Tracfone

[thinkerbell]

Do you have it? What are your thoughts? We have Verizon and have had my husband’s parents (In their 80’s) on our plan for about 10 years now. They have 3G flip phones and they are old and getting a bit wonky(the phones). Looked into getting them new 4G flip phones as they can’t handle smart phones. We tried that before and failed miserably. His dad doesn’t want to pay much for a new phone so he is looking into different phone providers so he can get a cheaper phone. He has the money to get new phones...he just won’t. He is looking at Tracfone right now and wants me to see if there is a “gotcha” about it. He said he can get them each a phone for $9.99 each and service for $20 each. They pay about $50 right now on our plan. Are there hidden fees? Is there more that we should know about it? How is the service? How hard is it to stop service if they don’t like it? Are the phones reliable?
Thanks!

 

[Figaroo]

I have Tracfone and LOVE it! It’s great for people who don’t make a ton of calls or use a large amount of data for streaming services and such. I try to get everyone I know to switch, but I think because it’s not Verizon, Sprint, etc.. they’re reluctant. I initially bought a Tracfone deal from HSN that was the phone, a year of service, and 1500 mins, texts, and MB of data For $80. If I ever need more of anything, I just use the add ones to top up. Ive never had to buy more minutes or texts, but I buy 1GB of data for $10 every few months. I use my phone when I’m out and about to check my email, FB, and sometimes for navigation. I always try to hop on WiFi networks if I can. So... Id pay a max. of $120 for THE WHOLE YEAR! You just can’t beat that. No hidden fees, in my area it’s actually on the Verizon service network, and the phones are reliable. For the first few years, I would buy a new phone bundle off HSN every year to keep my service active. After about 3 or 4 years, I racked up so many minutes/texts (they roll over) that I looked into other ways of renewing my service. Now, I have a Tracfone iPhone 7 (paid $250 for it- decided to splurge a bit for my bday since I’d been saving so much on cell service for wuite a few years) and I renew my 365 days of service each year for $50 once a year and just buy data as needed every few months. Prior to my iPhone, I always got In my mind, the only downs is their customer service. I’ve had good and bad experiences calling for help with things. I haven’t had to stop service, but I imagine it would be easy. Just port your number to the new carrier.

 

[thinkerbell]

Thank you! Makes me feel better! I see that they talk about cards to buy the minutes and such. Is this a physical card that you have to buy or can we put them on a “plan” that will just bill them each month? I think we can from what I am reading but not sure.
Just talked to FIL about it again. He is looking at getting MIL the flip phone and pay $99 for a year of service with 400 minutes and get him a smart phone (please pray for us and him too) with unlimited talk/text and 1 gb of data. Have mercy!! He has never had a smart phone. We gave him an iPad and it sits like a brick. MIL used 350 minutes last month and 360 the month before on our current plan. I told him that and that I didn’t think his plan would work. He said she can use his phone to talk to her sister and my daughter after dinner every night. We will see how this goes.

 

[Figaroo]

HSN has a flip phone for 59.99 which includes a year of service and a 1500 talk/text/data bundle. I would try to talk him into that for your MIL. Also, the bonus there is that HsN easily takes returns if they hate it or have problems. Here’s a link https://www.hsn.com/products/lg-classic-flip-phone-tracfone-with-1200-mintextsdata/9670351. They also have great smartphone deals too... They have. Samsung galaxy for $49.99! Same year of service and talk/text/data bundle. https://www.hsn.com/products/samsung-galaxy-5-hd-16gb-tracfone-w1500-minutestextsdat/9203496# It’s an excellent deal!

Yes, they can do auto renew plans on the Tracfone website/app as well as buy minutes/data there. Way easier than cards. Good luck!

 

[thinkerbell]

Great! You are just full of good information! I really appreciate it and will definitely pass it on.

 

[Imzadi]

I love Tracfone. I've also had 2 Tracfones since 2002. One for business and one for a personal phone.

Tracfone RENTS service for the 3 major phone carriers: Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. It is the SAME exact service. It's the exact same towers, same service, they get to keep the same phone numbers. There is no special, separate, cheaper/different "Verizon" service through Tracfone. Just the contract is through Tracfone instead of directly with Verizon.

