- Purchase a BYOD Tracfone SIM card, available for $1 almost anywhere. One vendor is Best Buy [bestbuy.com], but there are many others.
- Write down the SIM number.
- Make sure it is a BYOD sim, not a sim with pre-loaded minutes. Only a BYOD sim will work.
- Purchase BLU phone.
- Activate BLU phone using the instructions provided with the phone.
- You may wait up to a year to activate the phone.
- Your 1-year plan begins when you initially activate.
- You must initially activate using the provided BLU phone.
- Insert Tracfone sim in BYOD phone.
- BYOD phone must be capable of communication on the Verizon network, and must be either unlocked or locked to Tracfone.
- Contact Tracfone to move number and service to new phone. You may do this multiple ways:
- Online, at https://www.tracfone.co
m/activation/selectdevice while logged in with your Tracfone account. - Text to TRANSFER to 611611
- Contact Tracfone support via online chat or phone. Tracfone support isn't the greatest, but they can do this.
- Online, at https://www.tracfone.co
- Dispose of BLU phone as you see fit.
- One community member has reported that you can return it to QVC, get your money back, and keep the service. However, that is very YMMV - it very well may have been a mistake on QVC/Tracfone's part.
- The BLU phone won't have much trade in value, but may be usable with some other deals that provide "bonus" trade in value (I.E. $100-more-than-it's-worth deals)
- Best Buy [bestbuy.com] offers free tech recycling. Better than throwing it out where the lithium will be wasted and become an environmental hazard.
The phone should unlock automatically 60 days after activation. But, if you still have the phone 60 days after activation, you haven't been following instructions. I'm also not totally certain on that - I'm not sure if a deactivated phone automatically unlocks.
81 Comments
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank WolfTheCat
It's a mobile service deal. $80 for a year of service is fantastic, and if you can live with 2GB of data per month you're golden (and extra data on tracfone isn't overpriced). Tracfone regular price on this plan is $199, BYOD without the phone.
But, the phone is horrible. Consider as having $0 value - as in recycle it ASAP. You will not want to use it. Super-slow, not good for very much at all. I have one, and I use it as a GPS tracker (I.E. rarely use it for apps or as a phone). It'll do talk/text OK, but even browsing in Chrome is painful.
One thing that would be helpful would be exact details on the most efficient way to get the plan to another phone. These questions aren't for me, but things folks probably want to know:
- Do you have to activate the plan on the BLU phone at all? Can you just use it on another phone? (That would be the optimal way)
- Do you have to buy a SIM card from Tracfone? Link?
- If you have to activate it on the BLU phone, how hard is it to transfer the plan and number to another phone?
It's a mobile service deal. $80 for a year of service is fantastic, and if you can live with 2GB of data per month you're golden (and extra data on tracfone isn't overpriced). Tracfone regular price on this plan is $199, BYOD without the phone.
But, the phone is horrible. Consider as having $0 value - as in recycle it ASAP. You will not want to use it. Super-slow, not good for very much at all. I have one, and I use it as a GPS tracker (I.E. rarely use it for apps or as a phone). It'll do talk/text OK, but even browsing in Chrome is painful.
One thing that would be helpful would be exact details on the most efficient way to get the plan to another phone. These questions aren't for me, but things folks probably want to know:
- Do you have to activate the plan on the BLU phone at all? Can you just use it on another phone? (That would be the optimal way)
- Do you have to buy a SIM card from Tracfone? Link?
- If you have to activate it on the BLU phone, how hard is it to transfer the plan and number to another phone?
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank BabyBubba
The person who would be using this just wants a second phone to use on Wi-Fi (but certainly wouldn't complain about having an active line for a year) and would eventually want to unlock it for use as a backup phone on T-Mobile's network. So, it sounds like this phone wouldn't even work for that purpose, anyway, since it's Verizon compatible and not GSM.
TracFone's unlock policy, for those interested:
https://www.tfwunlockpo
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank willgetit
You can use code HELLO20 to get $20 off (for new customers).
The person who would be using this just wants a second phone to use on Wi-Fi (but certainly wouldn't complain about having an active line for a year) and would eventually want to unlock it for use as a backup phone on T-Mobile's network. So, it sounds like this phone wouldn't even work for that purpose, anyway, since it's Verizon compatible and not GSM.
TracFone's unlock policy, for those interested:
https://www.tfwunlockpo
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank BabyBubba
You can use code HELLO20 to get $20 off (for new customers).
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank NaPra
It's a mobile service deal. $80 for a year of service is fantastic, and if you can live with 2GB of data per month you're golden (and extra data on tracfone isn't overpriced). Tracfone regular price on this plan is $199, BYOD without the phone.
But, the phone is horrible. Consider as having $0 value - as in recycle it ASAP. You will not want to use it. Super-slow, not good for very much at all. I have one, and I use it as a GPS tracker (I.E. rarely use it for apps or as a phone). It'll do talk/text OK, but even browsing in Chrome is painful.
One thing that would be helpful would be exact details on the most efficient way to get the plan to another phone. These questions aren't for me, but things folks probably want to know:
- Do you have to activate the plan on the BLU phone at all? Can you just use it on another phone? (That would be the optimal way)
- Do you have to buy a SIM card from Tracfone? Link?
- If you have to activate it on the BLU phone, how hard is it to transfer the plan and number to another phone?
https://www.qvc.com/tracfone-65-b...19416.html
I'm assuming that TracFone used both CDMA and GSM phones in the past, since their phones use both types of networks. Even if Verizon decides to use only CDMA phones on their own network in the future or long-term, they'll still have to clear out existing stock and honor existing contracts.
So I guess what I'm saying is that, even though this deal is geared more towards people staying on the TracFone service, anyone expecting to unlock this phone to use on non-tracfone service should probably confirm which network it runs on for sure before biting.
I'm assuming that TracFone used both CDMA and GSM phones in the past, since their phones use both types of networks. Even if Verizon decides to use only CDMA phones on their own network in the future or long-term, they'll still have to clear out existing stock and honor existing contracts.
So I guess what I'm saying is that, even though this deal is geared more towards people staying on the TracFone service, anyone expecting to unlock this phone to use on non-tracfone service should probably confirm which network it runs on for sure before biting.
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Thanks