The Tracfone LG420G stinks.  My wife just got one and has no service from our house. My Tracfone LG 225 has excellent service from our house.  If my wife drives 6 blocks west she gets service if she drives to [...]]]> A reader recently wrote in with these comments about the Tracfone LG 420G phone.

The Tracfone LG420G stinks.  My wife just got one and has no service from our house. My Tracfone LG 225 has excellent service from our house.  If my wife drives 6 blocks west she gets service if she drives to our local post office she gets no service. I have excellent service on my Tracfone LG 225 everywhere.  Tracfone has sent us 3 sim cards but still have the same problem. Spotty service with no service at home. Tracfone cannot remedy the problem and has offered no solution to the problem. So when my wife needs to use her Tracfone LG 420G she has to get in the car and drive 6 blocks up the road or borrow my Tracfone LG 225.

LG 420g Tracfone

I have this phone and have never had any problems with service, but just the other day I noticed that the outside volume buttons are messing up.  They stick and don’t register presses with much consistency.  Sort of a bummer, but not really a big deal.  The service issue mentioned above seems more of a deal breaker.

Does anyone know why a different SIM card would possibly make any difference in signal reception?  That seems very strange to me.

But the phone is only like a $10 or $20 phone, so ditch it and try a new one.

Check out this amusing video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYBC4q16XXA

Please let us know if you have any experience with this phone, or would like to post your opinions about it.  Cheers!

I bought a Magic Jack from Wal-Mart, and hooked it up when I returned home. It installed its software in less than 1(one) minute, and then the setup screen popped up and asked me for the [...]]]> A reader writes in with a very positive Magic Jack review.  Well at least there’s one happy customer!

I bought a Magic Jack from Wal-Mart, and hooked it up when I returned home. It installed its software in less than 1(one) minute, and then the setup screen popped up and asked me for the normal info that all companies ask for. I filled it out, entered my credit card number into my Magic Jack account, and then another screen popped up. This time they gave me the option to auto pick a number, choose one from a list, or pay a one time $10 fee to make a personalized number. I chose to choose mine from the list. I put in my area code, and it took me to another list. This second list allowed me to choose the first 3 digits of my number. I made my choice and it offered something really cool, it gave me the option to pick the last 4(four) digits myself for a one time fee of $3!

Thats a good deal to be able to have a simple easy to remember number for only $3 so I did it. Now I have a number that will be mine for the rest of my life that is easy to remember (my last 4 digit pattern is like this but this is only an example 6226)

I have been using my Magic Jack for a few months now and I have not had any problems with it. It has a convenient software that looks similar to a cell phone that has a caller ID and a programmable phone book. The coolest feature though is that you don’t even need to have a phone plugged into the jack, if you have a laptop that has speakers and a Mic you can talk through that just as if you were using a speaker phone.

$43 bought me 1(one) whole year of coast to coast service and an easy to remember number that will always belong to me. and all of my contacts are automatically backed up on the net. So if I really wanted to I could take my Magic Jack to a friends house and use it on their computer and i wouldn’t need to worry because my numbers would show up on any computer that I plug the device into.

This is just my honest opinion but anyone that does not think this is an amazing product after hearing about all the features has to be a complete moron.

Magic Jack RULES!

I purchased a MagicJack at Wal-Mart, knowing I would have absolutely no problem returning it there, which is exactly what I intend to do first thing tomorrow.

The advertising for Magicjack is EXTREMELY misleading. It never mentions that you must compromise [...]]]> Reader Marc provides the following Magic Jack observations… none of which are positive!

I purchased a MagicJack at Wal-Mart, knowing I would have absolutely no problem returning it there, which is exactly what I intend to do first thing tomorrow.

The advertising for Magicjack is EXTREMELY misleading. It never mentions that you must compromise your computer’s and/or network’s security for the softphone program to install properly — this presents an easy entryway for many kinds of malicious software (viruses, spyware, etc.)

The ads also don’t mention that you have to leave your computer on whenever you want to send a call, and that you’ll pay a hell of a lot more than $20/year if you want to be able to receive calls at your current number.

Furthermore, the Magicjack ads completely skip over the inconvenience of having to use the computer to dial out instead of using the keypad on the phone itself. For those of us who prefer portable and mobile phones and don’t like to carry extra junk around (e.g., a computer!) just to use the phone, Magicjack is completely pathetic.

Given the complete lack of toll free customer support or even a functional real-time support forum, and the many allegations that Magicjack customers who were foolish enough to provide credit card numbers have had charges applied to their cards without their approval, I would strongly agree that Magicjack is a SCAM!

77578 promo code still working!

Just purchased the 200 minute card online using the 77578 promo code. I have a DMFL phone. My online purchase/payment confirmation did, [...]]]> Here’s a cool comment from one of our readers.  If you have had a great (or poor) experience with Tracfone, write and let us know about it.

77578 promo code still working!

Just purchased the 200 minute card online using the 77578 promo code. I have a DMFL phone. My online purchase/payment confirmation did, in fact, show the 500 minute addition of minutes and 90 day addition of time, and all for a total charge of $44.09 TT&L. My time now runs through mid September and my phone has already been updated. We’re still using a land line with unlimited long distance for only 30 bucks a month [ed: us too!  Vonage], and we live very close to work, so our cell phones aren’t a big necessity, just nice to have.

