Question:

If I have a current plan with T-Mobile that is costing me 26-27 a month, will a TracFone save me money?
I just don't like the idea of the cards expiring and having to get new ones all the time, can someone let me know what the process entails?

Answers:

A-Best: Tmobile will have longer expiration times if you buy the larger amount dollar cards. A $100 card will automatically last you one year. If you buy the cheapest cards, it will generally only give you one month and the per cost of the minutes will be higher. Both the cheapest $10 Tracfone and Tmobile cards will get you only 30 minutes or cost you 33 cents a minute , which is expensive in this day and time. Tracfone gives you 45 days expiry time on their $10 card vs Tmobile's 30 days. Tracfone has these following pros and cons. Pros: Dmfl: Double minutes for life. If you get a phone with this, you automatically double the value of your minutes. A 200 minute card becomes worth 400. Promo codes. Even more free bonus minutes. You can use these to get you like another 60 minutes on top of the 200 extra you get with a Dmfl phone or phone w/ dmfl card. A 200 minute card can end up being worth 460 for example if you combine this. Promo codes do not work on the $10 card, only dmfl. Best coverage. Tmobile is only one network. Tracfone uses up to 30 networks all over the country as they buy airtime from everyone. They have even better coverage then Verizon overall. For coverage, no one beats Tracfone. International calling. If you sign up for their int'l plan, (it is free), you can call over 60 countries at no additional charge to regular airtime. Mostly landlines though. Some countries like China , India, you can call cell phones. Most airtime cards have 90 day expiration times except for the cheapest card. You don't have to topup for three months. Cheap phones. Along with Virgin Mobile, Tracfone is the home of the $10 new phone. But be aware that the cheapest models often don't have the dmfl feature with it. Cons. Phone selection is somewhat basic and limited. No qwerty keyboards or touch screen here. No real internet. Tracfone is only for talk/text really. Their idea of web is similar to Tmobile Tzones. Just a place to check for sports, news , weather and buy ringtones. No Facebook, you tube, Myspace, etc. If you lose the phone, good luck recovering your mintues. They put the records on the phone. Their database is limited and to recover lost minutes, you better have ALL of the records, original phone serial number, topup cards still with you , receipts. It is a hassle. The burden of proof is on the user. And it is a BIG burden. Customer service is minimal. Especially tech support. Their idea of tech support is master reset or buy a new phone. Whether Tracfone will save you money over Tmobile really depends on your use. You did not say if you made intl calls, used internet, if you are a heavy texter or what. It really depends on your usage. For light to medium use, I would say Tracfone and Tmobile for general overall use would be similar with Tracfone having longer overall expiration times as an advantage. Net10, which has the same coverage as Tracfone but slightly more expensive phones is a good compromise between Tmobile and Tracfone. They are 10 cents a minute ALL the time. And their minutes always last at least as long as 60 days. So their minutes are the same price no matter how many or little you buy. So you can save money buying their smaller cards vs Tmobile or Tracfone. You don't need tricks or promo codes to get lower prices. Intl calling is just 5 cents a minute extra, flat rate and their 60 day expiration time is less then Tracfone but more then Tmobile (small to medium sized cards). Net10 also has a one year card. All one year cards are at least $100 though no matter who you buy it from. You CANNOT however put a Tracfone or Net10 sim in an unlocked Tmobile phone because of the way they modified their sims. There are other services that give you much longer expiration times. Air Voice Gsm is little known but if you buy a $50 airtime card , they will give you a six month expiration time at 10 cents a minute. They run on the Att network. You have to go online to order them. The good thing is that you can keep your current phone, unlock it and put an Air Voice sim in and it will work. No web though. STI mobile has minutes that last FOREVER. No expiration date. You do have to use the phone a minute or so every month to keep your account active though. Their biggest drawbacks is limited phone selection. And you can't use phones from other networks on their network even though they run on Sprint (I asked already if Sprint phones can be used on their network, No.) For heavy texters, I would recommend Att prepaid, Verizon prepaid or Virgin Mobile. They all have unlimited messaging plans for $20. Monthly expiration though. All three also have web options. They vary widely in price with Verizon having the best deal: $1 unlimited per day use. Virgin mobile charges $1.20 a meg. Att gives you 100 megs for $20 but has rollover on unused megs, no one else does that. Their one meg rate is a ripoff though at $5. Absolutely the worst in the business. It really depends on your own personal use and what company has the best match for you.  

A: You would spend about the same i mean seriously spending minutes per text/call . MY friend had one of those she hated it . Well best of luck :)