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On Monday we learned that T-Mobile would be doing away with Classic Plans at 3rd party retailers like Target and Walmart. To help the national retailer further compete against WalMart’s Straight Talk wireless service, Target is announcing their all new Brightspot pre-paid phone service. Operating on T-Mobile’s network, the plans are simple. Let’s pit them against, Straight Talk, and even T-Mobile to see how much value Brightspot offers.
- $35 unlimited talk/text (no data)
- $50 unlimited talk/text, and 1GB of “high-speed” data
- $65 unlimited talk/text, and 4GB of “high-speed” data
- $45 unlimited talk/text, and 2.5GB of “high-speed” data (AT&T 4G LTE, or T-Mobile HSPA+)
- $50 unlimited talk/text, and 500MB of data
- $60 unlimited talk/text, and 2.5GB of data
- $70 unlimited talk/text, and data
For those keeping score, Brightspot’s data plan is about $5 more than Straight Talk, but even with T-Mobile’s lowest offering of which Brightspot gives you 500MB of extra data. Target also hopes to sweeten the deal by offering customers a $25 Target giftcard for every 6 months of service which, in theory, could bring down that monthly bill by nother $4 if you’re already a frequent shopper. As usual, Target’s REDcard members also receive 5% off their cellphone service, so that’s something to consider as well.
All-in-all, it seems like Brightspot is only for the very light smartphone user, and probably only a good idea for the soccer moms and Joe Schmoes. More active Android users, will be better off spending their money elsewhere.
Walmart also has Family Mobile which is better than Strait Talk or Bright Spot.
$39.88 On line 1 gives you unlimited talk text with 2.5gb throttled web. Line 2-5 is only $34.88. $29.88 for just talk and text with lines 2-5 also being $5 less. Bright Spot sounds like a crappy deal compared to that.
I concur, though I’d rather the $30 5GB 100 min plan, if I wasn’t on T-Mobile with 5 lines getting the unlimited non-throttled plan.
What network does it run off?
T-Mobile (just like this Brightspot initiative)
republic wireless is still the least expensive carrier in the u.s. their most expensive plan is $40 dollars a month with unlimited talk, text, web (5 gb high speed) or $25 a month with 3g speed
Yes, but if you don’t want CDMA, or currently crappy phones, then you’re looking elsewhere. Now if you have 4 friends/family members, then you can pay $2 more per person, so $42, and get truly unlimited 4G in network on T-Mobile.
What if you have 5 lines?
I implied that with 4 friends/family members, meaning plus you;-)
T-Mobile: $30 a month, unlimited text, data, and 100 minutes.
It is only 5GB high speed.
Still an amazing deal. I’ve been using it for 6 months and couldn’t be happier.
Yeah, I’d be on it if I wasn’t paying $42 for unlimited on Tmo.
I am trying my damnedest to get on this plan. Best plan in the market for non-talkers like myself. The only problem is that I have to find a local used LTE version of the Tmobile S3 first … Im finding it is not an easy task
I’m not sure I understand you conundrum….
Can you elaborate on that? Why do you need a Tmobile S3 to get on this plan?
I’d never get a data plan that wasn’t unlimited, so basically my only choices for phone service are T-Mobile and Sprint.
Ditto. At least until Google moves into my home!
You forgot one of the plans. $65 gives you unlimited talk & text plus 4GB of overage free data. More than enough for most users.
What is BLNAKDAYDLKFJD?
Blank day + some nonsense characters so Chris doesn’t forget to fill it in. Chris forgot to fill it in
Thanks, I feel better. I thought it might stand for something I didn’t know.
Download killer features John Doe?
I assume BrightSpot is not including Tmobile LTE. I dont know if Tmobile will let Straight Talk use their LTE…I currently use ST with TMobile but would definitely switch to ATT to get LTE for $45. If you look at the plans, Straight Talk is still a much better deal than Bright Spot. You get double the data for less money. I would disagree , however, with your statement that you get 2.5gb on Straight Talk. As we all know, ST doesnt give you an absolute limit – they are very evasive on what their limit is for unlimited data (still dont understand how the government allows them to advertise unlimited data when thats false). You dont get throttled – you get a warning that you are using too much data and if you do it again, they will cancel you…No questions asked and you will not get any refund. Ive gotten the warning after just 1.8gb…so be careful
Well solavei is even better than that! $49 Unlimited Talk Text and 4g of 4g data. On top of that they pay you to refer! $20/mo per 3 people you refer plus bonuses the more you refer. Its paid cash on a visa debit card you can pay your bill or go to atm or just spend anywhere you want. So lets say you just want to you your bill with it. Refer 3 people and your bill is $29, refer 6 its $9.. now please who can top that? PurpleSaves.com for more info or just call me at 405-513-TALK.. even google solavei.. ;-)