Tracfone Wireless Data Not Working

[Luz Ignasiak]

Ihave an iPhone Xs Max with Tracfone. They are now part of Verizon and switching to Volte. I looked up how to activate it and got the instructions: "Go to Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options or Settings > Mobile Data."

There are some other options as well, but none of them are "Mobile Data", nor are there options on any of the paths to find any options for "Voice and Data" or "LTE". It looks like my phone says "Cellular Data" where most online tutorials on how to activate VoLTE say it should say "Mobile Data".

Thank you for participating in the Apple Support Communities. We understand you're not seeing an option for VOLTE on your iPhone. This article has some information which may help: About the LTE options on your iPhone.

On your iPhone, go to Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options and tap Enable LTE or Settings > Mobile Data and tap Enable LTE. If your carrier supports Voice over LTE (VoLTE), you'll see these options:

Depending on the wireless carrier, 4G can indicate either a UMTS or LTE connection. If your carrier doesn't support VoLTE and is a CDMA carrier, you'll only see an option to Enable LTE. This allows cellular-data use over the LTE network when available.

The mobile data option will only be there if it is supported by your carrier and set up appropriately on your cellular plan. Since the option is not there at all, you will want to reach out to them so they can look into it on their end.

One thing that is unclear about this error message is the meaning of "can't connect to your voice mailbox" which is followed by "Sorry, we're having trouble connecting to your voice mailbox..." So who is "we" who can't connect? The Verizon system? The app on my phone? And what does "can't connect" mean?

Concerning my WiFi setting, it is generally enabled. While it is possible that WiFi is down for an instant now and then, cellular data is always on... so I'm still unclear on the meaning of error message 9004... Who or what "can't connect" to my voice mailbox? And why am I getting these error messages when I can test my VM by sending myself a VM message and find it to be working fine?

You need to access the link from the community forum website and not from the email notification of a new post into the discussion thread. There is a link in the email notification to allow you to view the posts on the community site.

In experimenting, I turned Wi-Fi calling on and kept mobile data off. Rebooted my Pixel 2 XL and tried to listen to a voicemail, it sits at "Loading Voicemail" for a while and then says "Couldn't Load voicemail." As far as I can tell, it need mobile data turned on to use the "Visual Voicemail" features. If you have Data turned off, then you have to use the traditional phone method (non-visual).

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Thanks for your understanding.

Does unused data roll over, assuming you keep adding service days?

With the byop plan, do you have to have a phone with an existing plan and phone number from another company, or can I go out and buy a new gsm compatible phone and sign up using this plan?

I wanted to purchase a data card through Walmart. It asked me for my ZIP code. I put it in and got the message that the data card wouldn't work in my area. Is that true? My LG Ultimate 2 should be able to handle it. Is Walmart wrong?

Even if you don't email or anything, those apps keep in touch with their sources online. So Gmail will keep synching up with Gmail online even if you aren't sending emails from your phone, for example.

You can slow down (but not eliminate) data drain by turning your connection OFF when you aren't actively needed to use an app that needs a data connection like My Account. Go into your Settings Menu and find "Mobile Data". Turn it off. That should help immensely (did for me).

Just remember that before you can use apps like My Account (mentioned above), you'll need to turn Mobile Data back on. To do that, just go back into Settings and turn it back on. Use the ap you need, then turn MD back off again.

I have an LG SUNSET and I am wondering if buying a data card will somehow mess up phones that have Triple Minutes for life. I currently have about 3600 minutes of talk, text and data MG. (And if I buy another one year 400 minute card, this will triple to give me a total of about 4800 in each bucket. However, if I should decide to get a data-only card at some point in the next year, could this somehow mess up the service.

The reason I ask is that I read on your site something about when you have a triple minutes phone, NEVER buy a double or triple minutes card since this will mess up the phone (in other words, always buy single minutes to get the triple minutes).

Would a 300 MB data card triple as well.

Sorry this is confusing.

