Virgin Mobile or Tracfone?

[ddawg]

Which is better or less expensive Virgin Mobile or Tracfone? Some of my calls will be phone to phone in Orlando (I plan on buying 2 phones). I will also be placing and receiving calls to/from Canada. Please help me decide. I don't have a pay pal account , so I will stop at Walmart or Target when I get to Orlando. Which is easier to find in the stores and which is less expensive to use?:confused3

[OntFamily]

I found Tracfone is less expensive, especially in calls back to Canada.

[dancin Disney style]

I have a Tracfone so I can only speak to that.

Tracfone has a 1-800 # that will let you make long distance calls to Canada without paying the long distance charges. You can get codes online that will give you extra minutes, usually about 60, on the phone when you add the airtime card. The phones are crazy cheap, we paid $10 for ours. I have been happy with the one we have but we have hardly used it. It was purchased originally because we were driving to FL and my home cell is a prepaid, so it doesn't work in the US. The only negative that I'm aware of is that you can't buy airtime online with a Canadian credit card. The airtime starts at $20 for 60 minutes, but like I said you can get codes that will give you free minutes.


I do know that the Virign mobile products are available at the DTD Virgin store.

[cslittle999]

I do know that the Virign mobile products are available at the DTD Virgin store.
The Virgin store at DTD is closing some time around the end of May.

[taycreekcropper]

We are flying out of Portland, in April and we are spending the night before in Bangor so I plan to hit Wal-Mart or Target and buy myself a Virgin mobile phone, the TNT works in Florida, Maine and in Vermont (Virgin Mobile has assured me). My DH hunts Turkey in Vermont in May so he can top this up when he drives down a month later.

I checked out the Tracfone and the pro's and con's swayed me back to Virgin.

I guess I won't know until I give it a whirl.

[disneyred]

The Virgin store at DTD is closing some time around the end of May.

Does anyone know what will take the place of this store ??

[Mishnogramjo]

Have you thought of a T-mobile pay and go SIM card account? If you have an unlocked phone around, its $6.99 for the SIM card and seems like their per minute rates are reasonable (can get it mailed directly to the place you're staying and top off online or by phone). As far as the back to canada calls, I have used skype for years and have called back home from the US to Asia with no problems ($3.00/moth for unlimited calls to US and Canada). I have even used the web cam features to call home and talk to my kids.

We use GSM unlocked phones here so we'll just be getting some cheap sim cards and minutes (unlimited call between T-mobile customers) so that my wife and I can call each other in case we get separated.

[disneyred]

Have you thought of a T-mobile pay and go SIM card account? If you have an unlocked phone around, its $6.99 for the SIM card and seems like their per minute rates are reasonable (can get it mailed directly to the place you're staying and top off online or by phone). As far as the back to canada calls, I have used skype for years and have called back home from the US to Asia with no problems ($3.00/moth for unlimited calls to US and Canada). I have even used the web cam features to call home and talk to my kids.

We use GSM unlocked phones here so we'll just be getting some cheap sim cards and minutes (unlimited call between T-mobile customers) so that my wife and I can call each other in case we get separated.


can you actually buy these 6.99 sim cards in person or do you have to order it online... don't know if they would accept canadian address?

[ddawg]

How do I know if my cell phone is unlocked?????????????????????:confused3

I don't think this is for me. I know nothing about cell phone innards:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I could end up with a huge bill if I tried this one.:scared1:

[cslittle999]

Does anyone know what will take the place of this store ??
There have been no announcements so far. My guess is that this caught Disney by surprise. Virgin is closing all of their megastores in the US.

[cslittle999]

How do I know if my cell phone is unlocked?????????????????????:confused3

I don't think this is for me. I know nothing about cell phone innards:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I could end up with a huge bill if I tried this one.:scared1:
If you don't know then it's almost assuredly locked. Cell phone companies lock cell phones to ensure that you'll stay with them and not switch companies for a better deal with their discounted phone. There are lots of places that will unlock a phone for a charge. If you put a different sim card in a locked pheon it simply won't work. No worry about extra changes.

