Rating: 
Summary: Tracfone - Cell phone without the cost
Review: I first bought a Tracfone a few months ago after a bad encounter with my car's battery. Long story short, I needed a jumpstart and no one was around to help out. Since I was without a Tracfone or any cell phone at that, I had to flag down passing cars in the parking lot. I bought the Tracfone to keep on me so the next time something like this happens, I will have a back up plan. As for the service, I have had a great experience. The voice quality is excellent and it really is convenient for a lot of scenarios. I gave out my number to my friends and family and it really helps out having a cell phone number where I can be reached at all times. I guess that is the point of having a cell phone, but with the Tracfone you can get the cell phone without having to pay upwards of 40 dollars a month. I use the 1 year card and it gives me plenty of minutes. I also was referred by a friend which gave me an extra 100 minutes, along with a promotion for 100 minutes for buying the 1 year card, and 10 free minutes for activating the phone online. By the way, if you need a Tracfone customer to refer you, I would be very happy to do so, we both get 100 free minutes. I also have the 100 minute promotion for purchase of the 1 year card. Give me an e-mail at keeleyje@slu.edu if you are interested I would be glad to help out. Go out and buy this phone, it is a great deal!
Rating: 
Summary: phone's ok, company's terrible
Review: i have had a tracfone for several years now and have found it to be pretty good. however, in mid september, my phone stopped working. i bought a new phone and have been trying for almost 10 weeks to transfer the minutes from the old phone to the new phone. i have been calling every week or two with always a new excuse. they are incredibly incompetent.
Rating:
Summary: ANYONE WANT 100 FREE MIN?
Review: I have had this phone since Sep 2004 and I have not a problem with it. I love it because all around, I think this is the best prepaid phone plan compared with other plans. Other plans are a little more costly and also Tracfone is the only one that offers a referral plan.
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Rating: 
Summary: Extra Poor Service
Review: I moved and had to get a new phone number. It has taken me 2 months to get a problem with service straightened out, and it still has not been fully corrected. It does not matter whether you contact Tracfone by e-mail or by phone - the results are the same. They keep promising to correct a problem but they never do. I get limited help when I talk with a supervisor. When my current card expires, I will no longer be a Tracfone customer.
Rating:
Summary: Extra Poor Service
Review: I moved and had to get a new phone number. It has taken me 2 months to get a problem with service straightened out, and it still has not been fully corrected. It does not matter whether you contact Tracfone by e-mail or by phone - the results are the same. They keep promising to correct a problem but they never do. I get limited help when I talk with a supervisor. When my current card expires, I will no longer be a Tracfone customer.
Rating:
Summary: Less To Worry About
Review: I really love the option to being able to buy this card because you get the whole year plus 150 minutes for as little as 85.99 to 90 something. With this card is one less bill every month. Plus Tracfone has a card that gives you 300 minutes for somewhere between 129.99 to 149.99 depending where you go. Then with every card you buy within that year you get double the minutes. I like to buy mine off of the auctions because that is where you get the best deals. I checked out Virgin phones but it doesn't have a card that last the whole year so I'm just going to stick with Trafone.
Rating: 
Summary: Ok service with trade offs for great price
Review: I use my tracfone for emergencies. In 10 months I have used less than 50 minutes. I bought the one year card so I dont have to think about my plan all year. I have read other reviews and feel that for the occasional user (like myself) the pros outweigh the cons. Before my tracfone I had a Verizon traditional plan. I could not get receiption in certain buildings (such as stores, offices) and got very bad reception even in my home. That plan was costing me $480 a year. For $100 a year for the tracfone (not counting the one time purchase of a phone) I get fine phone reception and can be reached in an emergency which is all I wanted.The cons are that the "800" help line is pretty awful. It takes forever to accomplish things but I have had the reps give me minutes back when it took too long to set up things (like voice mail). Fortunately I have only had to use the "800" line once or twice in the year so I can live with that con. When I bought my phone last year tracfone was the only one that had a one year plan. All the other "pay as you go" companies made you buy a new card every 60 days or so. I was afraid I would forget to do that, so I chose tracfone. To sum up, for the occasional user the tracfone is a much less expensive alternative to a traditional plan. I feel that the pros outweigh the cons.
Rating:
Summary: good for those who need it!
Review: I use this system for both my wife and I. We do not use the phones much, so it was really not good to pay $30-$40 a month for a full plan (plus taxes, plus charges plus plus plus!!). This way, I get by on less than half that (even less when I buy a full year card)plus pay no shipping or sales tax. I buy cards here at amazon, and redeem them online at tracfone (very easy to do, but if you buy your cards from tracfone, which I have had to do in a pinch, you pay sales tax). I pay special attention to when they have bonus deals for extra minutes which they email to you. I agree that service is sometimes tough, but I always call from a landline, or use the internet to contact them. Also, I live in a town that borders 2 states (sister cities) and you always want to get your number as if you lived in the bigger city!! Otherwise it has been CHEAP AND EASY!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Caution - "one year" is not always "one year"
Review: I wish I had read previous reviews here, before I redeemed the 1 year card on 10/21/03. Tracfone states they will extend your current service up to a maximum of 455 days when you redeam it. But it just gave me one year, several months less than I had paid for. You can email all you want but all they do is send a reply that asks you to call customer service to resolve the issue. When you call, and are able to wait for the extremely long holds, the people there are not authorized to fix anything, and are unable to get someone who can help. Tracfone is a good phone for someone who does not use it too often, but if your minutes or time purchases ever mess up, there is no help - you lose.
Rating: 
Summary: Price per minute a little steep for a daily use phone
Review: I've been using Tracfone for over a year and tried their various card plans-- and any way you shuffle it, you are still faced with paying a little too much for air-time. The one-year card for $100 translates to about $.65 a minute. The 300 minute card costs around $75 which comes to around $.25 a minute but unless you have the one-year card to start with, you are faced with having to buy another card after two-months. So the program essentially forces you into buying the one-year $.65 per minute card and then supplimenting it with $.25 per minute cards. Tracfone would have a great deal if they could get the price down to $.10 to $.15 cents a minute. Until then Tracfones are essentially a good way to have an emergency phone available in the glove compartment.
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