I have a Samsung S5 under tracfone's Bring Your Own Phone program. I have plenty of Data and Message minutes but no Data minutes left. I want to add data and have purchased a Android only 4Gb data card. The directions with the card say to press MENU > PREPAID > REDEEM AIRTIME.

My Galaxy S5 doess not have a MENU key and the help area has no listing for Prepaid or Redeem. So how do I add the data to my phone?

I want to purchase either an iphone 5s or the new iphone SE. I currently have a tracfone android now with 2000 minutes, 2000 messages, and 3000 MB of data. If I begin to use the BYOP service, will the minutes, data, and text messages transfer over?

And also do Verizon phones work with the BYOP serivce?

Great site. I had a bunch of questions, and will have more I am sure, but now I have hopes of finding an answer without a 1-800 queque. I love my LG sunrise from Straight talk, but the $45 a month was a little steep for me, and really I don't use it that much, now I can spend far less and enjoy it more. THANKS Question, how do I know which towers this runs off of, I am confused.

I bought a $50 data card added it to my phone it says it is there that I have 5gb of data turned my data on and off and back on again and my data isn't working also turned phone off and on and still bot working what do I do

If I try to go to the internet someplace where there is no wifi, a page comes up that wants me to pay for xfinity wifi. I tried turning on my data, but the same thing still happens. Shouldn't I be able to go online using data? I have an LGL 22c tracfone

Are only specific phones considered by tracfone to be smartphones? I have a Samsung Galaxy Stardust and added a smartphone refill. I'm wondering if because I don't have a fancier "smartphone" it only extended my service date and that's why it hasn't added additional minutes, etc?

I am trying to add a data only card from the web site (1 GB for $10) but it will not total and send me to checkout. It says I have to add an airtime card. I have all the minutes and texts I need (I added a texts only card with no trouble some time ago). Do I have to add more minutes and text

Marc C - You did log in to your TracFone acct & selected your current phone ? or you did enter your Phone or serial # in the airtime section? Assume you DO have minutes and text still available? Seems they may not allow a plan to have only data. Sometimes on a phone it does not show everything - much easier on desktop. Hope it works out for you.

I just did BYOP w/Tracfone on a Nokia Lumia 635 smartphone. I managed to get what I thought a good deal on the new SIM and 90days minimal service plan-just testing the waters. Looks like phone still activates with AT&T. Is this normal? Yes, it was an AT&T phone. I just thought the activation would change the behavior of the opening screen. Activation took about 30 minutes late at night. Couldn't do it myself on their website. Chat was helpful but took a long long time. I hope the service is good, the price was right for me, less than 7.00 a month. I mostly use my phone for texts or calls. Suggestions are welcomed. I shut off the phone to avoid unwanted "updates/connections" using up my data. And nobody knows the phone number yet!!!

I just wasted too many airtime units trying to get a straight answer from someone working with a script. When I use my phone to check my email account. It takes about 5 seconds to load my email index and when I click on new emails it takes all of another 5 seconds to list them. I look at a couple and then logout and off of the web. Now I expected a hit in my DATA units but instead, not as well, I got a 91 unit hit in my air time for what was 3 minutes in real time. I want to know why my airtime gets beat up instead of my data units getting used. My Tracfone script reader wasn't even close to coming up with a close answer.

What phone are you using? And what app for checking your email? I only use the gmail app, and it works great, whether on WiFi or data. There are other third party apps I've heard also work very well. Are you using a smartphone?

We just bought a 750 MB data card for our LG Sunrise. When I entered in the PIN and refreshed the stats in the My Account app for Tracfone, it only added 180 MB and increased my minutes and texts. Is this what's supposed to happen?

No, that's very odd. It sounds like the PIN was for a 60 minute card - which would give you 180 minutes, texts and data. Very strange that it got mixed in with a 750 MB card. If you purchased the card from Tracfone, might be worth contacting them to sort things out.

When buying a phone do you first have to know who your carrier is so you don't get the wrong one by mistake and not have it work with the cell towers in your area? EX: trying to use a phone intended for AT&T towers in a Verizon area. Please advise, thank you.

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