azjack said:When I go to the Tracfone phone order area, it pulls up the the Motorola C261 with a DMFL card for $39.99 (free shipping) and the LG 225 phone, which includes the DMFL feature (and accessory kit) for $49.99 (free shipping). I am leaning towards the C261 based on overall positive reviews on various sites, and some consistent negative feedback on the LG 225, notably its charging problems.

Both are camera phones (although I know this feature will be lackluster on both). Is the C261 the better Tracfone phone bundle?

I think the CG225 is a better phone, but I am a biased flip-phone fan. The new W376g should be better than either since it's based on the W370 and adds camera and bluetooth headset.

The accesory kit with the 225 is very nice if you have multiple phones since the car charger comes with tips that fit all the current tracfone models. It also has Nokia and standard earbud headsets and a vinyl case.

luvdeals said:Does anyone know if it's easy or possible to switch current tracfone number and minutes to a new phone? There is an option when activating a phone to use an existing tracfone number, but it doesn't say anything about bringing minutes over.

The service days and minutes will also transfer.
The ease of the process depends on what type of phones you are transferring to and from.

GSM to GSM
You have to transfer the number when doing GSM to GSM. If you want to only transfer the service and get a new number, or keep an existing number, you have to call Customer Service.
You can not transfer to an active GSM phone online, the GSM phone you are transferring to has to be new or previously deactivated. Of course, compatible new sim cards are need in any situation.

GSM to CDMA
If you want to transfer the number from a GSM phone to a CDMA phone the process could take several days to complete. If you only want to transfer the service and get a new number or keep an existing number on the CDMA phone, that is the easiest transfer there is to do.

CDMA to GSM
You have to transfer the number when doing CDMA to GSM. The process could take several days to complete. If you want to only transfer the service and get a new number, or keep an existing number, you have to call Customer Service.
You can not transfer to an active GSM phone online, the GSM phone you are transferring to has to be new or previously deactivated.

All number transfers between GSM and CDMA phones could take several days to complete and in the end could still require a call to Customer Service.

Be prepared at any time during the transfer to get a screen that says you have to call Customer Service in order to complete the process.

Note: When transferring online. Once you agree and confirm the amount of minutes and service days that will be transfered off of the old phone, that phone will no longer be active. You can cancel or exit at any time prior to submitting the agreement page and your old phone will still be active. There are occasions when the process does not complete after you submit that page. This means you now have a deactivated phone and a phone that did not complete the activation process. You have to call Customer Service if this happens.

JimBones said:jimates said:UPDATE

The new Motorola W376g with bluetooth is now available for order from Circuit City. $49.99 w/ free shipping.
Tracfone took this phone off their phones page last week and recently told someone it would not be available until next month.

W376g at Circuit City.

Circuit City says it comes with DMFL.

See the phone details at Tracfone for the W376g
The phone is now available to buy on Tracfone's site and is listed as having DMFL.

I noticed a discrepancy in the amount of phone book entries it will hold. When you select the details page for the W376g from the Tracfone store, the phone is listed as being able to hold up 500 entries. On the phone details page you provided it says it will hold up to 100.

Now that the phone is out, I'm curious to see what they will do with the W370.jimates said:Deal Updates

Tracfone is now only offering the Motorola W370 in a Reconditioned phone. It still comes with DMFL and is priced at $29.99. A brand new W370 is not offered on the web site at all. The new ones are still available in retail stores.

WalMart now has the Motorola W176g on their web site. W176g at WalmartYeah, how could they justify selling the W370 at full price while the W376 is available at that same price.

azjack said:"You have to transfer the number when doing CDMA to GSM. The process could take several days to complete. If you want to only transfer the service and get a new number, or keep an existing number, you have to call Customer Service.
You can not transfer to an active GSM phone online, the GSM phone you are transferring to has to be new or previously deactivated."

I am kind of nervous about doing such a transfer, but the time has come. I have a Nokia with CDMA that I have used for six years, and plan to transfer the existing phone number and units to a new, unactivated GSM Tracfone. I am somewhat concerned about losing the 800 units and the couple of months of service left on it, but I REALLY am worried about losing my cell phone number of six years. Since it is a Tracfone, I obviously do not talk for hours at a time on it, but nearly everyone I know has this number and I really do not want some phone rep to lose the number. Any advice? Is there a good time to call? When I called the 800# this morning, the guy kept asking me for my "new" (?) phone number after I explained what I was calling for. I just hung up.

Is this something that I can do on my own, or is the website just going to refer me to the 800# after I am halfway through the process. This is why I have put this off for so long. I believe that I possess the bulkiest working cellphone in Arizona.

Actually, I think that I would prefer accented Indian tech support over the American-sounding guy I spoke with this morning. He simply did not understand that there was no "new" phone number in play in our discussion. Is there an ideal day/time to call?

