Tracfone, don't make the same mistake I did.

[jo-jo]

My DH hardly uses a phone. But he has discovered listening to music. During Covid, and no one was going anywhere, his phone plan with tmobile lapsed. He had a grandfathered min by min plan. No longer offered. With us not going anywhere, the phone sat for months. Anyway, we saw a basic phone MOTO something......with Tracfone you got the phone, bunch of mins , etc for little more than just the phone. For DH it was perfect, if it was for my DGD, she would go through the mins in a month.

Anyway, at the end of the year I bought a 90 day card with 60 mins for $20. And a unlimited min, text and 8 GB good for 30 days for $40. All over the card it says carryover data.. I did this a few times. I had no idea how much data you needed to listen to music or watch a show (I do the grocery shopping, he hangs out in car). Well, today he is out of data. Today I talk to chat.......The 90 day cards and the unlimited cards are from two different stacks. You can't use them together. So the 8 GB of data will ONLY rollover if I buy another UNLIMITED card. I've wasted about $80, grrrrr.

Dont be dumb like me.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Jo-Jo, I'm sorry.

 

[Imzadi]

My DH hardly uses a phone. But he has discovered listening to music. During Covid, and no one was going anywhere, his phone plan with tmobile lapsed. He had a grandfathered min by min plan. No longer offered. With us not going anywhere, the phone sat for months. Anyway, we saw a basic phone MOTO something......with Tracfone you got the phone, bunch of mins , etc for little more than just the phone. For DH it was perfect, if it was for my DGD, she would go through the mins in a month.

Anyway, at the end of the year I bought a 90 day card with 60 mins for $20. And a unlimited min, text and 8 GB good for 30 days for $40. All over the card it says carryover data.. I did this a few times. I had no idea how much data you needed to listen to music or watch a show (I do the grocery shopping, he hangs out in car). Well, today he is out of data. Today I talk to chat.......The 90 day cards and the unlimited cards are from two different stacks. You can't use them together. So the 8 GB of data will ONLY rollover if I buy another UNLIMITED card. I've wasted about $80, grrrrr.

Dont be dumb like me.

No, it's not just you. I had over 3000 minutes of each talk & texts accumulated and rolled-over for the years I have had various Tracfones. So, I bought a 1 year card, as I usually do, since I only need the extra days of active service and not more minutes & texts.

However, I do got through a lot of data when I am out and about, so I've been getting just extra data for $10, here and there.

Yet, one time, I see they have cards for more GBs of data that sounded like a good deal, (with unlimited talk & text) - but for only 90 days. I bought one. What I didn't realize, and Tracfone doesn't make clear is that one CAN'T switch plans. That 90 days of unlimited service wiped out the 3000 minutes of accumulated talk & text. They weren't still there once the 90 days were up. GRRR! At least my 1 year end date wasn't also wiped out. So, I have a phone number but no minutes to talk or text.

 

[fla4fun]

So sorry you lost the plan you liked that was grandfathered in. I have a grandfathered T-Mobile plan and I put the reminder for the following year in my calendar when I reload for this year (I am on an annual pay as you go plan that is calls and text only, no data, and dirt cheap). I had an issue renewing this year and came close to losing my plan, and the 9000+ minutes still in the account. Fortunately, it worked out OK.

I have never found a prepaid plan that allows you to have two refill cards/plans active at the same time. I did a lot of shopping around when I thought my renewal might be in jeopardy, and pretty much every one of them said only one could be active at a time (of course, I didn’t see every single plan out there, so it’s possible there is one). Thank you for a good reminder to really think about what you need from your phone before buying the cards and establishing a plan.

To be honest, if you are paying $40 a month for a prepaid card, you might be better off with a postpaid plan. There are a lot of plans in that price range with unlimited data, calls and text (unless, like me, you simply prefer prepaid to postpaid.). Sorry you went through such a painful adjustment period.

 

[jo-jo]

To be honest, if you are paying $40 a month for a prepaid card, you might be better off with a postpaid plan. There are a lot of plans in that price range with unlimited data, calls and text (unless, like me, you simply prefer prepaid to postpaid.). Sorry you went through such a painful adjustment period.

We aren't paying $40 a month . That card was for one month. But we didn't buy it every month. When we first bought we got so much data, I thought I was adding to that amount and draining as we went. What really happened was , when we bought the one month deal, the other data was put on hold. We are now out of the original data load. Of course I learned my error AFTER I purchased another card today.

My DD told me about Red Pocket. You can get plans for as little as a few dollars a month. This would be for DH. My phone is under my DS plan. Something like a family plan, same price for two or three phones. But I'm guessing in a few years, as my DGS gets older, I might get kick off.

 

[prairie_girl]

Cell phone plans are my current pet peeve. Canada has some of the highest data rates in the world.

I just got a new phone and of course, that means choosing a plan to go with it. The lowest I could get with my provider was 25G for $75. I work from home so I have zero use for that much data.

OP, I feel your pain.

 

[starry_solo]

Cell phone plans are my current pet peeve. Canada has some of the highest data rates in the world.

I just got a new phone and of course, that means choosing a plan to go with it. The lowest I could get with my provider was 25G for $75. I work from home so I have zero use for that much data.

