Wal-Mart’s new $30 unlimited cell plan

If you like to text but hardly ever talk on the phone, Wal-Mart has a new plan in conjunction with T-Mobile that’s only available in Wal-Mart stores.

The nation’s biggest retailer has rolled out a $30/month non-contract plan that gives you unlimited web browsing (throttled after 5 GB,) unlimited texting, unlimited e-mail, but only 100 talk minutes.

The key here, obviously, is don’t talk too much. Every minute you talk beyond the limit will cost you 10 cents.

If you are a talkaholic, why not consider one of Wal-Mart’s other plans? Their Straight Talk sub-brand starts at $30/month with no contract and offers 1,000 minutes and 1,000 text messages. (You can go unlimited for an additional $15/month.)

Generally, Wal-Mart charges from one-third to one-fourth what Verizon and AT&T charge for equivalent service.

Meanwhile, I’ve talked in the past about Best Buy’s co-branded service with Cricket. But I heard from a number of you who went to look in the store that Best Buy employees had no idea about the plan.

Then this past Sunday, I looked through their newspaper circular and they were completely trumpeting the offer. So check again at a Best Buy location and I’m sorry if I wasted your time the first time around because the company hadn’t informed its employees of what was going on!