Anyone know much about TracFone ???

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David,

Thanks for all your deep insight and specifics on "Trac Phone" Including the incorrect spelling of TracFone. :rolleyes:



I have found out the information I needed and already bought the TracFonee. I'm waiting to activate and port my old cell number to the new phone until after I can use up as many of the 2900 rollover minutes I have accumulated on my current Cingular account, over the next few weeks.



...Rich
 
Rich, I have not read much of the post so someone may have touched on this.



I have Verizon Wireless. I have the North American plan which is all of Mexico through the entire USA.



I have three phones and 2000 minutes a month. I pay $143.00 a month.



You can get it with out the Mexico option for something like $30.00 less I think. Due to my travels it is worth the extra money to me..
 
Coastiejoe.

You travel a lot and would likely need a lot more minutes than I do.



Actually my Cingular plan is much cheaper than that and with their roll-over minutes, I am wasting my money paying for unused minutes. We don't use anywhere near the minutes included in our plan now.



I just did some calculations and if I used all the minutes I paid for, including all those damn taxes and fees, I would be paying about 21 cents perminute. As it is now, we are paying 74 cents per minute (including taxes and fees) for the few minutes we actually do use. That is way too much.



With the TracFone we could cut our cellular bill for year to about 1/3 of our current plan. In fact, we could buy about twice as many minutes as we are actually using now and it would only cost us about half of our current plan, and that would include the two phones I bought today. The cost per minute would still be about 20 cents or less. The more minutes you buy at one time, the cheaper they are. TracFone has double minute cards and you buy a 400 minute card for about $100 but you actually get 800 minutes when you load them into your phone.



They also have other ways to get free minutes and coupons codes for discounts, etc which allows you to get your per minute cost down to as little as 10 cents.



TracFone buys airtime on the major networks like Cingular and Verizon, so you get the best or better coverage area than you would with any single network carrier, and that includes Nationwide Long-distance and no roaming charges with their digital (Single Rate) phones.



...Rich
 
Unless Tracfone is using GSM technology or Cingular is still running thier TDMA towers, they are not buying airtime from Cingular.





Tom
 
Caymen,

They are using Cingular and Verizon, and they are using GSM phones. That's what you get if you purchase a Single Rate phone. That gives you nation-wide roaming with not additional charge.



...Rich



 
Sounds like a plan that will work for you. personally, it wouldn't work for me.





Tom
 
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Here is Cingular's GSM1900 coverage map:



[Broken External Image]:



RichL -- Keep us posted on your experiences. It would be nice to hear they have fixed their customer service issues. As far as picking on David T for his "insight", it really didn't matter did it? Several of us gave you first-hand reasons (our insights) for not getting TracFone service, but you wasted our time, didn't you? You already had your mind made up before you even asked for our opinions. Apparently, you knew much more about TracFone than any of us that had already dealt with them before.
 
From the complaints raised here, it sounds like buying a Tracfone from a retailer may be a bit risky. Buying the phones directly from Tracfone would seem to be the safest route to guarantee an easy setup. They are the same price there as at retail stores.
 
Nelson,

I have not heard of anybody having complaints of problems with TracFone's coverage area, signal strength, dropped calls etc. The do have some complaints related to their customer service when the occasional problem does arrive, but they do get the problem resolved to the customer's satisfaction although it may take several attempts. Also, most of the reported broblems occurred over a year ago, and some incidents are closer to 4-5 years old.



I never had any customer service issues with Cingular, AT&T, or Nextel because I never had any problems with the phones, connections or dropped calls. With AT&T, we did have one phone that the display screen died but it was under warranty. We called the 800 and the next day we had a new/rebuilt replacement phone and we sent the old phone back. No problems, no hassles, everything when smooth and we never had any further problems.



Cellular service is like automobile insurance. The different companies have different plans and different prices. You pay your insurance and everything is fine. Other than the price you paid, there is no difference in their performance. It's only when you have an accident or a claim, that determines if you are happy with your insurance company.



I had a lot of problems with Alltel but all my complaints were related to the local store, their customer service at the store, and the quality of the cellular service in this area because of excessive dropped calls. I have spoke with other along the East coast who swear by Alltel and hate Cingular, AT&T, and Verizon.



Caymen,

That is exacly my point. No single cellular service is necessarily best for everyone. People use more or less minutes. Some people travel more than others, some people have a need for free long-distance service while others don't and the quality and type of service varies from region to region and from provider to provider.



Everyone I spoke with, and all the reviews I have read cleatly point out that if you use less than 100 minutes of air time per month, then one of the PrePaid cellular plans can save you a lot of money. TracFone buys airtime from Cingular and Verizon, two of the biggest and best cellular networks in the USA. The selection of phones is very limited and thy do not have a lot of the fancy features, But their are also pretty inexpensive and you are not locked into a long service contract.



Darin.

All TracFones are sold as TracFones. They are the exact same phone, with the exact same packaging that you would get if you ordered them directly from TracFone. No TracFone is sold already activated, etc. You must always call or go online to activate your phone. The only difference is that with a regular cellular service, they will allways give you an activated and pre-configured phone and if there is something wrong with a particular phone, they will usually replace the phone before you ever get it. All the phones come with a 1-year manufacturers warranty, just like they do with any cellular service.



So I don't think that there is any greater risk getting your phone at Wal-Mart than directly from TracFone.



...Rich



 
Rich,



I have had 2 Tracfones for over 5 years and never had any problems. Both of them were purchased at retail stores. I get coupons from Tracfone every year which help's drop down the cost for minutes. In my opinion you made a good choice.:)
 
Tracfone also will send you text messages with code numbers to use when buying annual cards for additional free minutes.
 
gyork & Darin,



Yep, there are plenty of deals to buy minutes, and like anything else, you have to watch the scams on the web.



...Rich
 
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