OP, I feel your pain.

Wow, that would be great if we had 25G for $75, although I guess it's getting close to unlimited. We only have two people on our cell plan and with 10G, it's $80 (plus taxes and fees)

 

[prairie_girl]

Wow, that would be great if we had 25G for $75, although I guess it's getting close to unlimited. We only have two people on our cell plan and with 10G, it's $80 (plus taxes and fees)

It is a good price, but I do wish they had an option with 5-10G. I’m paying for something I will never use.

 

[lynxstch]

My DH hardly uses a phone. But he has discovered listening to music. During Covid, and no one was going anywhere, his phone plan with tmobile lapsed. He had a grandfathered min by min plan. No longer offered. With us not going anywhere, the phone sat for months. Anyway, we saw a basic phone MOTO something......with Tracfone you got the phone, bunch of mins , etc for little more than just the phone. For DH it was perfect, if it was for my DGD, she would go through the mins in a month.

Anyway, at the end of the year I bought a 90 day card with 60 mins for $20. And a unlimited min, text and 8 GB good for 30 days for $40. All over the card it says carryover data.. I did this a few times. I had no idea how much data you needed to listen to music or watch a show (I do the grocery shopping, he hangs out in car). Well, today he is out of data. Today I talk to chat.......The 90 day cards and the unlimited cards are from two different stacks. You can't use them together. So the 8 GB of data will ONLY rollover if I buy another UNLIMITED card. I've wasted about $80, grrrrr.

Dont be dumb like me.

My sister in law had the same issues..after having tracfone for at least 6 years. And in our area,, tracfone got some kind of deal to switch their service to Verizon , which can't even be used in our area, or SIL's (WV). She went to US Cellular and got a new phone, and it's been a week today, and tracfone still hasn't ported her old number to US Cellular, even after speaking directly to tracfone last Sunday. She is not happy that she may lose the number she's had for such a long time. Their customer service is the worst in the world, I wouldn't deal with them if they were the only ones available! Sorry this happened to you!

 

[jo-jo]

So sorry you lost the plan you liked that was grandfathered in. I have a grandfathered T-Mobile plan and I put the reminder for the following year in my calendar when I reload for this year (I am on an annual pay as you go plan that is calls and text only, no data, and dirt cheap). I had an issue renewing this year and came close to losing my plan, and the 9000+ minutes still in the account. Fortunately, it worked out OK.

I have never found a prepaid plan that allows you to have two refill cards/plans active at the same time. I did a lot of shopping around when I thought my renewal might be in jeopardy, and pretty much every one of them said only one could be active at a time (of course, I didn’t see every single plan out there, so it’s possible there is one). Thank you for a good reminder to really think about what you need from your phone before buying the cards and establishing a plan.

When we had tmobile, I would buy the one year card, but my DH uses he phone so little, we'd buy something $20 for 50 mins for 90 days or something. But yeah, it was great, those little flip phones fit my pocket so much better.

As far as the refill cards.....I had no idea they were from different plans. Yeah, live and learn, but why while living and learning it always cost ME money and not them?

 

[jo-jo]

My sister in law had the same issues..after having tracfone for at least 6 years. And in our area,, tracfone got some kind of deal to switch their service to Verizon , which can't even be used in our area, or SIL's (WV). She went to US Cellular and got a new phone, and it's been a week today, and tracfone still hasn't ported her old number to US Cellular, even after speaking directly to tracfone last Sunday. She is not happy that she may lose the number she's had for such a long time. Their customer service is the worst in the world, I wouldn't deal with them if they were the only ones available! Sorry this happened to you!

Years ago, DS worked at best buy, He got phones for us and himself at one time. Our phone numbers were area code - 123-4565, area code 123 4567 and area code 123 4569........we lost DH number in the move to tracphone. Now he number is area code -529- 3961.....meaning no body knows it and we have to look it up every time.

 

[Skippy918]

Can he connect to wifi to listen to music so he doesn’t drain his plan? If he only wants to listen to music at home, get an echo. alexa will play all sorts of music.

 

[jo-jo]

Can he connect to wifi to listen to music so he doesn’t drain his plan? If he only wants to listen to music at home, get an echo. alexa will play all sorts of music.

We have one. He finds it very frustrating. Alexa play Beethoven no 7 and he gets no 5, he ask for the William Tell overture and it only plays the last part ....most people know as the theme from Lone Ranger. At times it does word very well.

 

[JLTraveling]

It is a good price, but I do wish they had an option with 5-10G. I’m paying for something I will never use.

Never say never. I also work from home. A few months ago the cable internet went out and they wouldn't even send a tech for weeks! Ended up burning through both my 60G hotspot data and my dad's 60G hotspot before we managed to find and get started with a different provider. I'd rather have the functionality, personally, since you never know when your home interent could go poof.

 

[aprilgail]

Wow, that would be great if we had 25G for $75, although I guess it's getting close to unlimited. We only have two people on our cell plan and with 10G, it's $80 (plus taxes and fees)

Wow- I have unlimited everything plus free netflix and for 2 lines it is 70.00 a month including taxes and fees (and that came with 2 brand new iphones.)