TracFone is a cell phone international prepaid wireless service that allows the customer to use airtime for a specified number of minutes. The company offers phones that keep track of those minutes and provides service end dates on the phone. Minutes carry over to the next paid plan, as do any unused service days. Purchasing more minutes is done either on the TracFone itself, online at the TracFone website, over the phone or by buying phone cards at most malls and discount department stores. TracFone phone cards come in assorted amounts of airtime, service days and add-on options.
Airtime
TracFone cards offer airtime service for specified amounts of time. The refill cards must be purchased and applied to the phone before the current time expires in order to continue receiving service. As of 2011, regular cards range from 60 to 450 minutes per card. The card offering 60 minutes has the least amount of airtime that a customer can purchase. Other cards come in increments of 120, 200 and 450 minutes. The one-year card offers 400 minutes of airtime.
Cost
As of 2010, regular TracFone cards cost between $20 and $100. Add-on cards and offers boost the totals.
Activation
Activating or using the phone card to put more minutes onto the TracFone cell phone is easy. Find the airtime PIN under the silver strip on the phone card. It may also appear on the register receipt. Click on the menu key, which is in the phone, and go to the Prepaid Menu. Scroll down to "Add Airtime" or "Redeem Airtime"; enter the airtime PIN, then press "OK." The airtime is sent immediately to the phone.
Options/ Add-Ons
Extra minutes through promotion codes or extra card purchases add incentive to regular card purchasing. Some of these add-ons feature double minutes, extra bonus minutes and double minutes for life.
Time Limits
All cards have a 45-, 60-, 90- or 365-day service. Upon purchase of a new phone card, these days tack on to the ones already on the phone.
Units
These cards also pay for any other services other than airtime, such as multi-media messaging. The phone card has dollar amounts that translate into units that purchase these services. For example, as of 2011, a text message or picture is charged one unit to send or receive a message plus 0.5 units for each minute of time taken while accessing the mobile Web. These units cost according to the card purchased. A 30-unit card has $1 equal to 3.00 units, while a 450-unit card has $1 equal to 5.62 units. Cards that have double minutes get double the units per dollar. Using these extra services lessens the amount of airtime that is purchased with the phone card.
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