tell me about your tracphone

[JB2K]

Seriously thinking of getting a tracphone. Does anyone have one of the "nicer" phones, ie touchscreen, etc?

We are very light cell phone users, seriously I probably don't even use 10 minutes, and have never had texting. It is time for dd to get one now, and I think she will not use it alot, but she and I would like to text each other when we need to ( notice I said need ,lol) She may use it occasionally for friends too, but not many have cells yet, so not much. I think it may be nice to have the web capabilities, mainly for dh at work, again a very light user.

So which phone is nice? Or do you hate tracphone?

Looking at possibly motorola 124G, LG800G, Samsung T404G

Thanks for any info!!

My TF is one with a QWERTY keyboard on the bottom -- for the money, it's actually a pretty good little phone.

Customer service is at best, spotty - but if you take any issues to TF's facebook page, they are very helpful and can get things resolved pretty quickly.

Also, mine has "Triple Minutes For Life", which goes a long, long way....

 

[Pigeon]

It isn't a touch phone but it "looks" cool, so I got the LG500G w/double minutes for life.

I got it on ebay for $19.99. It is an emergency phone for my daughter.

I'm debating if I should get the 1 year 400 minutes for $99 (which would really be 800 minutes)

or 60 minutes for 90 day for $19.99 (which would be 120 minutes)- $79.96 a year for 480 minutes.

I'm thinking about just doing the $19.99 plan to start off and see if we like it.

You can usually find a code that gives bonus minutes if you add the cards online (as opposed to adding from the phone).

 

[bridget]

You can usually find a code that gives bonus minutes if you add the cards online (as opposed to adding from the phone).

Thanks

 

[HALEYSMOMMOM]

Well, after alot of research and looking in the stores, etc, we bought the lg 800g for my dd. Im going to hold off and see how we like it before I buy more. We almost bought the 500g, but opted to get the 800 b/c of the triple minutes. Thanks for everyone's input, many of you have been extremely helpful!!!!!

 

[HALEYSMOMMOM]

I can use the web (limitedly) and scan QR codes to get coupons etc.

.

Can I ask where you got the app for QR codes? I can't seem to find one that works on Java

 

[lovesny]

I too just purchased the Tracfone Samsung T404G slide-out keyboard a few months ago. I love mine. It came with triple minutes for life ($59.00). I watch for bonus minutes on-line when adding minutes. Works great for me --- and its inexpensive.

 

[katibosch]

I would love Tracfone IF we got service/signal where we live. We simply don't. I was also told by the people at Radio Shack who sold us the phones that their coverage map shows that we have good service. We paid for phones and airtime initially and the phones never worked/never got a signal. We took them back repeatedly trying to get someone to help us and no one ever would. They will not take the phones back or refund any of our money. We've gone to US Cellular who have a 30-day refund/return policy and we get a signal with them. I think it's probably actually cheaper when you consider how much wrangling we have done with Tracfone over the past 6 months.

If you're sure you're going to get a signal (DO NOT RELY ON COVERAGE MAPS -- talk to someone near you that actually has one and uses it) then they are a great deal. But a phone that doesn't work isn't a good deal, no matter how cheap it is.

 

[tinkmom2]

We use nothing but Tracfone in my house. I can't see spending money on a cell bill. My tween uses her ipod touch to text and only really uses the tracfone in emergencies. I have the family plan and pay around $16 a month. Both our phones get the double minutes. She has the LG with the keyboard and loves it. I have not upgraded the memory on that one yet so she can't add apps.

 

[HelenePA]

my dh has a tracfone and does not get service at out house. I have a prepaid from walmart that runs off tracfone and I get service go figure? Mine is 30$ a month for 1000 text, 1000 min and so much data... last month I came close to using all of the text and min but not the data i use wifi at home for free on the phone.

 

[abcboys]

We have 3 tracfones in this house. We all have the qwerty keyboard type phones. I do find myself texting a lot more than when I had the plain old fasioned phone but still isn't very much. My 13 year old goes thru spurts of not texting for weeks then a bunch at one time so cost wise is not bad.

Re: customer service. I have had to call customer service MANY times. We have went thru several new phones upgrading to the qwerty and also when we bought the wrong kind of phones for our area. Although I do dread calling them, except for ONE time they have always been very nice and helpful. Yes, you have to be patient with them but they have always been able to fix my situation. Yes, sometimes they have to transfer me to the supervisor but 95% of the time they really try to get the problem fixed. Sometimes they are hard to understand, sometimes not too bad. I always expect the worse and it ends up being not too bad. One time my husband woke up to all of this minutes just disappeared (he had like 300) and the first lady tried to tell me someone at my house must have used them all overnight(not!) and when I called back the next time they added them back to his phone.

Also like someone else said in addition to double or triple minutes on most phones now, there are always codes online to get more extra minutes.
It works for our family now.

 

[abcboys]

I would love Tracfone IF we got service/signal where we live. We simply don't. I was also told by the people at Radio Shack who sold us the phones that their coverage map shows that we have good service. We paid for phones and airtime initially and the phones never worked/never got a signal. We took them back repeatedly trying to get someone to help us and no one ever would. They will not take the phones back or refund any of our money. We've gone to US Cellular who have a 30-day refund/return policy and we get a signal with them. I think it's probably actually cheaper when you consider how much wrangling we have done with Tracfone over the past 6 months.

If you're sure you're going to get a signal (DO NOT RELY ON COVERAGE MAPS -- talk to someone near you that actually has one and uses it) then they are a great deal. But a phone that doesn't work isn't a good deal, no matter how cheap it is.

