Electronics

[Jordan2]

I know if you buy a Tracfone from HSN or Qvc the minutes come with the phone. My question is if you buy a phone from Amazon or Tracfone's website does it come with the minutes or do you have to buy an airtime card? I noticed it's cheaper buying from Amazon or Tracfone so I'm figuring the minutes are an additional purchase which would make QVC or HSN a better deal.TIA

[ChouChou]

I bought the Tracfone TSV for my niece. I specifically bought it from the Q because they had the triple minute offer for the life of the phone. Because of the triple minute offer it would be cheaper over the lifetime of the phone to purchase and maintain your minutes/data/message bank. If I am reading it correctly the triple minute offer was only good on the TSV.

My niece left an abusive husband and went to a domestic violence shelter. Her husband turned off her phone. I got that one for her so that she would have a smartphone and so that he would not have her number at the shelter.

[Jordan2]

On 3/21/2015 ChouChou said:

I bought the Tracfone TSV for my niece. I specifically bought it from the Q because they had the triple minute offer for the life of the phone. Because of the triple minute offer it would be cheaper over the lifetime of the phone to purchase and maintain your minutes/data/message bank. If I am reading it correctly the triple minute offer was only good on the TSV.

My niece left an abusive husband and went to a domestic violence shelter. Her husband turned off her phone. I got that one for her so that she would have a smartphone and so that he would not have her number at the shelter.

I'm sorry about your niece, she is lucky to have such a loving aunt. As far as triple minutes are concerned I'm pretty sure you can get the phone from Amazon with triple minutes. I'm not sure though if you must pay for an airtime card.

[JGalt]

Some of the phones sold on Amazon come with minutes/time and some don't. Read the description very carefully. Typically, the ones sold on the Tracfone website do not come with minutes. They may come with the triple or double minutes, like authority, but not the actual minutes. You have to buy the card separately. If the phone you buy has the double or triple minutes authorization, then the card you buy will double or triple the minutes of the card you buy.

QVC and HSN do offer very good deals on Tracfones. QVC has a TSV coming up, available now for the TSV price of $99.92 with free S&H, Item No. E227088. I don't know anything about this particular phone. If you aren't interested in a smartphone, then I'd get the regular phone either at Walmart or at the Tracfone website.

[gardenman]

You can buy the phones without minutes for less on Amazon, but there are some dealers on Amazon (shopcelldeals is the one I used) that include minutes with the cell phones. The difference price-wise is usually $30 or so between the two phones. I bought the LG 41 C Ultimate 2 Tracfone with a year's worth of minutes (a 400 minute card with triple minutes for 1200 minutes/texts and 1.2 gb data) for $129.99 (+$4.99 shipping) through Amazon, but just the phone with no minutes would cost $99. A 400 minute/one year card typically costs $90-$100 so you really save money by buying the bundle.

You have to read each offer to see what's included, but you can find very good deals on phones and minutes combined.

[Nightowlz]

Buy a TSV that comes with Triple Mins. It's always the best deal. It would cost you more money to buy the airtime mins. then the price of the TSV.

[GCR18]

The q has a Samsung galaxy tracfone coming up. Got an email about it yesterday. 1200 minutes for $99 with 4 easy pay and free shipping. There are cheaper phones on the q if you don't care about the phone and only want the minutes.

[Kachina624]

HSN especially has good deals on Tracfones. After you receive it, you have to call HSN and get a special phone number to activate it. I found out the hard way that not all of their CS reps have this number so if someone tries to tell you it's on the invoice, call back and talk to someone else. Do not use the 800 number that comes in the box with the phone...there is a special number. Charge the phone before calling.

[Jordan2]

I have a question I hope someone can answer.I have a Tracfone that will be a year old in September. I wanted to know if I add minutes before the year is up do I get an additional year? If I add minutes in March will my new experation date be next March instead of this September?TIA

[hckynut]

"jordan2", I thought you were looking to buy an original from tracfone. You say your year is up in September and you want to know if you buy a 12 month card if that will last another year? Whatever amount of time you have left on your present tracfone will be added to the number of months of the card that you intend to purchase. I have had several track phones and I have bought new ones before the time on my old ones have expired. I found that in each case say I had 4 months left on my old phone and I got 12 months on my new phone the new phones contract would be for 16 months. I am basing this on my own experiences.