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Gdetrailer's avatar
Gdetrailer
Explorer III
Jul 10, 2019

Tracfone users on ATT Towers Pay attention

Public Service Announcement..

Somewhere along the way in the last yr or so, Tracfone has dropped support for ATT cell Towers for NEW USERS AND CURRENT USERS who change phones (upgrade/replacement) or need a new SIM card.

ATT Customers who are on the fence thinking of MOVING to Tracfone, you BETTER do some homework to see if there is any Verizon towers near you that will work.

About a yr ago my DW was having issues with a older Trac smart phone ( where she works the ONLY service she can get is from a ATT tower, the Verizon tower stops short 2 miles from here work) so the next Trac smart phone we could not determine if it was ATT or Verizon.

Turned out it was Verizon and didn't work..

Tried another another smart phone, didn't work.

Tried Trac support, sent another SIM card, that didn't work.

We questioned Trac support about ATT towers but they would not give a straight answer, always attempting to sidestep the question.

That phone barely worked at our home and had no service between our home and the next city 18 miles away..

Fast forward to this last weekend.. I got caught in a heavy rainstorm and was drenched, unfortunately my working Trac phone which was using ATT ended up getting damaged in the process of that rain storm :M

This caused a real quandary on our part.. I don't use my phone much (1 yr cards for $100 worked great for me) but I commute 500 miles a week, going without a phone for the distance isn't a good option..

DW uses a lot of talk and texts..

Now with two wonky Tracfones and zero ATT tower support from Trac and no other options to get ATT towers other than going to ATT :S

Yeah, unfortunately we were forced to dropping our lower cost Trac service and become ATT customers.. To the tune of $70 a month for the cheapest option available that has data :E

So, Trac users using ATT towers consider yourself warned!

On edit, this also will apply to Net10, Walmarts prepaid phone and even the free low income phones that are in reality operated by Tracfone!
  • waynefi's avatar
    waynefi
    Explorer
    Jul 14, 2019
    This does explain something. DW and I both have Tracfones, Both are Motorola phones that we bought unlocked. Hers is newer than mine.

    There are many places where I have a signal and she does not.
  • Gdetrailer's avatar
    Gdetrailer
    Explorer III
    Jul 13, 2019
    FlatBroke wrote:
    Had Tracfone for years, never new they were any thing but Verizon.
    Taken from Google: However, Verizon devices will not work with Sprint services and vice versa. GSM Technology: AT&T and T-mobile both run off GSM technology. Unlike CDMA, GSM carriers are compatible with one another. An AT&T phone will work on T-Mobile services.

    Verizon is GDMA, AT&T is GSM.


    Umm.. Motorola says you are wrong..

    HERE

    Most if not all cell phones manufactured in the last 4-5 yrs ARE compatible with both GSM AND CDMA even though you may find other info which says not.

    The trick is to either have the carrier UNLOCK the phone (IE out of contract the carrier can unlock the phone) or you can buy a new unlocked phone. When unlocked, the phone now can use either network and that is selected via the SIM card.

    That is how and why the BYOP (Bring You Own Phone)is possible between different carries like Verizon, ATT and Trac. It is also why and how a Trac phone could operate on ATT or Verizon, Trac selects the carrier tower preference via the SIM card.

    I HAVE been down that road with Trac, tried an unlocked phone on Trac, we did get it running on ATT towers, however Trac did not do the required follow up with the phone vendor (IE report the identification number as active) and bricked the phone (I was able to return the phone to the vendor since it was within the return window). After Trac bricked the phone, they claimed we did not have service in my area..

    Couldn't figure out why they kept claiming we had no service since we HAVE been using Trac for better part of 10 yrs in our area!

    Yeah, the loss of ATT agreements makes PERFECT sense that they would no longer service my area since Verizon only has one tower within 10 miles of my home..

    Also makes sense that we were having difficult time even finding Tracfones in our local stores, no service=no sales and no sales the stores won't make any profits on non moving inventory..

    If you are not in a rural area that is only serviced with one service, you will not understand the implications of this change..
  • Dutch_12078's avatar
    Dutch_12078
    Explorer II
    Jul 13, 2019
    FlatBroke wrote:
    Had Tracfone for years, never new they were any thing but Verizon.
    Taken from Google: However, Verizon devices will not work with Sprint services and vice versa. GSM Technology: AT&T and T-mobile both run off GSM technology. Unlike CDMA, GSM carriers are compatible with one another. An AT&T phone will work on T-Mobile services.

    Verizon is GDMA, AT&T is GSM.


    Verizon is shutting down CDMA support:

    "A recent memo went out to Verizon’s distribution confirming that CDMA only devices will not work after December 31, 2019. After that date, (Jan. 1, 2020) all devices must be VoLTE and HD voice capable."

    Verizon Wireless To End Support For CDMA Only Devices
  • FlatBroke's avatar
    FlatBroke
    Explorer II
    Jul 12, 2019
    Had Tracfone for years, never new they were any thing but Verizon.
    Taken from Google: However, Verizon devices will not work with Sprint services and vice versa. GSM Technology: AT&T and T-mobile both run off GSM technology. Unlike CDMA, GSM carriers are compatible with one another. An AT&T phone will work on T-Mobile services.

    Verizon is GDMA, AT&T is GSM.
  • Gdetrailer's avatar
    Gdetrailer
    Explorer III
    Jul 12, 2019
    GordonThree wrote:
    Something else to look at if ATT is your preferred tower choice... Google FI. An MVNO using ATT, Sprint and T-Mobile towers. A few friends at work have it, they indicate being happy with the coverage, and this is a rural area.


