TracFone wireless is one of the well-known American companies that provide the prepaid no-contract phone service. It is very well known in the telecommunication market with many customers. TracFone Towers provides a contract less phone service so you don’t have to stick or stay committed to the company for a longer period and also saves you from all the hassle of signing a contract.
TracFone works as a mobile virtual network operator or also known as MVNO, which provides virtual network service. The parent company of TracFone is also well known, it is the largest telecommunication company in Mexico called América Móvil. The MVNO such as TracFone doesn’t have their own network, in place of owning the network they lease the network from the big network proving companies such as Verizon Wireless, AT&T, etc.
Most of the mobile virtual network operators leases the tower of the single network for the coverage, which is not so reliable compared to the big network companies but the situation with the TracFone is different, it doesn’t use only one network but it leases the towers of four biggest network providers such as Verizon, T-mobile, AT&T, and sprint.
TracFone can provide you with the service of all four networks, you can either buy phones at the TracFone and use the network that is suitable with you, or if you want to bring your device that is also possible, and your device will be connected to the network from which you buy your device, suppose if you had brought your device from sprint then it will be connected to the network of the sprint.
So despite the popularity of the TracFone, it doesn’t provide a network from its own towers but It takes the tower on lease from big companies and provides service.
What is TracFone Wireless and How Does it Work
The word “TracFone” is actually a portmanteau of the words “TrakFone,” which, in turn, are short for “call friend.” Basically, it’s a company that lets you call your friends and family. Yeah, it doesn’t sound too exciting when we say it like that, but they’re an extremely popular cell phone provider because they offer some of the cheapest plans around.
In fact, you can get 500 minutes, 1000 texts and $10 worth of airtime for just $10 with their 30-day plan. So what does TracFone Wireless offer? And how does it work? Keep reading to find out!
What Towers Does TracFone Use for its Reliable Coverage
As we know TracFone is not the own network provider but an MVNO or (mobile virtual network operator) which takes the towers of other companies on lease and provides the service to the customers. TracFone unlike other mobile virtual network providers doesn’t lease only one company’s tower, which limits their coverage area, but leases the tower of the big 4 network providers in the country which greatly increases their coverage area and reliability.
1. Verizon
Verizon is one of the biggest telecommunication and network providing companies in the country. It is the best network according to the coverage area as it covers a vast area of the country. Verizon nearly covers the whole of the united states of America.
Verizon corporation operates a separate entity for the wireless connection called Verizon wireless. And Verizon Wireless is entitled to lease its network towers to the mobile virtual network operator such as Tracfone which generates them extra income. And Tracfone is one of many mobile virtual network operators that use the network tower of Verizon to provide service to the customers and lease the towers of the Verizon for better coverage.
2. AT&T
AT&T is another well-known name in the network and telecommunication industry and it is also a company that is trusted by many customers. Though the coverage of AT&T is not vast as Verizon and T-mobile. AT&T is also no amateur when it comes to the coverage area, it comes third as the company with the most coverage area across the country after Verizon and T-mobile. It has a coverage area of 58% which is on par with the T-mobile and a very good coverage area compared to others.
AT&T is known to provide quality and reliability to its customers. Tracfone also leases the network towers of AT&T which greatly boosts the coverage area of the Tracfone and which helps to increase the attraction of the customers towards the service. So due to such advantages, the MVNO such as Tracfone uses the network towers of AT&T to provide the network.
3. T-Mobile
T-mobile is also one of the four big major network providing and telecommunication companies in the country. In terms of network coverage, T-mobile is one of the best in the country, it covers nearly 59% of the total landmass of the country. So it is very reliable compare to other network-providing companies in the country. Tracfone as a mobile virtual network operator uses towers of four big network providers and T-mobile is one of the major towers that the Tracfone use.
4. Sprint
Sprint network is a lesser-known network provider than Verizon or t-mobile. It has fewer towers so its coverage area is also less than the other network towers used by the TracFone. It only has a coverage area of 29% so not many people in the country access the sprint network, but if you are inside the coverage area of the sprint network the reliability and coverage are great. Due to its reliability and affordable rates, TracFone uses the network towers of the sprint network.
Reliability of TracFone Network
As we know TracFone uses the towers of four different network providers with their coverage area some have the highest coverage area in the country as Verizon some have decent coverage area and some are no so good.
