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Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

I was creating accounts today and I was activating a Tracfone. All of a sudden, when I got to the screen that wants you to enter a PIN number or buy airtime, but also gives you the option to SKIP, the SKIP button was gone.

I tried another browser, same thing. I called to activate by phone and it asked if I had a pin or wanted to buy airtime and I replied NO. An automated message came on and said that you MUST add minutes to the phone in order to activate it.

So, I called customer service and got a rep on the phone. I explained to her what happened and she told me they are no longer allowing activations without an airtime purchase.

I am HOPING she just didn't know what she was talking about and this is just a glitch, but I don't think so.

Has anyone else had the same experience. I am REALLY hoping that I am wrong here, because it would suck if we now had to spend $25+ to create an account when using a Tracfone. Of course, it would not be the end of the world, alternate methods would be found and all that, but this was cheap and easy - and I LIKE cheap and easy!

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

Same thing happened to me as well,

I hope this isnt the end.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

When did this happen? I opened an account yesterday and I got the 20 mins

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

Today, around 3pm

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

Well, I tested it out, and I can confirm, this is true. They want you to buy airtime card now. Bummer.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

I tried it again and it is still doing the same thing. Given that and what the rep at Tracfone told me, I am thinking it is NOT a glitch and that from now on, buying the phone will not be enough - it will also require a $20 airtime purchase.

The price of tea in China has just gone up...

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

If anyone knows of any alternatives, now would be a good time to chime in...

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

trying it right now and running into the same issue.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

some of the phone apps still work for ebay but not paypal, also it is more and more challenging to get a local number for most areas.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

Aspkin should update the book with this info asap

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

It was only a matter of time. I used to have a cell phone store, knowing the cost of each unit, they were taking a loss on each on for sure. They were probably banking on people adding minutes and eventually profiting on their initial investment. Too many people abusing it, they caught on and shut it down.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

I have been using an app on my I phone called burner. Its been working well, and only costs about $1 a number

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

Hmm, I'll try this out.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

You can arrange a paid phone number, get these tracphones for acc, and then spend the remaining balance calling this paid number.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

Huh? :confused:

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

Ouch... guess its time to figure out what to do with these boxes of tracfones i have now : O

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

YUP, Confirmed dead by my too. Time to return the phones I have to Amazon.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

At this point, Best bang for the buck seems those preloaded sim cards for $6 for a number, the good thing is it includes unlimited call, text, and some data)

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

Anyone tried Burner yet?

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

I know of a website that will refill trac fones with paypal once they are activated. That's what I was doing and combo of changing phone numbers. Not a total dead ways around it.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

Been doing the same as well.
I have a couple hundred phones around but only like %10 of them are trac.
I use varying types thankfully.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

UPDATE FOR THOSE STUCK WITH PHONES:

I contacted tracfone through their facebook page with a private message.
I explained that I just purchased 30ish phones for my students/classes only because I know they have the free minutes and wasnt happy that I wasted the money.

They asked for the serials/activation cards and gave me the 20 mins/ 60 days for 10 phones thus far.

Not sure if it will work for you guys.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

I tried 5 accounts with this app, and all of them have limits of 5/500. I will try 5 more, but I don't have much hope for Burner.

Yes I DO get 5/500's just like everybody else, but not 5 in a row.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

THAT IS SLIMY, SLEAZY, DISGUSTING AND A TOTAL MISREPRESENTATION!!!

I'll try it in the morning!
:pound:

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

Burner numbers I found are easily reused. I had 1 and let it go tried to get it someone else had it. Tried a few months later and was able to get it back for a limited account 180 withdraw. Careful

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

I have about five tracfone boxes I got a year ago somewhere. So now that means they won't work for just one ebay acct formation call?

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

Figures. Any popular app like "Burner" will NOT give you high quality, i.e. unlikely to have been used on previous eBay accounts. They simply don't have the "buying power" of say, AT&T to get phone numbers. That, and by its very nature, Burner and apps like it constantly re-issue the VERY FEW limited numbers they have.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

Not unless you add the $20 airtime card.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

Just to correct the info posted by some of you guys earlier, you do not need to spend 20$, they have a option of 9.99$ for 60min and 30 days, just have to scroll down the page where you selecting plan of service to add.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

Still $15 bucks....3x the original price.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

it still serves as a nice wake up call for all the people who put all of their eggs in one basket. there are hundreds of prepaid services available in all different regions. some that only even exist in one small region of the country and not another. open your eyes and you may find one that no one else on the forum even uses or knows about.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

HAHA this really sucks.....i was making 15 new accounts and was going around to all my local pickup spots which usually only have 1-2 tracs left on the rack....this time they were all full so i loaded up on them....now we cant get that free airtime....THIS REALLLLLLY SUCKS.....they do however have a 9.99 plan but still that 300% of the original cost....HAHAHAH i also open all the boxes and filed all the serial number cards before activating

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

Could you elaborate please?



Also wanted to chime in to say I too have aout 60 trac's lying around, now a waste of inventory.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

On ebay and amazon you can buy simple mobile sims, they are preloaded with the first month included, so you only have to pay for simcard and shipping which cost about $6, they will say on the title that the first month $40 plan is included.
All you have to do is pop the sim in any tmobile phone and you got a new number

Plus unlimited call and text and data with it

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

Thanks for the heads up. The downside of that is that to keep the phone working costs a minimum of $25 per month. I would hate to have a $500 monthly bill to keep working phones on all of my accounts. Tracfone is actually the better deal, because it is only $20 every 90 days. But if someone does not care about keeping the number active, then you are right, this is not such a bad deal.