[beavdisfan]

i bought virgin mobile at the 7-11 on vineland rd near the main dis. entrance.
$20.00 and it came with $10.00 talktime.
great little phone.

[mississaugamom]

My DH and I both bought Virgin Mobile phones and the one-year top up plan so we don't have to worry about the $ or phone numbers expiring for a year at a time. Our connection rate (pay as you go) per minute is $0.20 anywhere in the US and $0.35 back to Canada. We bought the phones at Best Buy in Buffalo and paid $15 for one and $20 for the other (my husband wanted a display on the outside of his flip phone).

We're in the US several times a year, and it's nice to have a phone number the relatives at home can consistently reach us on.

Arlene

[declansdad]

We are flying out of Portland, in April and we are spending the night before in Bangor so I plan to hit Wal-Mart or Target and buy myself a Virgin mobile phone, the TNT works in Florida, Maine and in Vermont (Virgin Mobile has assured me). My DH hunts Turkey in Vermont in May so he can top this up when he drives down a month later.

I checked out the Tracfone and the pro's and con's swayed me back to Virgin.

I guess I won't know until I give it a whirl.

If you go to Target in Bangor, make sure you have all your information beforehand. We went in last summer to purchase a Tracfone for the same reason and they had no clue if it would work the way we wanted it to. They even called the support line and they weren't much help. In the end we left without getting anything.

[cey]

We used our Tracfone a lot last year and it worked like a charm. Does anyone know if it is true that they will work in Canada if you live in a border city? I would like to know before I add some air time to try it out?

[taycreekcropper]

I can't tell you about the tracfone working in Canada but it appears many people have used them in WDW and they work perfectly. I am very pleased to hear this.

With regards to service I have spoke to many people and the Virgin and Tracfone works very well and serves our purpose cross boarder travelling.

Good Luck with having it work in Canada, although I would imagine the tower service would need to be very close to the border? We cross the boarder enough (or family) that having this phone will save everyone and whoever uses it will top up the minutes.

[kellyla]

We used our Tracfone a lot last year and it worked like a charm. Does anyone know if it is true that they will work in Canada if you live in a border city? I would like to know before I add some air time to try it out?
I lose my Tracfone's signal soon after crossing the border in Fort Erie.

Also dont forget with Tracfone you can get a Canadian phone number so people can call you and it will be a local call to them.I have a Hamilton number so my kids can call us and there is no long distance charge for them.

[ddawg]

How do you get a Canadian phone number with Tracfone? Does that mean if we call each other and we are both in orlando with our tracfones then we have to pay the long distance rate to Canada or is there another number for that?:confused3

[redrosesix]

Haven't used Tracfone, but if you are going with Virgin Mobile US, it's easiest to order them online and have them delivered to your resort -- shipping is free within the US :thumbsup2

[dancin Disney style]

How do you get a Canadian phone number with Tracfone? Does that mean if we call each other and we are both in orlando with our tracfones then we have to pay the long distance rate to Canada or is there another number for that?:confused3

The Canadian number is a special long distance thing. You go online and register your Tracfone to get a number that friends in Canada can use to call you. It is a local number for Canadians to not have to pay long distance. It has nothing to do with where the phone is.

I hope that makes sense.


Someone mentioned having the phone shipped to the resort in FL. You can do that with just about anything that you buy online.

[dancin Disney style]

Does anyone know if it is true that they will work in Canada if you live in a border city? I would like to know before I add some air time to try it out?


I tried mine once while I was, at most, 1km away from the falls and it did work. Beyond that I have no idea but my guess would be that the phone will only work while you are right at or near the border.

I can tell you that my Telus pre-paid has service in the US but it will not work because they have no way of confirming that there are funds to pay for the roaming. I was told this by Telus and once before by Bell. I would guess that Tracfone is similar.

