How To Use An AT&T iPhone On Straight Talk (Tutorials)

Posted July 13, 2012 at 11:06 pm by Adam Eustice in iDevice

Have a spare iPhone lying around gathering dust and want to put it to use without signing a new 2 year contract for it? If so you might want to look into Straight Talk, yes Straight Talk, the company that advertises $45 dollar a month unlimited pay as you go everything packages. If you already have a SIM card from Straight Talk and are looking for information on how to set it up you can find that here too! In order to use the iPhone on Straight Talk you aren’t required to jailbreak or unlock the device, but if you MMS to work the easiest way to get it work is by doing so.

Buying Straight Talk Service

Getting your iPhone to work on Straight Talk requires a SIM card that you can only purchase from their website, if you have a GSM Straight Talk phone you will most likely still need to get the SIM from their website in order for it to work.

First you’ll need to buy a SIM card. Click Here
Select AT&T Compatible Phone and the proper type of SIM Card (3GS or earlier users select SIM card 4 or 4S users select micro-SIM card)
You have the option to purchase the first month of service now or can buy the SIM card only and buy the airtime card from Wal-Mart after receiving the SIM card
Complete your order
Bookmark this page wait for the SIM card to arrive.
After the SIM card arrives follow the activation instructions enclosed with the SIM card

So now you have an iPhone with an Activated Straight Talk SIM card and Mobile Data and MMS are not working properly because the device is still configured for use with AT&T. There are a few ways to set up your device and this guide will talk about the easier methods to use.

Configuring your iPhone to run on the Straight Talk Network

The three options that we will be talking about for setting up your iPhone are in my opinion the easiest ways to configure these settings.

Option 1. Installing a configuration file

The easiest way to get online with your iPhone is by installing a configuration file. There is an upside and a downside for using this method, the upside is it doesn’t require a jailbreak or unlocking the device and you’re set up and ready to go in a couple of minutes. The downside to using this method is there isn’t an option to change MMS settings, so you will be unable to send and receive MMS (Picture) messages

From your iPhone, Please TAP THIS LINK to get the file.
Install the configuration file. It was created by us, and is perfectly safe. If you have questions about our credibility, please ask the members of our Facebook page about how much we can be trusted.

Option 2. Jailbreaking and using TetherMe (paid Cydia app)

First you will need to jailbreak your device by following a tutorial. If you are using iOS 5.1.1 click here If you are on a different version of iOS look in our jailbreak section at the top of the page for your device and iOS version number for more information. After your iPhone is jailbroken, follow these instructions

Open Cydia
Search for TetherMe and install the package
Navigate to Settings >General >Network >Cellular Data Settings
Enter the following information
Cellular Data
APN att.mvno

Username (leave blank)

Password (leave blank)

Visual Voicemail

Visual Voicemail is not supported by straight talk

If you want Visual Voicemail I suggest using Google Voice

MMS

APN att.mvno

Username (leave blank)

Password (leave blank)

MMSC http://mmsc.cingular.com:80

MMS Proxy 66.209.11.33:80

Don’t modify Max MMS size
Tap the back arrows to get back to the homescreen
Send a picture message to a friend to test

Option 3. Unlocking the device using UltraSn0w

This is probably the most complicated of the methods used to set up an iPhone to work on Straight Talk, especially since the steps are not entirely necessary. You do not need to be jailbroken to perform this task, but if you are already, unlocking the device with Ultrasn0w from the Cydia store will give you the ability to modify the APN and MMS settings of your iPhone.

If you are jailbroken already, and don’t want to purchase TetherMe for $5, I recommend using Ultrasnw instead. If you’d like to unlock the iPhone with Ultrasn0w, follow the steps below to install it.

From a Jailbroken iPhone, open Cydia
Find Ultrasn0w by searching for it, or by looking inside the repo666.ultrasn0w.com repository
READ ALL INFORMATION REGARDING COMPATIBILITY!! If your device configuration isn’t supported by Ultrasn0w (such as the device having an updated baseband that isn’t compatible), you’ll really mess up your phone badly if you try to install it. The only requirement is that you have a baseband (modem firmware) that matches one item in the baseband compatibility list provided in the description.
Once you have verified that your device can be unlocked with Ultrasn0w, install the package on your device.
When the installation has finished, reboot your iPhone.
After reboot, navigate to Settings.app > General > Network > Cellular Data Network > and enter the settings from above.

When it’s all said and done, your phone should work with Straight talk, provided you have a valid SIM and are in good standing to use the service.

If you have any questions about the process, or the settings mentioned above, please drop us a comment in the comments field below, and we’ll have somebody come and assist you when possible.

apps, at&t, iPhone, straight talk, unlock

About the Author

Adam Eustice

Adam is a tech enthusiast who dabbles in Android and Microsoft products.

More articles by Adam Eustice »

Nick Verticelli

If you have an old AT&T iPhone lying around that's out of it's 2 year contract, instead of using ultrasn0w just give AT&T a call and tell them you would like it unlocked. It doesn't cost anything and takes 5-10 minutes on their end once you get past the hold times. And unlike using ultrasn0w, it's unlocked forever even if you do a wipe and restore in iTunes.

Nick Verticelli

Got it, thanks!

Charlie Pryor

It will allow them to use it, yes. The user will still need the proper settings and information

Nick Verticelli

I was under the impression that carrier unlocking through AT&T will allow the iPhone to use any GSM SIM card (including Straight Talk) for texting, voice and data. At least that's what I've done with a 3GS, a 4 and a 4S all with T-Mo prepaid SIM cards (for testing) despite only being able to run on EDGE. The 3GS was past it's 2 year contract and the 4 and 4S (not 2 year old devices) were on corporate accounts where the business paid the ETF to close the accounts and gave these phones to the employees thinking they were useless. As far as iPhones that are still under contract and not unlockable by AT&T yet, these three options you covered are all pretty much spot on to get them up and running and getting to the hidden network settings for MMS. Great job. Just offering out of contract users another one they might not be aware of, as AT&T didn't really broadcast their new unlocking policy for old iPhones unless questioned and a lot of people might still think they won't do it for them. Cheers!

Charlie Pryor

It's unlocked, but that doesn't mean you'll be able to use it on Straight Talk. Step one will get them there. The steps, however, will help anybody, even those without 2 year old devices.