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What info asked when activate a prepaid cell phone
 

Does anyone know which information they ask you when you activate a prepaid cell phone online? Also, do all prepaid phone companies offer online activation : T-mobile, AT& T, Tracphone, Virgin, etc?

Go with tracfone. Its simple, easy, and cheap! When you register your tracfone online they will ask you simple questions from a red card which is sent with the phone. After entering all the info your tracfone will be ready for use. I set mine up in about 7-8 minutes.

John14789,

They don't ask you any personal info like your name, address, etc? When you buy a Tracphone, does it come with any free airtime minutes or do we need to buy a Tracphone card to be able to use the phone? How much is the cheapest Tracphone and/or Tractphone card and where did you buy it? Appreciate the answer.

I believe they only ask for the zip code where the phone can be used. But even if they do ask for address and name it's no big deal. It comes with 20 minutes. When you register online you get a bonus 10 minutes which makes 20 minutes.Cheapest I'd say walmart for $10. I purchased my tracfone directly from their website for $16.

Thanks John14789 for the information. Does it say $10 minutes anywhere on the outer packaging or you just knew it after activating it? I went to Walmart yesterday but didn't see a Tracphone with ready airtime minutes.

Tracfones come with 20 minutes all ready on them. Just buy the $10 tracfone and activate it after doing so you'll see 20 minutes and 60 days service days.

Thank you John14789. I just bought a Tracfone and will activate it. Many thanks

I have a question since I have not read this anywhere. But with getting a new phone number or numbers depending on if you want multiple accounts or not. If you have a cell phone and most cell phone companies allow you to add another phone on your plan for 10.00 per month. Wouldnt this be cheaper since you will only be using that new number for a ebay account which will be forwarded to your cell phone. Maybe Im missing something here but thought I would bring this up to see if there is a better or cheaper way on doing this.
Thanks,

just remember that other phone on your plan also comes with a contract. Once / if that number becomes blacklisted by ebay.. thats it

Your right, I should have realized that from the start.
Thanks for the reply.

Yep if its blacklisted by ebay your stuck with a 1-2 year contract.

So you need to get a new happy-phone every 60 days, whether you use the minutes or not?

they won't work on paypal... so how much longer will they work on ebay? I might get one tomorrow, but I'm still not sure how I'm handling phone numbers yet.

They no longer work on PayPal? What happens when you try? Is that a new development, because I've been reading many posts from people who used Trac-phone successfully.

I've read much of the forum and everything I read says paypal requires a landline.

I yield to your more extensive reading of the forum. But I have to ask two questions:

• How does PP know the difference between a land line and a mobile phone, if it's a local number?
• If PP requires a land line, what is the point in getting a disposable mobile phone for eBay? I mean, if you're going to sell any volume on eBay, you pretty much have to offer PayPal or severely limit your buyer base.

Cell Phones are fine for Ebay and PayPal in the U.S.

I'm glad to hear that. I just got a Trac-Phone at Wal-Mart for $9.88, though it only came with 10 minutes, which is basically for setup. The card to add minutes is pretty expensive. That's OK, I don't intend to make any outgoing calls with it.

As far as using an extra cell phone for your Ebay / paypal isn't that still the best bet? It is only $10 a month extra and if that account gets shut and you need to start anew, for $15 you can request a new phone number on that phone from the cell phone carrier. Is there any issue with that working?

That's what I use, an AT&T Prepaid phone. It's actually cheaper then Vumber was, I payed $100 for 12 months and got $15 free in credits so I'm paying about $7 a month.

lakeman, that's great as long as you plan to use the phone regardless of your eBay status. If I need to change numbers in a hurry, though, I'd rather just get another $10 prepaid phone at Wal-Mart with only enough minutes to get set up and answer verification calls from eBay / PayPal.

Before I paid for the minutes, I called AT&T prepaid customer service and they said I can change the phone number at any time for free and the remaining balance will be transferred to the new number. I haven't changed my number yet so I can't verify, but they said I could.