Heads Up: Straight talk, Net10, tracphone removing AT&T offering. AT&T SIMS still available at walmart.com until sold out

Quote from sd444 : Wait till Tmobile pulls out too for their own gosmart mobile. ATT will follow and launch their own. Why pay an MVNO when you can pocket the money, do it yourself, and still not tarnish the contract side? The only MVNO's left will be shitty 2G CDMA because no one wants it.

Try H2O ...mvno on ATT

Quote from MeatCatalog : All SIMs can be activated but once gone, they're gone.

There's no contract. SIM's are kind of pointless when you can't refill them. 30 days or initial balance load is about the max you can get.

Quote from laphroaigh : Try H2O ...mvno on ATT

If ATT is leaving tracfone, they will be leaving all MVNO's when their respective contracts end.

Quote from sd444 : Wait till Tmobile pulls out too for their own gosmart mobile. ATT will follow and launch their own. Why pay an MVNO when you can pocket the money, do it yourself, and still not tarnish the contract side? The only MVNO's left will be shitty 2G CDMA because no one wants it.

Because ATT doesn't want to loose money to themselves. My guess is Straight Talk was a way for them to use up their extra bandwidth and make some money on it. When Straight Talk started using more than ATT's extra bandwidth they cut the cord.

Just picked up two sims, one for my brother and another for my girlfriend. Glad I found out about this now otherwise I'd be screwed later on.

Quote from sd444 : Wait till Tmobile pulls out too for their own gosmart mobile. ATT will follow and launch their own. Why pay an MVNO when you can pocket the money, do it yourself, and still not tarnish the contract side? The only MVNO's left will be shitty 2G CDMA because no one wants it.

I don't think AT&T pays MVNO's and instead get paid by them for providing them with cell network bandwidth. It's not like Tracfone has any towers of their own. My guess is that AT&T was seeing a good deal of churn with Straight Talk directly marketing that AT&T phones could be used with there service. I've also heard that Apple doesn't like the idea of loosing that type of control too, so that may have played a part in it. This is why it's a big deal when Cricket and Virgin Mobile strike a deal to be able to sell there own iPhones.


Maybe if Softbank buys out Sprint and gets to it, we can see more MVNO's on their network. Ting is a good example of a CDMA network that utilizing Sprint's 3G and LTE bands. Ting, imho, is the poster child of what the future of network operators should look like.

Quote from sd444 : There's no contract. SIM's are kind of pointless when you can't refill them. 30 days or initial balance load is about the max you can get.

Once activated the SIM is tied to an account that stays active for as long as you have a balance on it, which you can keep refilling so it can last much longer than 30 days. I, for example, am paid out till Aug.

Quote from SilentJudge : No AT&T plan can compete with that.

I think you misunderstood my question, but I appreciate the response.

Quote from Rhythmic : I believe only SIM cards sold for the purpose of using Straight Talk can be activated for use with Straight Talk. A SIM card that is serialized for another carrier will probably not work. This is not the same as a phone being locked to a specific carrier.

Quote from destruktor666 : You have to get a branded Straight talk sim an order to use straight talk. You can't get the att sim card to work with straight talk, although it is att service. That's how it works.

So it seems that Straight Talk will not rewrite your SIM card to make it compatie with their phones, so you must stock up on the correctly pre-formatted cards before they're sold out.

FYI for nyone who doesn't know - SIM cards can be reflashed to hold any type of data. You can convert an AT&T to T-Mobile, to a "carrier test" ID, or just completely erase it to hold your own data. You used to be able to purchase SIM writers on EBay, but I think US laws have gotten extremely strict. Ask your friendly neighborhood cell repairman to see if be can customize your SIM for you

nevermind. My question was answered up here^. Cool deal on these twinkies

I remember when u could reformat them on any carrier

Is there a micro sim available, or can these be cut to size for a t-mo Note 2

Thanks grabbed two.

Live in exburb where att and vzn are the only two realistic choices.

Quote from Rhythmic : I don't think AT&T pays MVNO's and instead get paid by them for providing them with cell network bandwidth. It's not like Tracfone has any towers of their own. My guess is that AT&T was seeing a good deal of churn with Straight Talk directly marketing that AT&T phones could be used with there service. I've also heard that Apple doesn't like the idea of loosing that type of control too, so that may have played a part in it. This is why it's a big deal when Cricket and Virgin Mobile strike a deal to be able to sell there own iPhones...

Tracfone profit is very easy money (especially today) left on the table by ATT. That is what I meant by that. $5 says an ATT owned subsidiary will launch soon. MVNO's really don't have a place anymore.



Virgin Mobile is owned by sprint.

Quote from FellaTee : Is there a micro sim available, or can these be cut to size for a t-mo Note 2

Sorry cant get link to work right mobile browser.

You can google walmart straighttalk micro sim.

Quote from okinawanmatt : So it seems that Straight Talk will not rewrite your SIM card to make it compatie with their phones, so you must stock up on the correctly pre-formatted cards before they're sold out. FYI for nyone who doesn't know - SIM cards can be reflashed to hold any type of data. You can convert an AT&T to T-Mobile, to a "carrier test" ID, or just completely erase it to hold your own data. You used to be able to purchase SIM writers on EBay, but I think US laws have gotten extremely strict. Ask your friendly neighborhood cell repairman to see if be can customize your SIM for you

I suppose that is one way of looking at it. The issue isn't writing to the SIM card, but having the serial number that is already in the Straight Talk system ready for activation. Just like a gift card or a credit card, the medium isn't as important as the data on the strip that matches the data on service's side.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Straight-Talk-Post-Paid-Micro-SIM-AT-T-Bring-Your-Own-Phone-Card/21550826

Here is the MICRO Sim link

Can we buy these instore at Walmart or they just available online only?

Quote from sd444 : Wait till Tmobile pulls out too for their own gosmart mobile. ATT will follow and launch their own. Why pay an MVNO when you can pocket the money, do it yourself, and still not tarnish the contract side? The only MVNO's left will be shitty 2G CDMA because no one wants it.

AT&T will still have the "advantage" of offering subsidized phones. Most of us SD'ers know it works out cheaper to pony up for the unlocked phone and pay far less every month, but the average person might not be ready to drop $500+ for a Galaxy S3 or iPhone 5, even if it works out cheaper in the long run.

T-Mobile reportedly is going to do away with phone subsidies, so we'll see how it plays out, AT&T may still have a niche.