Straight Talk is a prepaid MVNO that offers the ability to buy SIM cards that you can pop into any AT&T-compatible, T-Mobile-compatible, or unlocked GSM phone. This includes many Samsung Galaxys and iPhones that you can buy refurbished or on the used market. For $45 a month you get unlimited minutes, unlimited text, and 5 GB of high-speed data with no contracts and no credit checks. You also avoid the usual cell phone taxes that can add $5 to $10 per line. Unlimited data means 3G/4G data speeds for 5 GB per month (recently improved from 2.5 GB) and then 2G data speeds after that.
$45 a month is the everyday price. Last year, there was a nice promo that let you buy 4 months of the Straight Talk unlimited plan for $26 a month, a significant 42% savings off the regular price. I’m actually just updating that old post here and pruning stale comments.
Right now, you can buy 8 months of the Straight Talk unlimited plan for $22.50 a month. To access this promo, either try clicking on this promo deep link or entering your info at this promo intro page. You should see the following offer text in red:
For Limited Time only get a FREE SIM + FREE Service Plan Card with the Purchase of a 30 Day Service Plan Card
- Each package includes 2 monthly plan cards, and you can buy 4 packages for a total of 8 months for $180 + taxes and shipping where applicable.
- While the link only let you buy a T-Mobile SIM card as part of the package, the actual monthly plan cards can be activated with any provider SIM. They also sell AT&T SIM cards on the same website, if you prefer that.
- You can also try to stack with cashback shopping portal. For example, BeFrugal.com normally offers $30 cashback for airtime + SIM purchase. BeFrugal also has $10 bonus for new customers that earn $25 in cashback. See reader Shoe’s comment.
- If your desired SIM size is sold out, know that you can buy a simple $4 SIM cutter which can cut any SIM card into a micro SIM or nano SIM. (Or a $4 SIM adapter will make a nano into micro or regular SIM.) You may have to use a bit of sandpaper as well for the nano SIM as they are a little thinner than regular SIMs. Read the reviews, they work.
- You can also check back later to see if they restock, but I’d rather just lock in the savings with whatever SIM is in stock.
- Finally, the $60 international cards are also buy 1 get 1 free, making them $30 and still cheaper than the $45 plan. The $60 plan has the features of the $45 plan plus unlimited calling to Mobile in Mexico, China, India and Canada and some other features. So it’s still a pretty good discount (33% off) if the rest are out of stock.
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So, if you buy four of these can you use the 4 cards to reload the same line over 4 months?
Yes
If you can not afford a prepaid card for this month can they used the minutes left over from you old card?
Jonathan,
Do you know if I have an existing prepaid T-mobile cell number, can I still get this plan while keeping my number?
Thanks!
Yes you can port numbers into Straight Talk from any provider by law.
I have a question. I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 phone. It was through Verizon but since my phone is unlocked, I chose T-Mobile as my carrier. T-Mobile stinks in my area and I was wondering, since my phone is unlocked, if I switch to Straight Talk, I can use the AT&T sim?.correct? And I can keep my same number, right?
If you have an unlocked Samsung S3 that works on T-Mobile, then yes a Straight Talk AT&T sim should work in that phone. Yes you can port numbers to ST.
I have been waiting for a good opportunity to move to ST for the $45 unlimited and this is a great deal to make the move. I am now with Pagepluscellular and have a couple months still with them (paid in advance).
Two questions:
1. I have a Note 2 4G LTE on the Verizon network (through Page Plus), only Verizon works inside my house where I live so I need to stay with CDMA. Can I get that through ST with this deal… or at all for that matter?
2. If I purchase the ST deal (assuming Verizon possible), can I wait a couple months to activate the plans once my Page Plus expires?
Thanks for pointing out this great deal with ST.
Dan
You can check your phone compatibility here:
https://www.straighttalk.com/wps/portal/home/h/BringYourOwnPhone/carrierselection/
Yes, you can wait to use the monthly plan cards.
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 which was a Verizon cell but I have Straight Talk already installed… Are you saying I can I buy the T-Mobile airtime cards to fill my Straight Talk unlimited? If not, I must be missing something when I click on the links because that is all I see. I would love to fill my phone with 8 months of discounted airtime. 🙂 Thank you in advance for your help.