[ddawg]

So I would have 2 phone numbers for each phone??? One local and one an 800 number for people in Canada to use to call me?

I don't think I can order it on line in advance because I don't have paypal and they don't take Canadian credit cards , or do they? I know Virgin Mobile doesn't take Canadian credit cards

[ddawg]

Oops.

[ddawg]

It looks like Virgin Mobile costs 10 cents a minute if you buy a $20.00 phone card and Tracfone cost 25 cent a minute if you buy a $30.00 card or 20 Cents a minute if your buy a $40.00 card. Does this seem right?

[SaskDisNut]

We used our Tracfone a lot last year and it worked like a charm. Does anyone know if it is true that they will work in Canada if you live in a border city? I would like to know before I add some air time to try it out?

I tried our Tracfones here in Regina and they worked! I was able to call to the phone and make a call from the phone. I was suprised that they worked. We are a long way from the border too. I haven't tried them outside the city yet but I will sometime.

We used 2 Tracfones in Dec. in WDW and they worked great. DW and I were able to call each other whenever we needed. I also went down for a conference in January and added some minutes from the Tracfone website. I found a bonus code online that gave me bonus minutes on top of the minutes I paid for. I think it worked out to about .15/minutes to send and receive calls from home. Of course the more minutes you buy the cheaper the per minutes cost is.

[dancin Disney style]

So I would have 2 phone numbers for each phone??? One local and one an 800 number for people in Canada to use to call me?

I don't think I can order it on line in advance because I don't have paypal and they don't take Canadian credit cards , or do they? I know Virgin Mobile doesn't take Canadian credit cards

Yes...your phone will have number assigned to it just like anyother phone. The numbers that you can get for Canadians to call are not 800#. They are local numbers. When you set it up online they ask you for your nearest city and you select from a list. In some cases the number might result in local long distance charges to the Canadian caller. For example, if you live in Mississauga and select a Hamilton #.

You can get more than one number for the folks at home to call you. Say you have one for the kids in Hamilton and another for your mom in Toronto. There is a limit to how many you can attach to one phone.

Also, not sure if I mentioned that Tracfone has a 1-800 # that you can call on the Tracfone that lets you call long distance without being charged extra.

[dancin Disney style]

It looks like Virgin Mobile costs 10 cents a minute if you buy a $20.00 phone card and Tracfone cost 25 cent a minute if you buy a $30.00 card or 20 Cents a minute if your buy a $40.00 card. Does this seem right?

With Tracfone the least expensive card you can buy is $20 that gives you 60 minutes. However, you can get codes that will double your minutes for free. If you google it, they are plentiful. There are lots of different codes so have a few on hand because if one doesn't work you just try another one.


Someone mentioned that Tracfone doesn't take Canadian credit cards. That is true. I've never tried paypal though, so I don't know if they take it. You can very easily set up a paypal account.

[DundasDad]

I'm still here in Florida - we purchased a Tracfone at Walmart (got the phone for $20, with car charger, ac charger and carrying case. It also has a "2 for 1" for the minutes for the life of the phone.)
We got 60 mins for $20 - so altogether we paid about $40 US and got all the above with 130 mins of airtime (60 x 2 + the free 10 with the phone).

It has worked fine - we needed an address in the states to activate it - so I used the address for POR (in order to get a local FLA #). To call back to Canada you do use a 1-800 # first (just program it into your phone).

We're on our 2nd week here and are down to about 55 mins - which I'm sure we will put a dent into on our drive home tomorrow.

[SaskDisNut]

Someone mentioned that Tracfone doesn't take Canadian credit cards. That is true. I've never tried paypal though, so I don't know if they take it. You can very easily set up a paypal account.

I used my Canadian credit card to add minutes to my phone. It worked with no problem.

[Ham Ham]

Just picked up a Virgin TNT while in NYC. Activated it with a local NYC number.
$16.03 taxes in. Came with 10 free minutes, 10 texts and 5 days of free web browsing. Also purchased a $20 air card. Still have $10 left on it

Minutes are good until June 13.

