Tracfone Question

[Dana49]

Due to our minimal cell phone usage, we are considering purchasing a tracfone. If you would, please help with any tracfone advice that you might have. Thank you.

 

[cassiez76]

don't.

my mom had a tracphone. so did my dad. my mom's phone died with $75 on it.

when my dad died, he had no minutes on his phone. so she called tracphone and asked if there was a way to transfer her minutes to his number. nope.

wouldn't do anything to help her, not reimburse her the money.

stay away.

also when she had it, you had to punch in this extremely long code with your phone. if you missed 1 or weren't fast enough. poof. start over.

get a go phone or something else by a carrier.

she has a at&t go phone now and it's worked perfect. she hardly uses her phone and only pays every 6 months or so.

 

[SueInBoston]

check the coverage in your area, best if you know someone that live/work near you...

I got one 3 years ago for my son, although tracfone's coverage map showed good coverage for my area. The only place the phone would get any reception is outside in open area. My son couldn't get reception at school, unless he's out on the field or middle of street. no reception inside our house, had to go outside. It was worthless.

 

[Dana49]

It's really quite confusing. We rarely use a cell phone so we recently canceled our service and planned on getting a tracfone. Does anyone have any suggestions on what type of phone and plan we should purchase? Your help will be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[PigletsPal2]

DH, DD#2 and I all have Tracfones and they're fine for our purposes. We only talk or text (although DD does have a camera phone).

DH's original phone died with a substantial number of minutes on it, but they transferred to his new phone w/no problem. Maybe PP had a problem because they were trying to transfer minutes to an already active phone?

We've had no problem with service anywhere along the East Coast and West Virginia. Haven't been anywhere else to try reception; we do get reception in the grocery store, Target, even inside the casino!

Queen Colleen

 

[Lintasare]

Look into Virgin Mobile. They have two kinds of plans, one is a pay as you go and the other includes unlimited data and texting with a limited number of minutes. They have good phones too.

 

[PigletsPal2]

Also, we don't have to use a complicated code to dial numbers - just the area code and number. We don't even have to dial "1" before 800 numbers.

If you can determine that your coverage and reception are sufficient, a Tracfone would probably be a good choice for what you say is minimal use.

Queen Colleen

 

[zoemurr]

we have had Tracfones for years and years.. not sure what the OP is talking about w/the long # of button pushing. Are you talking about when you add airtime? You don't have to do that any longer. You buy it online, click "add time" and it is there. Otherwise we just dial/text like you would on any phone.

Anyway.. OP.. we spend $100 a year for our phones each and it is plenty for us. (With a coupon it's usually about 1400 minutes... ALWAYS Google for a coupon as you can often get up to 400 bonus minutes.)

There are some decent phones and we have had no problem w/service except sometimes in big buildings.

We buy airtime once a year online. Put in CC info, click, and it's automatically added. No, you can't transfer minutes between phones. I'm sure it says that somewhere. But if you buy a new phone you can transfer the minutes to that.

Purchase the phone that you like.. there is no "plan" to buy. We get a "double minutes for life" phone and a one year card. If you have minutes when your year is up they roll over. The date you need to purchase more time is displayed right on the phone.

Customer service is in India and is pretty aweful. We have always had our issues resolved but it takes way too much time. But not having a monthly bill it's worth it to us. We haven't had to use it many times.

PM me if you need any help.. I would LOVE to have an iphone but just can't justify the cost.

 

[luv2sew]

I loved my tracfone that I had and it cost me (at the time) only about $100 a year to use, but I only used it for emergency and and occasional phone. It was definately worth it. My MIL and FIL both have them and again for an occasional call they pay about $120 a year and only have to put airtime on once a year. Yes you probably can lose the minutes if your phone dies (which I don't think is the case anymore that the company has done many upgrades to their system) but I pay for 700 minutes a month on my Verizon cell phone that I don't use each month and lose. I have a Verizon phone account due to having kids in college and as soon as my kids are off the plan I plan to quickly go back to Tracfone.....$120 a year beats paying $180 a month (four phones with three of the four barely being used). The switch will be happening shortly as both kids have now graduated from college and in the process to establish themselves with jobs (darn economy).

