Straight Talk vs Red Pocket Mobile: Who Should You Go With?

When it comes to cell phone plans there is a lot to look for, like: how many gigabytes of data do I get per month? Do I get international coverage? What does their coverage look like where I live? Can I expect a consistent 5G signal in my hometown? And most importantly, how much am I going to pay for said cell phone plan?

Those questions, along with many others, are things everyone should be wondering about when they are looking to sign up for a new carrier. And with new providers popping up seemingly everyday those options can get a bit overwhelming. Trust us, we get it, we really do- there is a lot to consider but we’re here to help as much as we can by putting two carriers you might be interested in a head-to-head match up.

Straight Talk vs Red Pocket Mobile, two popular choices for those looking to get away from the “big three” (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile). We are going to outline what you can expect from these two if you’re looking to sign up for them, all while giving you our opinion on which is the better provider.

• Quick Overview: Straight Talk and Red Pocket Mobile
• What the Coverage Looks Like from Both Providers
• How the Plans Compare: From Price to Features
• The Verdict

Quick Overview: Straight Talk and Red Pocket Mobile

Before we go over what the coverage and phone plans look like from each provider we should give an overview of each carrier, so you can get an idea of what they are like.

-> Straight Talk Wireless

Straight Talk, or Straight Talk Wireless, put its hat in the race in 2009, just two years after the first generation of iPhone came out. Ever since then more and more people have gotten their hands on cell phones in order to keep up with the fast-paced world of technology. 

But Straight Talk is all about keeping things simple. They want to offer plans for every phone user, not just the ones that need endless amounts of data and a dozen perks to go alongside. They’ve got bare-bones plans that we will go over in detail later, and plans that will make an average phone user quite happy. 

You’ll find that Straight Talk Wireless has a lot of deals and bundles on their website that they advertise quite heavily as a way to entice potential customers. In fact they have a “Buy a new iPhone 12 with 5G and save big plan if you get the ‘Silver Unlimited Plan’ for only $20/month with Auto Pay” deal right now that is great for those looking to upgrade their phone and save some money. They also have their fair share of clearance deals which could be the thing you’ve been looking for. Straight Talk Wireless wants to make signing up for a cell phone plan as straightforward as can be.

-> Red Pocket Mobile

Red Pocket Mobile is a carrier that allows its customers to bring and keep their own phone and phone number when switching. You don’t need to worry about sending a “Hey guys this is my new number” text to all your contacts or get used to an entirely different phone when you switch to Red Pocket. They also have their fair share of low-costing phone plans.

Just like Straight Talk Wireless, Red Pocket Mobile is a MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) which is a term used to describe smaller carriers that don’t own their own cell towers and infrastructure, they instead will piggyback off of a carrier that does. This way they can provide more budget-friendly options to people while still getting coverage from some of the best out there.

Normally you’ll find that a MVNO will partner with only one network, but both Red Pocket Mobile and Straight Talk Wireless are odd ones out as they work with not just one but multiple networks.

What the Coverage Looks Like from Both Providers

Since both Straight Talk Wireless and Red Pocket Mobile are curious cases in the MVNO world, let’s discuss their coverage and why it might be different than your typical carrier.

-> Straight Talk Wireless

Straight Talk Wireless works with more than one carrier, they “share networks with the best four carriers” which in this case are: Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint- (although Sprint was acquired by T-Mobile in 2020 they still provide coverage through their cell towers that were established before the merge).

So as of right now there is a lot of coverage from Straight Talk, but that might not always be the case as Straight Talk Wireless is a brand of TracFone Wireless, Inc. and TracFone was bought by Verizon officially back in 2021 after talks began in 2020. And it’s been stated by Verizon that they eventually want all Tracfone customers, including those in the Tracfone family like Straight Talk, to be in the Verizon fold only. So it’s a good mark to keep track of if you plan to sign up for Straight Talk long term that their coverage might not always look the same going forward.

Overall comparing Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile all becomes a numbers game, Verizon is the nation-wide leader in 4G LTE coverage with over 70% of the country covered, but they are number three in 5G with T-Mobile leading the pack. Our readers in more rural areas will enjoy Verizon’s coverage as they are more likely to stumble across signals from them compared to other carriers.

A REALLY Helpful Tip

What is data deprioritization and why is it important?

