BYOP on the tracfone plan?

[ProudGrandma]

Has anybody here been successful bringing their own phone and using it as a tracfone?  I tried about a year ago...and had so much trouble, I ended up buying a lesser phone that was already a "tracfone"....

 

So I was curious if anybody here has actually successfully done this?

 

Pros and cons to this option?

 

thanks.

[Rebel Yell]

Yes, we currently have two. We bought refurbished iPhones. One was older DDs former phone, formerly used as an ATT GoPhone. The second was bought specifically to replace my older Tracfone.

 

You just have to make very very sure your new phone is compatible.

 

We still but the regular minutes cards, not the smartphone cards. It divides the "minutes" up by a small amount of data, talk, and text. I prefer that, since we need very little data. The smart phone cards end up costing us more. Plus we can buy 1000texts for $5.

 

We have had no problems. What kind of problems were you having?

[MegP]

No, but we bought tracfones on Amazon for about $90-100. Then we pay about $10 a month per phone. Love it! 

[gardenmom5]

dss use ting.com.  they have a wide assortment of phones that are compatible.  if your phone is sprint or t-mobile,it's likely compatible.

[Amy in NH]

Yes. We have a bunch of Galaxy S5s, and an iPhone. Some of the setup was a pain when moving around multiple accounts, but they all work great.

[Alice]

Yes, we have two iPhones that are on Tracfone, one for dh and one for the kids. They were both Verizon phones previously. 

[ProudGrandma]

The problem I had was that they simply didn't work.  I contacted tracfone and was told they would work...but they didn't.  I tried it twice before giving up.  Please tell me how to know if a phone is compatible and how you made it a tracfone?  Did you buy the little kit in the store?  did you get a SIM card from tracfone?  what did you do?

 

I am assuming this will give me more options than the phones available for my zipcode than the website gives me.

 

thanks for your help!!

 

now that I think more about it...I bought unlocked phones that were supposed to work...but I don't know if that information was helpful or not.

 

 

Edited April 22, 2017 by NEprairiemom

[ProudGrandma]

Yes. We have a bunch of Galaxy S5s, and an iPhone. Some of the setup was a pain when moving around multiple accounts, but they all work great.

I was looking at a Galaxy S5 on the tracfone website...but it's $300.  Maybe that isn't a lot for some people, but for me it is...and especially if it's only going to last a year before starting to give me trouble.

 

is there a cheaper place to buy this? and how trying will it be to make it a tracfone?

[Lucy the Valiant]

Yes, I run an older model iPhone on Tracfone for about $5-10 / month - LOVE it!

 

For me, the trick was to research on Tracfone's website extensively; in my area, the phone HAD to be previously a Verizon phone.

[ProudGrandma]

I can't seem to find much out on the website....please tell me how you found out that it had to be a verizon for you?  I would love to know what other phones besides the ones they list would actually work for me. 

 

 

[Rebel Yell]

We bought our phone from Mac of All Trades.

 

Go here https://www.tracfone.com/activation/coveragecheck?lang=en

It should say at the top of the page "Which carrier is your phone compatible with?" And look for the small print on the top right that says "How do I find my carrier?"

 

That should walk you through it.

 

I do know that if you go to Walmart and buy a $25 phone on clearance, and the MODEL is compatible, but it is branded specifically for TMobile, it won't work. Ask me how I know this. :(

 

You might need to buy a new SIM card.

[ProudGrandma]

I did that....the first suggestion was to reboot the phone and the carrier might show up on the phone...so I did that...no carrier.  so the next thing said to figure out if it's GSM or CDMA....well, I think I figured out that it is CDMA....but I have no idea what that means.  So that isn't any help.  And the manual isn't any help either.

 

So, assuming that it is CDMA....what does that mean?

[Amy in NH]

I was looking at a Galaxy S5 on the tracfone website...but it's $300.  Maybe that isn't a lot for some people, but for me it is...and especially if it's only going to last a year before starting to give me trouble.

 

is there a cheaper place to buy this? and how trying will it be to make it a tracfone?

 

We got ours refurbished for about $180-200 each on ebay or Amazon.  We saved up and purchased them one at a time over the course of a year.

 

I did that....the first suggestion was to reboot the phone and the carrier might show up on the phone...so I did that...no carrier.  so the next thing said to figure out if it's GSM or CDMA....well, I think I figured out that it is CDMA....but I have no idea what that means.  So that isn't any help.  And the manual isn't any help either.

 

So, assuming that it is CDMA....what does that mean?

 

CDMA and GSM are two different cell phone networks.  You can see the coverage maps for Tracfone on the two different networks on this webpage.

 

If you want the CDMA network, you need to get an unlocked Verizon-compatible phone.  You also need to purchase a SIM card from tracfone to connect the phone to the network.  The BYOP packages locally available (at Walmart for instance) have recently changed, and the SIM won't fit in the Galaxy S5.  Call Tracfone customer service to have them send you the proper SIM.

[Amy in NH]

I did that....the first suggestion was to reboot the phone and the carrier might show up on the phone...so I did that...no carrier.  so the next thing said to figure out if it's GSM or CDMA....well, I think I figured out that it is CDMA....but I have no idea what that means.  So that isn't any help.  And the manual isn't any help either.

 

So, assuming that it is CDMA....what does that mean?

 

Some new phones have a built in service-contract requirement before you can use them on whatever carrier you choose.  For instance, this winter I tried to by a Galaxy J5 (?) on the Verizon network from Walmart.  My plan had been to switch out the SIM and use it with our Tracfone account.  It turned out that the phone serial number is connected to Verizon until you have completed a 1-year service contract with Verizon, so I couldn't use it.  Apparently they discount the price of the phone and make up the difference in the cost of the service plan.  No thanks.  I returned it and bought a refurbished unlocked S5.

Edited April 23, 2017 by Amy in NH

[LucyStoner]

We set up a hand-me-down iPhone as a Tracfone for my son with no trouble, but we weren't porting a number or anything.  Popped in the sim and good to go.  Previously the phone had been my husband's on AT&T.  

[Amy in NH]

The thing I like about the S5 SM-G900V is that it has a slot for the CDMA SIM, and will also work on the GSM (no SIM) network if you get a card for that instead.

 

I also like the fact that you can replace the battery when it stops holding charge.

 

Also, the charge port cover makes it waterproof.

Edited April 23, 2017 by Amy in NH

[ProudGrandma]

I found on my phone under Mobile networks and then under network mode...it says, preferred network mode: CDMA/EvDo  

 

does that mean it's a CDMA phone...or not?

 

But I still don't know if that indicates what service provider my phone hooks to.

 

this whole thing is confusing me now.

[Amy in NH]

I found on my phone under Mobile networks and then under network mode...it says, preferred network mode: CDMA/EvDo  

 

does that mean it's a CDMA phone...or not?

 

But I still don't know if that indicates what service provider my phone hooks to.

 

this whole thing is confusing me now.

 

It does seem to be.  Have you tried looking it up on the Tracfone BYOP page?