Transferring Straight Talk Service to an Unlocked Samsung Galaxy Phone

A reader, Stacie, asks…
Hi Bob, I currently have a ST galaxy on Verizon towers. It was water damaged and I received another galaxy from someone. The new phone is unlocked, but was activated through Sprint. Is there any way to activate it with ST on the Verizon towers? Or would I need to activate it on ST sprint towers?

Hi Stacie,
A recent model, unlocked Samsung Galaxy phone purchased in the USA should be compatible with the Verizon network, and you should be able to use it with Straight Talk’s Verizon towers. Visit Straight Talk, https://www.straighttalk.com/wps/portal/home/h/a/options/byop/!ut/p/a1/
Choose:

  • I DON’T HAVE A SIM CARD OR I NEED HELP
  • I KNOW THE COMPATIBLE CARRIER
  • VERIZON-COMPATIBLE

Follow the instruction’s to check the phone’s MEID number.
If it comes back eligible, then order a Verizon SIM card.

When you receive the SIM card, visit straighttalk.com, and choose the option to activate a phone. At some point in the process, you’ll be asked if you want to keep your current phone number. When you enter your phone number, Straight Talk will realize you are a current customer, and transfer your number and current service balance to the new phone and SIM. If you don’t already have an account on straighttalk.com, I recommend you create one before doing all this and then log out before activating the phone.

I don’t know, if the fact the the phone was previously used with Sprint will cause a problem. If Straight Talk says the phone isn’t eligible for use with their Verizon towers, have the option to choose the AT&T orT-Mobile towers. Otherwise, you need to invest more effort to see if you can get them to activate it with the Verizon towers.

Before doing all this, you can try moving the SIM from your current phone to the new(to you) Samsung Galaxy phone. If it works, you’ll need to decide if you want to do all the steps above or just continue to use it. Verizon really wants all the phone’s on their network properly registered. I can’t say you will or will not have a problem if you don’t properly register your phone. Don’t let anyone activate the old phone on Straight Talk or any other carrier. Since it’s water damaged this shouldn’t be an issue.

I’m not sure if you are happy with Straight Talk service or not, but I’d say this is a good time to evaluate your needs and possible choose a new prepaid wireless service. You may find you can spend less money or get other features you might want such as Visual Voicemail, Wi-Fi calling, better hotspot options.

I used to use Straight Talk myself, but I switched to another prepaid wireless service, I saved a lot of money and have more features. You can find another prepaid wireless service that uses the Verizon towers. If AT&T and / or T-Mobile have coverage in your area, you’d have a lot of other choices too.

I hope this helps, let us know how it works out for you.