TracPhone, Anyone?

[biglou]

Does/has anyone here ever used TracPhone for their cellular phone service? Looks like a pretty good deal for someone like myself who uses maybe 100 mins/month. You buy your minutes (units) in the form of prepaid calling cards. No activiation/cancellation fee. No monthly bill. All taxes included in the cost of the calling cards. All you need is a phone and a calling card. Local area calls are billed at 1 unit per minute, roaming is billed at 2 units per minute. Prices are around 10 cents/minute at 800 minutes purchased, and 25 cents/minute at 40 mintues purchased. There are lots of online promotions, as well. Double minutes for your future purchased cards if you buy so much to begin with, etc. The phones they offer show remaining units on the display. Has a warning when you get down to 10 units remaining.

My only questions, and I'm going to call them here in a bit to ax'em about it, are:

1. How large is my local calling area?
2. Can I use my current phone?
3. Can I keep my same number?

For the limited amount of time I use my cell, these costs blow Cingular (and all the others, best I can tell) out of the water. Anyone else looked into this?

 

[Patman]

I bought a similar version from AT&T for BrandonWho a couple weeks ago Lou. Seems to be the hot ticket for low usage users. If he looses it (12 year olds seem to do that) it's not a major problem because there are only 60 minutes that cost me $10 until the service dies.

 

[TwinSpar]

How many post-midnight drunken call minutes does the plan come with? You really need to factor that in... as well as the mom minutes. :laugh:

 

[Danman]

Diffently check the fine print. My GF got one for college graduation present. It its O.K., but as soon as you get out of the city around here its roam. Check the coverage map on there website. Also your phone gets deactivated if you don't add minutes by a certain date (like three months) so you have to spend money on it every 3 months weather you use minutes or not. They also ding you for airtime minutes to check your Voicemail and text messages. As long as you know the rules and have good coverage I would say it would be a good deal.

 

[biglou]

I just talked to them. Here's what I found out:

"Local" is a 30 mile radius of your zip code. So, it's one unit per minute within that zone, two units outside of it. I can port my current number in. I have to have one of their phones. They start at $39 for the one similar to what I have now. As for having to buy minutes, your minutes are good for a period of time, depending on how many you buy, if that makes any sense. I would prolly buy a year's worth to start. At 10cents per unit, compared to $39/month plus $9.99 for my line plus taxes, fees, plus $.79/minute for roaming with Cingular (which seems to be where I make 99% of my calls), seems like Trac is the way to go for me. Gotta talk to the old man tonight about switching everything over and getting the hell out from under Cingular. He NEVER uses the cell that my mom had. Never, ever!

 

[Patman]

Be sure to check all of the plans Lou because there are several you can pick up at places like Target, WalMart, Sam's Club....

TracPhone
Boost
AT&T Free2Go
Virgin Mobile

These plans are really good for folks that pretty much stay in the same area and may or may not use their phone each month. The cool part from my perspective is that there is no month fee which is great when the kid is just using it to call from the soccer fields, golf course or friends house. For somebody that travels a bit it might not be a great idea though.

 

[Okiewan]

I use a Virgin Mobile pre-paid... works great! Saves a lot of money over the monthly plans. The areas, roaming etc., are the same as Sprint (which I'm pretty sure is the network Virgin uses). Never noticed any roaming when traveling.

 

[Vic]

I heard of problems with the Trac phone. I use the Cingular prepaid and am happy with it.

www.cingular.com

Cursor over "Rate Plans", then click on "KIC prepaid".

 

[Jaybird]

I had Cingular for several years prior to it being Cingular. It sucked...literaly...it was a money pit.
Going over on minutes with them was a big hit on the wallet every month.

I went to Nextel. Best move I've made cell wise. Granted I use the cell more than lots of folks do, but I can't find a better deal.
I pay $89.00 a month. I get 700 anytime minutes that I originate. All incoming calls are free (big time savings there, plus you don't worry about giving out your number)
Plus, the Nextel has two-way that is fantastic (included free unlimited minutes). My partner was in Mexico just the other day and two-wayed me in Louisville. Just like being accross the building.
Hard to beat it if you use the cell alot.

I had to do something....I had several $400-$500 months with Cingular over the years.

 

[biglou]

Well, I've made my decision: Virgin for me, TracFone for the old man. TracFone has a nice reconditioned Motorola with 250 minutes and one year activation for $100. After a year, I'll opt for the $7.99/month option just to keep things active without having to buy minutes unless he needs them. No need to buy minutes to keep the phone active with that monthly fee. The thing is, pops never uses the cingular phone now at home and never takes it with him when he goes anywhere. I think he just likes the idea of charging it periodically and having it sitting on the counter. Makes him feel hi-tek, I guess! I don't think he's ever made a call on it. Ever...

Pops' phone: http://www.tracfone-orders.com/direct/tr/itemdetl.jsp?prod=1719&tech=TOGSM4
Autopay to keep service active after one year card expires: http://www.tracfone.com/tracfone_autopay.jsp?AID=TFA

Now, after comparing rates, I've decided to go with the Virgin. Initially, TracFone is cheaper, but "refueling" will cost more in the long run by my calculations. Question is, which phone?! I'm kinda lusting after the high-end slider model, of course, but the one with the externally viewable caller ID sounds cool. The second tier phone does have full color display, though. Damn! Decisions, decisions! I suppose I should download and view the manuals for all these, but which one would you choose and why? http://www.virginmobileusa.com/catalog/catalog.do

 

[Vic]

I'm paying $.35 per minute peak and $.10 off peak. I buy $20 worth of minutes every three months and if you don't use them, they accumulate.