Re: Quick Tracfone Questions

jackthebear · ‎03-11-2010

@Jordan2 wrote:
I need a new phone desperately and I can't affordable an expensive phone and cellphone plan. I'm going with a Tracfone, but I have two questions. If you use up your minutes before your year of service, can you buy a monthly plan or do you have to just add 500 minutes for $10 ( I thought I read something that you couldn't buy a monthly plan)? Also, after your year is up, is the phone considered unlocked, can you take it to another cellphone carrier?

@Jordan2 there is a tracphone bonus value, it's on right now

Nightowlz · ‎03-11-2010

@Frangelina wrote:
YES, if you use up your minutes before 1 year you can change to a monthly unlimited plan of your choice.
YES, you can unlock your phone after 1 year, it doesn't happen automatically, you have to go to their website or call a special number for unlocking.I have unlocked my Tracphones after owning one year, just in case I want to change carriers, but as someone else said, not all unlocked phones are compatible with all carriers, GSM and CDMA comes into play.

BTW, the best and cheapest Tracphone here on QVC is the $49.99 LG Rebel K31 for $49.99. It is 32gb, 2 gb ram, octacore processing and a pretty good camera.

@Frangelina

I did not know you could unlock a Tracfone???
Don't know why anyone would bother since most of them don't have the current OS on them. They are not secure for shopping or paying bills etc IMO.
That's a good price for that phone especially if it comes with the 1 year service plus mins, text & data.
I'm sure it's CDMA.

Nightowlz · ‎03-11-2010

@Ainhisg wrote:
There is some misinformation in this thread. To answer your questions, you can get a monthly plan with unlimited talk, text, and a certain amount of data. They currently have two monthly options: 1) a $20 plan, or 2) a $40 plan. The difference in price is how much data you are wanting per month.

If you buy a Tracfone BRANDED phone, it cannot be unlocked to use with other carriers. The Tracfones sold on the Q or HSN are branded phones.

@Ainhisg

I knew they had plans but did not know how they work or price since I have never used it.

I did not think you could unlock a Tracfone from QVC/HSN either.

Nightowlz · ‎03-11-2010

@Frangelina wrote:
People keep saying you can buy another year of service for $49, I do not believe that is available any longer, and it is NOT on Tracfone's website, so if it is true where is that available exactly?

@Frangelina

I think you have to put something in your cart so you can get the page that has just 1yr service for $49.99. I think it's the same I have to do to buy texts only or data for DH.

Ainhisg · ‎03-09-2010

I stand corrected. While it was true at one time that branded Tracfones could not be unlocked, that is no longer true.

https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/tracfone-phone-unlocking-program

Nuttmeg · ‎03-09-2010

@Jordan2

I like to get a good deal for my tech dollars. Tracfone only has two decent quality phones for sale on QVC. The Motorola G Stylus and the Motorola G Play.

These two phones are running Android 10 and will be safe to use for a year or two.

All new Android phones are using Android 11,and 12 will be released in November or December.

I will get 12 in January 2022. When my phone stops getting monthly security patches, it will get quarterly patches for a year and then none. At this point a phone is no longer safe, because your identity can be stolen.

All of Tracfones running Android 9 are not safe to use and the apps on the phone may not update.

Jordan2 · ‎03-16-2010

@Nuttmeg Maybe I can hold on until November. My phone still works, I keep adding airtime, but if I'll be using it a lot more I definitely need a new phone.

x Hedge · ‎08-18-2016

@Ainhisg wrote:
I stand corrected. While it was true at one time that branded Tracfones could not be unlocked, that is no longer true.

https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/tracfone-phone-unlocking-program

Wow, that's important information, @Ainhisg .

It should be in it's own thread instead of being buried in this one.

There are lots of TracFone users here and I'm sure they'd appreciate knowing of this change.

Frangelina · ‎08-12-2021

tfwunlockpolicy.com has the unlock info.

Frangelina · ‎08-12-2021

@Jordan2

E235441

For $50 plus one year with 1500 talk/text data. I'm sure you're spending more adding minutes. It is a good phone, ANDROID 10.0, 32gb storage, expanable to 32gb more, octacoe processing. Easy pay, get yourself a new phone. I bought this one, I like it, easybto transfer everything with transfer wizard. Just saying....