Sprint Unlimited Talk or Text for $20 Monthly Exclusive at Walmart

Sprint's Virgin Mobile prepaid brand has a new plan of unlimited talk or texting prepaid wireless plans exclusive in Wal-Mart Stores for only $20/month through its payLo by Virgin Mobile brand.

Customers will have a choice of Samsung Montage or Kyocera Kona feature phones that are available in Walmart stores. Here are the two plans available:

• $20 per month for unlimited talk and 50 messages
• $20 per month for unlimited text and 50 minutes of voice

Besides the two plans, Walmart customers can also choose from the existing payLo $30 Talk & Text plan or the $40 Unlimited Talk & Text plan.

Angela Rittgers, vice president of marketing for Sprint's prepaid said, "The no-contract market continues to grow, most visibly with smartphones, but many customers find value with unlimited plans without the extra bells and whistles."

Wal-Mart also offers cellphone plans of other major U.S. carriers, including its own Wal-Mart Family Mobile Plan which runs on T-Mobile network. It has a range of low-priced cellphones with no-contract but with a flat monthly fee.

Sprint has other prepaid brands that includes Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile and Assurance Wireless. PayLo by Virgin is a sub-brand that "offers affordable alternatives to long-term wireless contracts for cellphone users seeking more basic communication services." Sprint's Virgin launched payLo in 2010 through drug store chains and convenience stores as well as RadioShack and Best Buy.

Check out Changeplanminutes.com for comprehensive listings of phone plan programs with all the important fine print details like minutes, data, term, etc.

APN settings for Straight Talk

For AT&T compatible phones:
Name : Straight Talk
APN : tfdata
Proxy : Left Blank
Port : Left Blank
User name : Left Blank
Password : Left Blank
Server : Left Blank
MMSC : http://mms-tf.net
MMS proxy : mms3.tracfone.com
MMS port : 80

For T-Mobile compatible phones:
Name : Straight Talk
APN : wap.tracfone
Proxy (for smart phones): Left Blank
Port : Left Blank
User name : Left Blank
Password : Left Blank
Server : Left Blank
MMSC : http://mms.tracfone.com
MMS proxy : Left Blank
MMS port : Left Blank

How to change them on Android:

Select menu
Select Settings
Select Wireless Controls or Wireless & Network
Select Mobile Networks (under more settings on Jelly Bean)
Select Access Point Names (APN). Delete current APN if possible
Press the menu button
Select new APN
Select Name and enter "Straight Talk" and press OK
Enter the settings above - if they are different from the ones on your activation card, use those settings instead
Select "Save"
Make sure the green radio button is directly to the right of "Straight Talk"
Reboot phone
Your Internet & MMS are now configured

For AT&T compatible phones:
Name : Straight Talk
APN : tfdata
Proxy : Left Blank
Port : Left Blank
User name : Left Blank
Password : Left Blank
Server : Left Blank
MMSC : http://mms-tf.net
MMS proxy : mms3.tracfone.com
MMS port : 80

For T-Mobile compatible phones:
Name : Straight Talk
APN : wap.tracfone
Proxy (for smart phones): Left Blank
Port : Left Blank
User name : Left Blank
Password : Left Blank
Server : Left Blank
MMSC : http://mms.tracfone.com
MMS proxy : Left Blank
MMS port : Left Blank

How to change them on Android:

Select menu
Select Settings
Select Wireless Controls or Wireless & Network
Select Mobile Networks (under more settings on Jelly Bean)
Select Access Point Names (APN). Delete current APN if possible
Press the menu button
Select new APN
Select Name and enter "Straight Talk" and press OK
Enter the settings above - if they are different from the ones on your activation card, use those settings instead
Select "Save"
Make sure the green radio button is directly to the right of "Straight Talk"
Reboot phone
Your Internet & MMS are now configured

Difference of CMDA and GSM providers

The CDMA and GSM technologies define the most basic functions of your phone. GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access in the context of cellphones and mobile networks), they are both shorthand for different mobile phone technologies.

These technologies convert your data into radio waves that your cellphone sends and receives. GSM divides the frequency bands into multiple channels so that more than one user can place a call through a tower at the same time. Meanwhile, CDMA networks layer digitized calls over one another, and unpack them on the back end with sequence codes.

In the U.S. there are more  CDMA users than GSM users, the two largest CDMA carriers have over 43% of the market share. The two largest GSM carriers barely break 37%; worldwide, CDMA accounts for around 13% of phones, with GSM and its successor, UMTS making up of the remainder.

CDMA carriers in the US:

Verizon, Sprint and whoever uses their networks (Virgin, Boost, Alltel)

GSM carriers in the US:

AT&T and T-Mobile

Both GSM and CDMA standards gives out information so that the phones are identified by carriers. GSM use a removable chip called a SIM card. If you are using an openline phone you can just remove the SIM card and transfer it to another openline phones with ease. The CDMA standard have RUIM (removable user ID module) these phones are locked to one network, and can only be switched to another with the approval of the both the old and new carriers.

In the US, phones are sold with contracts and discarded with after two years. However, in other countries phones are sold unlocked, and works with any and all local networks. If you are to choose between CDMA vs. GSM for travel GSM always wins.

Why are MVNO cheaper than their host providers?

There are cell phone service providers that have their own towers and there are those providers that use other carrier towers (called MVNO providers). If you noticed there are a lot of MVNO providers that charge cheaper prices for cell phone service than the provider that they are using. For example, Gizmo carrier have their own towers and another carrier Azmo uses Gizmo's towers to offer their customers cell phone service.

Gizmo charges $70/month for 600 minutes of calls, but Azmo offers unlimited calling for only $25/month. If you noticed this is what is happening with most of the MVNO providers today. The are selling their service for cheap while using the same towers that their host carriers uses.

How do they do it? Here is why.

The reason MVNO's are able to offer phone services at a low price is because they are operating on second tier bandwidth which means that they are second in line to subscribers that bought plans directly from a provider. This is why you may not have service in an area that gets AT&T service when on a resold AT&T band.