Electronics

[x Hedge]

@Zhills, in the 'Smartphone Only ' cards, they offer a text only and a data only. But I've never seen a talk only card.

Seems talkers always have to buy the talk minutes they want bundled with other things they don't need or want.
But you bring up another situation where a Tracfone user would benefit from being able to see all choices together to be able to get their best deal.

[151949]

Personally - when I need airtime (never) or my service date is up - I just go to HSN and buy a new phone. They essentially give you the phone for free when you do this.  

[glb613]

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@151949 wrote:

Personally - when I need airtime (never) or my service date is up - I just go to HSN and buy a new phone. They essentially give you the phone for free when you do this.  

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I'm not a tree hugging environmentalist but, I hate reading this.  Phones use a lot of natural resources, have toxic materials and are often not recycled.  We really need to stop being such a throw away society. 

[gardenman]

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@glb613 wrote:

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@151949 wrote:

Personally - when I need airtime (never) or my service date is up - I just go to HSN and buy a new phone. They essentially give you the phone for free when you do this.  

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I'm not a tree hugging environmentalist but, I hate reading this.  Phones use a lot of natural resources, have toxic materials and are often not recycled.  We really need to stop being such a throw away society. 

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Bear in mind that the technology improves each year also, so it's not just an even swap, but in nearly every case an upgrade. Old phones can be donated to a number of places and even resold. 

I just upgraded from the LG Ultimate 2 to the LG Premiere with a larger, better screen, 4g, a faster processor, and a newer version of Android. My net cost for the upgrade is a tick less than $5.46 as the total cost for the phone and a full year of service was $85.46 and the cost of buying a year of service on my old phone would have been four $20 cards for $80.

My old Ultimate 2 will end up being donated to one of the local charities that needs phones. My bank has a phone donation box there and the phone and old charger will get bagged and dropped off there.

[x Hedge]

@gardenman, the old website offered a year of airtime  for $49.99.  That 'website only' special offer was displayed on the screen only after you'd purchased any other card(s) and were on your way thru the checkout process.

I don't know whether that special offer is still on the new website.

I'm still using 'talk' minutes I bought in 2014, and I have Wi-Fi access, so don't want to pay for more talk or data.

My annual $80. bucks on that phone should buy me a year of airtime  ($49.99) and 6000 texts ($30.00). That's everything i need and nothing I don't want. 

If I bought a new phone to get a year of airtime I'd still have to lay out another $30. or more for additional texts.

I find people confuse new with upgrade and i appreciate the fact you didn't just buy a new phone to have 'new'. There are a surprising number of new phones released that are disappointing and problematic. The Ultimate 2 is a highly rated phone and many newer ones would've been 'downgrades'. The Premier looks to be a true 'upgrade'.

[Moonchilde]

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@glb613 wrote:

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@151949 wrote:

Personally - when I need airtime (never) or my service date is up - I just go to HSN and buy a new phone. They essentially give you the phone for free when you do this.  

---

I'm not a tree hugging environmentalist but, I hate reading this.  Phones use a lot of natural resources, have toxic materials and are often not recycled.  We really need to stop being such a throw away society. 

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?? Nothing was said about tossing old phones in the trash. Nothing was said to indicate old phones aren't being recycled in some way/donated. Why insinuate by the post that the writer probably doesn't pass it on properly ("often not recycled" and that you're "sorry to hear" she buys a new phone every year)?

New phones have newer, better technology. It will always be that way. Newer may not be better for you, but newer is better for most people. No one gets to set up a "new phone only every 5 years" rule.  If people A through E don't buy something, people F-J will still buy it. There will always be a market.

[Nuttmeg]

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@gardenman wrote:

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@glb613 wrote:

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@151949 wrote:

Personally - when I need airtime (never) or my service date is up - I just go to HSN and buy a new phone. They essentially give you the phone for free when you do this.  

---

I'm not a tree hugging environmentalist but, I hate reading this.  Phones use a lot of natural resources, have toxic materials and are often not recycled.  We really need to stop being such a throw away society. 

---

Bear in mind that the technology improves each year also, so it's not just an even swap, but in nearly every case an upgrade. Old phones can be donated to a number of places and even resold. 

I just upgraded from the LG Ultimate 2 to the LG Premiere with a larger, better screen, 4g, a faster processor, and a newer version of Android. My net cost for the upgrade is a tick less than $5.46 as the total cost for the phone and a full year of service was $85.46 and the cost of buying a year of service on my old phone would have been four $20 cards for $80.

My old Ultimate 2 will end up being donated to one of the local charities that needs phones. My bank has a phone donation box there and the phone and old charger will get bagged and dropped off there.

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Verizon gives their customers at least one update of the Android OS with most phones. Samsung and Verizon also gives customers software security updates for 18-24 months.

[CatLoverDogsToo]

@x Hedge  We have 2 Tracfone smartphones and 1 android (not smartphone). I just bought air time with text and data for all 3 phones, all tripled. I didn't have any problems finding the "cards" all on one page. Did you click on the right part of the website?  I don't like the new website design, but all the information is still there.

[x Hedge]

Thank you @CatLoverDogsToo.

Did you find a place on the new website where Regular airtime cards and Smartphone Only cards were still offered on the same 'page' so you could easily compare and calculate your best option before making a purchase?

Did you buy a Regular Airtime card and apply it to a smartphone?

Was the $49.99 year of airtime still offered during the checkout? 

[CatLoverDogsToo]

@ Hedge: All of the air time cards are on the same page, just keep scrolling down the page. The regular $49.99 option was available, but I did not buy that. 

Smartphone airtime was cheaper than regular airtime, which I don't understand.

I wish they had left the website alone. I have yet to see a "website upgrade" that was better, they all seem much harder to navigate.

For me, Tracfone is still the best, pricewise..