When you sign up for a MVNO you might be subjected to data deprioritization which is “the temporary slowing of data speeds for certain customers in order to give priority to other customers.” Those who are direct customers of the parent company will get network priority when you’re in a high traffic area or when there’s network congestion. This can be frustrating if you are a frequent data user, it’s one of the drawbacks of a MVNO.

When you’re looking at a coverage map from a provider you are able to get an approximation of their coverage and what it looks like in your area. With Straight Talk’s coverage map you will have to type in your ZIP code and phone model for that best approximation. As an example of what that looks like, here is New York with the iPhone 15 128GB:

Straight Talk’s coverage is in the United States only- (not pictured is parts of Hawaii and Alaska which are also covered). Check out your ZIP and phone model’s coverage under Straight Talk by looking at their coverage map here.

-> Red Pocket Mobile

Just like Straight Talk, Red Pocket Mobile works with not just one but multiple networks to provide coverage to customers. In Red Pocket’s case they have cell phone plans under GSMA, GSMT, and CDMA networks. Those acronyms are slightly outdated terms and technologies used to describe the three major networks. GSMA is a network that uses AT&T to provide coverage, GSMT is a network that uses T-Mobile to provide coverage, and CDMA is a network that uses Verizon to provide coverage.

And because Red Pocket Mobile gives users a choice on their network, they of course have three coverage maps for you to look at:

GSMA (AT&T):

GSMA, and Red Pocket Mobile, covers areas in the United States, along with parts of Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. 

GSMT (T-Mobile):

GSMT, and Red Pocket Mobile, covers areas in the United States- (Hawaii but not Alaska included), along with parts of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

CDMA (Verizon):

Obviously this looks a bit different than the other two maps, this is the exact map pictured on their website, you can’t zoom in on this one, it just gives this approximation and disclaimer set at the bottom.

It can get a bit confusing if you don’t know where to start, with both GSMT and GSMA plans you have to have a compatible phone that uses a SIM card. As for CDMA fans you will need to have either bought your phone at a Verizon store or check to see “Will My Phone Work With Red Pocket Mobile?” which is their tool to make sure you're signing up for the right phone plan and your current device works with said plan.

How the Plans Compare: From Price to Features

We’re now headed into the “meat” of the article where we go over the phone plans for both providers, Straight Talk Wireless and Red Pocket Mobile. First let’s go over Straight Talk’s plans starting with their three most popular:

And then we have variations of those plans:

As you can see their plans come with a few benefits: some international and hotspot usage, and their top three Bronze, Silver, and Gold all come with additional perks like a Walmart+ membership which includes free delivery from the store, mobile scan and go, and more, and cloud storage which is always a nice add on to have especially if you are someone that likes their photos.

Red Pocket Mobile has annual plans which are based yearly and monthly plans which are, of course, based monthly. Here are their four monthly no contract plans:

And then there’s their annual plans which look about the same as their monthly but their prices differ and you end up saving in the long run. It’s encouraged to go this route if you plan to be with Red Pocket Mobile for the long haul so you can save money and get access to their additional 500MB plan which you can see here:

Now of course, those who aren’t looking to be locked down to a full service year might not find these plans as enticing as Red Pocket’s monthly or Straight Talk Wireless’ plans. And obviously these are more basic when compared to Straight Talk in terms of benefits. 

The Verdict

Now’s the time where we take all the information we’ve learned and bring it together for the winner of the Straight Talk vs Red Pocket Mobile match up. When comparing both you can funnily enough see the similarities of the two. With both working with multiple networks to provide coverage to customers, you can safely say that coverage is less of a pull focus than normal match-ups. But with the phone plans themselves, we’d say that Red Pocket Mobile wins today just for their price savings. 

You get more data for less money with Red Pocket’s plans than you do comparing it to Straight Talk Wireless. The additional benefits like Walmart+ and cloud storage is great and all, but having the savings can afford you to go get that Walmart+ membership if you really want it. Though we will say if you choose to sign up for Red Pocket Mobile, start safe and choose their “monthly” plans so you can see how you like the service and not their annual plans.

And if you want to compare and contrast Straight Talk and Red Pocket Mobile to over 1,200 other phone plans so you know you’re getting the service that’s right for you, then make sure to check out the REALLY compare page which allows you to look at pricing, coverage, what phone plans are available, current deals and steals, and how you can make the most of your potential phone bill.