AIO vs. Straight Talk (AT&T)

[s44]

OK, now that AIO has this $5 prepaid credit to make their 2.5gb plan the same price as Straight Talk's, it comes down to which will give the better service. Anyone have firsthand thoughts on which is better/worse, or has more hidden hassles? How limited (or not) is the LTE speed?

 

[AstroManLuca]

I would also like to know. They also have a $40 ($35 after prepaid credit) plan with 500 MB of data, a tier Straight Talk doesn't offer.

 

[paperwastage]

AIO limits LTE to 8mbps... LTE theoretically goes up to 150mbps right now, how important is it for you to go above 8?

 

[JoeMcJoe]

I use AIO, have two plans, the 0.5 and the 2.5 GB, use them with Nexus5 phones.
Switched from Sprint, the service improvement is night and day.

I get speeds of about 8Mbps, fast enough for everything I do. Haven't gone over the data allocation yet, but I read that it gets throttled to 128Kbps down, don't know about up.

AIO gives you an app that logs into ATT wifi APs automatically, I was at a light outside a McDonalds today, it switched to wifi for a minute.

 

[Bman123]

I have aio now and I've used straight talk before and the signal is way better with aio. The LTE is limited to8mbps but it's plenty fast

 

[AstroManLuca]

I have aio now and I've used straight talk before and the signal is way better with aio. The LTE is limited to8mbps but it's plenty fast

IMO the biggest advantage of LTE is low latency anyway. High bandwidth is nice but 8 Mbps is pretty good for a phone and you have to remember what you're paying.

 

[JoeMcJoe]

The latency on the AIO service is quite a bit higher than regular AT&T, hovering about 110 mS.

 

[dlock13]

I've been using Aio since this past September, and I've recommended it to everyone since day 1. Not only do you get a referral reward if you invite someone else to join Aio, they also get the reward! This month my wife and I are only paying $40 total for our 2 smartphones since I took her away from Verizon and got the reward.

Also, if the 2.5 GB isn't enough, then jump up to the 5 GB plan for $10 more. It is ridiculous how nice Aio customer service is. If you want an invite so we can get some rewards going around, PM me your email.

One last thing... Aio is owned by AT&T so they're going to get priority over any other company especially Straight Talk.

 

[sze5003]

If att is better in your area, Aio is good. Just make sure to buy an Att phone or one that has gsm radios for 4g.

 

[Annon2255]

I've never heard of AIO but it looks pretty awesome. I'm going to look into this when my contract with Verizon is up in a few months.

 

[you2]

Couple of questions: Does aio have a policy around hot-spot ? Also do they provide free roaming (like at&t) ?

 

[JoeMcJoe]

Couple of questions: Does aio have a policy around hot-spot ? Also do they provide free roaming (like at&t) ?

No roaming, only works on AT&T towers.

No mention of hotspot being allowed, it is disabled in the phones that they sell.
AT&T's Gophone prepaid does allow hotspot.