    Umm, yeah right..

    NO not happening, absolutely NO Sprint OR T-mobile towers/service at my home or DWs company which is only 8 miles from our home.

    You see there IS websites that SHOW where the towers are and who owns the towers and what services are on the towers (just do a search using "cell towers near me" and you will find lots of websites which map out the towers). Pretty much do not need to guess, if there is no tower within 4-5 miles of your location depending on the terrain then your area has no service.

    You must be within line of sight of towers.. DWs company happens to be on the backside of a pretty high hillside from Verizons and ATTs towers, but ATTs tower happens to be only 2 miles from her company and thus gets good signal from ATT.

    And Gorden for your first question you could have done a quick search using "tracfone and att" in the search and find information that corroborates my first post in this thread..

    HERE is one of the results from my search which dates back to Jan 25, 2013..

    "In a situation that has been developing since early this afternoon, Tracfone has begun removing references to AT&T in its BYOD service pages and related products, which include SIM cards and APN settings, potentially signalling the end of Tracfone’s network agreement with the carrier.

    Currently the only options offered for BYOD SIM cards available via Net10, Telecel America and StraightTalk are powered by T-Mobile and AT&T SIM card options have been removed from sale along with any explicit references to the carrier. In fact, those customers in markets that are not even served by T-Mobile are being served up order pages for T-Mobile SIM cards with no option for AT&T SIMs being available as an alternative.

    As far as Tracfone-branded devices are concerned, AT&T-powered devices are still being offered for the time being, but smartphones are randomly appearing and disappearing from product sale listings, again suggesting that Tracfone has suddenly lost the right to offer service via AT&T with other options being unaffected. Currently, the removal is affecting all of Tracfone’s brands with no word on whether the removal is temporary and the result of a system malfunction, lack of stock, as is being speculated, or is indeed a permanent change.

    As AT&T service formed the backbone for the majority of Tracfone’s offerings through Net10 and StraightTalk over the past 24 months, the potential loss of AT&T as a service offering deals a big blow to both Tracfone-branded devices powered by AT&T and the BYOD program as well as to those looking to purchase AT&T-powered smart devices, as many feature pre-installed SIM cards which can be used on other devices.

    What is also not known at this time is whether those that already have AT&T powered devices and SIM cards will have their service negatively impacted, as the elimination of AT&T from sales pages is leading many to come to the conclusion that Tracfone will not be able to continue offering service to those with devices and SIM cards that are already activated. As representatives for Tracfone are known for being guarded and secretive, the chances of receiving a statement are slim to none, though this situation certainly merits a public statement of some sort.

    As this story is developing, more updates will be filed as more information is received and confirmed. As an alternative for the time being, StraightTalk AT&T SIM cards are still being sold through Walmart online pending available stock, with some locations carrying BYOD kits with AT&T SIM cards as well."

    Granted that was back in 2013 that they started drop ATT towers, it has taken some time to thin out all of the inventory of phones which had ATT SIMs.

    You can NO LONGER BY TRACFONES WITH ATT SIMS, PERIOD unless it extremely "NOS" (New Old Stock) and I can assure you you do not want those phones, they will be Android 7 or lower..

    You can NO LONGER REQUEST ATT SIMS FROM TRAC SUPPORT, NOT HAPPENING.

    You cannot "trade" Trac SIMs, they are locked to the phone they were activated on (we tried that also) so don't bother giving me that line either.

    Just trying to warn folks so they are not blind sided when they buy a new Tracfone and were using ATT towers that their coverage may change..
  • GordonThree's avatar
    GordonThree
    Explorer
    Jul 11, 2019
    Something else to look at if ATT is your preferred tower choice... Google FI. An MVNO using ATT, Sprint and T-Mobile towers. A few friends at work have it, they indicate being happy with the coverage, and this is a rural area.
  • Gdetrailer's avatar
    Gdetrailer
    Explorer III
    Jul 11, 2019
    GordonThree wrote:
    Do you have any source links to share?


    No "direct" links.

    BUT, it is not a "coincidence" that you no longer can find ANY mention of Tracfone using ATTs tower networks on their website.

    Totally devoid of ANY ATT references. Trac USED to tout the fact that they were able to use not just Verizon but also ATT towers as a reason to use their service..

    You also USED to be able to call AND request SIMs SPECIFICALLY for ATT towers, now, nothing, they are not even willing to say IF it will work.

    And interestingly enough, ATT was not able to port our Trac phone numbers. Ohh they did try, but they did tell us that they are not having much success..

    Additionally, my DWs Tracfone WOULD REGISTER FULL SCALE LTE SIGNAL at her work, but yet, the Tracfone WAS DEAD, would not dial would not receive, NOTHING. Coincidence, I think not.

    The phone that we DIRECTLY bought from ATT with ATTs service NOW WORKS at her work place.. Coincidence, I think not.

    The service directly from ATT also gave us back the service that she lost when she changed phones on Trac between our home and the nearest city..

    Coincidence, I think not.

    Keep in mind, I am not happy to pay $70 per month for 2 phones, that is $840 per yr vs $100 for my phone and $300 per yr for DW.. I would not have taken the step to move to ATT unless I was in dire straights..
  • Lwiddis's avatar
    Lwiddis
    Explorer II
    Jul 11, 2019
    Yes, please provide some backup for these issues/problems/changes.

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