I apologize if this should be a separate topic, but since transfers were being discussed, I thought that it would be OK.If at any time during the process you are referred to the 800 number, it will be before your old phone is deactivated. So you should be ok there. You won't loose any minutes or service days using either method of transfer.

If you call, try not to be too complex in your explanation of what you want to do. When you tell them what you want, they type that into their system and their system tells them how to proceed. So you have to be as basic as possible so they can come up with a procedure that fits. Tell them you are an existing customer and want to transfer your service to a new Tracfone, let them take it from there.

They do things is steps according to what their system tells them so we have to be one step ahead sometime. They always deactivate the old phone first. If you are transferring to a used phone you will need a new sim card, get one before you start the process. They will deactivate the old phone, then they will see that the "new phone's" sim card was used and will tell you they need to send a new sim. You will be without any phone until the new sim arrives and you call back to complete the process.

The online transfer/activation process has come a long way in the last few months. When it first became available you couldn't transfer GSM to GSM online. And it has also become a lot more stable.

This is how fickle Tracfone is. I always have to send a question twice before I get a good answer.

I sent this to Treacfone the other day.

Issue Category:
Phone Upgrade
Specific Issue:
Other Phone Upgrade
Brief description of issue:
You are now offering the Motorola W376g in the GSM5 market. I thought
phones with data capabilities were not offered in T-Mobile areas, no
other ones are. Has that changed or was putting the Motorola W376g on
the phones page in the GSM5 & GSM5AT market areas an error on Tracfone's

This is the response I got.

We are pleased to announce that the Motorola W376 is now available. If
you are in the market for a bluetooth enabled phone, the Motorola W376
would be a great choice. It also includes double minutes for life of
the phone. If you are interested in that phone, please submit your
order immediately (as supplies are limited).

Should you have any further questions or concerns, please contact one of
our customer care representatives at 1-800-867-7183. For your
convenience, our representatives are available Monday-Saturday from 8:00
AM to 9:45 PM EST, and on Sunday from 8:00 AM to 6:45 PM EST.

Thank you for being a TracFone Wireless customer. We appreciate your
business.

Now that was the exact answer I was looking for. Maybe I should get one and try to activate it using a T-Mobile sim card in a T-Mobile zip. It would probably activate but not have the web capability and then I would have to call them and try to explain to them why it doesn't and why they should not sell it that way. It will probably come with a At7t sim card even if you buy it using a GSM5 zip.

Popcorn50 said:jimates said:Now that was the exact answer I was looking for. Maybe I should get one and try to activate it using a T-Mobile sim card in a T-Mobile zip. It would probably activate but not have the web capability and then I would have to call them and try to explain to them why it doesn't and why they should not sell it that way. It will probably come with a At7t sim card even if you buy it using a GSM5 zip.LMAO @ TracFone coming up with the precise information to answer your question. You're probably right, but trying to explain their error to them will probably get you nowhere. Data capability only gets you access to TracFone content anyway, so it's no benefit to most people.Yea, the person that answered that email probably doesn't even know what a market area is.
A market, isn't that where you buy food.

We are pleased to announce that the Motorola W376 is now available. If
you are in the market for a bluetooth enabled phone, the Motorola W376
would be a great choice. It also includes double minutes for life of
the phone. If you are interested in that phone, please submit your
order immediately (as supplies are limited).This is obviously a canned response, as I'm sure the reps don't know much about this phone (or any of their phones, really), but I'm surprised they don't mention the camera or the FM radio. Those are two options that would help sell me on this phone.

NickiStar said:I posted this elsewhere, but I think I should have posted here:

Can you tell me if the W376 G will work in Zip code 05060? Will it be able to send pictures if it is not in a Cingular area?

And, do you know what it takes to text/ pick up a text with a Tracfone W376G?

Thanks so much!!

Nicki

According to our expert jimates,

Motorola W376g BLUETOOTH with DMFL already on the phone - $49.99 -Works in GSM4, GSM5, GSM5AT...

When I go to the Tracfone website, and input your Zip Code 05060 it comes up as RANDOLPH, VT area, and more importantly, the url that leads to is:

http://www.tracfone-orders.com/bpdirect/tracfone/Start.do?action=view&market=CO&aid=&vid=&vc=&sahcid=&com=&zip=05060&locale=en&siteType=TR&gotoPhonelist=true&AID=

notice that market=CO is included in this URL. Going to the top of this thread and deciphering CO, you are in a CDMA only area. The W376g, thus will not work in your area!

I believe that you could use the W376g phone in your area with a different area code. The downside here is anyone calling you on a land line would have to pay long distance toll charges.

If this analysis is incorrect, one of the experts, please correct, my errors. TIA

Posts on other forums have verified that the W376g is showing up in retail stores yesterday.
Target in Los Angeles and Circuit City somewhere else.

How reliable are the Refurb phones? I am looking at the W370 refurb. I am not needing the Bluetooth and camera that the new W376 has on it.
Thanks!