expiredFrugalForever posted Jan 13, 2026 05:53 PM
Item 1 of 2
Item 1 of 2
expiredFrugalForever posted Jan 13, 2026 05:53 PM
Tracfone Prepaid iPhone 16e 128GB Black ($349) + 2 months of $10/month plan (to unlock) $369 + tax
$369
$620
40% offTracFone
Visit TracFoneGood Deal
Bad Deal
Save
Share
Leave a Comment
57 Comments
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank reddyme
BTW this is now $199 at TW.
TrackPhone is one of the cheaper plans around -- $20/month gets me 4gb of data that perpetually accumulates and rolls over, hotspot, unlimited text and talk. They use the Verizon network, which is acceptable in my area.
And I don't really feel like a handheld is an essential part of my identity -- given I replace it every 2 years anyways.
(I suppose if I did a LOT of international travel, I'd probably want something I can use on foreign networks. But my foreign travel has slowed down in the last two decades due to anti-american sentiment abroad. And honestly, if I'm going for vacation, I'll just be without tech for a few days. It's refreshing.)
I've never had a phone -- flagship or budget -- last longer than 36 months without developing SOME sort of annoying issue. Usually battery life. So my rule is at month 24 of use, I start the search for a replacement handheld....with the goal that by month 36, I have it and it's ready to go whenever my current handheld decides to irritate me enough to warrant the swap.
That gives me an entire year to get something, and the sales around the holiday season are typically the best time to get a device. But lately, every sale is sold out before I get a chance to nab one for my own legit personal use....with everyone clamoring about "activate it for points" and "resell the device". Ugh. I just need a phone, no need for those schemes.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
And read between the lines -- if I'm stashing away data, it means I don't USE that much. You should read your terms and conditions -- "unlimited data" doesn't mean that. A nice little lie. They'll throttle you so hard after a certain amount of GBs, you'd think you're on a 56k dialup. But hey, keep thinking it's a buffet when you're allowed one grain of rice every 10 minutes. Chow down and eat hearty!
And the price has gone down -- it was $25, now it's $20. It used to be 2gb, now it's 4gb. I'm not going to fret about a meager $4/month for all the hassle it takes to swap from one service to another, unlocking a phone (which is now even harder to do!), and hoping everything doesn't get all messed up. And cheap handhelds can be found on sale MANY times a year....HSN, QVC, Walmart*, directly from Track Phone, etc.
I can't say the same for the other services, but then again, I really don't care about them and don't follow their deal cycles. I just know that Track Phone is a big dog in the cellular reseller space, and there's value in running with the big dogs.
I mean, if swapping is worth a mere $48/year for you, go right ahead. How do you value your downtime? I'd don't want to be arguing with overseas customer support script-readers for hours, trying to get my phone fixed...when it was working JUST FINE. One hour of that, and I'm already "losing money". But hey, if you aren't employed or have a min-wage part-time job, I can see where that can shift in your favor!
TrackPhone is one of the cheaper plans around -- $20/month gets me 4gb of data that perpetually accumulates and rolls over, hotspot, unlimited text and talk. They use the Verizon network, which is acceptable in my area.
And I don't really feel like a handheld is an essential part of my identity -- given I replace it every 2 years anyways.
(I suppose if I did a LOT of international travel, I'd probably want something I can use on foreign networks. But my foreign travel has slowed down in the last two decades due to anti-american sentiment abroad. And honestly, if I'm going for vacation, I'll just be without tech for a few days. It's refreshing.)
I've never had a phone -- flagship or budget -- last longer than 36 months without developing SOME sort of annoying issue. Usually battery life. So my rule is at month 24 of use, I start the search for a replacement handheld....with the goal that by month 36, I have it and it's ready to go whenever my current handheld decides to irritate me enough to warrant the swap.
That gives me an entire year to get something, and the sales around the holiday season are typically the best time to get a device. But lately, every sale is sold out before I get a chance to nab one for my own legit personal use....with everyone clamoring about "activate it for points" and "resell the device". Ugh. I just need a phone, no need for those schemes.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Leave a Comment