Tracfone Rewards Program

[Crazy8SD]

Now that the AAL points are not worth it, can I activate a phone by using my old number which has a years validity? And will it still unlock after 60 days?

Yes. See posts #77 and #78.

[bobdevnul]

Now that the AAL points are not worth it, can I activate a phone by using my old number which has a years validity? And will it still unlock after 60 days?

Yes, I have done it several times.

[Boz1]

After working with 6 different corporate CSRs over 5 days, starting 1/19/23, with no results, and then 8 FCC complaint "specialists" over 7 days, starting 1/24/23, all taking hours of time, the FCC complaint department did NOTHING, except at the very end, offering to give me 500 AAL points, which I refused! Excuses ranged from it was activated too late, to it wasn't part of the order # that it was purchased under, to it was a reactivation, to that it was my fault it was a reactivation, because I should have known that's what would happen when ordering a refurb.

BUT...It's a MIRACLE! Today, 2/2/23, the day after the BBB complaint department first contacted me in 2/1/23, JAMIE added my 7000 points, and they're now showing as pending. Unfortunately, it still included a waiting period, but she said she set it for 30 days, instead of the normal 60, so at least there’s that, IF she did it correctly.

The best part about it is that the 7000 points put my balance in this account up over 20000, so in 30 days, if all goes well, I'll be able to get another $300 coupon! And based on how things are going with the rewards program, that might be the last one I get...

[jet1000]

BUT...It's a MIRACLE! Today, 2/2/23, the day after the BBB complaint department first contacted me in 2/1/23, JAMIE added my 7000 points, and they're now showing as pending.

Glad to hear that your persistence has paid off!

[Joshtt]

After working with 6 different corporate CSRs over 5 days, starting 1/19/23, with no results, and then 8 FCC complaint "specialists" over 7 days, starting 1/24/23, all taking hours of time, the FCC complaint department did NOTHING, except at the very end, offering to give me 500 AAL points, which I refused! Excuses ranged from it was activated too late, to it wasn't part of the order # that it was purchased under, to it was a reactivation, to that it was my fault it was a reactivation, because I should have known that's what would happen when ordering a refurb.

BUT...It's a MIRACLE! Today, 2/2/23, the day after the BBB complaint department first contacted me in 2/1/23, JAMIE added my 7000 points, and they're now showing as pending. Unfortunately, it still included a waiting period, but she said she set it for 30 days, instead of the normal 60, so at least there’s that, IF she did it correctly.

The best part about it is that the 7000 points put my balance in this account up over 20000, so in 30 days, if all goes well, I'll be able to get another $300 coupon! And based on how things are going with the rewards program, that might be the last one I get...

Gratz that was some fight!

[Joshtt]

Now that the AAL points are not worth it, can I activate a phone by using my old number which has a years validity? And will it still unlock after 60 days?

so is what you guys are talking about is a combine, or merge grr forget terminology?

basically take a flip phone for instance with a years time- make the flip go inactive and activate your previously
un-activated phone with the flips phone # which will then unlock it in 2 months. Then 2 months later take that newly unlocked same phone with say with 10 months left and do the same thing again? you then have 2 unlocked phones, you could do the same thing again with i guess aprox every 2 months.

so if you buy a un-activated phone of tf website, you can merge/combine it w for the unlock and save buying a card
to unlock correct? but hmm wouldn't you also lose potential for a refer a friend by doing it this way? Is it a now not a new activation then but just continuing the previous phone numbers activation...

Hmm i hope I understand that right ... interesting subject...

[tomseys]

Does anyone the purpose of the "Is this a gift?" checkbox when placing a TF order?

Placed order this morning....

[Devideoverflow]

A total of ten spins and scratches and one win for ten points total. Gotta say I feel like a lab experiment to see the least amount TracFone can give in this stupid game and I am still trying ...

You're not alone on that experiment wheel!

I've pretty much emptied out my rewards and am interested to see if that has any effect on the wheels results.
(No wins so far, so no change yet..)

[PaulCrawhorne]

No, you cannot use an existing line to get AAL points.

It is really the line that gets Activated, especially BYOP devices the IMEI can usually be irrelevant once that is done.

With Tracfone bundle deals, keep track of which SIM goes with which IMEI but that is also rarely needed, just FFR.

Usually just moving a SIM over to a new device you want to use is no problem, no need to do anything in the app/website, just works.

But officially, the TF procedure is moving the line over to a new SIM and IMEI (device), the txt/min/MB buckets ALONG WITH the phone number.

If you are Combining, moving Line A over the top of Line B, that deactivates Line B and you lose that phone number.

TF policy may eliminate combining, require you to also give up B's txt/min/MB buckets, many reps refuse or don't know how, so just disconnect and keep trying.

Now, Unlocking is completely independent of most of the above, that just requires the phone/IMEI be Activated in their system and for 61 days to pass.

Refer a friend RPs also has little to do with the above, that comes from setting up a new MyAccount and joining it to the RP loyalty program.

But the first line in that MyAccount cannot get AAL, so use an existing line, or an IMEI that you know cannot be used for AAL for that.

