I have been using Straight Talk as a back up wifi for when the campgrounds don't work well or I want to do banking, Skyping and suchHave been very happy with ST till this weekLast week added 4 gb to hot spot used very little and then camped in areas with no service Tuesday when we returned to civilization my hotspot was unusable due to no GB left I had not used 4 GB in a couple of daysSo..... called ST Started with Tracfone at 35 cents a minute Not a good idea because of expense Went to a Walmart and they were good enough to let me use their phoneAll in all ..... was put on hold over a 2 day period for over 2 hours Once someone went to check something and after 1/2 hour had not returned Another time held for 20 minutes and then line disconnected Finally convinced someone to tell me where I had used all the GB and guess what? I had used just over 1 GB Now to gat my GB returned That was like pulling teeth The service reps you get on line can really do nothing and have to transfer you to another department which has more authority which was where all the holding went onIt would have been nice if someone had at least sounded sorry for my problems but no such luckWill continue to use ST and keep my fingers crossed because it is the cheapest I can get to do what I want

I've had Tracfone service (which is affiliated with Straight Talk) for many years. The last non-smart phone I bought had the triple minutes feature..I signed up for the auto add minutes each month and not once in the 4 years I've had this phone has the correct minutes been added..they add the 60 minutes but never triple it..it takes a call to customer service or using the chat to get the other 120 minutes added. Since I usually get rep with a heavy accent, I've gone to using the Chat and that works pretty well. Each time I explain the problem and that this is never done correctly, they assure me has been corrected and it happens again the next time minutes are added..I've even called them prior to the add date to make sure the minutes are correct and again they never are. But I still stick with them because of the cost of the minutes..I even added a smart phone last month (cancelling our Verizon non-smart phone) so will see how that works...guess I am a glutton for punishment but like you it is the cheapest I can get to do what I want. Good luck in your future use!!

The key is to "shut off" your data when you are not using it.If you leave the data on, all your apps access your data 24/7's eating it all up. The more apps you have added to your phone the more data is eaten. And the more apps you have loaded the faster your battery will go dead.Why do you think apps are for free? Providers have a hand in it so you have to purchase larger data plans.It is all written right in the privacy act that everyone just clicks agree to. btw you also give them the right to access your contact list of names and phones numbers too.

Well, when I talked to the Straight Talk service rep to find out why there was no tethering icon on my Straight Talk Samsung S5 phone I was told tethering is a violation of the Straight Talk service contract. So no tethering icon. I was also told if the Straight Talk somehow found out I was using their service as a WIFI hotspot they would cancel my account. Just sayin.As far as their customer service is concerned.....It is terrible.

rockhillmanor wrote:The key is to "shut off" your data when you are not using it.If you leave the data on, all your apps access your data 24/7's eating it all up. The more apps you have added to your phone the more data is eaten. And the more apps you have loaded the faster your battery will go dead.Why do you think apps are for free? Providers have a hand in it so you have to purchase larger data plans.It is all written right in the privacy act that everyone just clicks agree to. btw you also give them the right to access your contact list of names and phones numbers too.X2. I don't use data on my phones, so it's always disabled. We prefer using free wifi, or wifi at home where we're paying for it anyway.

I have used Straighttalk for cell phone service almost 8 years (when my AT&T bill went up to over $250/month) and we have had very few problems with it. I have also tried using the phone to call and went through 3-4 different people and I finally hung up, used the CHAT feature on their website and got it fixed within 10 minutes.

Straight Talk customer service | Good Sam Community

northshore
Explorer
Mar 13, 2018
We wanted a "hotspot" (that is what we are talking about, right?) The wife has straight talk phone, and so we just started looking at the straight talk hotspot, Lucky for us the walmart associate, steered us to the ATT hotspot. He says that the customer service and usage rate is better with the ATT than the straight talk and they hear lots of complaint about the straight talk hotspot. We have used the ATT hotspot just minimally, but have been happy with "usage" rate.
With the straight talk phone we have called their customer service, but hate the whole process.
We have been kind of happy with the online chat/ordering process.
ncscz
Explorer
Mar 09, 2018
Disclaimer: It has been close to 10 years since I had to call for support from an América Móvil company (StraightTalk, Tracfone, Net10, etc.) So this information may be outdated OR I might have 'mis-remembered' some of the details.

América Móvil call centers were in Miami and Mexico. Early morning calls tend to be directed to the Miami center while calls later in the day and at busier times will more often go to another center.

The Howard Forum had a thread running at one time that listed a phone number that went directly to the Miami center always. It also listed a few email contacts of 2nd tier support that could solve problems and skip the 1st level. I was able to use this method to solve several lost minutes, expired minutes and account expiration problems.
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Mar 09, 2018
I am over 50 gB on my T-Mobile unlimited plan this month. (HINT HINT) they tell me if Im on a congested tower they may de-rate my service a bit (And so they did for about 5 minutes) but I get 10 GIG high speed to other deivces, after that they throttle to about 110% of "Full Speed" on the tower I'm using now (Meaning I don't notice on this tower, I do on other towers) and 50 Gig full speed to phone (or less depending on tower) and I may get downgraded to Edge if tower is very busy.

On your non-Cellular devices (Your comnputers) make sure to mark the Wi-Fi connetion to the hot spot as A METERED connection how to do this depends on your wi-fi adapter software...

On a Chrome book I do not see a way to do this. Been a while since I did it with Widders (windows) That way UPDATES will not download.. They can eat up a couple hundred Megs (or more) very very fast.
tinstartrvlr
Explorer
Mar 09, 2018
Also if you are using your hotspot with a laptop that runs Windows, the updates can eat up a bunch of data. Found that out the hard way.
kerrlakeRoo
Explorer
Mar 09, 2018
trb46 wrote:
kerrlakeRoo wrote:
Am currently using Total Wireless, another Tracfone subsidary. Have either use them or straighttalk for about 6 years.
Yes customer service sucks, is a total joke.

Do you know which towers Total Wireless uses (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, etc.)?

Total wireless is on Verizon towers.
Straighttalk can be verizon or att it depends on which phone you get.
hugemoth
Explorer
Mar 09, 2018
I use a Straight talk hot spot with an Android tablet. To stop unwanted data use I logged into my Google account online and clicked on do not update apps. Makes a huge difference!
Gulfcoast
Explorer
Mar 09, 2018
I've used Straight Talk since they began service with phones and two hotspots... never one minutes trouble out of them.

Excellent in every way and I've called them a few times.

When you call any tech support, the first words out of your mouth should be.... please transfer me to tech support in the USA.
trb46
Explorer
Mar 09, 2018
kerrlakeRoo wrote:
Am currently using Total Wireless, another Tracfone subsidary. Have either use them or straighttalk for about 6 years.
Yes customer service sucks, is a total joke.

Do you know which towers Total Wireless uses (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, etc.)?
Merrykalia
Explorer
Mar 09, 2018
trtog7 wrote:
Guess I was not clear enough This is for a mobile hotspot Not a phone
I use Tracfone and had enough trouble with them when I needed a new SIM card every time I needed to set it up as they will not send it to Canada Now I have a phone without a SIM card I put time on it at home and shortly after we cross the border it is active

Their customer service chat is for all their products, not just the phones.
kerrlakeRoo
Explorer
Mar 08, 2018
motorola phones, from motorola.com or unlocked from amazon are great, and work with virtually any phone system cdma or gsm.

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