Anyone using a Tracfone? How do you like it?

[Tom52]

My wife is currently using Verizon service. It costs me $39.95 a month for 450 minutes but she is normally using only 30-40 minutes per month. It is mostly a convenience/safety issue to own it. She has had Verizon for 4 or 5 years so she is not under a commitment and can cancel the service at any time without charge.

We are thinking that a Tracfone might be a better way to go. They have a package for $9.95 per month including 50 minutes usage monthly with no cancellation fee. We think this might be a better option but we are not sure of the down sides of Tracfone.

In considering Tracfone we are wondering do unused minutes roll over?

Is the coverage equal to Verizon?

What are the bad points of Tracfone compared to the typical cellular providers that require committments?

Thanks for sharing your experience with Tracfone.

Tom

 

[vacationdoc]

Tracfone fan

We used tracfone for several years in the early days of cell phones because it gave the best coverage when traveling across the US. We would always buy the annual double minute plan and the unused minutes would roll over to the new plan if the new card was purchased before the old card expired. When our cell phone needs changed, we gave the tracfone to an elderly relative who has continued to use it and loves the plan. She only uses it when in the car and says it is so much less expensive than any other plan available. Tracfone even gave her a new phone when her old one became obsolete.

Her only complaint is that the telephone customer service is slow when she renews her card by telephone but I never had any problems when I used online tracfone services.

Tracfone "borrows" the big carriers' cell towers so coverage is good in most areas, and may be verizon in your area. It is ATT in my relative's area so she has the same coverage for $99/year that her friend pays ATT $39.99/month.

As you can see, I am a tracfone fan as long as you really don't use very many minutes. Just remember that tracfone charges 2 minutes for roaming and charges by the minute rather than seconds of usage.

 

[laura1957]

I agree - I was perfectly happy with tracfone for myself. I switched to Verizon only when my teenage daughter started driving and I signed up for their family plan.

If it was just myself I would be just as happy with the tracfone. My girls talk MANY more minutes than I do and text 100X as much as they talk Coverage I never had any problem with, or dropped calls or any problems with the customer service. I also had the yearly plan with double minutes.

 

[wackymother]

We have a bunch of Tracfones. We're very happy with them. Their customer service is horrific, but as time has gone by, the technology they use to add minutes and activate the phones has improved enormously, so you don't have to call Tracfone nearly as much--hence less contact with customer service.

I like them b/c they really are very inexpensive. It's about $7-$10 per month for us. The per-minute cost gets lower and lower as you add more minutes, so even for a big talker, it would probably only be about $20 or $25 per month.

The sacrifice is in terms of the phone itself; they offer phones that are just for talk and usually a few years old. I would looooove a nice smartphone, but Tracfone doesn't offer that in my area.

 

[ttt]

I have used Tracfone for several years. It's perfect for someone like me who does not use it often as the cost is very inexpensive. Sister company NET 10 also has good pricing.

 

[Tom52]

I appreciate all the information! So far, there appears to be little downside as far as basic service goes. We don't need a phone with a lot of bells and whistles either.

Did anyone mention whether or not unused minutes carry over from month to month?

I see that Radio Shack carries the Tracfones in our area. I wonder if they are knowledgable about the ins and outs of the various plans offered by Tracfone

 

[DeniseM]

Yes - minutes do roll over. In fact, with this phone, instead of having a contract, you buy minutes and usage time. When you use up your minutes and usage time, you have to buy more. There are frequent discounts to add minutes - do a google search and you will find tons.

We got this phone for our autistic son about 4-5 years ago and it's worked well. It would not be a good phone for someone who uses a lot of minutes, but it's very economical, if you just want an emergency type phone. A couple of years ago we upgraded to a Tracfone that automatically doubles all minutes purchased.

 

[Nancy]

We used them for years before we went to a familly plan. Our only complaint was customer service. If for some reason you lost phone or phone didn't work correctly, you lost the minutes you had.

Nancy

 

[DeniseM]

Nancy - did you try calling and switching the acct. to a new phone? That shouldn't have been a problem.

 

[Ken555]

I have a spare phone from Tracfone that works well (especially good for overseas guests who don't have a US based cell phone). I had thought they were predominantly using Sprints network, but I suppose that could change. It also seems one of their related companies now uses Verizon. Good info here about the company:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TracFone_Wireless

 

[tashamen]

Nancy - did you try calling and switching the acct. to a new phone? That shouldn't have been a problem.

I'm not Nancy, but I gave up on Tracfone when they sent me a new phone (which I had not asked for) that I could not get to work, and called them several times and was on hold first and then talking to someone in another country for hours - and I do mean hours. They never called back with the fix even though they said they would. Finally after three attempts I just gave up and dumped them completely.