Oh and by the way when you go to add airtime.....you just go online, log onto the website with your id and pin and it is so easy...you no longer have to enter the codes like you used to.

 

[Dana49]

Thanks everyone. We appreciate all of your help.

 

[Pigeon]

Dh and I have tracfones and dd14 has Virgin Mobile. We don't use the phone much and don't text, and Tracfone is by far the cheapest way to go. I talk on it maybe 30 minutes a month and it costs me under $100/year total. Dh's is similar. If you text much, it's not very effective because they charge you for every text you send and receive. If you google tracfone coupon codes, you'll get info on getting bonus minutes.

I've had no problems with coverage.

When it all works smoothly, it's fine. If you have a problem, their customer "service" will make you stabby. You get a call center in India or the Philippines, and you will get put on hold, transferred to endless people, all of whom read from exactly the same script, get cut off after having been on the phone for hours, and be told the problem is solved only to find it isn't and you'll have to start over from square one. It is the worst customer service ever.

That said, it suits our needs so we have it, and have only needed customer disservice twice in about ten years.

If you text much or want to use data, Virgin Mobile has been good. They have an "unlimited" plan for text and data with 300 minutes of calling for $35/month.

 

[pumba]

my husband and I have tracfones and they are just what we need when we are not home (have land phones in the house) and we get the deal of 100 dollars and one year, and most of the time (with special) over 1000 minutes. We roll them over usually every year.
They work best in DISNEYWORLD>..hahaha..
We do the on line visit and voila there are our minutes on our phone..
I can put my leftover minutes or whatever I have to a new phone with no problems...

 

[Dana49]

You guys are the best. Looks like we'll be purchasing a tracfone this week. Thanks again.

 

[Stan Solo]

Is their a place at the Olando airport or downtown Disney to buy Tracfone cards. If not can I get them at Hess mart or the Chicago airport without leaving the secure area.

I live in Canada and have two tracfons and I am not able to get minutes online because my credit card is not billed to a US address.

 

[momtoZandS]

My husband and I love our Tracfones. The phone we bought came with double minutes for life. They have a family plan where they automatically add minutes every month. You pay $9.99 for the first phone and $6.99 for each additional phone you add. With the double minutes, you get 100 minutes for the primary phone and 80 for secondary phones every month. You don't have to worry about buying cards, adding time or service dates.

 

[ohiomom28]

Also, you have to buy minutes every month and if you don't or your minutes expire, you lose your phone number and have to get a new one...

 

[Pigeon]

Also, you have to buy minutes every month and if you don't or your minutes expire, you lose your phone number and have to get a new one...

Not really. You can buy different combinations of minutes and service days. Often, when I buy minutes vis the internet, it will offer to let me buy a year of additional service for a reasonable extra charge. I have accumulated a large number of minutes, so that's what I normally do. I buy maybe 60 minutes (which doubles if you have double minutes for life phone, which most of them now are) and then add on the year of service for a bit more, and I'm good for a year for under $100.

The minutes are good unless you let your service days expire.

 

[jam217]

If you buy the card that is good for a year, you don't have to buy minutes every month. That is what I do. And at the end of the year, any unused minutes are rolled over.

 

[ohiomom28]

Not really. You can buy different combinations of minutes and service days. Often, when I buy minutes vis the internet, it will offer to let me buy a year of additional service for a reasonable extra charge. I have accumulated a large number of minutes, so that's what I normally do. I buy maybe 60 minutes (which doubles if you have double minutes for life phone, which most of them now are) and then add on the year of service for a bit more, and I'm good for a year for under $100.

The minutes are good unless you let your service days expire.

It must have changed then. My parents both have one and they don't have any issues with it.

 

[Pigeon]

It must have changed then. My parents both have one and they don't have any issues with it.

Perhaps you have it confused with something else. I've had tracfone for 10 years, and it's been this way.