Net10 & TracFone Discount Codes and other miscellaneous news

TracFone and Net10 Promotional Discount Codes

First, I think it’s worth a reminder that the discount codes for both TracFone and Net10 are still working. These codes debuted in mid-2008, and were expected to expire within a few months. However, they are still active, each offering $3 off your order of phones, regardless of the total price. This can make for some pretty nice deals, particularly with the Net10 version, where you can get 600 minutes for $22. For more details on the TracFone Promotional Discount Code, click here. (Although, the free accessory kit is no longer being offered). And, if you are looking for the Net10 Discount Code, click here.

Bluetooth Adapter

If you happen to be searching for a bluetooth adapter for use with your LG 600g or, perhaps, a future bluetooth-enabled-and-unrestricted TracFone, you might want to check out this deal. I happen to like buy.com quite a lot, and the price on this device is just $6.99 with free shipping. I haven’t used this device personally, but did read the reviews at Amazon.com. There, the overall rating was 3 stars (out of 5), but the negative reviews were kind of silly in my opinion. One person rated it just 1 star because it’s not Mac compatible, and another user gave it 2 stars because he smashed it when charging his laptop with the device still attached to the USB port. Anyway, if you’re looking to add bluetooth functionality to your computer, this is an inexpensive option.

Universal Phone Chargers Coming (not so) Soon

If you’ve been following my reviews, one of the things that I like about the recent Motorolas and dislike about the LG phones has been the presence or lack of a charger with a port that works for a variety of phones. For example, the charger for the w376g will work for the w175, w260, w370, many Moto bluetooth headsets, and a variety of other Motorola products. Last week a formal agreement was announced that will encourage many major phone manufacturers to adopt a standard adapter, so that the chargers will be interchangeable. While it doesn’t take effect until 2012, it will have several postive effects, including reducing the envrionmental waste of throwing out old chargers with each new phone purchase, and the hassle and expense consumers face when each phone upgrade requires new accessories. Here’s an excerpt from the article I read about it:

“Under the scheme, phone makers have pledged that a majority of new handset models will include the universal charger by January 1 2012. The planned device will use a micro USB plug.

Aside from bringing relief to drawers stuffed full of redundant chargers, the GSMA stressed that the new device would reduce raw materials.”

If you want to read the rest of the article from CNN, you an find it here, or google “universal phone charger” for more news. It’s still a long way off, but hopefully it’s something that will make all our lives easier.

More V170’s on Clearance

I was at my local Shopko yesterday and noticed that there remaining stock of TracFone Motorola V170’s were marked at a clearance price of $6.24. I don’t know if this is national, but if you want this phone it might be worth a look. A better deal, though, is to get the phone free when you pay regular price for a 60 minute card, as I explained in a previous post HERE. The free accessory kit is no longer being offered, but you can still use the promo code to save $3.

TracFone Poll Results

Poll Results

Okay, as promised, I’m back with a recap of the poll questions from last week. I was amazed by the number of people that took the time to answer the questions – THANK YOU! – and a little surprised by some of the answers.

First, I was surprised that a whopping 97% of you would recommend TracFone to others. I’m a big fan of TracFone, but I didn’t expect that high of a percentage even from readers of a blog devoted to TracFone. I guess that explains why people have stuck with TracFone for so long – nearly two-thirds of those surveyed have been using TracFone for over two years, and another 21% have been on board for between six months and two years.

Over half of you (57%) use less than 50 minutes per month, and another 31% use 50-150 minutes. This makes sense to me, as I think that TracFone is best suited for people that use 150 minutes or less per month, although it certainly can be a bargain at higher usage levels.

The really surprising result, at least for me, is that almost half of you who completed the survey use one of the new bluetooth phones. When you take this in combination with the fact that most of you have been using TracFone for over two years, it means that the “average” reader of this blog has recently upgraded his or her phone. While my survey is certainly far from scientific, I think this proves that TracFone users may be wise consumers, but we’re not afraid to spend the money on a new device when it offers a feature that we want.

Anyway, I’ve really enjoyed viewing the results of the poll questions as they’ve come in over the past week, and I’ll try to do something like this again in the future. Please feel free to make any observations about the results of the poll in the comments section of this post.

The Advantages of TracFone Wireless

I also wanted to introduce the rough draft of an article I’ve written in an effort to help show non-TracFone users why they should consider switching. My goal is to help people save money and answer as many of their questions as possible when starting up their new phone service. You may find the DRAFT version of the article by clicking on the following link: The Advantages of TracFone Wireless. I would really appreciate it if you could read through the article and, in the comments section on that page, suggest topics that I didn’t cover well or areas for improvement. Thanks!

Motorola ROKR EM326G Rumors, Other Important Tidbits

Motorola EM326G for TracFone, Net10?

Last week I announced the new line of Samsung handsets to be released for TracFone (I should also point out that it appears as though they will be available on Net10 as well). All of those phones are showing up on both the TracFone and Net10 websites, though are not yet available for sale.

Well, now I have a rather unsubstantiated rumor. This actually came to my attention last month, but I haven’t written about publicly because I couldn’t find any evidence of the phone on either the TracFone or Net10 websites. But, after a couple of readers have asked me about it recently, I’ve decided that the rumors must be circulating widely enough that I should mention it here.

