Thursday, January 11, 2007

Why My Parents Use Tracfone

Why don't my parents use PagePlus or U Prepaid?

1. Neither have local nuimbers, and U Prepaid doesn't have local service, in my area. We're on an el cheapo landline so we need local numbers. And you can't port into PagePlus. On U Prepaid they'd have to double-dial, which they'd be hard-pressed to do.

2. Trac on VZW coverage is much better, in terms of cheap roaming, than PagePlus.In our area VZW isn't all that strong, so there might be some roaming neede every once in awhile, and nobody wants to pay a ton for roaming.

3. Due to my knowing how to work Tracfone's service, my mom and dad get cheap minutes on Tracfone. Or they can easily get them...it's their choice and PagePlus is neither ultra-cheap nor easy to get, comparatively.

4. PagePlus had no attractive phones until the Nokia 2366i. The Nokia 2126 is a great phone. 'nuff said.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tracfone is very convenient. That is one of the reasons I keep my father on one. At $10-11 per month tops (usually cheaper), it is cheap insurance in case of an accident or breakdown. BTW Ian, if they do not use many minutes, try code 57676 for an extra 30 to 90 days per card (no extra minutes, though). The code worked on the phone I tried it on, got an extra 60 days on it -- although my source stated that it may not work for everyone, he was not aware of the criteria for the code.

Anonymous said...

Tracfone does offer the best coverage, but there are cheaper options if you are in a Verizon or Alltel area.

The 90 day code is great, and I've used it for my in-laws refills, but since I'm in an Alltel area I'll be switching them to U Prepaid (no expiry, no fee w/ 1 call every 30 days).

BTW, did you forget about the Nokia 2128 for Page Plus?

Everyone seems to like the 2126 (Tracfone's version)