Verizon network, but I just wanted to confirm that. I travel many places where only Verizon gets signal. Neither AT&T, T Mobile, or Sprint work. So I wanted to verify that this would work before switching.

[HF305]

Yes but it's the prepaid network, which means that in certain areas Verizon phones on contracts will have access to non-Verizon signals that Straight Talk doesn't.

Go to the Verizon website and check the map, be sure to select the Prepaid version. Areas that are "prepaid roaming" will not be covered by Straight Talk.

[labjr]

I think Straight Talk's (Verizon) coverage is great where I live in central MA. Seems like they have coverage everywhere. Including the basement level of Umass hospital where they must have cellular equipment inside the building. The population density is high in the northeast so that may explain the good coverage we have here.

[bkallans]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A341 Safari/528.16)

Just drove from NH to NY. No dead zones that I saw.

[fonezfonz]

Tier Three version of Verizon network.


Tier One: Verizon full contract postpaid and a few mvnos (Blackdog, Lucky /Myway).
Tier Two: Verizon prepaid with optional roaming. Requires additional payment (Page Plus, Verizon prepaid).
Tier Three: Verizon prepaid native network with no roaming option (least coverage of the three): Straight Talk.

But Sprint mvnos offer only native Sprint coverage and even Boost cdma/Virgin Mobile/Common Cents Mobile have no roaming even though they are Sprint prepaid divisions.

[ydkjman]

Yes but it's the prepaid network, which means that in certain areas Verizon phones on contracts will have access to non-Verizon signals that Straight Talk doesn't.

Go to the Verizon website and check the map, be sure to select the Prepaid version. Areas that are "prepaid roaming" will not be covered by Straight Talk.

This is strange because I just took a trip out to Illinois and we drove through Misssouri (St. Louis area) and up through Illinois and based on Verizon's prepaid map it looks like that area is "Prepaid Roaming" But I'm pretty sure I had service when I drove through there.

[mharris127]

This is strange because I just took a trip out to Illinois and we drove through Misssouri (St. Louis area) and up through Illinois and based on Verizon's prepaid map it looks like that area is "Prepaid Roaming" But I'm pretty sure I had service when I drove through there.

In some areas the towers only cover the freeway and the immediate area around it -- for use by travelers. You may have run into that phenomonon. Especially through the rural areas of Missouri such as the Ozark Mountains.

[zeddlar]

I am in N.E. Oklahoma with no big town within 50 mile and the closest city would be Tulsa at 90 miles and the closest interstate at around 50 miles but I find I get service everywhere I go. At home in the tree and land locked boon toolies I get from 1 bar to full signal depending on where I am on the farm. I have the Samsung sch 355 which is great at picking up the slightest trace of a signal but the main reason I posted is to give you a warning if you didn't alreadfy know. Straight talk actually uses both the verizon and sprint network and their 3g smart phones all use the sprint network and some of the non 3g phones also. If you look at the phones on their website the ones with the model numbers ending in C are CDMA phones and use the Verizon network and the phones ending in G and the 2 Nokia smart phones are GMRS phones and use the Sprint network. At least that is how it was explained to me.

[speer320]

I am in N.E. Oklahoma with no big town within 50 mile and the closest city would be Tulsa at 90 miles and the closest interstate at around 50 miles but I find I get service everywhere I go. At home in the tree and land locked boon toolies I get from 1 bar to full signal depending on where I am on the farm. I have the Samsung sch 355 which is great at picking up the slightest trace of a signal but the main reason I posted is to give you a warning if you didn't alreadfy know. Straight talk actually uses both the verizon and sprint network and their 3g smart phones all use the sprint network and some of the non 3g phones also. If you look at the phones on their website the ones with the model numbers ending in C are CDMA phones and use the Verizon network and the phones ending in G and the 2 Nokia smart phones are GMRS phones and use the Sprint network. At least that is how it was explained to me.

Lots of misinformation. It the phone ends in a "C" it is CDMA and runs on Verizon. Phones that end in "G" or the Smart phones run on at&t's GSM/UMTS network. Straight Talk does not use Sprint.

[Youngatheart123]

Lots of misinformation. It the phone ends in a "C" it is CDMA and runs on Verizon. Phones that end in "G" or the Smart phones run on at&t's GSM/UMTS network. Straight Talk does not use Sprint.

I agree with you. This was the way they explain it to me. I never heard of Sprint either.

[Renegade1994]

You're all wrong(the last three posts, that is). The Nokias all use ATT. The other GSM phones use Tmobil or ATT. All of the new Androids use Sprint's network......all the other CDMA phones are Verizon.

sent from my Straight Talk Samsung Infuse 4G using the Howard Forums app

[Mr.Cell]

You're all wrong(the last three posts, that is). The Nokias all use ATT. The other GSM phones use Tmobil or ATT. All of the new Androids use Sprint's network......all the other CDMA phones are Verizon.

sent from my Straight Talk Samsung Infuse 4G using the Howard Forums app

You are completely right! It all depends on the zip code you enter but the ones ending in C use Verizon, androids use Sprint, ending in G use either T-mobile or AT&T depending on the area The reason is that since they are basic phones not 3 g they can be used in either network And all the Nokia smartphones are 3G and they only work on AT&T 3G network that's why they send you a sim for them. I recently purchased 6 lines for our company. 1 Nokia e71 on AT&T 4 LG 220C on Verizon 1 Samsung R355C on verizon.

[silentjudge]

Need I say more

[Mr.Cell]

Need I say more

Do you have a link for that map?

For the T-Mobile map I don't think that's all native coverage, do you know anything about it?

[silentjudge]

Do you have a link for that map?

For the T-Mobile map I don't think that's all native coverage, do you know anything about it?

Used to be on the StraightTalk.com web site, they took it down. Its just now this:



I think they did it for simplicity reasons, nothing too nefarious.

As for the GSM-Tmobile map, America Movil/Tracfone has agreements with many GSM providers in the US, I think over 10 of them (you can find it in their SEC fillings). So they have access to much more than just T-Mobile and AT&T Native networks. Even the GSM-AT&T map is more than just AT&T native coverage. As with all coverage maps, I would take them with a grain of salt.