Electronics

[x Hedge]

@RinaRina, in your original post you make several references to your expired "contract ".
Tracfone is a NO-CONTRACT service provider, and that distinction is important when you are comparing and evaluating potential phone service providers.
Some require that you sign a contract and some do not. I prefer to keep a higher degree of control so I prefer no contract.

[x Hedge]

@MKR14 Hello. Are you saying you successfully used a promo code with a smartphone?
I ask because that's NOT supposed to work.

Promo codes only work with non-smartphones.
You may have a TracFone TOUCHSCREEN phone that isn't a smartphone. These are basically feature phones with a large glass touchscreen for better viewing and convenience.

See TracFone Reviewer (.com) for proven, tested promo codes.

[MKR14]

No the Tracfone was a non smart phone flip phone by Alcatel. Tracfone states they do not have them for smart phones. The phone card was 120 minutes and the Promo code gave me another 60 minutes on the Tracfone  that came with double minutes. What I meant is to be sure your phone was NOT a smart phone being used for the Promo code. My son's Sprint phone doesn't work in parts of New York as it had more towers in Dallas so I activated an older phone for any emergencies. He already used it yesterday when he had no signal.   

[151949]

You can go to tracfone's website and click the prompt to check your remaining service - you will need your phone number and serial # to do so. My last phone I got 2 years of service when I bought it, so I imagine you did too.

[juperier]

@RinaRina The reason you can still watch the Q and listen to music is most likely because you are connected to your wifi (or you already have the music downloaded onto your phone). It's also possible that since minutes, text and data are all calculated separately, they don't particularly if you burn through whatever data is still available on the phone.

You might want to add some minutes (which in turn adds days) while you are deciding what to do. That way you won't lose your phone number. I know you have a bit of a grace period because I forgot to add minutes in time a couple times back when I still had a landline, just don't know how long it is. 

[x Hedge]

Oh @juperier, I wish I could show you all the complaints from irate customers who did as you are advising, only to find out the minutes and air time they just paid for went into a stranger's phone because their deactivated phone number had been re-assigned.

Tracfone will not refund any minutes you put into a former phone number that is no longer assigned to your device. They can and do re-assigned phone numbers since only active numbers produce revenue.

Op @RinaRina should visit the TracFone website and look for activate/reactivate and follow the steps there. OP will be prompted to purchase airtime& minutes as part of the reactivation process. A phone number will be assigned.

You and some other posters are assuming the OPs phone was active thru Dec 2016. But by her own admission she used the phone rarely, and most of the time it was just laying around. Tracfone will deactivate and discontinued service to any smartphone that does not use any voice text or data for 6 consecutive months. It's possible her service was discontinued some time ago. 

* * * * * 

From terms and conditions of service :

"If you do not purchase and add airtime prior to the end service date, your tracfon service will be deactivated on the service end date and you will lose your phone number even if you have minutes remaining."

"Airtime which remained unused at the time of deactivation will still be available if service is reactivated within 60 days from the deactivation date otherwise any unused airtime will be lost."

* * * * *

Note: talk text and data are lost once the phone number is deactivated. It is only airtime which may be recovered if the phone is reactivated within the grace period. 

[juperier]

@x Hedge I stand corrected. I've had tracfones for close to 10 years, so it's been a while since I actually looked at the terms and conditions. They definitely keep their options about when they can re-assign a number open (to me that's reasonable because they are eliminating the customer's liability to keep making payments to them for a set period).

I tried activating one of my old phones (that has a nuimber I no longer have) and I did have to choose between transferring a number and obtaining a new one. The times when I was able to keep my old number I'm sure I had used the phone within the preceding six months and it was also only a few days past the service end date (probably within a week, definitely less than two weeks). I set up an account way back when .and have always completed my transactions online with a credit card. I wonder if those who lost money were purchasing a card to add time in a store? Oh, well, doesn't matter really. 

[x Hedge]

@juperier, Their Terms and Conditions were upgraded at least twice just within the 2015 calendar year. 

I've read they are charged a monthly fee for phone numbers, so have an incentive to reassign them and recoup that expense.

[juperier]

@x Hedge Makes sense. Honestly, I never really thought about how providers get the numbers they assign.