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How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

OK... I am not 100% sure this will work, but I read something on the TracFone website that leads me to believe that it WILL WORK.

When you buy a $5 TracFone, you get 60 days and 20 minutes of time, but then you have to buy the refill cards.

But when you switch the number on one Tracfone to another Tracfone (keeping the same phone number) it is considered to be a NEW ACTIVATION, since a new phone is being activated. They confirmed for me that you WOULD get another 60 days and another 20 minutes added to the account.

So, if the TracFones are $5, you just buy a new one when the end of the 60 days is near and then switch your existing TracFone number to the NEW Tracfone, giving you another 60 days and another 20 minutes of time.

That way, there are no refill cards to buy and you bring the cost down from $7 per month to $2.50 per month!

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

If they would only cater to what we really want & need it would save track phone a ton of money.
I personally went through 15 track phones since last May and I have 20 sitting here for my next couple rounds of Stealth accounts. I'll probably get around to trying to sell them on eBay but gee, it is one heck of a waste....

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

never bought a refill card before. they're unnecessary.

that and i only use each number once unless i can't change the number which has become the usual.

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

Having swapped Tracfones for legitimate reasons before (girlfriends phone is a Tracfone, she dropped hers in a puddle and it stopped working) I can confirm this DOES work, and DOES add 60 days and 20 mins (just as if you had activated a brand new phone)

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

I will definitely have to look into this thanks!

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

We're going to need video proof from you please.

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

Ghost of Amazon is right. I just tried this. It started the 60 day clock over and even transferred the unused minutes. So, I now have a phone good for another 60 days with 38 minutes on it.

While this wouldn't work for a person using their phones on a regular basis, it is a GREAT DEAL for stealth, because we don't need a lot of minutes on these phones.

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

Jeff..

Can this process be done online, or does it require a call to support?

Maybe you can post a walk though if it can be done online. :)

Thanks!!

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

It can be done online. :thumb:

How To Transfer TracFone Minutes and Airtime to New Phone - The Fone-Review.com TracFone and Straight Talk Blog

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

Yeah, you just go to activate/reactivate and choose the option to transfer your number. It will ask you to enter your phone number, your current serial number and the serial number of the new phone. It takes anywhere from a couple of hours to 2 days to complete. But your old phone will work until the new one is activated. With some phones, you may have to call them to manually activate the new phone once the old one is deactivated, but with most of the phones this is thankfully not necessary.

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

Just wanted to add to this, I've experimented with transferring from both the LG 440G and the LG 305C. I've only done this ONCE each way, from one to the other, but both times the process was complete in less than 30 minutes. All I had to do after completing the online transfer was turn the phones on and off a couple times, and it was done.

Long story short, my anecdotal evidence suggest that these two models seem to have quick transfers, but it with the limited experimenting I've done and other factors (part of the country, time of day, etc) your experience may vary, as Jeff suggested.

But all in all it should be a quick, painless procedure.

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

Thanks i'm going to try this save me some money

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

nice, it does work and even works on the android phones with triple minutes! =]

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

Hmmm...

Has anyone tested doing this swap, and then swapping back to the "original" phone?

For example, swapping an Android phone to a flip phone, getting the 60 days + 20 minutes, then switching back the the same Android?

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

i'm confused. i don't understand the goal here of going back?

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

Here's an example:

Let's say you have nice fancy $100 Android Tracfone you use for personal, non-stealth stuff. It has Triple Minutes for life. You buy a $99 1 year, 400 minute card. This gives you 1220 minutes and 425 days, counting your free minutes and days.

At the end of the time, you haven't used all the minutes, but you're out of days. Swapping phones for 5 bucks then switching back is cheaper than buying another $99 card. Make sense?

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

Good info. Tracfones are such a pain. Having a desk drawer full of them always having to buy refill cards. Normally I let my service days expire for like a month then refill them. Got a few really old phones from 7-8 years ago I have a family plan for.

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

@GOA

Ok, yea, now i get it. i wasn't thinking that far ahead. that would be awesome. i don't see why it wouldn't work unless they explicitly block it on tracfone's end

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

Yeah, you have to enter the SIM # for each phone when you transfer, so there's a strong possibility they might. I'm interested in doing this in the exact scenario I mentioned above, but don't want to burn myself by mistake. Hopefully another member has tried this and can give the forum some advice.

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

I tried it for non stealth reasons. Once you transfer from that makes the SIM card no good and unusable. So you would have to get new SIM card to be able to successfully transfer it back. Customer service can send you 1 for free because they don't sell them on ebay anymore.

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

LMAO.

What if you have a Tracfone that doesn't use SIM cards?

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

Try it out and report back. Should work without the SIM card.

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

Free from customer service - what an option!

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

praise you i do believe it works too

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

Had this in my favorites..

Hard to believe that just 3 months ago it was still "The Good Ol Days" :)

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

I'm guessing this no longer works?

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

No now they require you to add money to the phone before it's even activated

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

HOW DARE THEY EXPECT MONEY FOR THEIR SERVICES!?!?!:p

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

Do most people keep the phone number used to create the account, active for the life of the stealth account, or is this not necessary after a few months.

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

Almost everyone would recommend you keep the # for the life of the account, "just in case".

Others have experimented with using Google Voice after the set-up, but many theorize that this makes the account more susceptible to shut-down.

It really all boils down with your comfort for risk and how much money you want to spend on each account.

IMHO, if you have a large, high volume, high profit account, why not pull out all the stops to keep it active, but on the other hand, if it's a pretty low volume account with little to lose, you might not bother with the extras.

As I said, it's a personal decision, but taking the "long route" is usually safer.

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

Why do some of you buy refill cards? Why not just do it all online from Tracphone.com? Or is it not advisable to buy airtime online as you have to enter your real name, address, and payment details?

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

you do not have to enter real information anywhere. make it all up. trac just wants the money

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

Some people just prefer to do things the old fashioned way.

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

I have found for aged accounts if you use refill cards just buy the 90 days ones then let your card lapse for like a month then refill it. You can stretch out the time of having the number without having it given to someone else. Especially for my older smaller account they never call me. Sometimes it feels like a waste even having the phones. They have been sitting in a drawer for like 5-6 years, some of them.

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

Actually that may be inaccurate. When trying to reload online using a credit card you will most likely need to enter your name and billing address associated with the card. Otherwise it would most likely be declined.

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

no, it is accurate because i have multiple trac phones. i didnt just pull that out of my a$$. they use a very simple AVS check.

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

So I could use any email I wanted to sign up for Tracfone and then use any name and address to process my credit card to buy additional air time to refill my phones?

In other words, the only thing that would be correct is obviously my credit card number, exp date, and cvv code. Everything else would be bogus.

Re: How to keep a TRACFONE for $2.50 per month
 

correct. as long as the payment goes through, that's all they need. zip code just needs to match zip code on the card.