Trac-fone - Cell phone question

A Mate

unread,

Jul 25, 2007, 10:06:50 PM7/25/07

to

We're travelling in the USA in September/October (hiring car and driving)
for 7 weeks in September/October. We start in Atlanta, thence to Tn and on
to the New England area for most of our time. We want a mobile (cell) phone
to keep in touch with family in Australia.

Will a pre-paid tracfone give us reasonable coverage in New England?

Should we choose a gsm or CDMA tracfone?

Can you recommend another better option?

Thanks

Brontide

unread,

Jul 25, 2007, 11:24:22 PM7/25/07

to

New england/east coast is a strong CDMA area ( Verizon/AllTel )
although if you plan on being in the boonies you should spring for a
CDMA phone that also has analog. It looks like you will be covered on
your entire trip by using a CDMA tracfone. Tracfone also has the
advantage that you can call australia without any additional costs/
minutes being used ( if I'm reading their pages correctly ). At an
effective rate of ~20c/minute it's not horrible, but I would minimize
it's use and rely on international calling cards when you have a
landline around.

I'm not as familiar with GSM coverage for your areas so I can't tell
you that it will be better with GSM, but I do see that CDMA should
cover you.

-Eric

Brontide

unread,

Jul 25, 2007, 11:43:06 PM7/25/07

to

For more info you can check out the helpful fourms here.

http://howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=330

-Eric

Dennis

unread,

Jul 26, 2007, 3:42:38 PM7/26/07

to

On Thu, 26 Jul 2007 12:06:50 +1000, "A Mate" <ma...@Australia.com.au>
wrote:

I can't comment on the coverage for the east coast, but on a recent
road trip through the western US, I discovered that the coverage on my
(GSM) Tracfone wasn't anything like what they claim on their coverage
maps.

YMMV.

Dennis (evil)
--
The honest man is the one who realizes that he cannot
consume more, in his lifetime, than he produces.

Message has been deleted

Rick

unread,

Jul 27, 2007, 7:41:40 PM7/27/07

to

Brontide wrote:
>
> On Jul 25, 10:06 pm, "A Mate" <ma...@Australia.com.au> wrote:
> > We're travelling in the USA in September/October (hiring car and driving)
> > for 7 weeks in September/October. We start in Atlanta, thence to Tn and on
> > to the New England area for most of our time. We want a mobile (cell) phone
> > to keep in touch with family in Australia.
> >
> > Will a pre-paid tracfone give us reasonable coverage in New England?
> >
> > Should we choose a gsm or CDMA tracfone?
> >
> > Can you recommend another better option?
> >
> > Thanks
>
> New england/east coast is a strong CDMA area ( Verizon/AllTel )
> although if you plan on being in the boonies you should spring for a
> CDMA phone that also has analog. It looks like you will be covered on
> your entire trip by using a CDMA tracfone. Tracfone also has the
> advantage that you can call australia without any additional costs/
> minutes being used ( if I'm reading their pages correctly ). At an
> effective rate of ~20c/minute it's not horrible, but I would minimize
> it's use and rely on international calling cards when you have a
> landline around.

That's true. Unless you really want/need the convenience of a cell phone
or will want it to make US calls in the US, you can most likely find far
better deals on international calling by shopping around for the right
calling card. Down side, of course, is locating a phone to use with the
calling card.

Rick