So I wanted to keep this blog positive, but whatever. Life, I guess. I'm currently an AT&T subscriber. They're all right, nothing to complain about, but their plan is a little expensive and I really want to stream Pandora a lot. I'm on the road most of the day, so this would be a pretty nice thing to have. That's when I heard about Straight Talk, offered at Wal-Mart and through Straight Talk's own website. Unlimited phone, texting and data for $45 a month. That's incredible! So I went through their website and purchased a sim card for my phone and a month's worth of server.
The set up was pretty easy to start. I have a Samsung Infuse so I first had to unlock it (by following these handy instructions). Well, I didn't have to unlock it first technically. The first thing I needed to do was have Straight Talk port my current cell phone number over to their system. This was said to take a couple hours to seven business days.
There was no real way to see how far along the process was, so on the fifth day or so, I used their live help option to chat with someone to see what was going on. That's when I found that I had purchased a sim card for a T-Mobile phone and not an AT&T phone. Going through their website, which states clearly that it will work with AT&T phones, I could not purchase a sim card for one. The option wasn't even available. It gives you the one option for T-Mobile, and that's it (unless you're on Sprint or Verizon, but that's besides the point). And since that was the one card they offered, that's the one I bought. Of course, there is no refund. And there's no refund for the month of service I purchased either, which Anastasia (my helpful support rep) pointed out that I hadn't used, so it would still be good when I finally get the AT&T card.
I then pointed out to Anastasia that I there was no way for me to purchase the card from the website. She agreed, and told me I could purchase it through Wal-Mart, either at the store or online. Well of course the stores don't sell them, because that was the first place I checked when I thought about trying this out. I then went online. And they don't sell them there, either. They're either sold out or no longer being sold or something. It's not really clear.
So I go to Google. And I don't know what to make of anything I'm reading. Either AT&T is stopping these cards from being sold, or Straight Talk is, or the Supreme Court or aliens. Either way, there seems to be no legitimate way to get an AT&T phone to work on Straight Talk at this time. I could go through Ebay or Amazon. I could try to get a Nokia Straight Talk phone with an unlocked sim card. But I shouldn't have to.
I will try talking to Straight Talk some more and see if they have any solutions. And talk a nice long walk.