I stumbled upon a new set of boxes in the pay-as-you-go aisle of Target this evening. The new provider on the block is Net10. From the way I’m reading the brocure, it looks like they’re a subsidiary of TracFone rather than an MVNO on top of TracFone’s network. Their schtick is simple: nationwide calling costs 10 cents. They also reward the purchase of larger refill cards by making the minutes last longer. For example, a $30, 300 minute card lasts 30 days, while a $180, 1800 minute card lasts 6 months. They also charge 5 cents a pop for text messages, which is less than what most carriers charge their montly invoiced customers.
The phone selection isn’t spectacular, but they get the job done. Available phones include the Nokia 1100 (which honestly I think is pretty cute), Nokia 2600, the funky Motorola C155, and the Motorola V171. The phones are relatively cheap without the frills that you might get on GoPhone or Boost Mobile, but the service is obviously aimed at cost-concious consumers who value a bargain over bling.
TracFone has done a smart thing by targeting a niche that has gone largely untapped. They need to keep on their toes though, bargain hunters don’t have much brand loyalty and the space could get very crowded very quickly.
Comments
644 responses to “Net10: Tracfone\’s New Pseudo-MVNO”
to DelflyZero : first of all, the 50 extra units for the 2006 pricing are Bonus Units. this means that they wll not be doubled, as well as the units for the promotion codes. about the ‘picking up the phone’, you may know that we don’t have an actual phone. it all works over ip and the phone system we use doesn’t have an Answer button; therefore, if there’s an available rep and a call comes in, it’s not our choice to pick it up, it automatically comes in. Other thing is that we cannot dropp calls; If a rep is caught hunging up on a customer, he’s instantly fired, there’s no second chance (no joke). and calls are monitored from time to time, so we cannot just hung up on a customer we don’t like (some may do it, but the risk is too high as to fool around with it)
we all take calls from both Net10 and Trac, and since there are less customers of net 10 than from tracfone, the waiting time is shorter.
finally, Tracfone and Net10 aim to different markets. Net10 was created to fill a void in tracfone offer. TF is mostly for customers who doesn’t use the phone very often, so you can have the phone for emergencies and pay only 7.49 per month (1 year card costs 89.99); but on the other hand, rates go from 10cents to 50 cents a minute. It’s not cheap to use it very often. If you use the phone a lot, Net 10 offers you ALWAYS 10 cents per minute, but the least you have to pay is 30 dolars a month (actually, now the 300 minutes card gives you 45 days instead of 30)
as you can see, they have diferent targets.
If you think about it, it’s much simpler to use a different name than confusing people with so different plans and rates.
about the long waits, you wouldn’t believe how many calls we have nowadays . we used to have 1 minute to relax after every call and even more; during the hollyday season we don’t have not even a second. and if you want to talk to a supervisor, you would have to wait at least 30 minutes in this time of the year.
D Turner: Glad to know that your issue was resolved, most of the times you just need to be patient. I agree 100% with Joey ramone, some customers complaint about things they don’t even understand and most of the times they just need to READ, if they are so lazy and want somebody else to read the info for them they can call the 1800 number,don’t ask people from retailers about promotion they will not have the info or they will give you wrong info. I understan that we received Tracfone calls and net 10 calls however we are not authorized to answer net 10 calls when you call tracfone and viceversa, if you call net 10 we actually transfer the call to a “tracfone agent” otherwise we would be penalized and we would have a low QA score.Like I said befor you HAVE to be patient otherwise you will only get upset and your issue will not be resolved, we work really hard and I bet that an “American” would never like to work with people that complaint about each and every little thing
On Tracfones web page it says new 2006 rates , this does not look like a short time once only promotion I’m going to head to the web site pull the text and post it then you can tell me how my double mins don’t apply and why I still can’t use the coupons along with my double mins K ?
This what is says on the web page
Activate a new phone OR add airtime NOW
and become eligible for 2006 rates right away.