The Motorola EM326G is a new slider phone that looks like it features a music player and will be released at least as a Net10 handset, and probably TracFone as well. So far, I’ve only seen references to Motorola’s announcement of the phone, but nothing official from TracFone. However, on another blog, the pictures released by Motorola show the “Net10″ logo on the back of the phone, as well as a shot of the screen showing an airtime balance display. So it looks like we’ll have yet another prepaid option, and if it does indeed include a music player, I’m sure that many TracFone and Net10 users will be strongly considering an upgrade.

Rest assured that as soon as this phone is released, I’ll get my hands on it to review for this site. For now, though, you’ll have to be content with a few pictures of the phone as well as some speculation as to what features it might include, as shown by the authors of another blog. Click here to find that post.

 

Changes to the Email Updates

The service that I use to send out updates by email is changing over and the update emails may look a little different after this one. So if you get my new blog posts by email and suddenly stop receiving them the updates, please first check your spam folder to see if they ended up being classified as junk. If you still can’t find any updates from me, come back to this site for instructions on how to get back on the list.

FYI, I will plan on writing another post 2-3 days after this one goes up, and that new post will be sent out by the new feed management service. So if you don’t get a second update email by the end of this week, come on back to pbush14.wordpress.com and look for the email signup link near the top-right corner of the page for more information. And, the site itself will NOT be affected by the change – just the email updates.

 

Turning off the web browser

Users of both the LG 600G and the Motorola w376g have reported problems with accidentally starting the web browsers of those phones, which then results in losing minutes. There are a couple of options for working around this problem, but the quickest, most effective solution seems to be simply closing the phone if the browser is accidentally started. That will terminate the browser application, and is easier to remember than fumbling around for the “Exit” menu option. This has been mentioned previously in the comments, but I thought I’d include it now in a post for those that don’t always read the comments.

 

New post coming soon – Why Switch to TracFone

Finally, as I mentioned earlier, I will have another post coming out this week. In that post, I’ll review the results of the poll questions from last week and present, for your review and critiques, a draft of my article on why I think many wireless phone users should consider switching to TracFone. So, stay tuned.

TracFone to Offer New Samsung Models – T301G, T201G, T101G

[Edit 4/5/09: I've now purchased all three of these models, and I've put up a page to organize my reviews as I have time to get them published. Check out the following links for detailed pictures and reviews:

Samsung T101G Review.

Samsung T201G Review.

Samsung T301G Review.

New Handsets coming soon?

It looks like TracFone will soon offer several new GSM models, from a manufacturer that has not previously produced handsets for TracFone. Not much info is available at this time, but starting a few weeks ago TracFone's coverage map showed three Samsung model numbers under the available phones. Now, those phones are also showing up in the "Activate Phones" section of the website, and this time there are pictures available too.

I haven't heard anything about what features will be available on any of these models, and I won't try to speculate at this point. But I can tell by looking at the pictures that the Samsung T101G is a candy bar-style phone, the T201G is a flip phone, and the T301G appears to offer a slider design, which would be a first for TracFone.

I haven't heard any official word on when they will be released, but I do plan to buy at least one, if not all three, when they become available and of course I'll then post detailed reviews here. For now, though, you'll have to settle for looking at the rather small pictures from TracFone's website, which I've included at the end of this post.

Before I share the pictures, though, I do have a request of you. I guess that I'm kind of an "evangelist" for TracFone, because I believe that many people could save a lot of money if they dumped their expensive wireless contracts and switched to TracFone's pay-as-you-go model. And in the current economic situation, many people need to find new ways to save money. I think I can help by explaining TracFone to people who've never considered it. But before I do that, I thought I'd ask for your input. If possible, please answer the following questions to help me figure out what people are looking for. In a few days, I'll get to work on writing an article that will help explain to people why TracFone service is a smart choice, and I'll incorporate your feedback in the process.

Here are my questions:

Finally, here are the pictures I promised. Keep in mind that I’ll do my best to review these new models here on this blog as soon as they are available:

Samsung T101G for TracFone

Samsung T201G for TracFone

Samsung T301G for TracFone

Get Free Shipping and a Free TracFone Accessory Pack

Available on all phone orders of $29.99 or more from TracFone.com

Over the past several years, TracFone has established a tradition of offering some sort of promotion during the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day. This year, they are including a free universal accessory kit with any phone orders of $29.99. They are also still offering free shipping, AND promotional code 23444 is stil valid for $3 off your order. Add up these three offers, and it’s a pretty good value if you are looking for a new phone or a free phone with an airtime card.

To find this offer in your area, CLICK HERE and enter your zip code. You’ll notice a banner advertising the free shipping and accessory kit at the top of the screen.

I actually unwittingly took advantage of this deal myself last week, so I have to laugh at myself. I had ordered a couple of the K126 phone + 120 minute card bundles for $29.99 each (which are available in certain zip codes such as 57472), prior to learning about the free accessory kit. When the shipment arrived from TracFone, I was surprised to find two accessory kits in the box. I had used 23444 to save $3, so for a total of $56.98 plus tax, I got two brand new Kyocera K126c phones, two 120 minute cards, and two accessory kits delivered to my door.

I was very pleased with this deal as it ended up being cheaper than those 120 minute cards alone would have cost anywhere else, and I never had to leave my house to get them. So even if you don’t necessarily need the phones, but can use an accessory kit and an airtime card, this is a pretty good deal.