 

[wackymother]

I have a spare phone from Tracfone that works well (especially good for overseas guests who don't have a US based cell phone). I had thought they were predominantly using Sprints network, but I suppose that could change. It also seems one of their related companies now uses Verizon. Good info here about the company:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TracFone_Wireless

I've heard they use different networks in different parts of the country.

I'm pretty sure my old Tracfone phone uses AT&T, but I recently ordered a new phone from them, and it was a smartphone, and I was happy, but after two hours...no kidding...on the phone with their god-awful customer service, they couldn't get it fully activated; I kept getting a recording saying, "T-Mobile won't let you do that." So the carrier was supposed to be T-Mobile.

In the end the customer service woman told me to let the phone "rest" for 48 hours and call back. Sheesh. I was tired of talking to them, too, so I got off the phone--the next day a new, non-smartphone, different manufacturer, arrived in the mail with a return envelope for the old one. The new one activated right away.

 

[Patri]

I've never had a problem with customer service. Had a tracfone almost since they were invented. Liked the old models which are big in comparison to today. Gradually stopped using them as the batteries quit holding charges or the back panel had to be taped on (all due to old age). Use a Net 10 now and like it. Inherited it from my son who went to a typical cell plan.
Minutes roll over with both. As long as a person doesn't talk a lot, these phones are good options. The price can't be beat.

 

[cotraveller]

I used to have a Tracfone but the coverage was not good at our house. That's a local issue only, it was good elsewhere. I didn't have any other issues with Tracfone, it worked fine most places.

I switched to T-mobile prepaid. You can but time in increments of $10, good for 90 days. The more you spend up front the lower per minute cost. Once you have accumulated $100 of minutes purchased you are in thir Gold Rewards status and minutes don't expire for a year. As long as you but additional minutes before your current btach expires they roll over.

You need to buy your own phone too, which was the same as Tracfone. We have two of them, if I remember right one was $20 and the other one has a camera built in which cost me $99.

I bought 1000 minutes for $100, good for one year. I didn't use half that amount in the first year so near the year end I bought an additional $10 time, which is 30 minutes. That rolled my balance forward and extended me out for another year. I've done that at least one more time since I first got into their plan.

I don't know about their customer service via phone, I've done everything online. I've had no problems with that.

The one thing I don't like about the T-Mobile prepaid is that it doesn't show the minutes remaining or the expiration date automatically like my Tracfone did. You can get the number of minutes off of the phone but you have to go online to see the expiration date. I missed the expiration date on one of our phones one time and lost some minutes because i was a couple of days late renewing. Now I mark it on the calendar as a reminder.

 

[Mel]

I have had a Tracfone plan since before my youngest DD was born, so more than 8 years. I purchase an annual plan each year, and have never run out of minutes. I don't give the number out to everybody, it is truly an emergency phone.

DH had a phone he used for work several years ago, but when he went back to a "regular" 9-5 job, be dropped that plan. He now has an Annual plan with Tracfone as well. $200 covers us both for the year.

We might or might not change plans when we decide we need a cell phone for one of the kids, but for now they take one of ours if there is a real need. I still might just get yet another Tracfone, for another $100 a year, rather than move to a family plan. Even as $10 per extra phone, you have to start with a significant base package.

Just remember that tracfone charges 2 minutes for roaming and charges by the minute rather than seconds of usage.

In New England, they are carried by Cingular/AT&T, and there is no "roaming." That may depend on the carrier services your home area. I have had spotty coverage in some areas, but no moreso than friend with traditional plans. MIL has poor coverage in her home with Verizon, and a neighbod has similar issues in her home with T-Mobile (has to stand on her porch touse her phone).

As long as you're not planning to use the phone to chat (and won't give the number to friends who like to send texts), Tracfone should fit your needs.

 

[theo]

Transport existing cell phone number?

I read through the above posts before asking this question and I did not see it addressed.
I apologize in advance if it was addressed and I missed it.

If you change over to Tracfone from another carrier (e.g. Verizon), is it possible to "move" your existing verizon phone number across, or do you, of necessity, have to get a new Tracfone issued phone number?

 

[wackymother]

I have ported a number from one Tracfone to another. It was a nightmare, but it was years ago, so maybe things have improved by now.

Porting a number is an option on the Tracfone website when you go to activate your new phone, so I hope it's easier than it used to be.

 

[Nancy]

TracPhone Problems

It has been a few years since we had TracPhones, so maybe they have corrected the problems we had with them.