Click here for details
New lower airtime rates for 2006!
Available NOW as a holiday gift from TRACFONE!
Activate a TRACFONE today and take
advantage of our New Airtime Rates.
If you’re already a customer you can also enjoy the new rates. Just add airtime once, and you’ll become eligible to receive the new rates on any additional airtime card you add after that.
Where do you see the word promotion ?
A yearly new rate all prior contracts should apply
even if they raised them. So maybe you should read the
web site it’s on the front page.
Now that I showed you I do some homework, I’m going to call
tracfone again today a coulple of time have the high volume message hang up on me then I’ll call net10 see if they will transfer the call to tracfone and report back here.
Oh by the way when do you have to create a whole diffent company instead of just creating differnt rate plans ?
you just explined it fine too bad it doesn’t say that on tracfones or net10’s web page.
Here is the story of Tracfone giving my cell number away to another tracfone user, he didn’t want my number and I didn’t want his.
I just got the 1 year service with the double mins plus 300 min forget what I paid /think 129 , I also got my wife a trac fone that day to keep in her car, we live in the sticks and I tryed every service before could not get service at my home so I tryed tracfone and got service to my house, so using tracfone is not that I have any other choice. so we go to get her phone up and running, lol
well that took a week we had to return the phone lost mins
and time on the phone with tech support. but while on the phone with tech support I tell them I have service on my tracfone, they ask for my serial number and my phone number , so I give it to them. next day low and behold I now have no service. now I calling in 2 tech service calls
turns out the gave my number away the one that I had printed on 1000 bizz cards, they gave it to some other guy , gave his number to someone else ect ect ect. Never got my old number back customer support worn me down to a nub so I gave up and took any new number they gave me , and all the while they were saying it’s my fault , like you do here on this forum saying people are stupid, tell me I’m stupid.
Ok now this does not make sence.
Tracfone and Net10 aim to different markets. Net10 was created to fill a void in tracfone offer. TF is mostly for customers who doesn’t use the phone very often, so you can have the phone for emergencies and pay only 7.49 per month (1 year card costs 89.99); but on the other hand, rates go from 10cents to 50 cents a minute. It’s not cheap to use it very often. If you use the phone a lot, Net 10 offers you ALWAYS 10 cents per minute, but the least you have to pay is 30 dolars a month (actually, now the 300 minutes card gives you 45 days instead of 30)
as you can see, they have diferent targets.
TracFone offers a yearly service plan with double mins for 129 dollars USD. I would think that is geared to people who use the phone alot and don’t want to lose there phone number
and have to get a new number after 30 days, seems to me you have it backwards what your markets are……
Also Joey_ramone
You talked about how many calls you take and you never get a break. That is not the end users problem. If tracfone has 66 million users they should staff up for the amount of calls that are going to come into the call center as well as upgreading the VOIP phone system so people may get thru.
To me it looks like the didn’t add any new people but just split the staff to take the New Net10 calls. Like I said you always want to blame the end user when in fact it’s tracfones problem, by the way I like when my phone works I even put a free ad on my web site for both tracfone and net10 if you click on my name go to my site you will see it on the bottom left hand side, so the only thing I’m upset about is the poor service and how you keep saying it’s our fault…….. That what people do when they don’t do there jobs……..
Well I was right the new 2006 phone rate on 250 mins is 49.99 if you have the double min plan you get 500 mins and if you have the coupon for 200 mins code it gives you 30 mins on top of that. I had to call net10 and beg them to get someone from tracfone on the line waited 3o mins but got someone on the line that at first was saying it wasn’t a new rate till I made the go to the web site and read it, I asked her if she had a tracfone and paid 49.99 how many mins whould she expect to get ? she finely said 250 mins
asked her if she paid for the double mins service how many mins she would get, LOL had her doing some math, anyway I got what I paid for…… nothing more and nothing less..
and it should’nt have been so hard or taken so long…..
To Chuck
This statement has me alitte tiffed.
