Tracfone company profile

Cons: People misunderstand the concept of these phones.

Summary: People don't seem to understand what these phones are for--these are NOT phones for heavy talkers! If you talk on your phone for more than 30 minutes a day or 300 minutes a month, you do not to be on ANY prepaid cell phone plan. Do the smart thing and get a contract.

These phones are for people, like me, who don't jab on the phone all day but still want a cell phone in case their car breaks down, they're out shopping, or to call and ask where someone is. Those kinds of calls.

Also, if you have bad credit, these are handy. Major carriers will charge an outrageous deposit if your credit is bad.

And as for all the complaints about the customer service, I don't understand why so many people have to call them in the first place. The entire process if set up in a way that you never even HAVE to talk to a live person. You can buy the phone at Wal-Mart, activate it on the website, add minutes on the website or even from the phone ITSELF...there is no reason to even call customer service at all. I don't understand. You can completely bypass ever speaking to a live person should you want to.

As for the quality, mine works fine. Clear calls, loud volume.

I switched to Tracfone after having an AT&T GoPhone, and let me tell you, this is the superior prepaid service. AT&T's prepaid wireless will charge you for every text message sent to you, even if you don't read it! I learned this the hard way when I had a friend get mad at me and begin sending me blank text messages to purposefully drain my account (0.15 per text!). The only thing you can do is file a police report, and AT&T cannot even shut off the texting and they need a report before they can refund your money. This alone should make you stay away from them. With Tracfone, you are not charged for a text message unless you READ it. If you ignore it, you are fine. AT&T dropped the ball on that one. AT&T also charges $1 a day for their prepaid service! So regardless, you'd be spending $30 a month MINIMUM anyways just to have it! With Tracfone, as long as you add more minutes within 90 days or your service end date, you are fine. You can pay $19.99 a month and not worry about being charged $1 a day just to have it.

Trust me, if you don't want your money drained by texts you don't want or to be charged fees for everything, this is the only prepaid service to use.

I have never even had to talk to a live person before, so I don't know what the deal is here.

People just don't seem to understand what these phones are for or how they work.

Cons: Pretty basic phone designs.

Summary: I guess I haven't had all the bad experiences some people on here claim to.

This phone is perfect for people like me who have really bad credit. Big cell phone carriers like Sprint will run a credit check when you try to sign up for service, and depending on your rating, you will have to pay a pretty hefty deposit. My credit is not the greatest, and upon shopping around for a carrier, I found most places were asking for a $500 deposit or more because of my rating. This was not an option for me.

So I went to Wal-Mart and picked up a Tracfone for $9.99 and a 60-minute airtime card. The activation was simple and took about 10 minutes. I plugged the phone in to charge, followed the directions on the package insert, and activated my airtime card. I had service in 10 minutes.

The calls are clear and I haven't experienced any difficulty, and reception is fine everywhere I go in town.

The big appeal to these phones is that you aren't bound to anything. You can stop service anytime you want and throw the thing in the trash. Here in Texas, all the major carriers such as Verizon and Sprint charge a $200 cancellation fee should you choose to terminate service before your contract has expired. Ridiculous. I also love the fact I don't have a cell phone bill. I basically have a phone without the hassle of dealing with anyone at all. Whenever I need more minutes, I simply pick up a card whenever I go to the store, and you can activate it online or even from the phone itself. I've never had to talk to a live person.

However, if you are a gossiper or talk a lot, maybe you should look elsewhere. I am not a chatter, and my phone calls are for basic things like to find out where my girlfriend is, or to call a friend up to see if they wanna meet up somewhere. I rarely spend more than 5 minutes on the phone for every call. A 60-minute airtime card costs $19.99 and lasts me at least 2 weeks. You get 3 text messages per airtime minute as well, so a 60-minute card will get you 180 texts. They charge for incoming and outgoing, but you have the option to not read an incoming message and it will not charge you for it. If I am running low on minutes, whenever I see someone sends me a text, I just ignore it and I am not charged.

Like I said, these phones are a lifesaver if your credit is terrible. I can't pay a $500 deposit to get service with a major carrier. I also don't want to be bound to a contract with outrageous cancellation fees. I have this phone, pick up minutes whenever I need to, and never have to deal with anyone.

One other con is that these phones are basic. Mine does not take photos, connect to the net, or any of that fancy stuff. But that's fine with me. I don't do any of that anyways. I use my phone to talk or send texts when I need to--not as my personal compute. I have a laptop for that.

Cons: This thing BEEPS! Reps speak very bad English

Summary: Please someone write a review to answer this question! The stupid thing BEEPS while on the phone talking. Does this happen to anyone else? I have had 3 different phones and it does the same thing on every one of them,completely annoying!e-mail me @major-mat-mason@juno.com

Cons: If you want help, just go shoot yourself instead and save yourself the trouble.

Summary: My issues aren't with the phone service. I hate this company with a passion so am going to throw the phone in the trash and bite the $19.99 cost of the minutes I can't attach to the phone.

Cons: No-frills

Summary: IF you use your phone for semi-emergencies/short calls every now and again lasting 1-3 minutes...

IF you don't mind a no-frills basic cell phone...

IF you can remember to renew on a yearly basis...

IF you are careful with your phone because despiste what people say on here there is no such thing as lifetime service, there is an option to purchase lifetime double minutes for the life of a particular phone (not the person calling lol), but IF u dropped it in the toilet? oh well. the phone itself is essentially the contract.

IF you know what u r doing u should not have to call cust serv. I did once they replaced a faulty phone they originally shipped with no hassels, but I have never had to call again... but I am aware they have poor service.

bottom line... ONLY people interested in having a no-frills phone for short calls can make it cost effective. NOt for the gossiper, or daily user.

Also... you can use tracfone (WITHOUT THE VOICE MAIL SET-UP) as a free pager by simply calling a loved-one on their tracfone, they in-turn don't pick up but instead call back on a land-line, consequently there is no charge and at the same time you are communication you want to speak with them, like a pager.

Also, you can use google sms to send text messages to a tracfone free (receiving them is alaways free) and avoid the 1/3 unit cost to send from your tracfone.

IF you use promo-codes + lifetime-double minute card + 1 year 400 minute card(ea. yr), then you can reduce the cost of the phone to about $8-9/mo and recieve roughly 1000 min per year. As of right now I have over 2200 roll-over minutes after 4 years.