The Tracfone Family Value Plan
Update:The Family Value Plan is no longer available and Tracfone now offers 5% or 10% discount on monthly plans. Check Tracfone's page here to learn more.
The Tracfone Family Value Plan (and the Individual Value Plan) is a monthly automatic plan that provides a certain number of minutes and 30 service days at a great price. With the Individual Value Plan you can choose 50, 125 or 200 minute amounts at $10, $20 and $30 respectively. With the Family Value Plan the first line gets 50 minutes for $10, then each additional line gets 40 minutes for $6 each month.
These plans, once set up, will automatically credit your phone with minutes and service days, and charge you to a credit or debit card. It is a very convenient way to keep minutes and service days on your traction device.
But how do you set it up, and how much does it really cost, and do you get double or triple minutes added as well? All these questions and more answered below!
How To Set Up the Tracfone Family Value Plan
To begin, if you don't already have an account on the Tracfone Website, then set that up for your phone. It is easy to do and just requires a few bits of information like phone number and email.Next, add the other phones you want to put on the family value plan onto your online account on the Tracfone Website (if you don't have any other phones you want to add, then skip this). If you don't have all the details on these phones, you can call up Tracfone and have them do it as long as you have the phone number for these phones.
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| Cell Phones By Dru Bloomfield |
Now that all the phones you want on the value plan show up on your account with Tracfone you can begin purchasing the family value plan.
The first phone added to the plan (located under Buy Minutes Online> Plans> Family Value Plan) will cost $9.99 and get 30 days of service and 50 minutes. All others added to the plan will get 30 days of service and 40 minutes for $5.99.
If your phone as double or triple minutes for life, you will get 100 or 150 respectively. Others on the plan will get 80 or 120 minutes, depending if the have double or triple minutes.
To choose which phone will get the 50 minutes per month, and cost 9.99, simply add it first and purchase the Family Value Plan. Proceed to checkout and complete your order.
Then do this process over again, but when you select the Family Value Plan, the website should recognize it is for 40 minutes at $5.99. Checkout and repeat this for each additional phone you wish to add.
If you run into any problems, you can call Tracfone support to help complete the process.
How Much Does it Really Cost?
You might be wondering, how much does this value plan really cost, it can't be this cheap for a prepaid cell phone plan can it?Well, it really does only cost $10 for the first phone, and $6 for each additional phone. Of course, there are some taxes etc. which add a dollar to the final cost, but in the end you could have a family of four each with cell phone service for about $30 a month. If that isn't incredible, I don't know what is.
$30 a month is half what most consumers pay for a single cell phone service plan.
So, how much could you save?
Read our Cell Phone Reviews to start looking at phones with Triple Minutes for Life!
Let's take a closer look at the cost per minute for these monthly plans. We will assume you have Triple Minutes for Life.
For the Family Value Plan, you get 50 minutes (tripled to 150) for $10 = $0.067 per minute
Each additional phone added to the plan gets 40 minutes (120) for $6 = $0.05 per minute
The Individual Plan for 125 minutes (tripled to 375) for $20 = $0.053 per minute
And the 200 minute Individual Plan (600 minutes) for $30 = $0.05 per minute
As you can see, the Value plans actually do provide great value. For comparison, a 60 minute card comes out to over 10 cents a minute (but you do get 90 days of service). ($20/180 minutes = 0.11)
Are There Any Drawbacks or Other Information?
The first drawback is that if you have people in your family (such as teenagers) who use their phone a lot, they may run out of minutes. But you can always purchase more minutes while on the Value Plan.Perhaps this would be a good way to help younger people manage their resources, by giving them 40 minutes and 30 days of service each month, but anything over is up to them to pay.
For the Family Value Plan there are no hidden fees, no cancellation fees, and the payment is automatically charged to your account each month on the day you enrolled in the plan.
Cancellation is pretty easy, all you need to do is call the Tracfone customer service, or you can even change which phones are on the plan on the Tracfone website, in your account area.
The Family and Individual Value Plans work on Tracfone's new Android Phones, which all have Triple Minutes, and even work for the BYOP program.
The bottom line is that the monthly minutes plans from Tracfone can be a great way to save money, and avoid worrying about tracking your minutes and buying new cards. And there are promo codes for new Value Plan registration!
Got any further questions about the Value Plan? Ask them in the comments section below and we will try to get back to you!
This was originally posted on 1/16/2013, and updated on 8/11/2014.
71 comments :
Are the phones on the Family Plan required to normally reside in the same household? Same area code? Same office code?