When we head to WDW in August we'll change the number to a local Orlando number.


Click for more info on our trip to NYC this past week.
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee242/horonto/NYC%20March%2009/IMG_0635.jpg (http://www.disneymagic.ca/forum/index.php/topic,1479.0.html)

[dancin Disney style]

I used my Canadian credit card to add minutes to my phone. It worked with no problem.

Interesting.....I've tried with my Visa and it wouldn't go through. I was instructed to call customer service which I did and they pulled up the transaction and then told me that I could not pay with a Canadian CC.

Recently, I tried with my Amex and still wouldn't go through.

Have you done this recently and which CC ?

[SaskDisNut]

Interesting.....I've tried with my Visa and it wouldn't go through. I was instructed to call customer service which I did and they pulled up the transaction and then told me that I could not pay with a Canadian CC.

Recently, I tried with my Amex and still wouldn't go through.

Have you done this recently and which CC ?

Yes, I did this in January right before I went down for my conference. I have set up an account on the Tracfone website and registered both of our phones. So I went to the phone I wanted to add minutes too, clicked buy minutes, selected the amount of minutes I wanted and it brought me to this payment screen. As you can see, it lets you specify your mailing address for your credit card, including Canada. I used our PC Financial cc and had no problems. Is this how you were buying minutes?

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t3/vatman65/Misc/tracfone.jpg

[DearDaisyinDurham]

Just picked up a Virgin TNT while in NYC. Activated it with a local NYC number.
$16.03 taxes in. Came with 10 free minutes, 10 texts and 5 days of free web browsing. Also purchased a $20 air card. Still have $10 left on it

Minutes are good until June 13.

When we head to WDW in August we'll change the number to a local Orlando number.


Click for more info on our trip to NYC this past week.
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee242/horonto/NYC%20March%2009/IMG_0635.jpg (http://www.disneymagic.ca/forum/index.php/topic,1479.0.html)


Ham Ham, bookmarking this post, we want to take a trip to NYC within the year. TIA for what I'm sure is great info!

[dancin Disney style]

Yes, I did this in January right before I went down for my conference. I have set up an account on the Tracfone website and registered both of our phones. So I went to the phone I wanted to add minutes too, clicked buy minutes, selected the amount of minutes I wanted and it brought me to this payment screen. As you can see, it lets you specify your mailing address for your credit card, including Canada. I used our PC Financial cc and had no problems. Is this how you were buying minutes?

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t3/vatman65/Misc/tracfone.jpg

I have only tried to buy through the website. Never on the phone.

I'll have to go back on the site and look at it again because the last time it did not look like your pic.

Did you set up your phone with a Canadian address? When I did mine that was not allowed, it had to be American. I've had the phone for a few years.

[disneyred]

I would also love to know.. i have a very old phone and thought
I could only open acct and register my phone on thier website if I had an american address !

[Ham Ham]

Ham Ham, bookmarking this post, we want to take a trip to NYC within the year. TIA for what I'm sure is great info!

We stayed at a great hotel. Average for each of three nights was $175 taxes in with a hot breakfast buffet included. Parking 2 1/2 blocks away was only $24 per 25 hours.

Hotel was built 2 years ago staff is excellent.

Holiday Inn Express - NYC Madison Square Garden - New York City, NY
232 West 29th Street, New York City, NY 10001-5201
Phone: 212-695-7200 Fax: 212-695-7209


Click for more info
http://www.venere.com/img/hotel/8/1/6/8/248618/image_hotel_exterior_outside_1.jpghttp://images.travelpod.com/cache/accom_maps/Holiday_Inn_Express_Manhattan-New_York_City.gif (http://www.hiemanhattan.com/)

[DearDaisyinDurham]

That's very helpful Ham Ham, thanks! It's on our must do list, so much to see there. Thanks again.