Tracfone

[ginwoman]

thinking of getting one for my mother. She NEVER uses her cell phone. 10 minutes per year would be about it maybe. How do the minutes work? Say I buy her a 60 minute card...how long would it be good for? I have gone on their website but this information is not on there. Thank you.

 

[dt5255]

I have a tracfone and have had it for several years. I think the minutes are good for 60 days. then you just have to add more time before the service days expire. My phone has free double minutes for life (phone came with it) so if I buy a 60 minute card I get 120 minutes but I never really noticed the amount of service days I get., it has extended so much my minutes are good until 2014.

 

[wharf rat]

The airtime for each card is 3 months. You would have those three months to use your 60, 120 or whatever amount of minutes you decided to buy.
I gave one to my dad and it's perfect for him. He'll use maybe 15 minutes every three months. The minutes he has left are carried over and added to the total.
Cost $21 (for 60 minutes) every three months with no issues. If he uses text (he hasn't yet) each message would deduct 1/3 of a minute. The last I looked he had a surplus of 400 minutes.

 

[dave1959]

Why not get a phone and just and him as a user on your account. Used phones are cheap and most plans have cheap ad on plan. Verizon is $10 month and shared minuets.

 

[SoMD_Fun_Guy]

The airtime for each card is 3 months. You would have those three months to use your 60, 120 or whatever amount of minutes you decided to buy.
I gave one to my dad and it's perfect for him. He'll use maybe 15 minutes every three months. The minutes he has left are carried over and added to the total.
Cost $21 (for 60 minutes) every three months with no issues. If he uses text (he hasn't yet) each message would deduct 1/3 of a minute. The last I looked he had a surplus of 400 minutes.

Why not get a phone and just and him as a user on your account. Used phones are cheap and most plans have cheap ad on plan. Verizon is $10 month and shared minuets.

Hmmm,
($21 for 3 months with no contract) VS ($30 for 3 months on a contract)

If they don't really use the phone much it is probably best to go with the TracFone just to stay out of the 2 year contract. Makes it more disposible if they don't need it anymore. Once again, it probably depends on how they intend to use the phone.

 

[ginwoman]

The airtime for each card is 3 months. You would have those three months to use your 60, 120 or whatever amount of minutes you decided to buy.
I gave one to my dad and it's perfect for him. He'll use maybe 15 minutes every three months. The minutes he has left are carried over and added to the total.
Cost $21 (for 60 minutes) every three months with no issues. If he uses text (he hasn't yet) each message would deduct 1/3 of a minute. The last I looked he had a surplus of 400 minutes.

this is exactly the info I was looking for Wharf rat...thanks!

 

[computerwhiz1]

thinking of getting one for my mother. She NEVER uses her cell phone. 10 minutes per year would be about it maybe. How do the minutes work? Say I buy her a 60 minute card...how long would it be good for? I have gone on their website but this information is not on there. Thank you.

If your mother has social security coming in she can get a FREE TRACPHONE.
go to www.safelink.com it doesnt cost you a dime you get 250 FREE minutes. Each month you get that much. I have one for my late husband and it didnt cost him anything You might want to try it out. But it is ALL FREE, instead of paying another bill. Try it.,

 

[ginwoman]

If your mother has social security coming in she can get a FREE TRACPHONE.
go to www.safelink.com it doesnt cost you a dime you get 250 FREE minutes. Each month you get that much. I have one for my late husband and it didnt cost him anything You might want to try it out. But it is ALL FREE, instead of paying another bill. Try it.,

thanks computerwhiz1, I went to this website. It appears she would need to be getting Medical Assistance/Food stamps/SSI to be eligible for this phone.

 

[ginwoman]

this is exactly the info I was looking for Wharf rat...thanks!

Just talked to the tracfone people today. Had some questions about a particular model phone. They were nice enough but not much on speaking English. Pretty sure its "out sourced"

 

[Katelin]

I got my mom a Trac after our Dad died in'05.
She hardly used it.
Then see saw her friends using trendy cell phones and asked me to get her a real one.
So I go to Verizon, selected a nice, simple flip phone, added photos, built her a phone book with all the numbers she might need, and added her to my "Family" plan all for $9.99 a month more.
She had that phone for 5 years when it finally died, and yesterday she got a new one, free from Verizon ( she finally took advantage of the Free Upgrade).
She lives in an apartment in Florida and feels much safer with her phone.
With Verizon, the phone is under warranty, upgrade was free, plus I got a $50.00 rebate and for 10 bucks a month, it keeps Mom happy and us kids happy too.
Oh, FYI: She is 92.

 

[aps45819]

The airtime for each card is 3 months. You would have those three months to use your 60, 120 or whatever amount of minutes you decided to buy.
I gave one to my dad and it's perfect for him. He'll use maybe 15 minutes every three months. The minutes he has left are carried over and added to the total.
Cost $21 (for 60 minutes) every three months with no issues. If he uses text (he hasn't yet) each message would deduct 1/3 of a minute. The last I looked he had a surplus of 400 minutes.

... or you can get cards that the minutes don't expire for a year

 

[Warron]

My parents both use tracfones. You can get cards that last for a year for around $100 (400 minutes).

I used to have one before I made my cell my only phone (got rid of the landline) and they work well. If you only use a cell phone for emergencies or infrequent trips, its the way to go. Their customer service is terrible though, but you get what you pay for.

 

[star777]

My sister has Tracphone... You can buy a card at walmart for 99.99 for 1 year of service and 400 min.

 

[ginwoman]

so I went to Family Dollar Store to look at their phone display. Now I find there are other brands like NET 10, Verizon, and another one.

 

[Bay_Kat]

I've had Boost Mobil for years and got a new phone today, don't even know what all it can do, but it's not much different than hubby's iphone and my monthly bill is half what he pays.

 

[ginwoman]

Well I've been dealing with Tracfone today working on getting my current phone number transferred to them. I have spoken to numerous people and they have all been very nice and professional. Most had some accent but it wasn't too bad. So, hopefully tonight around 7:00 I will have a working tracfone.

 

[bcp]

Well I've been dealing with Tracfone today working on getting my current phone number transferred to them. I have spoken to numerous people and they have all been very nice and professional. Most had some accent but it wasn't too bad. So, hopefully tonight around 7:00 I will have a working tracfone.

How did that work for you?
have you had to call back yet and get them to send you a new card for it?

 

[somdfunguy]

If you go with tracfone get one of the triple minutes for life phones. It is exactly what it says, buy a 400 minute card and get 1200. Switched my dad to it from Verizon and in two months it paid for itself.

 

[ginwoman]

so far so good. I went on-line this evening and did some stuff and finally got it activated. So it seems I'm good to go. And I bought a 60 minute card and it says I have 130 minutes available.