So the reliability of the TracFone really depends upon the network towers that you want to access if you use the high coverage area network such as Verizon then the reliability of your network will be very good, but if you are outside the coverage area of a certain network then the reliability mightn’t be that great and you might have to face some difficulties with the network.
The coverage area of the network that the Tracfone as mobile virtual network operator used is given below:
- Verizon with 70% coverage area of 4G network
- T-Mobile with the 59% coverage area of 4G network
- AT&T with 58% coverage area of 4G network
- Sprint with 27% coverage area of 4G network
The reason MVNO such as TracFone use the towers of other network providers is because of their cost efficiency and coverage area. If the MNVO uses their towers to provide network then they have to invest millions and billions of dollars to establish a good network coverage so they lease the towers of big network providers to provide the network to their customers.
TracFone Coverage Map
TracFone coverage depends upon the network that you choose in your device among the networks provided by the TracFone such as Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, etc. You can bring your device to TracFone and you will get the network from which you brought the device.
Such as if you brought your device from Verizon then you will get the network of Verizon which is one of the best with a 70% coverage area. And if you don’t want to bring your device and want to buy a device from the TracFone then the network will be provided to you according to your device.
So coverage depends upon the device and network that you use, like some companies have a great 4G coverage area but your phone doesn’t support the 4G then the coverage area of the 4G will be of no good to you. And for some 3G network is not sufficient and the coverage area of your company’s 4G network is not good then such network will not be of many advantages to you.
We have explained that most of the mobile virtual network operators use only one network to provide service to the customers and TracFone uses the network and coverage of four big networks such as Verizon, AT&T, T-mobile, Sprint.
But not only TracFone uses the four network there are many mobile virtual network operators as TracFone that uses the four networks to provide service to its customers such as NET10 which is MVNO and uses the four networks such as Verizon, AT&T, T-mobile, US cellular.
There are other MVNO that provide the four network such as:
- Red pocket(Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T)
- Straight talk(T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint)
- TracFone(Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint)
How is the Coverage of TracFone Compare to Other MVNO
Most of the mobile virtual network operators use the only one network providers, and only uses the tower of only one provider on a lease. So the coverage area of such networks mightn’t be that good and if such mobile virtual network operators only use the one network towers.
Then the reliability of such network is also not that great and you mightn’t get the good network outside its coverage area and as its coverage area is minimum. Then your device mightn’t get good network everywhere. But in the context of TracFone, the situation is different as they use the networks of four major network providers like Verizon, T-mobile, AT&T, Sprint.
So if the mobile virtual network operators such as TracFone uses the four major network providers then its coverage area and reliability also greatly increases, which will help the customers of the mobile virtual network operators such as TracFone greatly even if they live in the rural area and other mobile virtual network operators cannot provide network there.
A Major Feature of TracFone:
- Network Coverage: TracFone is one of the very few mobile virtual network operators that use the four major network providers, and TracFone uses the four network rater than the only one makes the network coverage of the TracFone really good compare to the other mobile virtual network operators.
- Pricing: Most of the prepaid network providers charge an expensive amount for their service. But TracFone tries to keep the price of its service to the minimum so that customers can enjoy their service at a low amount. The most minimum amount for which you can get the TracFone network is $20 per month. At that price, TracFone provides unlimited text and call, and 1 GB of 4G LTE data, which might be enough if you are using it for everyday purposes. But if you want more data then you can choose the little expensive plan for $25 and $30 per month, at that price you can get more data. But TracFone doesn’t provide you unlimited data and you have to buy data for $10 per GB of data.
- Phone Option: TracFone provides many options in selecting a phone, you can bring your own phone to activate its service if you want and if you want to buy your phones from TracFone for GSM activated device then not many options are available you have to choose from the selected option and the price of such device will not increase above $300.
- Customer Service: TracFone doesn’t have a dedicated customers service so you can just enjoy your network by activating your device from the TracFone and using it, if you ever have a problem with the network then you can contact the toll-free number provided by the company that is 611611 in this number you can ask about the basic problem.
- Great network coverage.
- Affordable rates.
- No unlimited data.
- No dedicated customer service.
- Doesn’t have its own networks.
Final Words
TracFone is better in coverage areas as compared to the other mobile virtual network operators as they use the towers of the four major network providers such as Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint mobile. Which greatly increases the coverage area of the TracFone than the other mobile virtual network operators. TracFone is not expensive and even anybody can afford the service, you can’t have unlimited data otherwise everything is great in TracFone, So if you ever want to have the prepaid no-contract phone service then TracFone can be a great option.
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