It turns out that new cell phone plan that Straight Talk temporarily posted back in April was no fluke after all. It's just that the company posted it to their website a little bit before it was ready to officially be announced. Today, the $35 plan with 2 GB of data is back on Straight Talk wireless's website as are much welcomed improvements to some of its other plans. However, are the improvements good enough to make Straight Talk competitive in the marketplace? Let's review and find out.
Straight Talk's New And Updated Phone Plans
- New! $35/month - unlimited talk, text and data with the first 2 GB at 4G LTE speeds
- Updated! $45/month - unlimited talk, text and data with the first 8 GB at 4G LTE speeds. Previously came with 5 GB of high speed data
- Updated! $55/month - unlimited talk, text and data with the first 12 GB at 4G LTE speeds. Previously came with 10 GB of high speed data.
- Updated! $60/month - unlimited domestic and international talk and text. Unlimited data with the first 8 GB at 4G LTE speeds. Previously came with 5 GB of high speed data.
- $30/month, unlimited texts, 1500 minutes, 200 MB of data with autopay enabled, (100 MB without autopay billing enabled).
Analysis
Straight Talk's new cell phone plan is unfortunately still a disappointment to me, and perhaps to others out there as well. I won't get into too many details about this because it was already covered when the plan first leaked out nearly 2 months ago. You can review that post by clicking here if you'd like. In a nutshell though, Straight Talk Wireless is a TracFone owned wireless brand and many of TracFone's other brands provide much better value than Straight Talk does at the $35 price point.
What does stand out the most with the new offerings is the $45 plan with 8 GB of 4G LTE data. As of today there is no other provider on the market offering unlimited talk and text with 8 GB of data or more on Verizon's network for less money. So this is good value if you can get Straight Talk with Verizon coverage. Straight Talk of course also operates using the Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T networks as well, so how much of a value you get with this plan may also depend on which network you get it with. On most networks though, this plan will be competitively priced.
There is one company with the potential to compete with Straight Talk's offering at this $45 price point and that is US Mobile. US Mobile recently announced that it will soon offer 10 GB of data on Verizon's network starting at $32/month. However, their phone plans don't include unlimited talk and text. $47/month on US Mobile can still get you 1000 minutes with unlimited texts and 10 GB of data which is not too shabby.
The $55 plan with 12 GB of data is also a good deal provided that you get Straight Talk Wireless on Verizon's network, otherwise things get to be a little bit muddy. The reason is that virtually every network offers an unlimited LTE data plan at that price point now except for Verizon.
So what do you think of Straight Talk Wireless's new cell phone plans? Are you on board?