Do Straight Talk Phones use only 1/3 of Verizon towers?

[PaulClarkson]

A Verizon rep told me that Straight Talk phones that use the Verizon system only have access to about a third of their cell towers. When I asked a Walmart Electronics salesperson if the Straight Talk service using Verizon towers was in any way inferior to Verizon's service, he said they were the same. Which is true? What's going on here?

 

[hang-the-9]

I don't know the exact technical details, but I do know that Straight Talk and other budget carriers do not have the same speed, reliability, or area of coverage as the main carriers even if they piggy-back on their service. If they did, there would be 0 benefit to paying more for the better service from the major carriers.

 

[PaulClarkson]

I don't know the exact technical details, but I do know that Straight Talk and other budget carriers do not have the same speed, reliability, or area of coverage as the main carriers even if they piggy-back on their service. If they did, there would be 0 benefit to paying more for the better service from the major carriers.

Well, that makes a lot of sense. I suppose one should not take the phrase "straight talk" quite so literally when it comes to the information they convey about the quality of their service. Thanks for your answer.

 

[Junkworks]

I don't know the exact technical details, but I do know that Straight Talk and other budget carriers do not have the same speed, reliability, or area of coverage as the main carriers even if they piggy-back on their service. If they did, there would be 0 benefit to paying more for the better service from the major carriers.

Well, that makes a lot of sense. I suppose one should not take the phrase "straight talk" quite so literally when it comes to the information they convey about the quality of their service. Thanks for your answer.

 

[Junkworks]

My gf has Verizon and i have straight talk verizon. There is no difference whatsoever so far, after six months.

 

[PaulClarkson]

My gf has Verizon and i have straight talk verizon. There is no difference whatsoever so far, after six months.

I had straight talk verizon for several years before I got a smart phone 2 years ago and switched to verizon because straight talk didn't have any 4G phones available in this area. I didn't notice any difference in talk and text. Is that the case for data as well? Do you live in or near a city? I'm in a mountainous rural area and even with verizon, reception is often down to one or two bars.

For the time being I'm still with verizon. Since I'm finally out of contract I've switched to a 1GB data plan for $50/month. With insurance, fees & tax it comes to about $63/month for one phone. Straight talk has a 5GB plan for $5 less. The thing that has me staying with Verizon is their customer service has been easy to access and helpful whereas straight talk's customer service is horrible: at least half hour wait times and very poor service.

 

[Jewelgurl]

A Verizon rep told me that Straight Talk phones that use the Verizon system only have access to about a third of their cell towers. When I asked a Walmart Electronics salesperson if the Straight Talk service using Verizon towers was in any way inferior to Verizon's service, he said they were the same. Which is true? What's going on here?

When sitting between 2 Verizon users, my Straight Talk phone wouldn't ring and went to voicemail, but their calls from the same person would get through for them to answer. I consistently got one bar below whatever the number of bars the other 2 Verizon users got. Now I know why. I guess you get what you pay for. What good is a phone that doesn't ring with 2 bars?

 

[Curtis Spurlock]

A Verizon rep told me that Straight Talk phones that use the Verizon system only have access to about a third of their cell towers. When I asked a Walmart Electronics salesperson if the Straight Talk service using Verizon towers was in any way inferior to Verizon's service, he said they were the same. Which is true? What's going on here?

 

[SCUBAsabre]

A Verizon rep told me that Straight Talk phones that use the Verizon system only have access to about a third of their cell towers. When I asked a Walmart Electronics salesperson if the Straight Talk service using Verizon towers was in any way inferior to Verizon's service, he said they were the same. Which is true? What's going on here?

When sitting between 2 Verizon users, my Straight Talk phone wouldn't ring and went to voicemail, but their calls from the same person would get through for them to answer. I consistently got one bar below whatever the number of bars the other 2 Verizon users got. Now I know why. I guess you get what you pay for. What good is a phone that doesn't ring with 2 bars?

There is more to the issue you may have been having. Not all phones are equal either. Some phones have inherently better reception than others which may have also been an issue. If all three of you were using the same model phone, I would agree that you have a point. Before I switched to StraightTalk, my friend had his older iPhone on Verizon before he switched to StraightTalk with the same phone. I was still on Verizon with my similarly old Android at the time. He had just as much signal as I had and sometimes BETTER on StraightTalk! More bars... I was irritated when calls went to VM for me while his rang since I was paying more. I did some research and found it was the phone, not the service. I have the same reception I had on Verizon in my same locations (home, work, common recreational areas between Orlando and Cocoa Beach, and locations South) on StraightTalk using Verizon... . I just pay less for it.

NOW... there is a reason for it: They have crappy customer support when you can get someone on the phone. I deciced that a $49.10 a month bill instead of a $119.67 for the same coverage was worth the aggravation for the couple of times a year max I need customer service. Also, during peak traffic, yes regular Verizon customers get priority access over those of us using StraightTalk. HOWEVER, for the handful of calls where I experience a delay in connection, I'll take the savings thank you.

 

[Lisa_153]

A Verizon rep told me that Straight Talk phones that use the Verizon system only have access to about a third of their cell towers. When I asked a Walmart Electronics salesperson if the Straight Talk service using Verizon towers was in any way inferior to Verizon's service, he said they were the same. Which is true? What's going on here?

When sitting between 2 Verizon users, my Straight Talk phone wouldn't ring and went to voicemail, but their calls from the same person would get through for them to answer. I consistently got one bar below whatever the number of bars the other 2 Verizon users got. Now I know why. I guess you get what you pay for. What good is a phone that doesn't ring with 2 bars?

There is more to the issue you may have been having. Not all phones are equal either. Some phones have inherently better reception than others which may have also been an issue. If all three of you were using the same model phone, I would agree that you have a point. Before I switched to StraightTalk, my friend had his older iPhone on Verizon before he switched to StraightTalk with the same phone. I was still on Verizon with my similarly old Android at the time. He had just as much signal as I had and sometimes BETTER on StraightTalk! More bars... I was irritated when calls went to VM for me while his rang since I was paying more. I did some research and found it was the phone, not the service. I have the same reception I had on Verizon in my same locations (home, work, common recreational areas between Orlando and Cocoa Beach, and locations South) on StraightTalk using Verizon... . I just pay less for it.

NOW... there is a reason for it: They have crappy customer support when you can get someone on the phone. I deciced that a $49.10 a month bill instead of a $119.67 for the same coverage was worth the aggravation for the couple of times a year max I need customer service. Also, during peak traffic, yes regular Verizon customers get priority access over those of us using StraightTalk. HOWEVER, for the handful of calls where I experience a delay in connection, I'll take the savings thank you.

 

[Lisa_153]

ScubaSabre has it right. Your service is dependent on WHICH phone you get, AND WHICH carrier you use. In my area, Verizon is the best. I was using a Samsung S6 on At&t here, and the service stunk. I switched to a Verizon phone, and my calls come through well with one or two bars of service, and even better with more. There is no delay in text messages (like there was with the high dollar At& t phone. Right now I am using a crappy verizon ZTE Majesty back up phone while I wait for my Samsung Note 5 to arrive (Verizon). My son has a Samsung S5 on Verizon Towers, using Straight Talk, and gets perfect reception...better than my two bars of service on the ZTE Majesty. The other 3 members of my family use Verizon services (not straight talk), and we get the same service as they do They use Iphones and Samsung.
It helps that you can bring your own phone and choose your own tower service.