TracFone/Straighttalk: It's been hard to get a straight answer about Straighttalk. Long story short, if you have an iPhone registered with Straighttalk, you cannot switch it to...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

It's been hard to get a straight answer about Straighttalk. Long story short, if you have an iPhone registered with Straighttalk, you cannot switch it to TracFone. Consequently, my son has ordered a Samsung Stardust smartphone from Amazon, and he'll use that with TracFone. TF will cost maybe $20/mo, while ST costs $45/mo.

It was difficult making the switch from Verizon, and the TF woman on the phone said to go to Walmart. The Walmart guy said I needed, "This," which was a $65.00 ST kit. Switching my Samsung to TracFone was very easy, and it's costing me a little over $9.00/mo.

Bmarsh Loc: Bellaire, MI

I don't believe that Tracfone handles any iPhone, so if you want to have an iPhone, you have to use some other provider. Ya gets what you (want to) pay for.

I went from Tracfone ( 2 cheap phones for $17/mo). To Affinity Cellular (2 iPhones for $40/mo). And now I am trying ST for $40/mo for one iPhone. But ST gives you unlimited everything for that $40 while Affinity limits you for less money. Both Affinity and ST use the Verizon towers.

jimmya Loc: Phoenix

jerryc41 wrote:

It's been hard to get a straight answer about Stra... (show quote)

I'm on Verizon Jerry and my only concern with TracFone would be their coverage as compared to Verizon. Best of luck.

Bmarsh Loc: Bellaire, MI

jimmya wrote:

I'm on Verizon Jerry and my only concern with TracFone would be their coverage as compared to Verizon. Best of luck.

I think TF does use Verizon.... And I never had a problem with TF coverage except in areas where bad coverage was to be somewhat expected. (Middle of Adirondacks, extreme east Maine). But in those cases, I WAS able to make calls with TF even though I might have to drive a mile or two for the coverage.

I've had a Verizon "hotspot" gizmo for Internet on trips and never noticed a difference between the coverage on that and the TF.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

jimmya wrote:

I'm on Verizon Jerry and my only concern with TracFone would be their coverage as compared to Verizon. Best of luck.

I've had it since October. They use Verizon towers. :D

jeanbug35 Loc: Jonesboro AR

The difference between Tracfone and Staighttalk is that Trac is limited to minutes or data and Straighttalk is unlimited everything. both use verizon towers in my area but some straighttalk areas in the US are not verizon. I bought a Tracfon for my oldest sister who rarely uses her phone and spend 20.00 every 3 months. My son, daughterlaw, grandson and I all have straighttalk because we use our phones quite frequetly. I swithed all of these phones from verizon and there is absolutely no difference in the service at all except it is so much cheaper. Couldn't tell you about the Iphone though, I'm to cheap to spend that much money ona phone.

Millismote Loc: Massachusetts

I have had a triple minute tracfone for about 3 years. I get coverage from Boston all the way to Miami. I buy a 400 minute one year service card once a year and I wind up with 1200 minutes and one years service time, plus any carryover minutes and time left. My cost per month works out to less than $8 per month.

grillmaster5062

My friend used to have a Tracfone, but he rarely used all of his minutes before they would expire. If his minutes expired, he would have to start from scratch every time with a new phone number. It was a pain in the butt, to say the least.

grillmaster5062

My friend used to have a TracPhone, but he rarely used all of his minutes before they would expire. If his minutes expired, he would have to start from scratch every time with a new phone number. It was a pain in the butt, to say the least.

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

grillmaster5062 wrote:

My friend used to have a TracPhone, but he rarely used all of his minutes before they would expire. If his minutes expired, he would have to start from scratch every time with a new phone number. It was a pain in the butt, to say the least.

These days, tracphone minutes just roll over. I bought mine from HSN for $100 with an annual plan. It has 1200 minutes, 1200 text messages and 1200 data (1200 what, I'm not sure!). Oh, and all of those are tripled. I never even come close to any limit, although I don't surf the web on the phone. If I want to add more minutes, everything is tripled again... Apart from surfers, this is as close to unlimited usage as you can get! And all for $100 per year! Ok, when I renewed, I had to pay tax on it, so it was close to $110 for this year... I had been paying $45 per month for Verizon!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

grillmaster5062 wrote:

My friend used to have a Tracfone, but he rarely used all of his minutes before they would expire. If his minutes expired, he would have to start from scratch every time with a new phone number. It was a pain in the butt, to say the least.

I've never heard of a plan that did not roll over the minutes.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Bloke wrote:

These days, tracphone minutes just roll over. I ... (show quote)

I have that tripling on my phone, too. Obviously, TF is making money, so why was Verizon charging me $167/month?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

My son's ST plan expired yesterday, and he had to buy a new phone to use with TracFone, so he ordered one from Best Buy for $55 - LG Ultimate 2. Amazon has it for $86. In order to keep his phone number, it must be active at the time of the transfer, so he had to pay ST another $45 for a month.

Jim Plogger Loc: East Tennessee

jimmya wrote:

I'm on Verizon Jerry and my only concern with TracFone would be their coverage as compared to Verizon. Best of luck.

In my area TracFone uses either the AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobil network depending on the phone you select.. I switched from AT&T to TracFone will probably save $500 this year alone. And guess what..... my TracFone operates on the AT&T network. Also, if you use the 90 day pay as you go program for your minutes, you are only stuck with the phone for 90 days. Depending on the phone that you choose you can get double minutes for life or triple minutes for life.

Jim Plogger Loc: East Tennessee

[quote=jerryc41]I've never heard of a plan that did not roll over the minutes.[/quote

Unused TracFone minutes do indeed roll over.