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+--- Thread: Would this be for me? Tracfone? (/showthread.php?tid=159082)
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Would this be for me? Tracfone? - samintx - 10-16-2013
Big Easy Tracfone Prepaid Cell Phone w/ Large Keys & 400 mins
I have a flip razr and only use it to call a cab when I get off the plane, a few town calls, and while in the hospital to call my girls. Would this do me rather than pay Ma Bell the 100.00 a year for a prepaid on my razr?
Re: Would this be for me? Tracfone? - clay - 10-16-2013
yup, that would be a good alternative for you, though overall you wouldn't be saving much money (maybe $10-$20/yr depending on where you purchase).
A tracfone is my main cell phone (wife has one as well), and for our type of usage, it works great. Well under $10 a month (I have a knack for finding 400 minutes cards well below retail), and it easily fits within our calling activity. We have an Ooma landline, so any calls that we can make while home are done on that device, because they're free.
If you were operating under a "normal" cell phone plan & contract, the switch to tracfone for low-ish usage almost always makes sense. But since you're already at a pretty low level, it may not really be that much of a savings for you.
Re: Would this be for me? Tracfone? - Paul F. - 10-16-2013
Tracfone costs me $20 every three months (that's for a 60 minute card).
When I bought the phone ($30 as I recall), I got a free "Double Minutes for Life" card, so that means that for that $20, I get 120 minutes of airtime.
So for $80 a year, I get 480 minutes (or 8 hours) of talk time.
The only caveat with Tracfone is that you MUST add some minutes every three months, to keep the phone active. If you miss a deadline, you have to call and get the phone reactivated by Tracfone, and you will probably lose your phone number (if it's one they assigned).
My my needs, it suits me perfectly... Other mileage may vary.
Re: Would this be for me? Tracfone? - samintx - 10-16-2013
I probably use 30 minutes per year. They say you can keep your current cell phone number....is that good to do? No one has my current cell phone number.
Re: Would this be for me? Tracfone? - Paul F. - 10-16-2013
If no one has it, then it's probably not worth the effort to port the number... but you can if you want.
I don't actually USE many minutes either, so with having to add some minutes every month, I've been up as high as 1000 minutes. :-)
Re: Would this be for me? Tracfone? - GGD - 10-16-2013
Paul F. wrote:
Tracfone costs me $20 every three months (that's for a 60 minute card).
When I bought the phone ($30 as I recall), I got a free "Double Minutes for Life" card, so that means that for that $20, I get 120 minutes of airtime.
So for $80 a year, I get 480 minutes (or 8 hours) of talk time.
The only caveat with Tracfone is that you MUST add some minutes every three months, to keep the phone active. If you miss a deadline, you have to call and get the phone reactivated by Tracfone, and you will probably lose your phone number (if it's one they assigned).
My my needs, it suits me perfectly... Other mileage may vary.
If your minute usage is very light, or you've accumulated a lot of excess over the years, then you can do like I do to avoid babysitting it every 90 days.
If you purchase your airtime online from the TracFone site, like a 60 minute 90 day "card" for $19.99, you are also offered some options to extend it. They offer an additional 365 days of activation (but no extra minutes) for $49.99.
With double minutes for life, that 60 minutes becomes 120, and I usually find a promo code for an extra 30 minutes, so for about $70, I get 150 minutes of talk + 15 months (90+365 days) of activation, works out to about $4.66/month and an average of 10 minutes per month. This is ideal for TracFones that I keep in the glove box of cars as an emergency phone.
Still, if I had a plan that's been suiting my needs for $100/yr, I'm not sure I would go through the process of switching. The TracFone devices are also USA only and firmware locked to TracFone, no way to just swap a SIM when traveling or pay for roaming.
Re: Would this be for me? Tracfone? - Acer - 10-16-2013
Paul F. wrote:
The only caveat with Tracfone is that you MUST add some minutes every three months, to keep the phone active. If you miss a deadline, you have to call and get the phone reactivated by Tracfone, and you will probably lose your phone number (if it's one they assigned).
I auto-add $10 every three months. Yeah, I don't get the best deal per minute, but I don't risk losing minutes (which I have done on pageplus when I got behind.)
Re: Would this be for me? Tracfone? - Numo - 10-16-2013
T-Mobile sells 1000 prepaid minutes for $100, good for a year. When the year is up, add $10 worth of minutes and you are good for another year. You call buy a Samsung flip phone to use with it for $30.
Re: Would this be for me? Tracfone? - Racer X - 10-17-2013
Ammo wrote:
T-Mobile sells 1000 prepaid minutes for $100, good for a year. When the year is up, add $10 worth of minutes and you are good for another year. You call buy a Samsung flip phone to use with it for $30.
Page Plus. $80 for 2000 minutes, good for a year. Can use a verizon phone.
Re: Would this be for me? Tracfone? - samintx - 10-17-2013
GGD: that was my next question ...Switching a SIM...if you can't switch a SIM it would not be worth it for me. Thanks. That settles it.