What do the charges for your service mean, anyway?
Choosing a phone plan is complicated. There are a lot of things to consider, and carrier lingo can sometimes make it even more confusing. If you have any questions about data plans, pricing, or monthly charges, Straight Talk has you covered with this handy FAQ.
1. What is throttling?
By definition, throttling means to reduce the speed of something. You usually hear it associated with cars. But it’s also a term used to describe how some cell phone carriers might control your data connection speed. If you’re being throttled, it might mean you’ve exceeded a certain data cap in a single month and the carrier wants to slow down your connection. Specific apps can also be throttled.
2. What is data allowance?
Data allowance refers to the amount of data in a service plan. For example, your Straight Talk plan might come with 3GB, 25GB, or unlimited GB. Once you’ve reached your allowance of data, you’ll get slowed down to 2G speeds. If you need more high-speed data, you can add on extra GBs or upgrade to a different service plan.
3. How do I check my data usage?
To see how much data you have left to use, you can text USAGE to 611611, check directly online, or log into the Straight Talk My Account app. You’ll get to see how many available minutes, text messages, multimedia messages, and service days, as well as how much data, you have left.
4. How much data do I need?
Trying to select a data plan, but don’t know what the amount of GBs will get you? Here’s an estimated breakdown of what you’ll get each month.
- 3GB of high-speed data: send/receive 200 e-mails, 13 hours of web surfing, 9 hours of music streaming, 1.5 hours of video streaming, 21 photos posted to social media and 16 apps and games downloaded
- 25GB of high-speed data: send/receive 1,400 e-mails, 96 hours of web surfing, 67 hours of music streaming, 11 hours of video streaming, 154 photos posted to social media and 120 apps and games downloaded
- Unlimited data: send/receive all the emails you want, surf the web until your fingers hurt, stream music until you know every word, stream more SD videos than ever, post more photos to social media than all your friends, and download all the apps & games you want
Use these estimates to gauge how much data you might need each month. If you rely on your phone for work or school or find yourself always using apps like YouTube, Spotify, and Netflix, you might want to choose a plan with more data.
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Straight Talk keeps your mobile experience simple, straightforward, and affordable.
Still have questions? Please visit the Straight Talk Help Center. You can always count on us to be the no-nonsense brand. We try to keep your mobile experience simple, straightforward, and affordable. To learn more or to switch to Straight Talk, check out our selection of phones and data plans today.
