Tracfone uses both GSM (removable SIMcard) and CDMA (non-removable SIM
card) phones for their service, and allows their customer to piggyback on
existing carriers. You can determine which carrier you are using by the
leading characters of the SIM card, it will say something like SIMT for
T-Mobile or SIMC for ATT/Cingular. The point is, if you are using a CDMA
based tracfone, it will be on Verizon or Sprint, and you won't be able to
swap out a foreign card.
Pulling the SIM will allow you to move the number to another phone, but you
will not keep you r local Washington State number if you put in a Canada
Rogers SIM--you will then have a British Columbia based number.
Depending on how the Tracfone stores the contact information, you may have
access to it. So the question for you is do you have a CDMA or a GSM
Tracfone?
--
__
Miq Millman miq@bigllama.com
Tualatin, OR Big Llama Productions
On Mon, Aug 26, 2013 at 7:07 AM, Scott <scott.hall.personal@gmail.com>wrote:
> No one else answered, so I'll take a shot at it--the SIM card is the brain
> of the phone. The minutes and number go with the SIM card. So when you swap
> SIM cards, you get a new number, different minutes, etc. For all intents
> and purposes it's a different phone once you swap SIM cards.
>
> But let one of the EEs on here tell you for sure. That's just my
> experience in Europe. I assume any GSM system would operate the same, but
> I'm not a phone network engineer.
>
> Scott
>
> On 8/25/2013 3:20 PM, Dave C wrote:
>
>> I have relatively modest cell phone needs. I use a cheap (free) Tracfone
>> and buy more minutes once a year. It works for what I need but doesn't
>> work in Canada, at least, not reliably. Since I live in WA I go to Canada
>> occasionally, usually on my motorcycle, and cell phone coverage is kind of
>> a nice thing to have.
>>
>> Could I buy a cheap, unlocked GSM phone on Amazon, like this one, for
>> example,
>>
>> http://www.amazon.com/BLU-**T190i-RD-Unlocked-Quad-Band-**
>>> Bluetooth/dp/B00AA6WTOO/ref=**sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1377457163&**
>>> sr=8-8&keywords=unlocked+gsm+**phone<http://www.amazon.com/BLU-T190i-RD-Unlocked-Quad-Band-Bluetooth/dp/B00AA6WTOO/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1377457163&sr=8-8&keywords=unlocked+gsm+phone>
>>>
>>
>> put the SIM card from my Tracfone in it, and then buy a prepaid SIM card
>> in Canada? If yes, do the phone number and minutes I have accumulated on
>> my US Tracfone reside on the sim card, and will the phone number and
>> minutes just transfer on to the new phone?
>>
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