As far as I know, there are no requirements. I recently set up a family plan with three phones each from different parts of the US and with different area codes. It all worked just fine. The only requirement is to put all the phones on one account, as mentioned in the post above. But that is easy to do.
Do any unused minutes carry over to the next month?
Yes, they do! Which is very convenient! So if you don't use your phone very much in one month, anything left over will carry over to the next month. Or if you use a lot of minutes, you can just buy an extra minutes card, and add it to the phone.
Do you have any idea how to cancel a value plan with Tracfone?
I believe you can do it both online at the tracfone website, and by simply calling them.
In order to add a phone to the family value plan, what is the process and by what date do I need to add it to beginning receiving service?
I would suggest simply calling customer service, you can find their phone number on the Tracfone website. They will be able to add another phone to your plan, and answer any other questions.
How do you COORDINATE and AFFECT (details please) each of the followng: buy (2) new Tracfones, activate (2) new Tracfones, port old NET10 numbers to (2) new Tracfones, buy Family Value plan for (2) new Tracfones?
I would suggest buying the cell phones, whichever kind you want, form the place that offers them for the best price. View our cell phone reviews page at the top navigation bar to learn more.
Then your best move might be to call Tracfone and have them do the things you want. It may take some patience, but they should do all you need.
I signed up for a family value plan and the Tracfone website showed that the purchase amount is $18.53 but my credit card was charged $19.53. Upon calling customer service to discuss the discrepancy, they said the Wireless E-911 charge they see is $2.00 (the website showed only $1.00)and that's because I enrolled 2 phones.
So heads up to those interested in the plan, each phone gets billed $1.00 for E-911. Well, at least that's what the customer service told me in the end to explain the credit card charge, although she didn't seem to be aware of that in the beginning of our 20-minute phone call.
unlimited text? The website it pretty vague. Just ordered an LG 840G from Amazon for 30 bucks. Currently on T-Mobile prepay and wanted to try something different. I see they have one for 19.99 a month for 125 minutes and the phone I bought comes with triple min for life. But I am a heavy "texter" and the plan would be ideal if texting is unlimited. Please let me know. Thanks, Mike in Florida
Tracfone's value plan, and family value plan, does not have unlimited texting. Hope that answers your question.
How many phones can be on one family plan account?
Just did it - you can sign up on their site. Just make sure your phones are activated and you have the number. Then as you make the Family Plan selection, you can check the box for the phones you want to add to the plan.
The LG840G is a triple minutes for life phone. Given that one text costs one-third of a call time minute, a 120 min card (tripled to 360 min) will give allow a total of 1080 basic texts in the 90 day life of that 120 min card.
Can I sign up for the family plan with the new android phones?
I have heard reports that no, you can't at this time. Let's hope sometime soon they will change that!
Assuming that I will add my family members on a Family plan. When I will talk with them, both phones will be charged?
Yeah, both phones will still be charged. You don't get any free calling between phones on the family plan unfortunately, but it is a really good deal.
family plan of 2 phones if we both have phones with tripple minutes will the innitial minutes be tripled? 150 min for phone #1 and 120 min for phone #2 for the cost of $16?
Second Question. can you explain minute bundles. If I use all my minutes I can add more but what is the cost of the smallest cards I could buy. and would it be applied to one phone or both. and would they be tripled?
is there a limit to how many phones can be on a family plan?
Good questions. Yes, with the family plan and triple minutes, you will get the 50 minutes tripled to 150, and 40 min to 120. It is a pretty good deal with Triple Minutes for Life.
If you run out of minutes while on the family value plan you can simply buy a refill card and add it to your phone. Only the phone you add it to will get the minutes, the cheapest is a 60 minute card, that will triple to 180 for $20. I believe it is also possible to just buy minutes online at the tracfone website, and these will be added to your phone and tripled.
Not sure what the limit is for how many phones on one plan. I know four will work, but that might be the limit.
My family has 2 tracfones, both have over 1,000 minutes, if we switch to the family value plan cards will the minutes we have be lost?
Nope, you should be able to keep your existing minutes.
So say my daughter who is on the same family plan as I am were to run out of minutes. Could she go buy one of the prepaid cards from the store and add it to her phone without it messing up the automatic refill on the family plan each month?
Yes! In fact, if you go on the Tracfone website and go to your account, you can buy just extra minutes if you already have plenty of service days!
I think there is, but i know at least four phones will work.
A couple of (newby) questions:
1) Does Web=data when looking at cell phone plans?
