tracfone - anyone use this prepaid wireless service?

Hi all,

I'll be in DC for a couple of weeks (Jan 27 demo!) and my cell phone doesn't work in the US. So I started looking around at options and see Tracfone prepaid service. Looks like a decent option. Anyone use this?

I see I can either buy one of their phones online or at a retailer in DC. Probably go the retailer route, even though I assume this will give me fewer options. Anyone know what packages are offered at shops like Safeway and CVS (whatever that is)?

Any info welcome.

Thanks!

Steph

for 6 years. No problems. There's a special online -49.99 gets you a camera phone & 250 (I think) minutes. Check it out.

I look more at their site.

No problems, good service. Give it a try!

I think I will have to go the retailer route though. I arrive on Monday and will need it right away. Sounds like it might take 24 hours to activate.

Thanks!

and re-up the minutes every so often. No problems, no worries.



____________________________

never understood how those phone cards work, if that's got something to do with it.

and on that card is an activation code and you call Trac Fone (or go to their internet site) and give them some ID numbers off your phone itself and then give them the phone card minute activation numbers and they put the minutes on your phone.

Once you've purchased your actual Trac Fone phone, you can go to http://www.tracfone.com/home_page.jsp and add the minutes there without buying the plastic card with the code at the store.


Edited to add: a regular phone card you buy at the store gives you long-distance minutes. You punch in the numbers on your phone before you call to access the long distance minutes, as I understand it.


_____________________

you should know that if you plan on spending a lot of time on the Metro (subway) travelling around the city and sightseeing, the only service that you can count on working while you're on the train is Verizon. A lot of locals who are worried about terrorism insist on Verizon for this very reason; they won the right to install some of their equipment in the tunnels.

Verizon prepaid is just as easy and cheap as Tracphone. You can buy one before you leave (I've seen them at CVS, Rite Aid, and the places like Best Buy), call up customer service once you charge your phone and tell them you have a prepaid card. When they attempt to assign you a number, tell then you want one with a 202 area code (I just did this with a 504 code for a trip to Montreal). That way, you can arrive with your D.C. phone instead of potentially having to wait a day.

but thanks for letting me know. I hate the thought of buying another cell phone, but need to be reachable in the U.S. I first looking into a tri-band phone here, but the cost per minute was so incredibly high! Much better with the prepaid in the U.S. (and being in dollars makes it even cheaper!)

Thanks for the info.