We have used our TrackFone in the USA for a couple of years now, no issues. We buy minutes and make sure we never run out, "cheap" there is a 1-800 number that we loaded in to our Fav Numbers so that when we call Canada we hit that Fav number and then it will ask / say, English press 1, Spanish press 2, we press 1, and then type in the number we want in Canada and away we go, No Problem. For People in Canada that want to phone us there is another 1-800 number the people in Canada to dial before they can call us. All the 1-800 numbers can’t be set up on the trackfone, you must use a land line. We have no issues with our TracFone and it is really CHEAP.
Here is a tip: when you buy a TracFone, get the one and only phone that has a small antenna like the old cell phones all had at one time. They have a greater distance and I can use mine in Canada within 50 miles of the USA boarder. Now this phone with the antenna doesn’t have all the bells and whistles, but it DOES have better range.
Soup
2006, Komfort 261FS
2007 Sierra SLE, 2500 HD / 4x4 / Duramax with a 6 speed Allison Transmission
Quite simply, I love it. Used Magicjack for one day while in an RV park in the US. Got so frustrated with that, that I went to Wally-World and tried the Tracfone and definitely don't regret it.
SideHillSoup wrote: We have used our TrackFone in the USA for a couple of years now, no issues. We buy minutes and make sure we never run out, "cheap" there is a 1-800 number that we loaded in to our Fav Numbers so that when we call Canada we hit that Fav number and then it will ask / say, English press 1, Spanish press 2, we press 1, and then type in the number we want in Canada and away we go, No Problem. For People in Canada that want to phone us there is another 1-800 number the people in Canada to dial before they can call us. All the 1-800 numbers can’t be set up on the trackfone, you must use a land line.
Soup
One other question for you Canadian Tracfone users; How can I send text messages to cell phones in Canada? Does having to use the 1-800 access number to be able to dial a Canadian phone mean I can't send text messages? I forgot to ask the Tracfone customer service people when I talked to them yesterday.
VeeDub
2006 Carriage Cameo LXI F35FD3
2006 Ford F350 Dually
re: texting to Canada. For what it's worth, we've done it several times and it's never been raised as an issue but it's not something we do that often.
There is an end date when you buy minutes. As matter of fact we will be heading down across the line to Walmart sometime between now and Feb 2013 to add more minutes to keep the phone active. I think we have over 250 minutes still un used. When our Kids head south they all use this same phone as well, so if one of the three of them don't go south of the line in the next 3 months we will go for a sort drive some Sunday and get the minutes and the new end date.
Soup
portliz wrote: How do you keep your Tracphone active from year to year or do you buy new each year?
We buy four 60 minute "cards" on-line on Tracfone's web site (about $80 in total) that gives us 360 (4 x 90 days) days of time. With double minutes on our phone and using promo codes (found on-line) we get over 700 minutes this way. Some just buy a new phone but we like keeping the same telephone number and our 1-800 numbers that are set up for calls to Canada.
We have added on-line time/minutes to our Tracfone while in Canada but since our GSM Tracfone does not get a signal here, the time/minutes were not added to the phone until the next time we crossed the border. The one time we did it this way, when we next entered the US and turned the phone on, we were prompted to enter several very long strings of codes into the phone before it would operate but that requirement may have just been a co-incidence and not related to our web purchase in Canada. The original time on our phone had not yet expired when we had next entered the US. Since, as I understand it, the time record is kept on the phone itself I don't know what happens if the time record on the phone expires before one next crosses into the US. Would just adding the time on the web site keep the phone alive or not if the phone cannot communicate with Tracfone's computers before the expiration date?
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