Last Updated on December 24, 2025 by Ewen Finser
Straight Talk wireless is a prepaid wireless provider that is sold through Walmart. They offer service plans for home phones and wireless phones with device plans for mobile hotspot data, home internet, and tablets.
The Company also includes perks like International long distance, ID notification, call detection, and a Walmart Plus Membership with some of their plans. My wife swears by Straight Talk and will tell anyone who is willing to listen why she loves them. I, however, take a little bit more of a well-rounded approach and I like to look at both sides of the argument so here’s my Straight talk wireless review.
The table below provides a quick comparison:
Price Per Month | $25-$65 |
Discount | Around $5 off for auto pay, plus increasing discounts if you pay for 3, 6, or 12 months |
International | International calling and texting to Mexico and Canada included in all plansGlobal calling add-on for $10, with rollover benefits. |
Coverage | Verizon, but speed depends on plan |
Price Lock | None |
Other Options | Home phone: $15 per monthMobile hotspots: $25-$50 per monthTablets: $20-$60 per month for plans with 5GB or 30GB |
Perks | Some plans have Walmart+ Subscription |
Pros
There are a lot of things to love about Straight Talk Wireless.
- Payment Options: Straight Talk lets you, with one of their plans, build even more savings into your budget by choosing to pay quarterly, biannually, or annually. This is still a no contract option that doesn’t require a credit check. However, in my opinion it’s a good middle of the road prepaid option between companies like Mint Mobile which only give discounts if you pay up front, and those that don’t offer any discounts if you pay upfront.
- Discounts: They give a lot of discounts not just for upfront payments but for bundling and multiple lines. The more lines you set up under the same account, the cheaper your monthly costs.
- Walmart Subscriptions: Sure, every company today is trying to win over new customers by offering some sort of perk, usually a bunch of streaming subscriptions at a discount, but Straight Talk–because they are sold through Walmart–gives you a Walmart Plus subscription with their top two plans. I have yet to find any other prepaid company or even contractual cell phone company that offers this type of subscription.
- Coverage: Straight Talk might be sold exclusively at Walmart but they run on Verizon networks so this is a great option for people who already have a Verizon compatible device and want to port it over.
Cons
There are some things you might not like though.
- Deprioritization: This is the biggest downside, that your data will be deprioritized meaning throttled or slowed down if there’s any congestion on the network. Basically, direct Verizon customers will get priority over you.
- Customer Service: When you save money with a contract free, month to month phone service, it’s usually at the expense of customer service and Straight Talk is no exception. IF you run into a technical problem, get ready to face a lot of wait times, language barriers, and other challenges.
- Discounts: While Straight Talk has some of the widest number of available options for picking and choosing different discounts, what they don’t have or discounts for military members, first responders, or seniors like Consumer Cellular or Tracfone.
Plans
There are several plans available through Straight Talk, starting with the most basic plans for flip phones, all the way up to their Platinum Unlimited plan. The table below compares the four most common:
Bronze 10GB | Silver Unlimited | Gold Unlimited | Platinum Unlimited | |
Cost | $35/month | $45/month | $55/month | $65/month |
Hotspot data | N/A | 10 GB | 30 GB | Unlimited |
Cloud Storage | N/A | N/A | 100 GB | 100 GB |
Connection | First 10GB high speed, then 2G | 5G network connectivity | 5G U/W | 5G U/W |
International | Calls and texts to Canada to Mexico | Calls and texts to Canada to Mexico | Calls and texts to Canada to Mexico | Calls and texts to Canada to Mexico |
Plan Length | 30 days | 30 days | 30 days | 30 days |
Device Protection | No | No | No | Yes |
With the silver plan, you can take advantage of those discounts that apply to quarterly, biannual, or annual payments.
If you want bundling discounts, then you can add things like a home phone for $15 per month, mobile hotspot data, or tablet data. The costs for all three of those are more than twice as expensive if you get them on their own, meaning a bundle saves you about half the cost.
Who Should Consider Straight Talk
There are a couple of key groups I think would be best suited to Straight Talk wireless.
