Cel telephone for a few months for a canadian

[greg0rn]

So, this is the time to fly again South for the winter. My trivial questions is:

- What is the best (and the cheapest) telephone system for a Canadian, while in the USA? We use home telephone while in Canada, and normally have no use for the cel, so therefore we do not have one. But on the road is another story. A couple of winters ago we purchased from Walmart a basic Track 10, or something like that. I'd prefer something with better voice quality, as my hearing is going down the drain. For international calls we use Skype (while connected to internet.)

Please advice. Thank you.

[Bumpyroad]

Gene&Ginny wrote:

Bumpyroad wrote:
...
aren't all Tracfones BYOP? all of mine I have just bought at walmart.
bumpy

Walmart sells Tracfone branded phones. BYOP is Bring Your Own Phone which in my case was my Verizon phone that was no longer on a 2 year contract. All the BYOP phones are treated as android phones and get 3x minutes, 3x texts, and 3x data, even the older flip phones like mine.

that would be great if I already had a smart phone and I could see if it would "transfer". wouldn't want to buy a phone and find out it wouldn't work.
bumpy

[Gene_Ginny]

Bumpyroad wrote:
...
aren't all Tracfones BYOP? all of mine I have just bought at walmart.
bumpy

Walmart sells Tracfone branded phones. BYOP is Bring Your Own Phone which in my case was my Verizon phone that was no longer on a 2 year contract. All the BYOP phones are treated as android phones and get 3x minutes, 3x texts, and 3x data, even the older flip phones like mine.

[stetwood]

We have a Tracfone for about 8 years. Mostly used for travel and long distance calls. It has a yearly 400 minute contract with double minutes(totals 800) the minutes carry over. After 1/3 year we still have almost 1400 minutes. This is for under $110. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CLQSJOO?psc=1&smid=A2HKYN5UVU9082 Do check the details, I did not.

[Bumpyroad]

Gene&Ginny wrote:
To add another side note to the Tracfone 1 year thing: Tracfone has an online only offer of 30 minutes for 30 days for $9.99. When you start to check out they offer to add 1 year for $49. My BYOP gets triple minutes so it is 90 minutes for 1 year and 30 days for $60.

My wife and I were doing the 90 day plans but we don't use many minutes so we used that to add a year to our service. For someone that visits the USA yearly that is a low price way to keep a number from year to year.

aren't all Tracfones BYOP? all of mine I have just bought at walmart.
bumpy

[Gene_Ginny]

To add another side note to the Tracfone 1 year thing: Tracfone has an online only offer of 30 minutes for 30 days for $9.99. When you start to check out they offer to add 1 year for $49. My BYOP gets triple minutes so it is 90 minutes for 1 year and 30 days for $60.

My wife and I were doing the 90 day plans but we don't use many minutes so we used that to add a year to our service. For someone that visits the USA yearly that is a low price way to keep a number from year to year.

[John___Angela]

We cross the border, go to nearest A T and T and get unlimited north american calling and 6 Gig worth of data for 60 bucks. Covers all our phone and internet needs as use the phones hotspot for internet.

[BarneyS]

Bumpy,
She pays $99/year and it renews automatically. She has had that for several years. Her double minutes still apply and the unused minutes roll over. I just went to the Tracfone website and did not see the auto renewal for that plan. Looks like they may have changed it.
I did not have to tell them to carry over her unused minutes to the new phone when I put my old phone on her account via the BYOP process.
Barney

Edit: Bumpy, I am sorry but I gave you some bum information. I just got off the Tracfone website for my wifes phone and she is on the 60 minute, 90 day auto refill program - not the yearly program. She pays $17.99 every three months for her 60 minutes which is billed automatically to our credit card. She never uses all of those 60 minutes as most of our calls are done with my unlimited phone and we don't have to worry about the time running out and losing her number, so this works well for her.
Barney

[Bumpyroad]

BarneyS wrote:

My wife has been with Tracphone on Verizon for quite a few years. She purchases a yearly plan with auto renewal so doesn't have to worry about losing her number and the minutes roll over.
b
Barney

on that automatic renewal does she still get double/triple minutes? what does she pay a year? is it the same as the yearly card for under $100? if so that sounds like I should switch from my service retention plan.
I found out that when you switch phones for your service, you have to remind them/insist that your minutes get transferred. I think I had about 1800 minutes when I switched and they dropped them. I fussed a bit and got them back.
bumpy

[Jack_Diane_Free]

We have had excellent success with Tracfone while wintering in Florida. Tracfone also has a toll free 1-800 number to call back to Canada that also works very well.

[BarneyS]

usersmanual wrote:

greg0rn wrote:
So, this is the time to fly again South for the winter. My trivial questions is:

- What is the best (and the cheapest) telephone system for a Canadian, while in the USA? We use home telephone while in Canada, and normally have no use for the cel, so therefore we do not have one. But on the road is another story. A couple of winters ago we purchased from Walmart a basic Track 10, or something like that. I'd prefer something with better voice quality, as my hearing is going down the drain. For international calls we use Skype (while connected to internet.)

Please advice. Thank you.

trac phone is cheap- the one problem is if you don't buy minutes after a certain time limit because u have lots left the phone goes dead and you lose

My wife has been with Tracphone on Verizon for quite a few years. She purchases a yearly plan with auto renewal so doesn't have to worry about losing her number and the minutes roll over.

She uses one of my old Verizon cell phones that has been converted to the Tracphone network through their "Bring Your Own Phone" plan. I did the whole thing online very easily. Works just about everywhere we travel and is loud enough for her to hear (hard of hearing also).
Barney

[Heisenberg]

Republic Wireless, their new phones use TMobile. They automatically grab wifi when it is available.

[bob_nestor]

ralphnjoann wrote:

Gene&Ginny wrote:

ReadyToGo wrote:
Most important look at what cell service the brand uses. For me, Verizon has the best coverage.

A side note: Tracfone with Verizon service does not roam. There are many places, like Acadia Maine, that I can't use my Verizon Tracfone. I also have a smartphone using Tracfone AT&T service and it works where the Verizon one does not work.

Same here. My wife carries an ATT Tracfone and mine is a Verizon so we are seldom without coverage.

Almost all pre-paid cell phone plans restrict the user to the parent company's network, i.e. they don't roam. I've tried most of them over the years. The only one that I found which does roam, and even roams in Canada, is T-Mobile. It's a little hard to find on their Web site, but they have a $35/mo plan that is no-contract with unlimited text/data and 100 minutes. With roaming it's not a bad plan (at least for me). If you have a compatible LTE phone it should also roam on Verizon and Sprint.

[ralphnjoann]

Gene&Ginny wrote:

ReadyToGo wrote:
Most important look at what cell service the brand uses. For me, Verizon has the best coverage.

A side note: Tracfone with Verizon service does not roam. There are many places, like Acadia Maine, that I can't use my Verizon Tracfone. I also have a smartphone using Tracfone AT&T service and it works where the Verizon one does not work.

Same here. My wife carries an ATT Tracfone and mine is a Verizon so we are seldom without coverage.

[Bumpyroad]

Gene&Ginny wrote:

ReadyToGo wrote:
Most important look at what cell service the brand uses. For me, Verizon has the best coverage.

A side note: Tracfone with Verizon service does not roam. There are many places, like Acadia Maine, that I can't use my Verizon Tracfone. I also have a smartphone using Tracfone AT&T service and it works where the Verizon one does not work.

at my house in VA, NO cell phones will work.
bumpy