Depending on which phone model you get and what area you live in, will determine which carrier they will get. Since they want Verizon, they need to get a type of phone called a CDMA phone. NOT a GSM phone, which only works with AT&T and T-Mobile.

For the non-smartphones, make sure the phone model ends with the letter "C" for CDMA, "DL" or "VL" (for Verizon.) No letter "G"at the end. OR you can go on the Tracfone page, when it asks for zip code, insert 51355 instead of your own. It will automatically take you to a Tracfone page which only has Verizon based/CDMA phones because that zip code only has Verizon service. Don't worry that it's not DH's parent's zip code. You buy a phone that works in this zip code, it WILL work in their zip code with Verizon service. When they activate the phone, they put in their real zip code and ask to transfer their existing phone numbers. Since the only thing that changes is the contract the phone number should be transfered and working within 24 hours. But, usually less than that.

Do NOT buy a Tracfone from the stores, like Walmart, Target, a drugstore. Those usually have the GSM phones dedicated to AT&T or T-Mobile as the services. (Unless they don't mind switching to those services. But, if they are happy with Verizon, why switch?)

Any time I want to upgrade to a newer phone model, I can and have. The Tracfone page has great "bundles" for phone and minutes. QVC and HSN have even better bundles too. Although, I'm not sure if they have any for flip phones. All 3 of those places let you return any phone within 30 days. Tracfone has FREE returns. Although, you need another phone to transfer the phone number to, before returning a phone.

Tracfone has a 365 day service. OR they can add on service every 90 days. They will get a text message alert when to add on new minutes. Although, maybe set it in a calendar reminder. OR they can set it up with an auto-renew plan. The minutes roll over each month. They never expire.

I have about 50 HOURS of talk minutes on each phone, mostly due to all the rollover minutes. I was only buying the cheapest, 60 minute card each month and occasionally buying a great bundle with lots of minutes. But, I'm not really on the phones that much for talking. Usually emergency stuff. Now, I can talk forever on each phone. I do have smartphones now and can check my email, text and take photos all the time. I really love that I didn't have to pay $300-$600 for my smartphones.

The only extra "fee" is taxes and I think a $1 universal connectivity fee.

 

[NotUrsula]

The phones are reliable, but the service can be spotty depending where you are. They are usually fine if you are in a major city, or (VERY) near an interstate highway in rural areas in the Eastern half of the country. It can sometimes not be so good if you live in a rural area, and especially if it is mountainous. They also use different data networks for different phones; if you need the Verizon network for rural coverage, the best way to insure you are on it is to get a CDMA phone (because Verizon is the only one that still handles those.)

 

[thinkerbell]

Thanks all. I appreciate all of the info. The CDMA info is especially helpful. They are rural but get good service from Verizon. That is one of the things we were worried about.

 

[lynxstch]

I had a tracfone for years. Downside is their horrible customer service. I could never get anyone who understood me, most of them could barely speak English. I spent too much time on the phone with them everytime I had an issue (never could get anywhere trying to contact them online). But you couldn't beat the price. When I switched from an OLD Motorola years ago, I got an LG, and in the 15 min it took me to call them and tell them the SIM card didn't work, that they needed to send me a new one, them managed to give away the phone number I had for years, I wasn't a happy camper that day.
Recently I decided that I wanted a new phone, but they only had ONE that would work in our zipcode, which is ridiculous, since we don't live out in the sticks somewhere. Our Walmart only carried the same phone (we had the samd CDMA issue that Imzadi was talking about ). Hubby had to get a new phone recently, and wanted me to get a decent one. He uses US Cellular since his work pays for his phone. We got a great deal on a new phone for him, which came with a new free phone for me, (we now both have Samsung Galaxy S10's and love them! And I have to say I am loving this unlimited everything. I only used my tracfone for texts once in awhile, mostly for calls. But I had it for a number of years, and was always happy with their coverage for calls. I still had triple minutes on mine, and was hesitant to upgrade to US Cellular, but I'm glad I did. They did have an issue with Tracfone, trying to port my number to US Cellular. Tracfone kept insisting that I had a PIN that they needed to do so. The only pin I ever had was for my voicemail, and they said that wasn't the one. After US Cellular tried for 2 days to port my number, I finally called Tracfone myself, spent 20 min trying to get them to understand what I wanted. I finally got her to reset my PIN to something very easy, and it went right thru to US Cellular and I was able to keep my same number.

