Has anyone here had any experience with Trac phones or Net 10 service?

[hellbound-liberal]

We bought some phones off of HSN and I would like to know if any of you have had any experiences you would like to share before I break open the shrink wrap. Any feedback would be welcome!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

1. Not me, but I'll tweak this for you...

[Critters2]

2. The first cell I had was a Tracphone.

My dad bought it for me when I was going to be driving from my folks' house (Wisconsin) home to Iowa with a snowstorm predicted. I was planning to just use it for emergencies.
But I made the mistake of giving the number to colleagues and parishioners, and after a while it just seemed like it'd be cheaper to get a contract.

But I had no complaints about the service or anything.

[havocmom]

3. I use one when I have to travel. Live hours from anything but hate cell phones

Figured age and distance made it prudent to have one. No complaints.

[Angel]

4. I Use Net10

I don't use my cell enough to need a contract. I used Tracfone in the past. No complaints with either service. I do find Net10 to be cheaper on the minutes. You can et 300 for $30. I've went from texas to ohio and never lost service once.

[HamstersFromHell]

5. Both are owned by the same (Mexican) company.

Both provide decent service, with occasional dead spots in far-flung rural areas, but so does most everyone else's service for that matter.

The real difference is that phones purchased for Trac Fone are cheaper than the same phone purchased for Net 10 service, but Net 10's by far and away the better deal for pay as you go. (10 cents a minute anytime, anywhere, even long distance vs. Trac's 25-35 cents a minute depending on the value of the "card" you purchase to load the minutes)

We've bought 4 of 'em through Net 10 for keeping track of the kids and for emergency use and we've had absolutely no complaints.

As an aside, if you give your number out to too many folks and wished you hadn't...merely let the service lapse, then buy a new airtime card...you'll get a new phone number to go with it. :)

[Rhythm]

6. Oktoberain and i both have them...

because we simply don't use the phone that much, and it's a cost effective way to be reachable by each other, and by OktoberKid's school should they need us while we're in our own classes.

Ours have had a couple of glitches in the past month or so, but it was the network, not the phones themselves, and the issue was resolved within a day.

[freethought]

7. This is the first I have heard of either service!!

I used to have Unicel. It was the only carrier I could find that offered no-contract service. I had them since 2002 or so. Had a few problems with the quality of the signal/reception. Most notably in my last place of residence in Maine. Strange. Go to one part of the house and reception was fine. Go thirty feet away in another part of the house and the reception was lousy. I used to get 400 minutes or 450 minutes a month and in nearly 8 years of service not once did I exceed my minutes. It had some text messaging, a monthly limit and you were charged if you exceeded a certain number of messages with each limited to a certain number of characters per message. The bill never exceeded $51.00/month.

I have moved recently and Unicel does not have coverage in my new area. I was looking at Verizon or AT&T. One problem is that I just f_____g HATE THOSE DAMNED CONTRACTS!!

One these two may be a good alternative. No contract. Pay as you go. I like the sound of that.
It also does not sound like people have too many complaints about the service coverage or quality of the signal.

[HamstersFromHell]

8. Hint:

Buy the phones off their web site rather than at a retailer. Much, much cheaper!

The "basic" Nokia phone sells for $19.99 bundled with Trac fone service. Same phone with Net 10 is about $55.

Buy it off Net 10's website for $29.99

Same kind of pricing applies to other models of phones.

[hellbound-liberal]

10. Thanks for all of your responses! We have had Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go for the past few years

and we have been pretty happy with their phones and service. My wife saw a good deal on some Trac phones on HSN and we were considering switching service.Thanks again for all of your input. :hi:

[hobbit709]

9. We've been using Tracfone for about 8 years now.

No problems, no hassles.

[FloridaJudy]

11. I used TracFone for years

Without problems. Since I only used it for emergencies, it wasn't worth buying a contract. I actually got better reception with my crummy little pre-pay than many of my friends with fancy cell phones and expensive contracts.

I just got a Credo contract because my land-line is so lousy I'm considering ditching it. Ever since AT&T bought out my local carrier, both the service and the quality suck swamp-water.