Straight Talk customer service

[trtog7]

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 such
Have been very happy with ST till this week
Last 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 days
So..... 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 phone
All 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 on
It would have been nice if someone had at least sounded sorry for my problems but no such luck
Will continue to use ST and keep my fingers crossed because it is the cheapest I can get to do what I want

[northshore]

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]

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 So this information may be outdated OR I might have 'mis-remembered' some of the details.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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

motorola phones, from motorola.com or unlocked from amazon are great, and work with virtually any phone system cdma or gsm.

[docsouce]

I had no idea what tethering even was till I saw a post here about it. Naturally I read the post after buying a new Straight Talk phone with no tethering icon. I should have consulted my grandson before my purchase...Oh Well

[kerrlakeRoo]

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.
6 years ago got tired of Verizon saying I had used my double data for life, 2.5 gigs doubled to 5 every month on my Palm in 3 days. Switched to straighttalk, used a tethering app (easytether pro) for 2 years before switching to total wireless. Straight talk would slow you to less than dial up when you passed their limit, for me about 24 to 28 days in to my month. Iswitched to total wireless 2 years ago, when m'lady moved in to save a few bucks on 2 line plan. We now get unlimited talk and text, and 15 gigs of data for $57 a month.
We quit using easytether 2 years ago when they opened extra data for smartphones. Tracfone and their affiliates USED to scan for someone using a https site header. nowadays all smartphones use those routinely, so my understanding is that they can no longer tell if you are tethering or using your phone to access secure sites. The one thing they can dois disable tethering on any phone you buy from them. But if you "bring your own phone" unlocked, they cant block you.

[trtog7]

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

[Merrykalia]

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.