I said befor you HAVE to be patient otherwise you will only get upset and your issue will not be resolved, we work really hard and I bet that an “American†would never like to work with people that complaint about each and every little thing
I own my homes out right and worked damm hard to get them paid off and I didn’t have to run across any boarders to do that. the funny part is How would you know that I’m an american ? I could be mexican or from some other nation ?
BTW I never posted anything raciest about anyone at all.
and you can agree with joey all you want, I was right and you both were wrong.
I’m 100% sure you are “American” because I have to deal with people like you every day, Mexicans are different they don’t complaint about each and every little thing that you do,I did not mention de “American” because of you but because of another person’s racist comment, people say we are in India and we are not we hear at least 1 racist comment every day.You are not the owner of the phone number, we just assign the number and provide the service so the number tha you lost was NOT your number, you Have to read the user guide to understan this,Tracfone/Net10 can deactivate your phone or change the number if we want that is specified on the users guide so stop mentioning the same thing over and over again
I’m 100% sure you are “American†because I have to deal with people like you every day, Mexicans are different they don’t complaint about each and every little thing like you do,I did not mention the “American†thing because of you but because of another person’s racist comment, people say we are in India and we are not we hear at least 1 racist comment every day.You are not the owner of the phone number, we just assign the number and provide the service so the number tha you lost was NOT your number, you Have to read the user’s guide to understand this,Tracfone/Net10 can deactivate your phone or change the number whenever they want and that is specified on the users guide so stop mentioning the same thing over and over again
Most of the tracfone’s employees speak 3 or 4 languages, I bet you don’t even speak 2.
Well Chuck Your wrong again……
I should have not lost my number because I had the year long service and should not have been at risk of losing my cell number, once again. You should read what the web page says..
During the first 60 days from phone activation, when you add a single 40, 100, 200, or 400-minute TracFone Prepaid Wireless Airtime card, your active service period or due date will extend 60 days from the date the new card is added. After your first 60 days from phone activation, when you add any one of these cards, your due date will be extended 60 days from the current due date to a maximum of 120 days. When you add two or more of these cards during or after your first 60 days from phone activation, your due date will extend to a maximum of 120 days from the date the new cards are added.
The due date can be extended past 120 days, up to 365 days from the date you add a TracFone 1 year prepaid wireless service card or Double Minute prepaid plan card. The due date can be extended to a maximum of 730 days from the date you add any combination of the 1 year prepaid wireless service card and/or the Double Minute prepaid plan card.
If you do not purchase and add additional airtime prior to the due date, your TracFone service will be deactivated and you will lose your TracFone phone number. Even if your service is deactivated, your TracFone can be reactivated by purchasing and adding any TracFone Prepaid Wireless Airtime card. However, once reactivated, your TracFone will be assigned a new phone number. Airtime which remained at the time of deactivation will remain on your TracFone if it is reactivated within 60 days from the deactivation date. However, airtime which remained at the time of deactivation will be lost if your TracFone Service remains deactivated longer than 60 days.
So I was within the guide lines , but you don’t want to hear that , You want to blame the end user , and how come your not backing you your statements with facts from the web site ? Like I have done ?
PS
I don’t care if you spoke 100 languages, all I care is
that you don’t jerk people around and just do your job.
Let me explain why it’s such a big deal when someone at tracfone screws up and gives someones number away to someone else.
The cell phone has become important part in peoples lives, they give the number to friends, family, business partners so people can have instant access to that person, people put that number on business cards letter heads ect ect ect.
What sence would it make or what kinda business pratice
would be fair if that number kept changing every week ?
See but Chuck you don’t get that. All you care about is
How many languages your customers talk, What I care about
is good service and calling in and being able to talk to a service rep and not having them try and pin the blame on me.
here is a good post I found on the web
here is the site I found it on http://www.consumeraffairs.com/cell_phones/tracfone_advertising.html
Inside TracFone
Lester of Eastern Canada (8/19/03):
Screw it! I don’t care if I get fired, this has to be said.