Also AAL does require buying a "plan card" the $10 retail ones work fine.

so is what you guys are talking about is a combine, or merge grr forget terminology?

basically take a flip phone for instance with a years time- make the flip go inactive and activate your previously
un-activated phone with the flips phone # which will then unlock it in 2 months. Then 2 months later take that newly unlocked same phone with say with 10 months left and do the same thing again? you then have 2 unlocked phones, you could do the same thing again with i guess aprox every 2 months.

so if you buy a un-activated phone of tf website, you can merge/combine it w for the unlock and save buying a card
to unlock correct? but hmm wouldn't you also lose potential for a refer a friend by doing it this way? Is it a now not a new activation then but just continuing the previous phone numbers activation...

Hmm i hope I understand that right ... interesting subject...

[PaulCrawhorne]

Details on combining txt/min/MB buckets

https://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?p=17243892

[Joshtt]

No, you cannot use an existing line to get AAL points.

It is really the line that gets Activated, especially BYOP devices the IMEI can usually be irrelevant once that is done.

With Tracfone bundle deals, keep track of which SIM goes with which IMEI but that is also rarely needed, just FFR.

Usually just moving a SIM over to a new device you want to use is no problem, no need to do anything in the app/website, just works.

But officially, the TF procedure is moving the line over to a new SIM and IMEI (device), the txt/min/MB buckets ALONG WITH the phone number.

If you are Combining, moving Line A over the top of Line B, that deactivates Line B and you lose that phone number.

TF policy may eliminate combining, require you to also give up B's txt/min/MB buckets, many reps refuse or don't know how, so just disconnect and keep trying.

Now, Unlocking is completely independent of most of the above, that just requires the phone/IMEI be Activated in their system and for 61 days to pass.

Refer a friend RPs also has little to do with the above, that comes from setting up a new MyAccount and joining it to the RP loyalty program.

But the first line in that MyAccount cannot get AAL, so use an existing line, or an IMEI that you know cannot be used for AAL for that.

Also AAL does require buying a "plan card" the $10 retail ones work fine.

thanks for info your right its called a combine thats the name! one goes inactive, other is active gets all the stuff lol...

thanks for the reply Paul, I don't think I explained myself very well, My understanding was to unlock a phone it must first be activated and to do that you must spend $$ $10=$20 on a card..

I guess what I thought they were getting at is you buy a phone at tracfone and you want to unlock it but you don't want to spend $10-$20 to activate it to start the unlocking process. So instead you take another phone with lots of time left and do a combine and your newly purchased phone and it becomes the active phone in the combine and gets basically activated through the process and
and can be unlocked in 60 days which saves spending $10-$20 on a card to activate the phone with

I was wondering if that was what you guys were talking about, its a way of saving money getting a phone activated, but
maybe that wasn't it at all..

I was just pointing out If you spend $10-$20 to activate a new phone you could make a rewards account and receive a refer
a friend with it, If you use a old phone number with a existing rewards account to combine I assume you wouldn't
get refer a friend points.

lol this is getting complicated, actually my question is can you do a combine and activate a phone with it?

update!! I have been thinking about this and reading your post again I think the answer is yes but all you are doing is transferring service right..
old phone number and buckets transfer to new phone and activates the new phone basically. Old phone is deactivated.
I guess this is called a combine? or a transfer lol grr.. or a combine transfer
geez I am so used to getting aal and raf points I haven't done many of these that transfer a phone number.

so are you also saying you can also transfer the service by simply changing the sim card and it would work for a unlock?
I thought however I read if sim and imei dont match it can cause problems, thats why we contact tf and have them do it for us right?
I guess thats why you mentioned it not the offical way of doing it but it would work--

hmm anyways thanks for the info I think some stuff is clicking as I think about this..lol it takes me some time sometimes

[SlowLoris]

If you have a new phone that you want to unlock, you can activate it with a transfer of service from your existing line. The number, service time, and buckets will all be on the new phone, which will then be eligible for unlock in 60 days. It can be done online without a customer service agent. You only get minimal points for it though -- my dad got 14 points when he got a new phone and activated with a transfer.

[Joshtt]

If you have a new phone that you want to unlock, you can activate it with a transfer of service from your existing line. The number, service time, and buckets will all be on the new phone, which will then be eligible for unlock in 60 days. It can be done online without a customer service agent. You only get minimal points for it though -- my dad got 14 points when he got a new phone and activated with a transfer.

thats a good summary geez I should have know that took me 2 long posts to get there doh!

yah if you do that refer a friend is off the table I assume as its not a new number right its a old used number with
a existing account.

so on phones that don't require plan purchase I guess you have a choice, transfer old number or pay $10
and raf with a new number hopefully get 5k.

Sold out again on xr's I am always late i wonder how long they were around this time hehe..

[bkdarts]

Just in case there’s a future reward AAL promo worth more then 500 points..

FYI 10k flipped to active today for my Tracfone line that I converted from ATT to Verizon sim 2 months ago… I used the free sim they sent and a NIB iPhone 11. (Walmart purchased) This line with same phone number has been active on Tracfone more then 5 years and I figured it was ghost points based on other datapoints but points now active.

[Senkoboy]

Just in case there’s a future reward AAL promo worth more then 500 points..

FYI 10k flipped to active today for my Tracfone line that I converted from ATT to Verizon sim 2 months ago… I used the free sim they sent and a NIB iPhone 11. (Walmart purchased) This line with same phone number has been active on Tracfone more then 5 years and I figured it was ghost points based on other datapoints but points now active.

You won the TracFone lottery.