2) "If" smartphones are allowed on the family value plan, and I understand they may not be, how are minutes deducted for data usage? E.g., if I use an app that connects somewhere and downloads data, how are the minutes to be deducted calculated; so many minutes per megabyte of data, or a minute for minute deduction for time connected to the data source, or something else?
Thanks,
Anon
Can you sign up for the family plan with only one phone?
So I see that minutes roll over, do texts and data roll over also? Thanks so much :)
Can the tracfone be connected to my router so I can browse free?
Yes, if the phone has WiFi capabilities.
No if the phone is one of the older models that does not have WiFi.
Can an additional phone be added later on to an already active family plan account?
I activated a new Tracfone phone SCH-S738C with the triple minutes, and deactivated my older LG 840 phone.
1.Any idea for the minimum cost to reactivate the LG 840 and what plan would be best?
Second phone is for Grandma phone calls only and will hardly be used.
2. Can the minutes be shared between phones?
I bought a motogo phone from hsn with 2100 minutes for about $80 when my minutes (but not service days) ran low on my LG 840. Waiting on a sim to move phone number to the new phone with those 2100 minutes. But now I'm also having trouble transferring contacts (100+?) as a group which was easy when I moved from LG 800 to LG 840 a year ago.
If I assign LG840 to family plan, but not the MOTO, can I use those new minutes on the previous phone (without porting phone number between phones) - at $10/ month, or do I have to also sign up the MOTO for $6 more to do that even though it doesn't need minutes and neither needs service days?, I'm Nervous to try to just ask TF to move new phone's 'promo' minutes to my old phone, heard customers who've had troubles with that type of move. (New phone is fine, except or trouble porting number until sim comes, and contact list problem is a serious one.)
It looks like the "family plan" is a montly thing. I buy the 1 year (365 days) cards with 400 minutes (except I have double mintues on one and triple on the other). Can I do family plan and stay with yearly cards and keep my double and triple minutes or does this plan force me into a monthly plan from then on?
You sure can. You add each phone individually, and so you'd just stop with one. :)
Yes it can. We took our time collecting everyone on our family plan, adding people's phones only as they came near running out of time/text/data/minutes. You just have to coordinate around the billing date, as you can only add a phone within 3 days of the billing date.
1. Yes.
2. Smartphones are allowed on the family value plan, and it's with the three buckets thing just like when you add a service card. Your app that is eating up data will eat up data until it's all gone, then it will quit working until you refill data. You could have tons of voice minutes but no data. In our family we're seeing the opposite: We run out of talk time before we run out of data, so we try hard to use voice alternatives that run on the wifi or data network rather than using voice minutes. (Facebook Phone, for example, for family calls.)
No, I tried to move the family plan over to the new androids we got; the numbers ported over all right, the plan stayed attached to the old, discontinued phones. Spent an hour of minutes tried to get it moved to the new phones, and the result, checking later on the website, was Nothing.
I guess I haven't seen this question, and am not sure of the answer. I get that we can use out current phone number when we change to tracfone. BUT.....are we able to transfer all pictures, as well as our phonebook (contact numbers) to a new tracfone? I am with Verizon and REALLY TIRED of being in a contract, and paying their locked in prices. I currently have a smart phone, and my hubby has an old flip style. He rarely uses his cell. Lastly, does anyone have the Huawei Glory 868C? They've dropped half price. Not sure which phone I will like after my Galaxy smartphone, which I have loved. HELP!!!
We have two phones. Each has quite a few minutes but one subscription ends in 3 months and one in 6 months. I understand from a previous comment that the minutes are retained when a Family Value Plan is established. However, is credit given for the value of the time left on the two subscriptions?
When you join the family value plan, each month you get both minutes and 30 service days added to your phone. So if you already have 6 months, you will keep that and be given 1 month more.
Peter,
Just want to say that this blog has been very, very useful for me as I try to select a phone and service plans with Tracfone. Thanks for offering your time to a bunch of strangers who need help.
-Doug
Using tthe triple mins for life at start of my LG39C cell/tracfone and rarely use talk section and currently have 8,645 mins. that roll over each time I buy any card, etc. Verison coverage as it's what they , system, they use. If your not liking the in cell earpiece for talking always use a mic/ or a earphone setup.
Thanks Doug!
How do you get triple minutes?