Problem 1: DS lost his TracPhone. We always kept around 100 minutes on it. We had it cancelled. Eventually someone found it and returned it. TracPhone could not replace his minutes nor his phone number.

Problem 2: DS's TracPhone stopped working. As I stated above, we always kept around 100 minutes on it. We bought a new phone, but they could not transfer the minutes he had to new phone.

Bottom-line was both times he lost about 100 minutes. We evenutally went to a family plan on a major carrier.

Nancy

 

[kewanee]

I am happy with our tracfones and just bought another one today, since I dropped mine one too many times and it broke for good. I use the family plan (50 minutes/month for the primary and 40 for the others). They just upped it to 40 from 30. Since I only buy the double minute phones, we all get 100 or 80 minutes per month. The total cost per month for 5 phones is $34. If we
need more in a particular month, we could always buy a phone card and add minutes.
The minutes definitely roll over. One of our phones has 1328 minutes on it.
We have ported numbers 3 times (from existing AT&T to tracfone and also from an old tracfone to a new one).
You don't get to pick which carrier you are placed with. We were put back on AT&T so the service is exactly the same. (I can tell we are on AT&T because I sent an email to phonenumber@txt.att.net and I got the text message on the phone).
We have lost a phone and replaced a phone. Both times when I called
customer service, they replaced the minutes on the new phone. They said they do not have any way of knowing how many minutes you actually have on the phone so they asked me! I said 'around 100', and they gave me 100.

Cons - as mentioned earlier, the selection of phones is not that great. My daughter would like a keyboard type so you can text (maybe that isn't a con after all!)

Since the kids' phones are off most of the time, when the monthly minutes are added, they go into a pending state. I have to log in and enter a bunch of codes to get them added. If the phones are on, this isn't a problem.

Also, we still have an ongoing unresolved problem - we ported our numbers over from AT&T. They now do not receive text messages from our friends who have Verizon. We receive from others, and can send to anyone. After doing some research, it sounds like the early IPhone users had this same problem when they were ported over to AT&T. We have not been able to get this fixed - Tracfone seems clueless, Verizon won't talk to us since we don't have an acct with them. I am going to call AT&T soon, but not expecting much help.

 

[wackymother]

I have ported a number from one Tracfone to another. It was a nightmare, but it was years ago, so maybe things have improved by now.

Porting a number is an option on the Tracfone website when you go to activate your new phone, so I hope it's easier than it used to be.

So far it's not. I started to activate the new phone, porting the old number, and the screen immediately told me I would have to call customer service to get a different SIM card. Get ready for another aggravating customer service encounter!

 

[Tom52]

Bought a Tracfone yesterday

DW and I went to Radioshack yesterday. Bought a phone for $20 that has the double minutes. My plan was to sign up for the 400 minutes for 12 months that automatically doubles to 800 minutes. Only problem was the Radioshack employee incorrectly activated the phone. I understand you have to go to the Tracfone site to port our existing phone number. He had to call customer service, 45 minutes at least, and the result was that Tracfone now has to sent a sim card to load in the phone. Radioshack said to come back when we receive it in the mail and they will get it installed and then we can buy the minutes.

A bit of a hassle, but I am hoping it will be smooth once it is set up.

 

[tchr54]

I don't have a "Tracfone" per se, but my wife and I each have T-mobile to go phones, which are basically the same thing. We are very satisfied with them. Our minutes cost us 10 cents each and we usually buy 1000 minutes each time and it lasts us 6-9 months before we buy some more. Any minutes left are rolled over to the next set of minutes purchased. We have no trouble with dropped calls or service outages.
Ed and Kay
Clinton, Mo

 

[Kona Lovers]

We used them for years before we went to a familly plan. Our only complaint was customer service. If for some reason you lost phone or phone didn't work correctly, you lost the minutes you had.

Nancy

Maybe it's who you talk to when you call them, but I changed to a new phone one time, called them and they asked me how many minutes I had, I told them and they just put them on the new phone.

 

[falmouth3]

My first Tracfone was getting too old and they wouldn't support it anymore, so I got a new one for about $10. I transferred all my minutes to it as well as my phone number. DH is still using that one. For each phone, we buy a year's worth of service for $100. DH never uses his minutes and they roll over. My phone was a little fancier and I got the double minute option. I've been quite happy with the inexpensive plan over the 9 years I've had Tracfone.

 

[judyjht]

I just switched to Verizon's "Senior Citizen" rate of $29.99 and you get 200 minutes - which is more than enough for me. You are supposed to be 65 and I am 62 but no one asked me so I did not say anything!