Is 7-11 Speak Out USA replacing original SIM card?

**US_phone** · 07-23-2012, 09:49 PM

Have had my 7-11 Speak Out plan for years. Like it bec its simple & inexpensive & I had no need for data plan.

Recently got voice mail & a text to contact them for a replacement SIM card so "I would not lose service." Called # & gave name & address in exchange for a promise they would send new SIM card AND post $10 to my acct. Got off phone feeling like I'd just been scammed, until saw immediate $10 increase on my balance! Today I got the SIM card. Attached letter provided phone to call to change account.. And yes, it's the same phone # as the 7-11 Canada website provides as the Customer Service number.

Envelope looks hokie - they used peel & stick labels for my address & return address. 7-11 Speak Out logo on enclosed letter is obviously just a b/w copy of some original logo...

Anyone else have this happen to them? Still insecure about switching out cards. Is this some elaborate scam?

Anyone know what changes have they made? Supposedly I will not lose any info currently on my phone, but is that reality?!
Any info will be greatly appreciated... thx

**khuang** · 07-23-2012, 11:48 PM

I also got text from 12063300666 on 7/12 morning,

"Important Message from SpeakOut Wireless! Pls contact customer care - 8663101023 - to avoid service interruption."

I haven't called them yet. Wonder if the new SIM is still on AT&T, is it 4G LTE compatible?

**Kuczynski** · 09-08-2012, 02:12 AM

I just received this text message today. I haven't called the phone number yet.

**Kuczynski** · 09-13-2012, 10:50 PM

Called the number. Turns out, the text was just a reminder to reload the phone because the minutes were expiring in 30 days.

**field-phone** · 10-13-2012, 11:09 AM

Several family members have SpeakOut USA phones and nobody has received a text or voicemail of that sort. The message received by US_phone last July sounds like a phishing scheme, but since ten dollars was actually added to his account after he responded, it may have been a data-mining effort to match names and addresses of users with SpeakOut mobile numbers. If so, it was obviously done selectively and not system-wide. BTW, since his message was posted more than three months ago, how about an update? Any changes in your account or other indications that there was anything undesirable going on?

**Kuczynski** · 10-13-2012, 01:44 PM

In my above post, the woman from Speakout that I talked to was full of crap. My sim card was deactivated and my cellphone stopped working October 1. I called Speakout and they sent me a new sim and also gave me a $10 inconvenience credit.

The text is real.

**field-phone** · 10-14-2012, 04:17 PM

Originally Posted by Kuczynski

In my above post, the woman from Speakout that I talked to was full of crap. My sim card was deactivated and my cellphone stopped working October 1. I called Speakout and they sent me a new sim and also gave me a $10 inconvenience credit.

The text is real.

Would you please clarify what happened? Did your phone stop working because the balance expired, or because you failed to call a number that was sent to you in a text? In other words, when the phone stopped working, did you still have a balance on it?

**US_phone** · 10-14-2012, 04:28 PM

i got my new SIM card back in July but was hesitant to put it in, then promptly forgot. I lost service just as they said would happen if i did not replaces old card w/new one. Late in day, I called SpeakOut & initial operator had difficulty hooking my phone back up (possibly bec I'd been w/o service for several days?). Operator tried several times, then told me he had to contact/email Lead who'd just left for the day. Lead call back early the following day and was able to re-connect my service with no loss of minutes. Lead stayed on line until sure my phone was back working & all my questions were answered. I've no clue how system-wide this might be, but I assume i was contacted bec my SIM card was one of the original Cingular ones. Sure the networks have been updated since those days!

All operators that I spoke with were courteous and polite.

Tried to reply here earlier but had trouble putting in my reply.

If you get the call, as the saying goes - "Just do it"

Keep up the good work HowardForums! You're the only place i could find with U.S. SpeakOut info

**Kuczynski** · 10-14-2012, 07:19 PM

I agree with the above post. The Cingular sim cards are being replaced. My phone stopped working because of this. It still had plenty of minutes left. Had the new sim card activated and all is well.

**field-phone** · 10-15-2012, 11:37 AM

In my case it's just a matter of principle, because I have "nothing to hide" (as the saying goes), but I'm still not too thrilled at the notion of having to provide a postal address to SpeakOut for them to send a new SIM card. And don't forget that in today's world, if they have your home address, then they automatically gain access to a huge amount of personal information about you, including all sorts of demographic and financial data, like whether you own or rent, the value of your property, the type and character of the neighborhood where you live, a picture of your street and your house thanks to Google, your credit history in terms of landline and utility bills, even your voter registration -- and that's just for starters. Linking the mobile number to your name and address also lets them (or any agency that asks) track your movements via GPS as long as you're carrying the phone and it's turned on. You might as well volunteer to wear an ankle bracelet! All that information is bought and sold by data miners and goes into your consumer profile and who knows where else. I value my privacy, and one of the reasons I like SpeakOut is that I don't have to give access to that kind of information for no good reason. It's not only changing the rules in the middle of the game, it's also a kind of blackmail -- give up your privacy or lose your number and any money that's on the phone. That's an unacceptable choice.