Can someone explain Tracfones to me?

[iluveeyore]

I have been trying to figure out how to text home when we're at WDW next week and my prepaid Telus phone won't allow it, and if I go on a plan it's a ridiculous amount for roaming text messages. I don't want a contract or a new phone for at home. I live right beside Buffalo and have been trying to figure out the Tracfone online - I know the phone's are reasonable, but I can't seem to find out about costs for texting plans, just minutes. I don't want to call home, just text if need be. Can I get a texting plan, and can it reach a Canadian cell phone number? Hope somebody knows!! Thanks!!

 

[glendalais]

If I'm reading their website correctly, texts are priced in minutes. As such, you would use x minutes every time you sent or received a text message. You can view the rates here (click on "How much does the text messaging feature cost?").

According to them, they do not support International SMS, and their Terms and Conditions say they can cancel your service if you try to send a text message outside of the United States.

 

[iluveeyore]

Thanks - it sounds like that's down the drain for ideas to keep in touch with home inexpensively. I think I'll just pay the $9.99 per day for internet and use emails and facebook instead of worrying about texts. My kids can call from home for free on our landline to WDW, so if there's an emergency I guess they can just call the resort.

 

[bankr63]

Tracphone is now Net10 - we bought a couple on our last trip in March; see less than glowing report in US cell phone sticky thread above, p25, post 369. A text costs you 1 minute - that's $0.10. So for your $10/day to be a better deal, you would need to send/receive 100 texts. That's a lot of texting!

Note: I disliked the phones for poor cell reception, but since texts queue up, we had no problems with texting.

 

[iluveeyore]

Tracphone is now Net10 - we bought a couple on our last trip in March; see less than glowing report in US cell phone sticky thread above, p25, post 369. A text costs you 1 minute - that's $0.10. So for your $10/day to be a better deal, you would need to send/receive 100 texts. That's a lot of texting!

Note: I disliked the phones for poor cell reception, but since texts queue up, we had no problems with texting.

Thanks! I only need to text things like "we have arrived", "we're in room number___", and "did you feed the dog?", so I'll just tell them to call me every night with an update or email me if I use the internet a couple of days while I'm there.

 

[Sue M]

You could buy a calling card to be able to phone home from your room. Prob cheaper then the $10.00 a day for internet. As internet is for 24hrs, I can get by with buying every other day, but usually only end up getting internet every 3 days.

 

[iluveeyore]

You could buy a calling card to be able to phone home from your room. Prob cheaper then the $10.00 a day for internet. As internet is for 24hrs, I can get by with buying every other day, but usually only end up getting internet every 3 days.

I found another thread on calling home, and am going to get the President's Choice $10 calling card. We might do the internet one day, but we don't have to if I can call home - the other thread said it's only 4 cents a minute for the PC card, so I'll be able to call home every day if I want to (that's if my teenagers actually answer the phone!). DH and I are driving home as well, so it will help to have it to call on the road if we need to.

 

[a.little.goofy]

We live in the Niagara area, A few years ago I purchased a pay-as- you-go Virgin Mobile phone from Target for 30.00 dollars, it came with a 20.00 phone credit. We can call or text back to Canada with no problems, we travel to the states quite alot as we are DVC members and it has been really handy.

I have to top it up every 90 days to keep the number active and to roll over the minutes. I had to register it with a US address, so I used Saratoga Springs, our home resort.

Hope this helps.

 

[pigletto]

You could buy a calling card to be able to phone home from your room. Prob cheaper then the $10.00 a day for internet. As internet is for 24hrs, I can get by with buying every other day, but usually only end up getting internet every 3 days.

Another vote for the phone card. You can get them at Walmart too. I brought $20.00 in phone cards with me last time and used them in the room several times. I came home with a balance of 17.00 still on the card
They don't expire or incur any charges on your room bill either. Easiest solution I found. Virgin Mobile wanted a ridiculous amount for an US data plan.. and with them I was going to be roaming every time I turned on the phone. So I could only actually turn on the phone for something like 90 minutes of the entire trip and it was still going to cost me over 50 dollars
I just called everyone and gave them the room number for emergencies and chatted here and there throughout the trip and it cost $3.00. I wouldn't bother doing it any other way now.

 

[bankr63]

There is a downside to the calling cards, or rather a bonus to a US cell phone. We use them like walkie-talkies in the parks. If your group wants to split up, just ensure that each one has a phone. Then you can text or call between the two phones to setup meeting times, or status updates.

That is the main thing we use the phones for, not just contacting back home. Next year I'm considering jailbreaking my Android phone and getting a sim card from AT&T so I can use data too. Adding the wait-time apps in the parks would be helpful!

Can't do that with a calling card...

 

[Sue M]

Another vote for the phone card. You can get them at Walmart too. I brought $20.00 in phone cards with me last time and used them in the room several times. I came home with a balance of 17.00 still on the card
They don't expire or incur any charges on your room bill either. Easiest solution I found. Virgin Mobile wanted a ridiculous amount for an US data plan.. and with them I was going to be roaming every time I turned on the phone. So I could only actually turn on the phone for something like 90 minutes of the entire trip and it was still going to cost me over 50 dollars
I just called everyone and gave them the room number for emergencies and chatted here and there throughout the trip and it cost $3.00. I wouldn't bother doing it any other way now.

Did you buy the Walmart card in Canada? And you could use it from the US?
I was in Walmart yesterday and noticed their cards for 2.9 cents/minute? I think. But the print on the back was so small I couldn't read it

I had looked at 7-11 cards before in Canada, and they said only good for calls originating in Canada to the US, so they didn't go the other way around.