To all the people who are getting a raw deal from TracFone:
1. We get little (5 days) of training. Most of the agents on the floor learn the procedures from other agents, it’s a trial by fire.
2. About 60% of the people who work as a customer service rep don’t know what they are doing, they will just BS you untill something kinda works.
3. The amount of stress we get put through would cause most people to quit. [btw, the turnover rate at the building I work is huge! most people are there for way less then 6 months {it’s mostly 2-3 months}].
4. “Stress Management” is a forign concept.
5. All we can usually do with a fone that is not working is:
reprogram the phone[which requires about 15min of time and 9 lines of code into the Phone. 1 line of code = about 21 numbers]
Make up a case for the local carrier [usually Bell, 360, or BAM], their techs take a look at it. You, the customer, call back in about 24h, it may be working then. *Note* if this doesn’t work, we go back to “i”, do all the codes over, resend the case, wait another 24 hours, and if it’s not working then, you send the phone into the Tracfone warehouse in Miami [you pay the S&H to send it]. then replace it with a used [aka Reconditioned] fone.
I have personally seen reconditioned phones that don’t work getting sent to the customer, the customer then calls us, gets bounced around the automated system, finally he may get someone who knows what to do [which is about a 40% chance], they yell, scream, swear [I have had all of these, and personally, I don’t blame them.] at us, and all we can do is try to get them to send the phone back into the warehouse [again they pay the S&H to ship it to us], and there is a good chance that the 2nd phone we send them may not work.
Then the process starts all over again! I HAVE HAD IT!
Here is the consumer affairs web site
and there is a ton of storys about how bad customer
service is at that call center. Like I said before
when the Phone works it’s great but if you have to
deal with these reps that come in here and try to
defend themselves by blameing the end user all the time
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/cell_phones/tracfone.html
OK lots of people hate the service they get at the call center. Chuck wants to bash americans I want good service like most people do, Lets prove the point ! Lets switch the call center to America for one year if the problems are still the same , send all the work back to mexico or where ever. If its better with less complaints lets keep the jobs in the USA and Grow tracfone into a great company I know it can be. Chucky we did put men on the moon you know ? All I want to see is people get a good deal and be happy they went with a tracfone/Net10 and it looks like there not getting that now…… I know for a fact that I can laugh with some american customer service reps from many companys about stuipd mistake as well and yell at times. that part of the deal, but americans work things out we don’t run across a border to collect welfair and then complain that they work so hard, I seen them work and there work and its no grate shakes….. Cuck may not be working there after today from what I hear of there turn over rate he may be doing some work for you sooner then you think….
Chuck, I never brought up the race thing……Makes no difference to me whether you are Arab, Greek or just plain purple…I just wanted what I had paid for and Tracfone finally provided that..I am perfectly happy now.
I rec’d a Tracfone as a Christmas gift, don’t know where it was purchased, could be Target or Walmart… It remains unopened, still in the blisterpac. If the IMEI number is behind the battery pack then it could not have been read by the store, unless it’s somehow linked to an outside package number viewable or scannable. So, with that established, can this phone be activated as NET10 instead of Tracfone? It is basically a virgin unit. Any comments welcome, Thanks!
-Sputnik
First of all, there is NEVER a valid reason for yelling and/or name calling. Racism is ignorant. With that being said, the tracfone representatives are just as guilty as Americans for being ignorant. They are complaining about racist remarks, yet coming on here and calling all Americans stupid, etc. How unbelievably ignorant and ridiculous! I am an American. I am ALWAYS kind and polite. I have never made a racist remark in my life. However, It is frustrating when I am trying to resolve an issue and I cannot understand the person on the other end of the phone. That is not being racist. It is also not the fault of the tracfone representative. They are merely trying to earn a living. It is the fault of tracfone (along with other companies) for not ensuring that their employees are able to clearly speak English.
