grumpydamnit said:What about the w370 here at amazon for $25 after rebate. Is that a better deal then the refurb?

Shelbyman said: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!

I looked at the Amazon one but the rebate form makes it sound like it is NOT for a prepaid phone. I don't see anything on Amaz*on about the DMFL. Thought the 1st page of this thread confirms it. I also will not be at my current address when the rebate is sent to me.

Shelbyman said: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!

Personally, I have purchased perhaps a dozen new units, none had any problems. I purchased 3 refurbed V170's (~ last September, all with 2 - 20 minute 90 day cards for $19.99), one of the three was DOA. Tracfone sent me a refurbed V176 (which I am still using) to replace the DOA unit.

I personally would not have any reservations about buying another refurbed unit. If it fails, Customer Service will replace it. The refurbed units, looked like new, I imagine they replaced the plastic case with new plastic as a minimum.

Here is the relative limited warranties of the new and refurbed units:

WARRANTY.
A new TRACFONE is covered by the handset manufacturer's one year limited warranty. A reconditioned TRACFONE handset also has a one year warranty provided by TRACFONE and all TRACFONE accessories have a 90-day warranty against defects in materials and workmanship under normal use by the purchaser. You may obtain warranty service directly from TracFone Wireless.

Having said all that, if you are interested in the W370, don't forget that Amazon.com has NEW W370's on sale for $24.99 after a $15.00 rebate shipped to you for free, and with NO sales tax (other than WA, and NY addressees).

Thanks to all who responded to my refurb question. I went ahead and ordered a new one from Ama zon. I had a Gift Cert for $10 to bring my net sale to $15.00 if I have no problems with the rebate. Ordering the V370 refurb from Tracfone would of been $37+ with tax and shipping.

I will keep in mind the refurbs if I buy another phone.

Thanks Again!

W370 said:I'm glad that I found this site.I'll definately make sure to submit all my codes and find's and such. Anyhow to get to the point, I recently replaced my old V170 with a W370 after I saw the $29.00 deal with DMFL.When I got the phone it was as I expected...crippled beyond believe considering the user friendly interface but hey, I knew it was coming that way. It is a new phone and after 3 day's of waiting for the thing to activate properly I noticed that the keypad was practically not attatched to the phone buttons as they usually are on these types of single piece faces.All the #'s were hard to push and after they actually engaged the pad cover took about 2 seconds to retract and it was a sudden flimsy snap.I called CS and they said that they would send me a replacement of equal or better value and at the end of the conversation they asked if I had anymor questions and I said no and disconnected. After about 4 hours I did suddenly begin to have all kind's of worries. Am I going to get a new W370 with DMFL phone as I had just purchased or am I going to get someone elses refurb? Are they going to give me a different model because that is not what I want and are they going to make things difficult for me as far as having to call them over and over if in fact they do send me a different model without the DMFL deal that I had originally purchased. If anyone has dealt with these questions in the past help or info on the topic would be welcomed.Thanks

I would expect either a W370 or a W376g. Whichever one you receive, it WILL have DMFL. The bad news is, it MAY be a refurb. As discussed previously, Tracfone refurbs are not that bad. Good luck with your replacement Tracfone, hope you get what you want. (Tracfone will send a label, and you will have to send back the defective unit, or else, they will charge your credit card for the replacement's value). If you are really, concerned, call Customer Service, and ask them the questions. They MAY be able to answer specifically.

If you bought the W370 from WalMart, why don't you try to exchange it with them for another new unit? I think they would do that for you!

W370 said:I was going to take it back to the store but the shelves were empty of them that fast.The new one should arrive in a few days so I'll keep my fingers crossed on the model.I think that the W370 looks nicer than the W376 and the camera is redundant from what I read about the memory.It's good to know that it will still be DMFL though.Thank you for your input, I feel better about it now.Should have taken it back for a refund, then took advantage of the Ama zon rebate. You'll learn that you really don't want to deal with TracFone Customer Service if you don't absolutely have to.

This is a very helpful thread! We have two Tracfones. My husband's works *everywhere* - we have taken it from RI to Florida, and have never had a problem with coverage, even in remote areas. My phone, on the other hand, won't work anywhere - not even in our own home. We never realized Tracfone uses numerous carriers, until we called customer service to ask why my phone wouldn't work. Turns out, hubby's is on Verizon and mine was on T-Mobile.