We got myself and my oldest a tracfone after my husband got his qwerty phone and really liked it. It was just like my husbands except his was a 501c and ours was a 500G. They looked EXACTLY the same and for the life of me couldn't figure out why mine got such crappy service, dropped calls, texts that wouldn't go thru. when my husband had no touble whatsoever with his. We called tracfone to figure out why he said that the "c" phones run off of verizon service which is really strong in my area. The "g" phone ran off of I think at&t? which has really poor service in our area. since we are right on the state line we had bought the 500g phones about 15 minutes away from our hometown but had no clue that there was a difference in the 2 phones. But yeah, since tracfone service runs off the major carriers, if that carrier is not good in your area your phone will not work

 

[mrodgers]

my dh has a tracfone and does not get service at out house. I have a prepaid from walmart that runs off tracfone and I get service go figure? Mine is 30$ a month for 1000 text, 1000 min and so much data... last month I came close to using all of the text and min but not the data i use wifi at home for free on the phone.

Tracfone doesn't have service to run off of. Tracfone uses Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. Depending on the phone you get, you can have Verizon service or whichever is stronger in your area between AT&T and T-Mobile. The phone that has the Verizon network is a completely different type of phone, and not very common any more. Between AT&T and T-Mobile, if T-Mobile has any sort of service in your area, Tracfone tries to give out phones with that SIM card.

That is how you can have multiple Tracfones and have significantly different signal reception.

The prepaid from Walmart is Straight Talk, which Tracfone owns. All of those phones are GMS phones which are ATT or T-Mobile. I would guess your husband's Tracfone phone is quite a bit older and is a CDMA phone which works on the Verizon network and Verizon is probably not real big in your area.

 

[HelenePA]

Tracfone doesn't have service to run off of. Tracfone uses Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. Depending on the phone you get, you can have Verizon service or whichever is stronger in your area between AT&T and T-Mobile. The phone that has the Verizon network is a completely different type of phone, and not very common any more. Between AT&T and T-Mobile, if T-Mobile has any sort of service in your area, Tracfone tries to give out phones with that SIM card.

That is how you can have multiple Tracfones and have significantly different signal reception.

The prepaid from Walmart is Straight Talk, which Tracfone owns. All of those phones are GMS phones which are ATT or T-Mobile. I would guess your husband's Tracfone phone is quite a bit older and is a CDMA phone which works on the Verizon network and Verizon is probably not real big in your area.

We are in a very dead cell phone reception area... right before we bought our house we signed a 2yr contract... only after we moved in did we realize we had NO reception here... so we paid on the cell phones until the contract was up then he got a tracfone for emergencies... his is older but he loves it

 

[HALEYSMOMMOM]

We use nothing but Tracfone in my house. I can't see spending money on a cell bill. My tween uses her ipod touch to text and only really uses the tracfone in emergencies. I have the family plan and pay around $16 a month. Both our phones get the double minutes. She has the LG with the keyboard and loves it. I have not upgraded the memory on that one yet so she can't add apps.

With the family plan is it billed automatically? If so, any problems with that It says with that plan you can add I think 50 or 100 minutes at any time, how much is it to do that? thank you!!

This plan seems to be the cheapest option Ive found, even with promo codes. We will have 3 phones, so $22 a month, at triple minutes, so 150 min for the first one, and 120 each for the other 2, plus they have a promo for 10 bonus minutes with that plan. I don't know if that's for each phone or only the first one. If anyone is doing something cheaper with tracfone, let me know

 

[tinkmom2]

Here is directly from the website. You put your cc number on the site and they charge you on your renewal date each month. We've had it(the plan) for a year and have never had a problem.

Family Value Plan
First Phone - 50 MINUTES only $9.99/month
Each Additional Phone - 40 MINUTES only $5.99/month
Enroll using your Credit Card
No cancellation fees

We get double minutes so one phone gets 100 minutes and the other gets 80. There are other plans there but this is the one that works the best for us.

 

[HALEYSMOMMOM]

OK, great, that probably will be what we do, because, like I said its the cheapest as far as I can tell. just wanted to double check that you haven't had any problems with the auto billing. And if you need to add more minutes before 30 days is up, you can the way I read it, though I don't know how much they charge u for that. Hopefully this will be enough anyway, it should be. Thank you!

 

[mrodgers]

I'll add to tinkmom2 and say I have 3 phones, all double minutes, on the family plan (I've mentioned it before.) The total cost for 3 phones, as there are taxes added, is $23.66 billed to my account I have listed on the 1st of every month.

 

[HALEYSMOMMOM]

I'll add to tinkmom2 and say I have 3 phones, all double minutes, on the family plan (I've mentioned it before.) The total cost for 3 phones, as there are taxes added, is $23.66 billed to my account I have listed on the 1st of every month.

OK, that's good to know how much the taxes are, thank you! Also good to know you aren't aving any problems with the billing service

 

[Kies99]

Don't get the LG500G.

I got it a few months ago and it drives me nuts. I have to keep the keys constantly "locked" or when it's in my pocket the internet button keeps getting pressed and I'm getting charged.

I also don't like the fact that I can't block phone numbers without jumping through hoops and then it's hit or miss if it worked.

It also echoes when I talk on it.

I'm happy with Tracfone price/service, just don't like the phone and will be switching after Xmas.

 

[HALEYSMOMMOM]

we all 3 got the 800g. I know some don't like them, but I think its about expectations. I don't expect alot, lol, and have nothing to compare it to, as I am using a cheaper than cheap go phone right now, have never had texting or web, etc. So to us this the cats meow,