Very interesting news came in today regarding the no-contract carrier, Straight Talk. Straight Talk Wireless will be carrying the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 on their $45 a month unlimited plan at Walmart stores nationwide. The iPhone 5 will be priced at $649 and the iPhone 4 is priced at $449. The iPhone is the AT&T variant of the device, so you will be operating on their GSM network. No information on whether the LTE will operate or not, but the consensus from current Straight Talk users is they only get HSPA+ for their ‘4G’ data.

Walmart will be offering a special financing option for customers using the Walmart Credit card or the Walmart Discover card. A customer who has or qualifies for either card with sufficient available credit can purchase the phone with no interest for either 18 months with the iPhone 4 or 26 months with the iPhone 5. The minimum payment per month is $25 for that program, according to the terms listed in the photo.

This looks like a decent deal if you are looking to buy a retail iPhone and go with a prepaid GSM carrier. If you are looking for an iPhone, is this something you would be interested in?

As an alternative, current iPhone users can purchase a SIM card for their phone through Straight Talk’s website for around $15. This will also work with any AT&T phone or unlocked GSM phone.

Update:

To clarify, the image to the right of this article is a thumbnail from an old eBay auction. Also, one or both iPhone models may be the CDMA variant, which would (in my opinion) significantly devalue it, since you would be limited to CDMA 3G speeds, which are generally less than 1.5Mbps.

This has been confirmed by a Walmart Press Release

Available At Walmart.com

Second Update:

The iPhone 5 has been confirmed to be the Verizon variant. Like the Verizon iPhone 5, the device can also operate on GSM networks using a nanoSIM card for the carrier of choice. It is shipped factory unlocked and features HSPA+ 42Mbps.

Straight Talk iPhone Display Straight Talk iPhone 4 Financing Straight Talk iPhone 5 Financing

Straight Talk’s Website:

http://www.straighttalk.com/

Additional Links:

http://news.walmart.com/news-archive/2013/01/08/walmart-straight-talk-to-offer-the-iphone-on-its-45-no-contract-unlimited-plan

