A Small to Medium-sized Business (SMB) is usually very busy during the day, and they need a good phone they can use to communicate with clients. But is there such a phone? I mean, after all, Straight Talk is a pre-paid cell plan – not an actual phone. Is there hope that such a phone exists?

Meet the Samsung Prepaid Phone with Keyboard, R451C

The Straight Talk Samsung Prepaid Cell Phone has a wide variety of features that you can use to communicate with clients — all without having to sign a contract. That means you don’t have to worry about extra fees for things such as activation, reactivation, cancellation, daily access or overage.

Features

This attractive-looking phone has some of the features that all your other cell phones have like a slider QWERTY keyboard, bluetooth wireless technology, a 1.3 -megapixel camera, Mobile Web services, Voicemail and Call Waiting, Battery talk time up to 4 hours, Standby time up to 14 days, and the charger and services guide. You will need to purchase the Service Talk Service Plan (minutes, text, data and service days) in order for you to use the phone.

Advantages

Let’s take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of this phone.

1) Economical - I went to Walmart’s online website and searched for “straight talk phone.” There are several there, but the Samsung R451C listed for $79.88. You will find others there that might appeal more to your taste; however, you will pay more for them with the exception of the Samsung R355C. You will need to purchase a Straight Talk Service plan to activate it.

The Service plans come two 30-day Service Plans: the $30 All You Need Plan with 1000 Minutes, 1000 Messages plus 30MB of data, or you can also choose the $45 Unlimited Plan with Unlimited Minutes, Unlimited Messages & Unlimited Mobile Web Access. Okay, so you want more versatility? Choose one of the 3 additional Unlimited Plans which offer unlimited talk, text, and/or multimedia messages and Mobile Web Access during 90, 180 days and 1 year of Service.

2) Phone capabilities are multiple - You can call out, receive calls, view calls that you missed, view the call that is incoming, and use your own voice to dial. In addition, you can text.

3) Size – This cell phone is small enough that you can slip into your pocket. It measures about 2″ x 4.5″

4) This CDMA phone uses the Verizon towers, although I did find that if you have any questions about calls dropping, users of this phone found that Verizon support was not a help.

5) What if you don’t like the ringtones that come with the phone. Can you download ringtones to your computer and transfer them to your phone? The answer is yes. You can also swap ringtones with your friends.

6) The Samsung R451C does not have a sim card, although Walmart does offer the R451G which does have a sim card.

Disadvantages

1) Currently, if you are a small business owner and need to make or receive an international call, you are going to be out of luck as Straight Talk only allows nationwide calls.

2) There is no capability to record videos.

3) A busy businessperson will not have any way to install any apps, so you won’t be able to install JAVA files for internet messaging, etc. The phone has a very limited internet browser.

4) Text messages you send are a minute size of only 160 characters and are not saved in streamed or chat format meaning they are saved individual text messages appear in your inbox and are not threaded.

While this article is not meant to be an all-inclusive review of whether or not Straight Talk has a prepaid cell phone that SMBs can use to communicate with clients, it does give you a view of the Straight Talk Samsung R451C. Would I recommend this for a small business owner? I can’t advise you on that; you have to make your own decision. Personally, I would do more research to see if there might be something better.

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Pam Lokker is a skillful writer and proficient virtual assistant. Borlok Virtual Assistants is the place to get global expert VA services with quality and on-time delivery.

Samsung R451C + Unlimited Plan

When you bought your Straight Talk phone, you needed to purchase a service plan that went with it. The service plan you purchased was obviously pretty dependent on your budget at the time, right? Well, now it’s time to make sure your service plan doesn’t run out on you.

Refill Options

There are two main types of refill options you have open to you using their website:

1. Automatic refill – When your service days are over, your can have your phone refilled automatically and charged to a credit card of your choice.
2. Refill on-demand – You would have to renew each month manually in order to continue your plan

How do I know when my service plan expires?

1. Go to Straight Talk and click on “Check Balance/Service Date in the upper right-hand corner of your window (It’s right next to a star).

1. Left click Submit (You’ll see the fourth field is Service End Date.) Now, you can also check how many minutes you have left, how many SMS text messages you have, and how many megabytes of data available for Web browsing you have.

If you need to refill your phone, click on the Home button.

1.        Click on the Refill/Enroll Tab

You will see three options on this page:

a.  Need to buy a service plan. This is where you would log into your account.
b.  Refill by adding a service card
c.  Enroll in Auto-Refill Now! (Optional)

2.        Choose option a by entering in your email address and password and click on Log In. (If you don’t have an account yet, you’ll need to register. Just click the tab that says Activate/Register
3.        Click on submit if your phone information is showing correctly
4.        Choose your service plan by clicking in the dot to the left of the service plan you want
5.        Choose Auto-Refill or Refill On Demand
6.        Click Submit
7.        Read the information and make sure your credit card information is correct. If not, you’ll need to call Customer Service and request them to edit it. Also, Write down your service end date and put it in a place that you can find easily.
8.        Read the terms and conditions and then check the box to indicate you have done so.
9.        Click on Submit
10.     Click Print or Done

That’s all there is to it.

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Pam Lokker is a skillful writer and proficient virtual assistant. Borlok Virtual Assistants is the place to get global expert VA services with quality and on-time delivery.

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