I have tried a few prepaid SIMS, nothing to report yet, but some are good and some are bad. To work for stealth, you have to have good phone numbers that have not been recycled to death.

I tried Burner (an app that gives you temporary numbers for about $1.50 each) and every account I created was a 5/500 account. That has NEVER happened to me before. Yes, I get 5/500's just like everybody else does, but 5 in a row???

Simple Mobile has been kind of like Tracfone - usually, you will get a decent number, but there are a lot of duds too.

Net 10 has a package called "Wireless for Dummies" that can be had on eBay or Amazon for $5, it is just the SIM card, you need a phone that works on one of the top 4 carriers and it has to be unlocked. Then, you get 7 days of service. The downside is, their cheapest plan is $20 for 30 days. And Net 10 is owned by the same people who own Tracfone, so I am sure they are pulling numbers from the same pool. I'm not really in the mood to give these guys even more of my money at this point.

I don't HATE Tracfone, they did what they had to do. For years, they were basically giving away phones in the hope that people would eventually buy the airtime and become their customers. But a lot of people abuse it. At $5 or $10 for the phones, people would pay that just to play a prank on someone and then throw the phone away. I'm sure drug dealers LOVED these phones. Anonymous registration, the ability to change numbers frequently with no headaches and wide availability probably made Tracfone their carrier of choice. Then there are the people creating stealth accounts for eBay, Amazon, Craigslist, Etsy, iOffer, Adsense, etc. We are only a small part of the universe. SEO using Tracfones must be HUGE. Ditto for Adsense.

I am experimenting with other SIM cards and will be happy to share my results. Even if every last person on this forum rushed into the best one, it would not cause problems. We are too small a drop in the bucket. And companies giving away the SIM cards do not have the phone cost to worry about.

So, my current focus is on finding cheap SIMS that can be cheaply activated AND do not cost a fortune to keep alive. Because I like to keep my phones alive and I also sell accounts and my customers probably wouldn't be too thrilled with me if I stuck them with something that costs $25+ monthly to maintain.

If anyone has any suggestions, or knows of any SIMS that could be good for this, please chime in. Any suggestions are welcome.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

Just to add something that may come in useful for people who still have Tracfones or are considering buying Tracfones...

Some models can be easily changed while others require you to call in. I have not tested every phone, but here is what I have found.

The LG 305c does not have a SIM card and when you go to activate it, you have to dial *22890 to program the phone. It uses the Verizon network. The upside to these phones is they can easily have the number changed online, without having to call in. I got SIX numbers out of one phone, all within the first 30 days. On try number seven, it told me I would have to call customer service to change the phone number. I know others have posted that numbers can only be changed 4 times on any phone, but that has not been my experience. These phones work to receive the texts from PayPal.

The LG 306g DOES have a SIM card. You don't dial anything to program the phone, you just turn it off and then back on. I am not sure what network they use. They DO work to receive the texts from PayPal. The downside is, about 75% of the time you will have to call in to have the number changed. It only works about 25% of the time online. And I HATE calling Tracfone. I always get a high pressured sales pitch and have to wait on hold anywhere from 5 minutes to 45 minutes.

The LG 440's and Samsung s150's are a crapshoot in terms of whether or not they will work to receive the texts from PayPal. Some do and some don't. The only way to tell is to look at the SIM card - if it has BLUE printing on a white background, it will work. If it has BLACK printing on a white background, it will NOT work. These are the phones most commonly available for $5.

The Alcatel's are the same way. At least the inexpensive ones. I have not tried the $20+ Alcatel phones. Some work to receive the texts and some do not. Again, you can tell by looking at the SIM cards.

The problem with looking at the SIM cards is that you have to open the package, and no retailer is going to allow you to do that.

That sums up my current knowledge of Tracfones, I hope this helps someone to make a more informed purchasing decision, although I really do not see Tracfones as being the best option for stealth anymore. They are just too costly to use them on a bulk basis.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

Tracfones look cheap $19.99 for 90 days. I prefer Verizon Wireless Prepaid though as they always work they $15/mo or $100/year. I bought 30 Verizon Wireless prepaid phones at first of year and doubt need any more for few years.

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

i have a prepaid sim card solution for this issues, is running on tmobile network, and for $8 is preload with 200 min for 60 days($15 value) , also reloaded this sim will only cost $10 every 60 days... check my post under the market place for more info. Also i have USED phones with $20 preloaded at $.05 cents by minute for all YEAR!! , yes , 360 days of service for $20, phone and the yearly airtime cost $35... pm me for more info

Re: Tracfone Issue - Could be REALLY BAD!
 

Good news.
I was checking prepaid sim cards for new phone numbers and i crashed into easygo prepaid

Now when you activate this sim card which is $2.50 On amazon(free shipping) it gives you free minutes( i think 100).

They have a $5 monthly plan
Now the sim works on any att or unlocked phone.

Btw the sellers really dont want you to buy more than one for obvious reasons. So just use your stealth knowledge to buy more than one, i saw some on ebay as well, but it didnt mention the free 100 minutes

Enjoy