But, to the tracfone representatives, sometimes it IS YOUR FAULT. Everyone makes mistakes. And sometimes you are rude to people for no reason. My issue ended up being the fault of tracfone. And the rude customer service did not help. Tracfone sent the wrong sim card for my area. Finally, after several phone calls to the overseas call center, I spoke with a supervisor at the executive resolutions department. He was an American. He immediately solved the problem and sent the correct sim cards. He was polite and helpful. I am sorry that some people insult you. But I never have. So why are you on here being racist against all Americans? We do not appreciate it anymore than you do. Your attitude only fuels the problem and creates more hate and misunderstanding. Peace to all.
Delfly Zero: Tampering or falsification or entering of codes not properly authorized by TracFone, or the unauthorized use of your TracFone, may result in immediate discontinuance of Service and prosecution to the full extent of the law. TracFone reserves the right to cancel any service without notice.TracFone Prepaid Wireless Airtime rate plans, card denominations and these Terms and Conditions of Service are subject to change without prior notice.
Did you read that????TracFone reserves the right to cancel any service without notice TracFone reserves the right to cancel any service without notice.Even if you are not entering codes unproperly if tracfone deactivates your phone you can complaint but the number is not yours, you ARE NOT the OWNER of the number you are the owner of the CELLPHONE and de Minutes.
I guess that you read that info but obviously you would never accept that I’m not 100% wrong, you said that I’m wrong,well I think you are wrong too. Michelle: maybe there was a missunderstanding we complaint about SOME customers and I accept that we are Humans,customers and Customer Service Representatives make mistakes However what would you think I you answer a phone call with a greeting and the answer that you receive is “Stupid Indian transfer the call to an American” or what would you think if after talking with a customer that wants FREE units and you explain that customer that he or she would not get more free units that person starts saying “I cannot understand you” over and over again just because we don’t do what they want us to do. We have millions of customers and maybe just 10% are racist but if you speak with a customer that is racist besides being a pain in the ass you get a low QA score. So it is not that customers a 100% wrong or Agents are 100% wrong Tracfone is also Wrong and if we do not provide with better customer service is because they are more interested on the scripts that we have to follow than making sure that problems are fixed. If you say “one moment” and you wait more than 15 seconds without saying one moment again you get a low score, In the past if a customer would said “I don’t understand you ” the agent would get a 0(zero) as score for the week if and agent would get 2 zeros then they would fire the agent and that is not fair because sometimes Old people calls(I don’t have anything against old people) and they are kind of deaf and they say “I cannot understand you” Instead of “I cannot hear you” so Tracfone is also wrong.I think that customers,employees and Tracfone are wrong but not 100% and obviously not all customers and employees are wrong we receive calls from customers that are really polite and patient and we also have agents that are not 100%polite but if an agent is not polite and the call is being monitored the agent gets fired inmediatly, if you spoke with an agent that was rude and the call was being monitored I am pretty sure that he or she was fired.PS
Defly Zero: I knew you are American and as you can see I’m not 100% wrong and you are wrong too.
Michelle: We don’t have the tools that the executive resolution dept has, even if you speak with a call center supervisor. ERD can contact the corporate office,warehouse,line management and get an anwer inmediatly, a supervisor can also contact them however they will not get an answer inmediatly, they would get an answer in 24-48 hours so if you spoke with an American and the problem was solved inmediatly it is not because he is American is just that they get answers inmediatly.
Sputnik: You cannot use a tracfone with net10 because the tracfone’s Imeis are not registered with net 10 and viceversa even if you get a net 10 simcard the tracfone can only be activated with tracfone.
