When Walmart announced Apple’s iPhone 5 with $45 unlimited data plan on Straight Talk’s network earlier in the month, it generated quite a lot of interest.

The only downside was that you had to buy the iPhone outright. But it seemed like a great option for someone who was looking for an unlimited data plan. 

Unfortunately, the unlimited data plan was too good to be true. Ars Technica reports that Straight Talk’s data plan is far from being unlimited, in fact there is a soft cap of as little as 2GB. After a user reaches the 2GB data cap, the data speed will get much slower.

 I found a thread on an appropriately named site called “Pissed Consumer” from January of 2012 where numerous users complain that they were misled by Straight Talk into thinking their accounts were truly unlimited, only (for some) to be completely shut down after downloading too much data. Though a few users in the thread claim to have downloaded gigs upon gigs of media via their Straight Talk plans, plenty of others complain that they weren’t told about the unstated limit of 2GB per month until they called to ask about their accounts.

So looks like it is a known issue for quite sometime. If you’re fine with the soft cap of 2GB, Straight Talk’s $45 data plan is quite a good deal compared to data plans offered by other carriers. But it is quite annoying when carriers promise unlimited data plans and then put these soft caps without bothering to tell customers about it.

If you’ve been using Straight Talk, let us know your experience in the comments below.

Via: Ars Technica