Cost Conscious
If you still want access to the largest 5G network but you don’t want to pay for higher monthly costs, these are pretty awesome plans, with so many different levels of affordability for someone who is looking to save money.
Walmart Shoppers
Walmart shoppers, this is where it’s at!
If you shop at Walmart, this is probably the best phone service you could pick because it comes with a Walmart plus membership for some of the unlimited plans. Since moving with a Walmart right around the corner, I now appreciate how great this membership is. It costs around $100 per month but it comes with its own subset of discounts like:
- Discounted fuel
- 25% of Burger King (every day, not even joking)
- Free basic vet advice
- Free delivery from the store
- Free Paramount+ or Peacock (you can switch back and forth)
All of this makes it totally worth buying Straight Talk if you don’t want to pay that annual membership but still want to save not only on your groceries and gas, but on other streaming services.
Multi-Line Families
Straight Talk also has some of the biggest opportunities for discounts based on all of my research. Basically, the more lines you add and the more items you bundle, the better your costs will be.
So if you are a multi-line family, you are bringing three or more lines, you’ll find some really good discounts.
Home Internet
If you need a home internet alternative, Straight Talk can be a great option. My brother lived in a rural area where the only internet provider with Spectrum and he said it was very unreliable at best. But at the time there really wasn’t any alternative so he was kind of fresh out of luck as my mother would say.
Then he got Straight Talk and added the Straight Talk home internet and it came at a flat monthly fee. Honestly I was shocked that the cost was only $45 per month because, as anyone who’s ever been under contract with an internet provider knows, they get you signed up with a cheap price for the first year and then it continues to go up year after year.
Who Shouldn’t Consider Straight Talk
There are, of course, situations where I wouldn’t recommend Straight Talk, mainly those who live in crowded areas and use a lot of data and those who want certain types of customer service.
Data Usage
If you live in an area like a major city, you simply have a higher likelihood that your network will become congested especially during peak hours, like when everyone comes home from work or on the weekends. If you use a lot of data and you don’t want your data stream to be deprioritized, you might be better off signing up for a contract directly with Verizon.
Customer Service
I also wouldn’t advise using any type of prepaid, month to month plan like this if you really like good customer service. I know plenty of people who prefer being able to make a phone call and actually speak to a representative when they have an issue, especially if that issue could affect their ability to keep their phone or their phone number.
If you are one of those people, you might be better off with a major carrier, even a prepaid, month to month option that you get directly with Verizon.
Things to Know Before You Switch
So what should you know before you make the switch?
#1: Data Deprioritization
The most important thing you need to know before you switch is that your data will be deprioritized. This means that when the network is congested, your data speeds will likely be slowed down compared to customers who have other contractual plans set up with the same carriers.
Since Straight Talk uses towers from other carriers, if, for example, you and a Verizon contractual customer with a premium unlimited plan are trying to use the network at the same time, that other customer won’t notice a difference in their speed for uploads or downloads or video streaming, but you will.
This typically only applies to situations where the network is busy so it won’t happen all the time but it’s still something you need to know.
#2: Coverage
Straight Talk actually piggybacks on all three of the major carriers:
- T-Mobile
- Verizon
- AT&T
They, like all providers, have a coverage map on the website. Use that to make sure that you have a good signal where you plan to spend most of your time on the phone. I made the mistake once of checking my house but not checking my office. I had a 45 minute commute and it turns out, I had really crappy coverage where I worked which was a problem since I spent most of my day in that area.
#3: Compatibility
Even if you’re totally fine with the deprioritization and the coverage, don’t jump the gun; Straight Talk provides a proprietary tool to help you make sure your phone is unlocked and compatible so be sure to use it.
This is one of the biggest issues people run into; they try to port their number, meaning keep the number they have, but they don’t have the number transfer pin, the account number, or the activation zip code and then it becomes a big mess.
Summing Up
There are a lot of things to love about Straight Talk. For me, it’s the fact that they offer month to month contracts, with some room for discounts if you pay quarterly, biannually, or annually. Plus, they give you Walmart+ which saves you like, upwards of at least $120 even if you don’t use all of the discounted gas and other benefits.