Yes these airtime cards can be applied to your existing Straight Talk account. Just the SIM is T-Mobile specific and is a separate item, just bundled together here.
Does anyone have any experience unlocking a Straight Talk phone and bringing it over to another carrier? Walmart is going to have some great sales on these phones for Black Friday, but at least one of the phones I am looking at is a Verizon phone, and I use T-Mobile. I’m having a hard time finding anything current about unlocking a Straight Talk phone.
Thanks for posting this but they are all Out of Stock now 🙁
Dang, that was fast! First, they may be re-stocked at a later time, you just have to keep checking. Alternatively, the $60 international cards are also buy 1 get 1 free, making them $30 and still cheaper than the $45 plan. The $60 plan is basically the features of the $45 plan PLUS “Unlimited International** calling to Mobile in Mexico, China, India and Canada plus 400 bonus minutes to call Claro Guatemala.”
The way the ST international plans work is much like a calling card. You dial their 1-800 number and are then prompted to enter the final phone number.
Not the ideal international calling mobile experience 😛
If using the International card as a regular unlimited card, would it work basically the same?
Yes.
Good to know, thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the reminder about the international plan cards. I went ahead and ordered 8 months worth of those. Total cost of $262.10 with shipping and tax. So I am saving about $12 per month which is still almost 30% cheaper. I guess I will have to start making more friends overseas.
Does anyone know how long these are good for if purchased to today? I am going to the states in April for four months and wondering if i buy today could I activate in april? Thanks
The terms state that the cards will never expire “except where expressly permitted by law”. I can’t say I know all the laws everywhere, I can only say that I don’t know of any law that would expire a prepaid phone card in less than 12 months.
Does it work with an existing straight talk SIM & number? I don’t want to change my number.
Yes, just apply the cards to your account, ignore the new SIM.
Great info, thanks. I just bought a year’s worth for me and my wife.
I suggest making the purchase through Befrugal.com or ebates.com. No guarantees that it will work, but it’s worth a shot for the the potential for more savings. They had a similar deal last December that I took advantage of and also got cash back from Befrugal.com on top of it.
From Befrugal.com …
” Cash Back Rate
$20.00 Cash Back on Phones
$30.00 Cash Back on Phones + Airtime
$15.00 Cash Back on SIM Card Purchase
$30.00 Cash Back on SIM Card + Airtime Purchase
Special Terms & Exclusions
Cashback on accessories & airtime valid only when purchased in conjunction with a phone or SIM card.
If you choose to apply a coupon or deal that is not posted on BeFrugal.com, we are unable to guarantee that you will receive cash back on your purchase.”
Good reminder, I’m impressed they paid out, added info to post.
None available anymore 🙁
I saw it as out of stock too last night, but it has come back in stock in the past.
Actually, I checked again and the $45 cards are back in stock as of 11/19/15 at 1:20 pm Pacific!
Thanks Jonathan! Got another 8 months worth at $24.74 a month including tax and shipping.
Thanks J!
And they’re still available as of 5:30pm PT 11/19. Picked up 4 myself. I took advantage of a similar deal last year and applied the monthly cards to my already-active BYOP AT&T unlocked device.
One tip: Don’t add all of the cards to your account at once. Add them as you would on a per-30 day cycle. That way, should something happen to your account and it goes “poof!”, you still have the unused monthly cards.
And as for the SIMs? The last time, I was able to order mine with AT&T nano SIMs. They were placed into my cell phone junk drawer until recently when I used one to get my mother onboard and used another to replace the nano SIM on my phone (as it seemed the SIM went “bad”, resulting in the “No SIM installed” error and no amount of rebooting or re-seating the SIM corrected the problem).
Thanks Jonathon. I was not able to catch the $45. cards, however I picked up 4 of the $60. cards… Still a nice savings! You rock!!!!!!
$45. unlimited deal is live again… I just ordered.
Amazing deal (especially if the portals pan out) – thanks Jonathan – Im in for 4 and might have my gf buy me 4 more! 🙂
This is awesome. Thanks Jonathan!
So I guess this deal has expired?