Think, since your parents are elderly, you might also want to look into Consumer Cellular, they have great plans for 'senior citizen" or so I have been told!

 

[disneychrista]

I don't have a "Tracfone" but use StraighTalk (which is by Tracfone) for my cell service.

$35 a month unlimited talk/text and 2gig of data - I use less than 1 per month.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Alternatively, look into Cricket and/or Jitterbug. The latter comes with a "help, I've fallen...!" button.

 

[Imzadi]

There is also the Safelink program, where senior citizens are subsidized in getting a free cellphone. It's actually part of the Tracfone company. Different phones, I think, and different contract since it's subsidized, but same service in the end. They give a certain amount of minutes & texts & data each month. HOWEVER, depending on which plan is chosen, the minutes might not roll over. You lose them each month and start over with the allotted amount.

It might be cheaper and less stressful to go with a Tracfone, if they end up talking a lot, some months on the phone. When I have to call an 800 number to speak to some customer service rep, I might be on hold for 45 minutes before even talking to a rep. Those minutes are Tracfone minutes. The months they don't use a lot of minutes, all unused minutes roll over. As I said, I have about 50 HOURS of airtime minutes rolled over.

StraightTalk and Net10 are also part of Tracfone. It is all owned by Carlos Slim, who is the 3rd richest man in the world. He got rich due to starting these prepaid cellphone companies, renting service from the major carriers. THEY didn't even have prepaid service back then. They waited to see how he did with it. I remember when it all started. MY BF & I each were paying $50 per month for cell service. Then I found out I could get a Tracfone and pay $16 for 60 days of service (through Verizon) and add on minutes as I needed. I was hooked.

 

[pookybean]

My dd had a tracfone for about 3 years before I felt she was ready for a "real" phone on our plan. We always got whatever was being offered for free on the site at the time, directly through tracfone. I would buy her refills from USA Prepaid 3 months at a time. She would never run out of talk minutes and it wasn't the end that i noticed she was running out of texts and i had to refill them in between (this was one of the factors in me moving her to our plan). She did run out of data but I didn't care much about that. Never had a connectivity issue where we live.

The only problem I ever had was them sending the phones through fedex and requiring a signature for delivery, that was a pain trying to coordinate someone to be home for them.

 

[kaytieeldr]

When I have to call an 800 number to speak to some customer service rep, I might be on hold for 45 minutes before even talking to a rep. Those minutes are Tracfone minutes.

Yeah, that stinks. That, and if you cancel a call at/after even one second in, you still get charged. Better than they used to offer, though. The first minute was about fifty cents.

 

[thinkerbell]

Thanks all!

Think, since your parents are elderly, you might also want to look into Consumer Cellular, they have great plans for 'senior citizen" or so I have been told!

He was looking at Consumer Cellular to begin with. Not sure why he got away from them.

Alternatively, look into Cricket and/or Jitterbug. The latter comes with a "help, I've fallen...!" button.

Thanks. I just looked at both. Cricket is more than he is willing to pay but Jitterbug looks like it might be good...if he will pay for the phone. He is trying to get out dirt cheap. He wants a free or VERY cheap phone. Seriously, he CAN pay for it. He shares his finances with us. If he couldn’t, we would pay for it for him. BUT, this is how he is financially secure. He saves money every which way he can. He also plays the Dish, Directv, Charter games in changing every time his bill goes up. He also changes insurance companies for his cars and house if he finds he can get a better rate. I don’t have the time or energy to play those games. He has plenty of time to look around and put the energy into changing.

The only problem I ever had was them sending the phones through fedex and requiring a signature for delivery, that was a pain trying to coordinate someone to be home for them.

Oh law! Been through that with Fedex before. It always scares me when I see a package is coming by Fede.

Yeah, that stinks. That, and if you cancel a call at/after even one second in, you still get charged. Better than they used to offer, though. The first minute was about fifty cents.

I covered that with him yesterday. He was saying that MIL could do very easily with 400 minutes a year. I looked at her minutes for the past two months and one was 350 and the other was 360. I had to explain that if she talks for 5 seconds it counts it as a minute.


Well...now he is looking at Ultra Mobile. Have never heard of them. I have no idea where he is going to land on this. Everything he does now though makes us nervous because of his age and mental decline. Just have to pray and hope for the best.