Defly Zero: The post you found is not updated at all we don’t even have a call center in Canada anymore, agents from Canada were relly rude (they had customer service dept and technical dept) so I actually had to call them back in 2002 and 2003 to fix some problems with airtime cards etc. but they were relly rude.That is why the call center was transferred from Canada. Procedures are now different for example: Customers don’t pay for shipping anymore Tracfone sends a prepaid airbill (an envelope)with the phone (so you dont have to sent the phone first, they tried sending phones overnigth but that did not work) people from the warehouse are AMERICANS and in some cases customers wait for 1 month to get a phone even though people from the warehouse are AMERICANS and if we send the info over and over again we would receive the same answer wait 3 more days so if tracfone hires only AMERICANS the problem will not be fix at all,you would have more problems and people would not accept the kind of treatment that SOME customers give they will not accept all the pressure that we get and definitely they would never accept the payment that we get they would like to receive at least $5,000 a month to deal with people like Defly Zero, I know people like him if we would asked him to make a test call and he uses 1 unit he would ask for 20 in compensation.
Defly Zero: Activate a new phone OR add airtime NOW
and become eligible for 2006 rates right away.
Click here for details
that means that you have to add airtime once(you would get the old prices)and you would become elegible(for future redemptions) I would need your Esn Or Imei to verify if you were actually elegible for the new prices when you added the 200 units, more likely you got the units because either the agent was tired of hearing you or simply he or she did not know about this restriction
Hey what´s up? Really busy with Cell phones? Hey chuck take it easy, we all know some American People are just stupid and there is no Script, Policy, Term or Condition of service that helps. Don´t you think, Defly Zero? If you are not american, at least you are very distubed.
D Turner: I know that i have mentioned some things like SOME Americans are racist, they are lazy etc. but I think you are not that kind of person and I’m sorry if you thought that I mentioned that because of your complaint, not at all, I said that because of the comments that I have found on this link there are SOME Americans that have no common sense and want everything for FREE or Want Compensation for each and every little thing like Defly Zero
Are you there Defly Zero? Guessing how to use the computer? Call to Customer Service, they will show you wich one is the enter key.
Chuck: Thanks for the answer on Tracfone hardware nix Net10! I still haven’t opened the Tracfone package because I’m trying to find out all the caviats to getting the most freebies at activation time. (NOTE! I admit that I want to go with Net10 but this phone was a free gift to me with a $20 card so I am somewhat ‘family’ obligated to use it, burn off the minutes before diving into the Net10 fracus.)
Now I see a LOT of ebay lists where people offer 120 FREE minutes to unactivated newbies. I see it is ‘Refer Friend’ thing going on there, 100 free minutes 20 more for activating via website (not on landline). Is this possible? and what’s the incentive to the ebay seller? Are they actually racking up 100 100 etc for every referral? Can they accumulate like that for the ‘seller’? Maybe I’ll get into that chow-line and stay with Tracfone!!!
Chuck…..No offence taken, we are all brothers under the skin…Admittedly different accents can sometime be problematic for you and for me, but it is not an unsurmountable task.. Cheers
Sputnik: you are right what you found is a referral, if some one refers you, that person would get 100 units too, there is no restriction on the amount of referrals, What I would recommend you is find a Friend or a Family Member that owns a tracfone then go to http://www.tracfone.com/safc.jsp?task=promo&bid=60 and enter all the info required, you will need to enter your friends e-mail address(because suposedly he or she is referring you) then your e-mail address, you will receive an e-mail,once you receive that e-mail just follow the steps to get the free units, you have to activate your phone after you have received the referral e-mail if you activate the phone before receiving the e-mail you will not qualify for the promo, once you follow the steps you just need to wait 24-48 hours then you and your friend will receive another e-mail with a pin number or a link to get 100 units, you will get 100 and you frine will also get 100 and like you said if you activate the phone on the web you will receive 20 units for the 1st time activation
well im a tracfone rep. and im sick about all the american idiots once i received a call, the cust was not able
to make nor receive calls and the cust was very upset and was complaining about everything!!!! but do you want to know why the cust was not able to make or receive calls : because the tracfone was off!!!!!! could you believe it!!!! fucking idiots!!!! and by the way chuck: sal,col,blz,tgu,guy or ros ??
Hi would like to ad my 2 cents.
