To all TracFone users/lovers - Page 7

Tadaki · ‎03-10-2010

Thank you for coming back after you got your phones. I would not have known about *22890, which I did have to use to get minutes. Can't understand why they don't tell you that.

Now I'm experimenting with NoLED! Really like the phone. Didn't realize how much of an upgrade it would be from my LG.

stargazergal · ‎02-18-2016

How do you check to see if it works in your zipcode area? We purchased two.... Please let me know..... Thank you !

@Nightowlz wrote:
I saw that yesterday & wanted to order 2 but zip code says will not work in my area. This really ticks me off as we have been waiting for a 16gb instead of the crappy 8gb.
I don't know if it will work with Tracfone's BYOP plan or not without having the IMEI# to check it.

sueinsf · ‎03-13-2010

So, I just got around today to activating my phone. Not that its yet activated but I'm hoping it will be later today (but might be tomorrow). Last two times, it only took about 10 minutes, but I know it could be 24 hours (hopefully not 2 business days!). So I will have to wait to see how it is on making/receiving calls, texts, etc.

I also played around on the phone a bit. Put in a PIN for security, set the Wifi to be on (I'll have to see how much that drains the battery) and turned off the mobile data. Also set it to restrict all background data in power saving mode. Thank you @Marp also for the suggestion to set up the gmail account and input my contacts from my PC. They are all on the phone so that was great!

What is "My Account Downloader"? It's asking to allow My Account Downloader to make and manage phone calls??? Also, when I went in to Smart Manager, it says 32% of storage used and 60% RAM used?? How can that be? Maybe I'm not reading that right or understanding it properly. And when do I want to "Clean All" on that??

Also, do I need to set up a Samsung account for any reason? All I could see was for the feature to locate your phone if it's lost or misplaced. Which would be a good feature, it's just I don't want to keep setting up accounts and passwords.

I also haven't seen yet where to set it to vibrate to let you know if you missed a call or message? But overall, this seems pretty user friendly.

Marp · ‎03-09-2010

@sueinsf, congratulations on getting your phone going. Hope you are happy with it once you get things working the way you want them to work. This version of Android is a big improvement over the version I had on the Ultimate.

The My Account Downloader is a TracFone app that makes it easy to check your balances from the phone. The preloaded app is just to download the actual app. The actual app seemed to frequently check (presumably with TracFone) for something so I removed it and turned off the downloader.

The 60% RAM used sounds about right. There are a lot of things running in the background. Unless you are doing something intensive you shouldn't have a problem. With wifi off my phone shows 58% of RAM used but it increases to 62% when wifi is on. I turn my wifi off when I'm not actively using it.

I set up but haven't explored the Samsung account very much so I can't make any recommendations about that yet.

I have my phone set to vibrate when it rings but that is all I know about vibrating. I don't make or receive many calls so it isn't something I bother with.

I highly recommend the NoLED app. I have photos for some of my contacts and have set NoLED to show the contact photo when the phone is "sleeping" and a call or text comes in that I've missed. It stays on the lock screen, moving in the same way a screen saver would. Just a glace at the phone and I can see if I've missed a call or message and who it was from.

Even though I've had my phone working for a while now I still haven't made or received a call on it. I really should do that.

I still review things and fine tune the phone as things come up but I am happy with it. Hope your activation completes without a problem. Don't forget to dial the *22890 to get your promotional minutes.

One more thing, I had a problem with my new end date, it didn't update correctly, and I used live chat at the TracFone site and I was very happy with the way it went. Better than some of the voice calls I've made.

What is good for the goose today will also be good for the gander tomorrow.

sueinsf · ‎03-13-2010

@Marp wrote:
@sueinsf, congratulations on getting your phone going. Hope you are happy with it once you get things working the way you want them to work. This version of Android is a big improvement over the version I had on the Ultimate.

The My Account Downloader is a TracFone app that makes it easy to check your balances from the phone. The preloaded app is just to download the actual app. The actual app seemed to frequently check (presumably with TracFone) for something so I removed it and turned off the downloader.

The 60% RAM used sounds about right. There are a lot of things running in the background. Unless you are doing something intensive you shouldn't have a problem. With wifi off my phone shows 58% of RAM used but it increases to 62% when wifi is on. I turn my wifi off when I'm not actively using it.

I set up but haven't explored the Samsung account very much so I can't make any recommendations about that yet.

I have my phone set to vibrate when it rings but that is all I know about vibrating. I don't make or receive many calls so it isn't something I bother with.

I highly recommend the NoLED app. I have photos for some of my contacts and have set NoLED to show the contact photo when the phone is "sleeping" and a call or text comes in that I've missed. It stays on the lock screen, moving in the same way a screen saver would. Just a glace at the phone and I can see if I've missed a call or message and who it was from.

Even though I've had my phone working for a while now I still haven't made or received a call on it. I really should do that.

I still review things and fine tune the phone as things come up but I am happy with it. Hope your activation completes without a problem. Don't forget to dial the *22890 to get your promotional minutes.

One more thing, I had a problem with my new end date, it didn't update correctly, and I used live chat at the TracFone site and I was very happy with the way it went. Better than some of the voice calls I've made.

Thanks @Marp. I will definitely check my new end date and my minutes once the transfer is complete (and after I've hit *22890).

I don't receive that many calls on this phone but might look in the NoLED later as that seems like a cool feature.

I do want the TracFone app where it shows the minutes and days left. The manual makes the My Account Downloader look like that, but the first thing it asks is agree to allow it to make and manage phone calls. Manage I can maybe see but make phone calls? I don't even understand that and I hate to agree to it without understanding what that means. I thought I might have to download a free app from Google playstore to check my balances but if that is it....

Marp · ‎03-09-2010

@sueinsf, I don't know what permissions the TracFone My Account app directly from google play requires but maybe you can bypass some of the permissions the downloader requires.

You can always use wifi and a browser and go directly to the TracFone website and sign into your account to get your balances. I usually do that from my PC but it can be done from the phone. At least that way no permissions are needed.

What is good for the goose today will also be good for the gander tomorrow.

sueinsf · ‎03-13-2010

@Marp wrote:
@sueinsf, I don't know what permissions the TracFone My Account app directly from google play requires but maybe you can bypass some of the permissions the downloader requires.

You can always use wifi and a browser and go directly to the TracFone website and sign into your account to get your balances. I usually do that from my PC but it can be done from the phone. At least that way no permissions are needed.

@Marp I'll have to give this some thought and see if there is a difference between the Downloader and the My Account app from google play. Maybe someone else can weigh in on that. @Julius Seizure? Yes, I know I can check it from the TracFone website but that is way too many steps! I'm used to just looking at my phone and seeing it immediately, so I think the app would probably be the next best thing.

sueinsf · ‎03-13-2010

An update -- took 16 hours and my phone looks to be activated (I still need to make and receive a call to test). I didn't need to do *22890 -- the 1350 minutes showed on my account. However, the minutes and service days from my old phone did not rollover! I had to call TracFone (ugh) but after asking for a supervisor she fixed it. But because my previous phone wasn't a "smart" phone, those minutes only rolled over to Voice (and not data or text) but I'm sure 1350 minutes of text should be fine.

Zhills · ‎11-15-2011

How does *22890 give you any info?

I get a message, " your sim card has been updated" and OK to click.

JGalt · ‎03-10-2010

@Zhills, you're ahead of me. I got a recording telling me to pay to sign up with Verizon. The second time I tried it, it was some other phone company I never heard of.

So I tried to activate again on tracfone online, but it told me I do not have a SIM card.

Well, this one clearly didn't work. I hope it's not too late to return this phone.