So now I'm looking for a new CDMA phone so I can use the Verizon network. I really like the LG225 the best, but unfortunately it's not CDMA.

If you tranfer your # & units to a new phone how do you reactivate the old one if it has the old info that you just transferred still on it?Do you just call CS and ask for a new card for your old phone?

bobbidee said:This is a very helpful thread! We have two Tracfones. My husband's works *everywhere* - we have taken it from RI to Florida, and have never had a problem with coverage, even in remote areas. My phone, on the other hand, won't work anywhere - not even in our own home. We never realized Tracfone uses numerous carriers, until we called customer service to ask why my phone wouldn't work. Turns out, hubby's is on Verizon and mine was on T-Mobile.

So now I'm looking for a new CDMA phone so I can use the Verizon network. I really like the LG225 the best, but unfortunately it's not CDMA.

What is your home zip code. If AT&T has service in your area you may be able to get a new sim card for your existing phone. The LG225 is going to come with an AT&T sim card anyways.

Basically, T-Mobile service is not good when compared to the others. Bad thing is that if AT&T & T-Mobile are both in an area and you wind up with a T-Mobile sim, then you get the bad service even though there is good service in the area.

Most people that do travel recommend having both a CDMA and a GSM phone to get the best possible coverage. But most Tracfone users do not recommend T-Mobile as the GSM carrier.

Don46 said:I'm in the GSM5AT area (zip 80304, Boulder CO) where Tracfone apparently both AT&T and Tmobile service according to a previous post, but travel to various rural areas in Colorado and surrounding states.

Newbie questions. Apologies for my ignorance, and if these questions have already been clearly answered here or elsewhere please indicate where.

1-- If a Tracfone phone comes with a sim for a given major service(say, T-Mobile) does this mean I'm essentially a subscriber of that service and my Tracfone uses others only insofar as this major service (T-Mobile in this example) uses them?

2-- Does Tracfone service through a major provider (AT&T or T-Mobile) use that provider's subscription service area or its prepaid service area where these differ? AT&T's subscription service area is broad and would work for me but its prepaid service area is much smaller and wouldn't. I don't know if the same holds for T-Mobile.

Followup question for GSM5AT area (zip 80304, Boulder CO) where Tracfone uses both AT&T and Tmobile.

3-- If a phone initially comes with a T-Mobile sim, will Tracfone replace it on request with an AT&T sim at no or minimal extra cost

Thanks.
First, the answers to your questions.
1 Yes, whatever sim card you have that is your primary service provider and you will only roam to another carrier if there is no native signal available for your primary carrier. This is bad when you have a T-Mobile sim because the AT&T service in an area can be better, but if there is a signal picked up from T-Mobile then the phone will not roam to the AT&T service.

2 Tracfone's service areas are the same as the providers contract accounts or subscription service. Verizon's prepaid coverage is also different form its contract customer coverage but with Tracfone you get the same service as the contract customers.

3 That depends. I have read some post of customers that could not get Tracfone to send them a sim for a different carrier because the designated carrier for the sim card they had provided service in the area. Transferring the number from one carrier to another is what they want to avoid doing. I have also read where some transitions went smoothly and a new sim for the other carrier was obtained. If you just go online using the tech support to call to get a new sim, the new sim is going to be for the same provider as the existing sim card is now. Sometimes it is easier to just get new phone with a sim for the other carrier and have the number ported to it. Once the old phone is inactive you could then get a new sim for the other carrier and have the number transfered back to the old phone.

Now, my opinion.
Using the coverage maps for your area I would recommend a CDMA phone. The T-Mobile map shows no coverage west of you. The AT&T map shows roaming to a partner, which could be T-Mobile. The Verizon map shows good coverage for your immediate and surrounding areas.

My aunt has had Tracfone for many many years and a phone that charges 2 units per min when roming. She thought that's how it had to be and didn't think about it until I started researching for my phone. She's almost out of units and uses a large percentage of her minutes when roming so she wants to get a new phone. I purchased the Motorola C261 + Double Minutes for Life bundle last week and she wants the same package but it isn't offered in her area.

My zipcode is 37379 and I'm in the GSM5AT area, hers is 35989 in the COGSM4 area. If she purchased the C261/DMFL bundle under my zip code would it be the optimal phone for coverage in her area? If not can someone recommend a similar package and phone that would be optimal for her area.