Question about using cheap prepaid smartphone on wifi

[jimdagys]

I've seen prepaid smartphones for $10 (Tracphone), $20 (Net10). I know that you can use these on wifi and they will not deduct minutes when making a call. However, my question is: is it necessary to buy any minutes (spend any money) to use these smartphones if you only use wifi? I have a feeling that you need to pay a $100/year fee to keep the service (ie keep the phone operational) even if you never make a call using the cell phone network. If it is necessary to pay the 100/year fee with Tracphone/Net10, then what is the cheapest smartphone that can be used on wifi that has no fee at all?

[jman98]

I have actually used a Tracphone personally so I can provide some insight. I can't tell you anything at all about Net10 stuff.

First of all, not all Tracphones are capable of making wifi calls. Some of their phones are really low function "I want a phone that's just a phone" type old style phones. My experience is that you must have some minutes with Tracphone to activate the phone. I don't honestly remember if the phone comes with any minutes or if you have to buy a card just to get some minutes on it after you purchase it. I don't think they will let you activate the phone without any minutes available on it.

There's no yearly fee with Tracphone. I just had to keep minutes on the phone to use it. There was no penalty for not using the phone much. The phone I bought couldn't make wifi calls as best I remember, but to condense a long story, I actually bought it for someone else for a temporary need and the need for the phone ended maybe 6 months ago. I know for a fact it hasn't been used in a long time and it's likely in a landfill somewhere. I can tell you that Tracphone minutes do expire after something like 6 months after purchase so while there is no yearly fee, it is very possible that to keep using the phone you would have purchase more minutes even if you don't use them. I can't say with 100% certainty, but I'm highly skeptical that they will let you keep using the phone on wifi forever without paying them something (ie. buy more minutes). But I had no way to test that so I can't say for sure. Maybe you can call them and ask or send them email.

Their phones really aren't all that great if you can possibly afford anything better. I view them as what some call "burner phones" where they are meant to be consumable and thrown away if necessary.

[dfisher052]

My wife has had a Tracphone for a couple of years. We have to add minutes every 90 days. As she only uses it for occasionally texting our kids or when we are on trips it doesn't get a lot of use, but it is very economical. When we update the minutes we get a 60 minute card for $20. As the phone automatically triples the minutes we actually get 180 minutes for $20 for 3 months. She has never run out of minutes. In fact they keep adding up. She now has something like 400 minutes on it. As we have been cross country twice now she has never been out of range from service. BTW, the phone is an LG800. As we don't spend all day on the phone I think it's probably one of the cheapest ways to have a mobile phone.

[jagabo]

With Tracfones you have to keep your service active in addition to prepaid minutes. For example, you can buy a year of service and 400 minutes for about US$100 (shorter service periods and fewer minutes are available). When either one runs out you have to buy more (to use the device as a cell phone). So even if you never make or receive a phone call you have to pay $100/yr to keep the service active. A new Tracfone comes with one month of service and 20 minutes of talk time so you can "activate" it.

The OP's question, as I interpret it, is whether a tracfone with wifi requires that your service be active to use the wifi features. I don't know (none of my Tracfones have had wifi) -- but I highly suspect you will need to have active service. Otherwise people would buy the phones just to have a cheap wifi device (the phones are heavily discounted assuming the company will make up the difference selling you service/minutes later).

[dfisher052]

jagabo is right. Tracfones are NOT WiFi enabled and they do have to be activated to work.

[jagabo]

jagabo is right. Tracfones are NOT WiFi enabled and they do have to be activated to work.

There are several tracfones that are wifi enabled now.