TracFone

Bottom Line

TracFone offers some unusual perks for a prepaid service -- like international long distance to over 60 countries at the same cost as a local call, and a network that blankets nearly the entire United States. In customer surveys, TracFone receives high scores for network coverage, pricing, plan options and low-cost phones. However, there are complaints about customer service.

Breaking It Down

Plans and Flexibility

Inexpensive and with a family plan. TracFone has a variety of inexpensive annual, monthly and pay-as-you-go plans to suit occasional callers and heavy users alike. However, unlike Virgin Mobile Beyond Talk (*Est. $35 per month and up) and T-Mobile Prepaid (*Est. $30 per month and up), TracFone offers only basic handsets and no unlimited monthly plan. And while T-Mobile's prepaid minutes don't expire for 90 days, TracFone minutes expire in 30 days.

Reviewers praise TracFone's inexpensive monthly plans. There are three individual monthly plans, all of which include talk, text, web and email. The cheapest plan is $10 per month for 50 minutes; there is a $20 plan for 125 minutes and a $30 plan for 200 minutes. TracFone is one of the few prepaid carriers that offer a family plan. The first phone in the family plan costs $10 per month for 50 minutes; additional phones are each $6 per month for 40 minutes. While TracFone doesn't offer an unlimited monthly plan, its Pay As You Go plan (*Est. $200) has 1,500 minutes, valid for a year.

Performance

Unique features. TracFone offers some unique advantages -- such as a vast nationwide network that rivals that of Verizon Wireless, and free international long distance to locations in over 60 countries around the world. For most of these countries, calling to a cell phone is not included in this feature. However, the countries to which you can call cell phones include the Bahamas, Mexico, Canada, Indonesia and Hong Kong. Contributors to Viewpoints.com rank TracFone highly for call quality and coverage.

Customer service

Mixed reviews for customer service. Although some users are very happy with TracFone, others report poor customer service. Contributors to Viewpoints.com assign TracFone low ratings in this area, citing problems which include phones not working and replacements not working either, being repeatedly assigned the wrong area code and generally bad customer service. The editors of TopTenReviews.com report that they found TracFone's customer service representatives to be less than knowledgeable about TracFone's service.

Phone Selection

Inexpensive but basic phones. All TracFone handsets are very basic, unlike the phones you can get with T-Mobile Prepaid (*Est. $30 per month and up) or Virgin Mobile Beyond Talk (*Est. $35 per month and up). Reviewers at PrepaidReviews.com praise the simple, low-cost phones, while others complain about the poor selection.