This is just awesome. Got tired of paying in excess of $2,000. annually for iPhones/service! We’re very happy with the Tracfone deals we have, oh, and we’re extremely glad we found tracfoneclub! Thanks guys!

The TV programming is probably the next thing we’ll see about cutting. Tired of paying that, too. Gonna see what we can get OTA with an antenna I saw a video on how to make on youtube. Keep your fingers crossed!  ;-)

Sounds like a great plan.  I personally only subscribe to basic cable in order to keep my cable modem going.  If I could completely get rid of the cable TV monthly expense, I would.

LG 420g Tracfone

This will be my first LG phone.  Does anybody have some positive comments for me? 

My best Tracfone ever was the Nokia 1100, which I LOVED!  I never should have gotten rid of that phone.  It had a battery that could go for weeks without charging, and it had [...]]]>

LG 420g Tracfone

This will be my first LG phone.  Does anybody have some positive comments for me? 

My best Tracfone ever was the Nokia 1100, which I LOVED!  I never should have gotten rid of that phone.  It had a battery that could go for weeks without charging, and it had a built in flashlight!  I have never honestly used the Tip Calculator, Currency Converter, Unit Conversion, Notes, and other functions that any cell phone has… but I used that damn flashlight all the time.  All cell phones should come with an LED flashlight built in.

My current phone is the Motorola W376g.  It’s good I suppose (no flashlight!), but the battery needs charging every few days, and when it dies, it dies very quickly.  I’ve never used the camera for anything because it sucks.  I am replacing the phone because it’s just getting nasty.  There is dust everywhere and the camera lens has long been caked up with grime (it sucked before the grime).  The rubber covers are discoloring and the case is deeply scratched.

Normally none of this would qualify as a reason to get a new phone as most frugal Tracfone users might agree.  However, Tracfone phones are so friggin cheap!  I need to re-up my service so I just threw in a new phone.

By they way, I’m undecided just exactly how I want to extend my service.  My service period is ending, but I still have 630 minutes remaining!  I don’t need any more minutes.  I’ll let you know what I decide.

Tracfone is the best

Consumer Reports’ January 2010 issue is out, containing its annual “Best & Worst Cell Phone Deals” feature. They’ve utilized almost 55,000 subscriber responses for their latest wireless carrier ratings–more than 3,000 responses coming from users of primarily prepaid/no-contract service.

If you like your Tracfone service, you aren’t alone: Tracfone [...]]]>

Tracfone is the best

Consumer Reports’ January 2010 issue is out, containing its annual “Best & Worst Cell Phone Deals” feature. They’ve utilized almost 55,000 subscriber responses for their latest wireless carrier ratings–more than 3,000 responses coming from users of primarily prepaid/no-contract service.

If you like your Tracfone service, you aren’t alone: Tracfone was the highest rated service amongst prepaid using respondents, with CR calling it “the clear top-rated prepaid carrier”. CR also noted the presence of Tracfone’s new Straight Talk service in passing: They said there weren’t enough responses to rate the service, but noted ST for its “attractive pricing”.

AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Virgin Mobile were the other prepaid carriers to receive a rating.

Wow!  A whole lotta haters here.  I have a magicjack and will admit that when I first tried to set up a Calgary phone number I was left brain confused.  The available [...]]]> A reader from Calgary, Canada has had a great experience with Magic Jack so far.  He is what he had to say:

Wow!  A whole lotta haters here.  I have a magicjack and will admit that when I first tried to set up a Calgary phone number I was left brain confused.  The available phone numbers for 403 were 403-800-xxxx – I could not get past the 800 number part and put the USB away for a few days.  I went back and tried again, agreed to pay $10/yr for a Canadian phone number (less than 1/2 the cost of one month of shaw svc).

I have ZERO complaints so far!  Voice mail, caller Id (yes it is phone number only but if I don’t know the phone number I don’t answer anyhow) portable home phone number.

It will be interesting in a year though – I did purchase the 5 yearr deal.  Seems a lot of dissatisfaction here is around “renewals”.

Would be ideal to move my shaw phone number to my magicjack – for now.  I am informing those that need to know… we are leaving the monoploy/big box of internet/phone… with or without the dinosaurs!

Not sure what that last sentence means, but what the heck.

I paid $199 for 1500 minutes and 1 year service from tracfone website (web special)… I got 3000 minutes because my phone has double minutes. Thats just less than 7 cents per minute….more than twice as good as any other deal or promo I’ve found. I also keep my [...]]]> Reader Adam reports the following:

I paid $199 for 1500 minutes and 1 year service from tracfone website (web special)… I got 3000 minutes because my phone has double minutes. Thats just less than 7 cents per minute….more than twice as good as any other deal or promo I’ve found. I also keep my calls short!

Way to go!  This is why I advocate Tracfone.  If you can stand to live without a fancy phone with unnecessary features, you can’t get a better deal than Tracfone.