I love this plan. I have an average of 2000 minutes rolling over each month. I only use my cell phone when I work at events. I use a landline for my business. The 2nd phone is a spare that has come in so handy. If one of my kids phone is dead when they are going out or I need a phone to verify things online, without getting all the spam phone calls and texts I use the spare phone. I use it as the number online to verfiy or sign up for everything now to reduce the amount of calls I get on my landline. Paypal just changed their agreement and forces you to agree to robo calls from them and whomever they sell our phone number too now!! I went in and changed my account to a google voice and my extra trac phone. Paypal really sucks sometimes. This is just shocking to me.
http://bgr.com/2015/06/02/paypal-user-agreement-robocall-robodial-autotext-text/
Certain phones a designated triple minute phones when purchased.
I have a blackberry, which is not compatible with BYOP. A friend has offered to give me his 'old' 4 and/or 4s iPhone, which, he says were unlocked and with Verizon. Would I be able to use that phone as a BYOP and port my blackberry phone number to that phone?
And I know this is really stretching it, but there would be no way to add triple minutes to it, right?
All BYOP get triple minutes. Check the compatibility of any phone at http://tracfonewireless.com/byop/. Porting will automatically cancel your current service. Don't cancel before that or you will lose your current number.
If I purchase 200 minutes on the Family Value Plan how much data do I get?
If you purchase the $39.99 for 200 minutes to add to a smartphone it will triple. You will get 600 minutes, 600 text, and 600 mb data whether or not you're on the FVP.
Can you get individual value plans with Android phones? I have a triple minutes LG41C. If I get a 50 min./month value plan, do I get 150 minutes, 150 texts, and 150 MB data per month?
If each of our phones (3 total) is set-up under a different account (one for each user) can they all still be added to the same family value plan?
Is it better to buy airtime than to purchase minutes and use it as airtime?
I just tried doing this and it won't let me add the second phone to my family plan. It says the serial number is associated with another account - but it's not - it's on my account. Any ideas?
Call corporate headquarters in Miami... 1-800-876-5753 or 1-800-339-9345.
I am already a Tracfone customer but not using a family plan. I just bought my daughter a Samsung Galaxy Core Prime phone. I was hoping to have us both on a family value plan. In the comments above some say smartphones can't be used in the plan and some say they can. Which is correct?
You can have up to 4. If you need more then that, just open another account like I did.
Can you use Square on the tracfone for taking credit cards from customers?
Our family of 3 has the Tracfone family plan, which we've been very happy with. We recently upgraded two of the phones to androids and need to know how much data we will receive on them when our plan gets refilled next. One of us ran out of data :(
We've been on the family value plan and just upgraded a phone. They had to cancel the plan on the old phone but just got us rolled back onto it. Works great for us. We don't live on our phones so it is perfect. $25 (with WA State taxes) for 3 phones. Great deal! Did get to keep our triple minutes, too! Yay Tracfone!
I'm on the family value plan with smartphones so triple minutes. Last month & this month problems. No update in time. I'm billed, though. I've spent hours between last time and this month getting minutes for both phones. So disgusted. Can I transfer my time to other family member? I dont think so but I have quite a bit of time & other member not as much? When tracfone is good it's good. When bad & have to contact customer service, it's atrocious. I have never dealt with such idiots, never, ever
Exactly. The end of every month I write down data, texts, minutes for our 4 phones - it's a pages long hand written spreadsheet - and for the past few months only the main phone has been getting what was paid for. I call every month to complain but those morons tell me we got it when we obviously didn't. I also had problems a couple years back when they redid their website but after many hours on the phone over many phone calls we finally got it straightened out. It always amazes me reading about people praising Tracfone b/c their customer service has always been the worst. Now that my sons are teens and eating through 1,000 texts a month it's time to switch, I think Sprint is offering 4 phones unlimited for $100. Only my wife just got a new Moto G6 for Christmas so we're kinda stuck. Considering $20 unlimited forcthe kids for now, just praying they dont screw it up again and we pay double, famikynpkan and $20 unlimited. They have everyone else beat on price, but they suck as a company. Also considering Altice, my cable provider, for $20 month unlimited, but none of our phones are eligible. There's always something.
I signed up for an Unlimited Talk & Text 30-Day Plan, do I still have to purchase airtime? Are 30 days worth of airtime automatically added to the phone each time it is renewed? I selected auto-renew too, but not sure if this matters.
Thank you,
Tony
I have a Samsung J3 Galaxy Luna Pro. I have just purchased a Rebel 4 LTE. I was thinking of moving to the Family Plan for these phones but I'm understanding that some phones are not "compatible" with the Family Plan. Are these specific phones? How can I find out?
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