StraightTalk Hotspot Experience

The Texan wrote:
What most people fail to realize is that Straight Talk and other resellers like them, operate on the designated carrier ONLY. They do not operate on any other tower even if the carrier, Verizon in this case, has a roaming agreement or is considered a partner with the other carrier. Verizon is the predominate carrier in the west and has 2x or 3x the coverage of any other carrier. However I would say that at least 35% of their coverage is on partner towers.

If you want excellent coverage, then get a Verizon Hot Spot and you will have what you want. We have the Verizon Hot Spot and there are very few places we have been here in the west that we did not have signal.

The wife and I are looking at getting a hotspot.

I notice that at least one of the Straight Talk units sports the Tracfone logo. That's what I have for a cell phone.

As I understood it years ago when I first got a Tracfone, they don't own any towers. They rent time from other companies. As such, they have the best coverage, nationwide. Once my wife couldn't get any bars on her (AT&T) smartphone, maybe 2 hours from home, but the Tracfone still did. But if they are using Verizon or other towers exclusively, I guess it's a different kettle of fish.

Some of the OP's other comments, e.g. the billing practices being medieval, or slow service sucking up credits, ring a bell after my experience with Tracfone.

I'm a Tracfone guy because I make calls and I text. And that's it. If I played games or surfed the web or that sort of thing, it would get expensive quickly. But what do folks pay for a month of cell phone usage? My wife pays $100/mo. I pay that maybe every 4 or 5 months.

We really don't like AT&T because they have us over a barrel: in this neighborhood, that's all we can get. I used to have Verizon, and I felt the same about them. We'd use this at a campground but not much elsewhere...maybe the technology isn't there, currently, at our price point.