Does Straight Talk $45/Unlimited use AT&T's postpaid coverage (including 3g)?

**rcmcdonald91** · 06-29-2012, 08:55 PM

Does Straight Talk $45/Unlimited use AT&T's postpaid coverage (including 3g)?

Basically, the title says it all. A buddy of mine says otherwise. And uses this to explain why he doesn't get 3G service in an area where other AT&T (non-prepaid) phones get excellent 3G signal. I suspect that his hardware is to blame for this.

**Tim-of-NC** · 06-29-2012, 09:30 PM

Yes. If he bought a unlocked phone it may not support the right bands required for at&t 3G or he ordered the wrong sim card.

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**Carole Wright** · 06-30-2012, 03:58 AM

I keep hearing different answers to this question. Some in here insist that ST uses ATT prepaid coverage (Gophone map), while others insist that it's postpaid. I haven't had the chance to travel anywhere to test the theories. Does anyone on here know FOR SURE?

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**Tim-of-NC** · 06-30-2012, 04:46 AM

http://www.howardforums.com/showthre...5#post14841425 This should answer all questions. The very first reply speaks of someone else roaming on another network.

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**maestroteague** · 06-30-2012, 07:02 AM

Actually, ST's parent company, American Movil, is one of the largest cellular companies in the world, larger than AT&T or Verizon. They have roaming agreements with many regional carriers. So technically, ST may actually have larger coverage than AT&T postpaid, depending on what area you live in. But definitely at least postpaid coverage. That is well documented. The problem that some people run into is that you won't roam onto Tmobile until you have zero reception from any AT&T tower. If your phone has great signal from a tmobile tower and 2% signal from AT&T, then it will stay with AT&T until it has no signal, regardless of which tower has the stronger signal. This also occurs on AT&T postpaid, I believe. So if your friend claims that he can't roam, this may be why.

**Morphling27** · 06-30-2012, 04:13 PM

Yeah maestro, I think that's how all the networks have it. When I was on Sprint, at my old job there were some terrible areas and it refused to ever drop the Sprint connection for a verizon one, even though the phone couldn't download, text, or make a call. It still showed sprint signal so it didn't roam.

**Tim-of-NC** · 06-30-2012, 05:06 PM

If you have a phone that uses the sprint network you only get sprint native coverage no roaming. So basically the same coverage as virgin or boost.

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**Carole Wright** · 06-30-2012, 05:36 PM

Wow, I had no idea I would get ATT postpaid coverage! How about a T Mobile phone with BYOD TMo sim? Prepaid or postpaid Tmobile coverage? HUGE difference there! If course, STs ability to roam onto ATT towers complicates that question, doesn't it?

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**jpapa1086** · 06-30-2012, 06:15 PM

I believe att/ST is postpaid coverage with roaming and T-Mobile/ST is prepaid coverage with roaming .. sprint/ST and Verizon/ST is native only for both with no roaming .. someone correct me if I'm wrong

**maestroteague** · 06-30-2012, 10:23 PM

Originally Posted by jpapa1086

I believe att/ST is postpaid coverage with roaming and T-Mobile/ST is prepaid coverage with roaming .. sprint/ST and Verizon/ST is native only for both with no roaming .. someone correct me if I'm wrong

Actually, I believe the correct description would be that ST tmobile sim gets tmobile postpaid coverage, but the prepaid feature set. In other words, you get the same roaming capabilities onto AT&T and the regional gsm carriers that ST has agreements with as far as voice and text, and data will depend on the carrier just as it does with the ST AT&T sim. However, the feature set, such as voicemail, conditional forwarding, and the like is the feature set of tmobile prepaid. This is why visual voicemail will work with AT&T sim but not with tmobile sim. I honestly don't know what other features you miss out on with tmobile, just remember reading this several times over the last 4 months.

**Hellyon** · 07-01-2012, 08:38 AM

I've traveled the East coast, Midwest, and the West coast with the AT&T SIM in my 4S. Works perfect. I've had one issue in SFO due to the congestion of the AT&T system. Otherwise, ST works as advertised. I live in a very rural area of Florida, but I can pull in up to 5 mbps download speed.

**Carole Wright** · 07-01-2012, 02:45 PM

I received a PM from a ST rep, which indicated that ST provides PREPAID coverage only. Period. Regardless, I'm at the lake enjoying 4-5 Mbps down, where in the past I was lucky if I got Sprint reception at all, and Verizon was slower than muck. And using the Open Signal App, I had coverage all the way here, save for a couple of very low spots at river crossings. I used to joke that I could read the paper on my phone AT the lake, but heaven help me if I had a problem on the way there, and really NEEDED a cell phone.

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**Carole Wright** · 07-01-2012, 02:53 PM

Originally Posted by Carole Wright

I received a PM from a ST rep, which indicated that ST provides PREPAID coverage only. Period.

Hehe, but then again, according to Straight Talk, they don't have GSM service here, and can't activate a new phone.

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