Cell phones forum: Signal problem! I just bought Straight Talk... Help!

Well...at least you did not have to sign a contract with Straight Talk. If you continue to have problems I would go with Boost Mobile. My son has it and he is satisfies. It is 50 bucks for unlimited everything. Good Luck

After reading all these reviews it gives me pause for thought.

A friend told me about Straight Talk and said they used the Verizon wires.
..but I wonder if there are tiers like mentioned earlier in this thread.

The phone selection looks limited. I just bought a new GSM Nokia A-177.
Not a bad cheap phone if you don't count that stinkin' camera.

I was listening to Leo Laporte the other day and he was talking up Google Voice which I have had for a couple years. I had the old Grand Central setup so we got to use it early.

That customer support sounds like a nightmare. I never knew that they all had American names.**snicker**. Also, the scripts these people read over and over again, NO MATTER WHAT YOU ASK THEM it's the same thing over and over again.

I have told CS reps before to QUIT APOLOGIZING every other sentence and let's get to work. So what do they do, APOLOGIZE again..
If their support is like this, and it sounds like it is, I'll pass.

I also purchased a Straight Talk Samsung R355c and with no problem. I am saving since I was expending almost $90 a month for talk, text and minutes overage, that was extra and received a bill for $300 for going over minutes during the holidays. I am pleased with the savings, with the phone and with the overall experience I have had with my Straight Talk. Good luck to the persons that are having all those problems.

applachian wireless is the best, we need to do something about getting our money back from straight talk junk phones.

I am encouraging everyone to not do business with Straight Talk. Yesterday, December 13, 2010, Straight Talk changed my phone number without warning and without notification. The only idea I had that something was wrong was that I had no service all day. Then we called customer service last night and reestablished my service.

It wasn't until today, after my wife tried to call me but instead got someone else did we figure out on our own that my number the Straight Talk rep had changed my number without telling us. We called Straight Talk customer service once again, trying to resolve the problem for good. At first, we couldn't even get through to them. We got a message stating "Due to High Call Volume, we cannot take your call now. Try again later."

When we finally got through later, Straight Talk's outsourced customer service reps refused to make the problem they had caused right again. Instead, the hard-to-understand Indian CSRs, with their shrill Indian accents repeatedly recited in broken English their simple, scripted versions of how they were powerless to help us any further.

For both reliability and for safety reasons, my wife and I are discontinuing our Straight Talk service in favor of a reliable provider. I am on disability - my telephone is sometimes my only contact with the outside world. In a medical emergency, I need to be able to contact someone who might help.

Straight Talk is not a reliable provider of cell phone service. You get what you pay for and if you make the same mistake we did in dealing with Straight Talk you will need to call customer service. You will also find out - like we did - that Straight Talk increases its profits by outsourcing its customer service. Your money is better spent instead on a reliable service provider with good customer service who won't make such stupid mistakes in the first place and who will help you when you need it.

While I sympathize with your dilemma, you didn't do your research before the whole process began.

It's never a good idea to actually port the old number until you have already set up the new service and have ascertained that it works sufficiently for your needs. In some cases this may require a few weeks (or longer) if you do not have time to properly evaluate the new service/hardware/features/etc. Once it's working properly, *then* you make the call to port over your old number.

Regarding your comments on keeping jobs in the U.S., this complaint is getting old. Which would you prefer, the opportuntity for your small business to stay afloat, or some draconians measure by right wing nut jobs to force companies to *always* use American labor(?) It's just not realistic since there's no such thing as a one-size fits all unfortunately. The global economy is here to stay.

Keep in mind that certain jobs will simply not be present in the U.S. again in the same numbers (if at all) as they did during our parents and grandparents generations. You can use the shipbuilding industry as an example from this century. The large vessels that used to be made in the U.S. are now (mostly) made in China/Korea, closer to where the labor costs are lower and manchurian/australian iron ore is plentiful. Perhaps someday they will be produced in Africa when some of those economies advance as well. The truth is much of this is a natural progression, economically. There have been suggestions that our progression to more of a service based economy is necessarily a bad thing, which is incorrect. In fact, economies often progress to a point where you become exporters of (much more expensive) advanced goods and services such as consulting work for large multi-nationals, along with computer software/services and networking technologies. These are high value services that actually do create additional jobs back home. The real problem is how we have few built-in ways on a national scale to properly adjust and deal w/ employment re-training, along with providing affordable health care for all. Some have suggested that our economic job prospects could be improved by reforming our higher education system. Instead of forcing young adults to go the academic route of 4 year higher education they could enter a codified tradesman/apprenticeship type program of varying length depending on the industry they happened to choose. To create a path for skilled workers that we require in today's economy mind you, instead of a whole raft of unemployed poetry majors working as waiters or cab drivers .

Straight Talk handsets are either CDMA *or* GSM, so you only get one 'footprint' at a time. It truly depends where you are trying to use the phone, and which 'flavor' of Straight Talk is being used/marketed in your specific area. Verizon & ATT *do not* cover 100% of the U.S., FWIW.

...the el cheapo ST service would permit tethering? (ROTFL)

I highly recommend Page Plus Wireless if you can't afford post-paid but want/need more of the bells/whistles. It would allow you to bring in many of the Verizon branded handsets (even some wifi enabled smartphones) without such limitations of ST.

Straight Talk uses both dominate networks for cellphone coverage. I switched from T-Mobile's GSM network where my reception inside buildings was superior but not so much in rural areas. I have the Samsung R451C phone where the "C" stands for CDMA as opposed to T-Mobile's GSM network. Straight Talk gives you the option to use either network depending upon the phone in which you choose to pick. I now get better long distance range with my CDMA phone, yet my signal within buildings is often too weak to hold it for long. If you are having problems within your home with Straight Talk, I would recommend that you purchase a GSM phone instead of a CDMA phone. For example, Sraight Talk also gives me the option to purchase the Samsung T401G where the "G" stand for "GSM." I would imagine that the T401G would naturally work better within a building since it is on the GSM network. Hope that helps.

I have great service around my area with the straight talk. Find out if your straight talk is CDMA (Verizon) or GSM (AT&T). Then you can figure out which service is right for you because different phones use different service towers.

No way do you want to pick Boost over Straight Talk, Boost is only carried on the sprint network and Straight Talk is on ATT, Verizon, and now T-Mobile too (because ATT bought them.) So there's no real advantage to the boost coverage.

I have look at your question about the cellphone signal is too weak.so I suggest you buy the signal booster from ebay.you can look for cellphone booster.