tracfone

I don't know if any of you use Tracfone for cell phone, we do at the present time but not for long.
On September 7 we bought two 1 GB. Cards  for data only on our Android phone the cards were for smart phones only, we already had 1.8  GB. Of data on the phone, the two GB. Never was shown on our phone, so I called Tracfone to find out where our data was we paid for and didn't get, they are telling me we got the data & used it already & there was nothing they could do or would do.
Just a a warning .

I have been using Tracfone for the past 3 years and it works perfectly as a cell phone for calls; I buy a annual card for $100. which gives me 1400 minutes for my 6 month stay in the USA.
For a on going data, I use a MI-FI card on a monthly cost "pay as you go", no contract; once installed at a resort, I then use their free WI-FI.

One of the data hogs is the background applications in auto mode. Here ate a few tips to save data:
SMART TIPS FOR DATA USERS

? TRACK USAGE: Download a Data Usage app, such as My Data Manager. If you have an Android? phone version 4.0 and later, you can set a mobile data limit reminder. You can also check your data usage by texting ?Usage? to 611611.
? Wi-Fi?: Use a secure Wi-Fi connection to stream music, videos, and other data-heavy content.
? AUTO UPDATES: Turn off auto updates on your apps or change your settings to update on Wi-Fi only.
? PICTURES AND VIDEO: Turn off automatic picture and video uploading or change your settings to upload on Wi-Fi only.
? EMAIL: Turn off push email or set email accounts to sync at hourly intervals or longer, or to update manually.
? MOBILE WEBSITES: Access the mobile website version of your choice. Full websites require more data to view and browse them.
? BACKGROUND APPS: Turn off apps running in the background, as they constantly use data and can slow down the processing speed of your phone.
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We have as many apps as possible set to only update when WiFi is available.

Some owners of smartphones would need SMARTPHONE FOR DUMMIES  ;D ;D ;D

My wife has Tracfone.  The first thing we did was turn off data.  If she is out somewhere and needs data, she can turn it on, otherwise it's a WiFi only phone.  It works for us but mainly because we generally use it only as a cell phone only when out of WiFi range.

  Streaming videos, even for a few minutes eats Gigabytes up quickly! I use Opera Mini  for my browser and added Opera Max which reduces the data usage tremendously.  ;D ;D These can be downloaded from Play Store if your using an Android Phone!

GR 'Scott' Cundiff said:

My wife has Tracfone.  The first thing we did was turn off data.  If she is out somewhere and needs data, she can turn it on, otherwise it's a WiFi only phone.  It works for us but mainly because we generally use it only as a cell phone only when out of WiFi range.

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I use mine the same exact way, buying a 1-year $100 card annually (as Normand described) that gives me 1200 minutes, 1200 texts, and 1200 mb of data on my LG smartphone.  I can add 1000 texts for $10, which I do a couple times per year as needed.  I try to keep my usage at around 100 minutes / 100 texts / 100mb data per month, so the service lasts me an entire year.  That doesn't always happen though, and I may add a $20 service card to hold me over (which also adds 90 days to my expiration).

I always leave data turned OFF to prevent accidental or unwanted usage/downloads in the background.  I turn it ON only when needed, and never download apps or stream music/videos unless I am connected to wifi.  Heck, most of my phone calls at home (and texts to/from my wife and family members) I do with my Google Voice number, so those are free and do not deduct from my Tracfone minutes.  My family has that GV number too so they know it's me.  Otherwise it would be confusing since I'm in central IL and my GV number is from Los Angeles, CA (it's all that was available when I signed up). 

The one downside with Tracfone texting is that it does not support "group text" messaging.  I don't choose that format, but have been in a couple group setting through work in which group texting is how everyone communcates.  I get all the messages as individual texts instead of a conversation thread (which makes it hard to follow along with the conversation) and I cannot respond to the entire group.  Plus it wastes a bunch of my texts, as everyone response to the conversation with "Ok", "Got it", "No problem" and I am charged 1 text for every incoming response.  A couple hundred texts can get eaten up pretty quickly after a couple days of group texting. 

The lack of effective group texting is not a huge deal, just one small annoyance.  I still save TONS of money this way, maybe spending $140/year in service on a smartphone (which I bought gently used for $40 on Ebay) when most people pay 10x that amount over the same time period.

Thanks Scottydl, I never tought I had 1200 Mb/year of DATA and 1200 Texts/year included with my Tracfone annual card !  ???

legrandnormand said:

Thanks Scottydl, I never tought I had 1200 Mb/year of DATA and 1200 Texts/year included with my Tracfone annual card !  ???

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If you have a smartphone you do... it automatically triples the minute cards (400 = 1200) and also applies the credit to those three areas; talk, text, and internet. 

If you have a standard phone, it may double or triple the credit (depending on the phone) and then talk and text minutes come out of the same "bank" but each text message only deducts 0.3 of a minute instead of the whole 1 minute.  You can also use bonus promo codes to add on more minutes will refill cards, which do not work on smartphones.

Switched from Verizon fixed rate to Tracfone prepaid last year.  I'm saving a lot of $$$ as I'm a minimal user. I've had no problems with the Android Smartphone using excessive data. Good data saving tips from user "Whiteva" above.