I wonder how the people at tracfone will feel about customer reps calling the customers stupip and Idiots.
I guess were going to find out because I for one and writting a letter to tracfone and giving them the address to this website. have a nice day
ohhhhh kenny please dont send a letter ..!!! hahahahaha i dont care if you write a letter to trafone its fine!!! go ahead ..!! you can send a letter to bush if you want !! lol
Hey Tom hope you don’t mind if I write a letter too saying how rude you are ? OK ?
ohhh and kenny .. thank you for use tracfone we apreciate your business and have a great day … hahahahah
no alice i dont really care you know why?… because im not rude, im a very nice rep at work. and i have a really good QA score 😉 theres nothing you can do hahahahaha…. and i can write what ever i want ok?
Thomas can you please give your full name so I may talk to you at a later date in person.
Bill Krantz
Human Resource
TracFone Corp
ohhhhh sure my name is …… what are you thinking!!! yeah right human resource and i was born yesterday…
well im a tracfone rep too and im agree with tom, the americans are IDIOTS with capital letters lol and tom : ROS where u?
Actually bol
hey kristy how you doing?? sooooo you are ROS thats nice hahahaha hope talk to you soon and chuck whats up? cool too BOL keep it up guys!! ohhh and by the way im SAL ….
We should do a blog about complaints about net 10 / tracfone cust… Dont you think guys (chuck n tom)? im going to give this address to all my friends in my call center so lets being talk about cust. .. they can talk about us doing bad and most of the time RACIST comments so we can do the same right? hope you guys do the same….
….LaTiN PoWeR….!!
And Bill Krantz dont talk shit! even if you are a real human resoures guy of tracfone what are you going to do ..??? this is a public space and we can write what ever we want we are not in the work, give us a break ……!!!!!
Does Tracfone or net10 work with camera phones ?
Not yet
Hey nobody has added any more notes what is going on_?
Just started my Net10 took 3 phones to get it right.
1st phone, activated it but somehow the zip code was liked to the wrong area code. Was told wait 5 to 10 days for a new sim or take the phone back to the store.
2nd phone, tried to activate it over the internet, after getting the first set of codes, clicked contiune and nothing. Called customer service several times was told to wait 4 hrs and still nothing. Determined the the phone (T-mobile sim) would not work for me and that i needed to take the phone back and find a phone with a 4 on the end of the sim.
3rd phone, found a sim code 4 phone (cingular) activated it over the phone to ensure no internet problems. After typing “all” the codes, cycled the power and it appears to be working great.
What next? Well, I got to go test the phone in a few areas. If it works, I will be adding some minuets.
Why can’t there be a timer on the phone showing how many minuites your on while you talk and let people compait that to a stopwatch ? I know there is that feature on my phone but it says TracFone Disabled it, Why ?
I seem to think that it’s a ploy to cheet you out of time
have to Talk to the FTC about this one……
TracFone/Net10 are customer service disasters. I can’t say the agents don’t try, but they do not appear to have the tools needed to resolve problems. Between perpetual “no service” (with several bars), unregistered SIM, and randomly changing phone number (with hundreds of minutes of purchased airtime), it isn’t worth the headache. When you try to get problems resolved they have to bump it to supervisors, then to outside groups. That’s when they shuffle you away in hopes the problem will go away. Wait 20 minutes, 2 days, a few hours, 3-5 days, etc. It’s a perpetual circle of new case numbers and wasted time. As someone else here said earlier, buy a phone and try it. If things work THEN cautiously buy additional airtime. But if the problems start you’re only out the cost of the phone.
Do NOT expect your phone number to remain the same. If there are any interruptions in service (even if you have purchased continued air and calendar time) it’s highly likely the number will have to be changed. Put the number on business cards or other business assets at your own risk. These phones are best for outgoing calls.
If you’re a TracFone/Net10 CSR, please check the noise cancelling feature on your headset. Try calling between agents if you can. In my experience your english skills are just fine but the background noise is completely crazy.