TracFone Wireless
TracFone Wireless, Inc. (TFWI) is an American prepaid, no-contract mobile phone provider. TFWI is a subsidiary of Mexico's largest telecommunications company, América Móvil,[3] and offers products and services under several brands. It operates as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), holding agreements with the United States' largest wireless network operators to provide service, including Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile US, Sprint Corporation, and U.S. Cellular. TracFone Wireless had 25.668 million subscribers in 2015.
 | |
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Predecessor | Topp Telecom, Inc. |
| Founded | Miami, Florida, United States (1996) |
| Headquarters | Miami, Florida , United States |
Number of locations | 90,000 retail locations |
Area served | United States (incl. Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico) |
| Services | Prepaid mobile virtual network operator Brands: Tracfone, Net10 Wireless, SafeLink Wireless, Straight Talk, Page Plus Cellular, GoSmart Mobile, Telcel America, Simple Mobile, Walmart Family Mobile, Total Wireless |
Number of employees | 400+ (2008) |
| Parent | América Móvil (100%)[1] |
| Website | www |
| Footnotes / references [2] | |
History
TracFone Wireless, Inc. (TFWI) was established in 1996 as Topp Telecom Inc., a prepaid mobile phone company, in Miami, Florida. It was founded by F.J. Pollak and David Topp. In February 1999, Topp received a major infusion of capital from Teléfonos de México (NYSE: TMX), a.k.a. TelMex, Mexico's largest telephone company. TelMex paid $57.5 million for a 55 percent controlling interest in the company.
In 2000, TelMex spun off their mobile unit, creating América Móvil, of which Topp Telecom became a subsidiary. In November 2000, Topp Telecom Inc. changed its name to TracFone Wireless Inc.[4]
In 2012, América Móvil acquired rival network Simple Mobile. In May 2013, it purchased Page Plus Cellular, which had 1.4 million subscribers. On January 6, 2014, regulatory approval was received and Page Plus Cellular began operating as a subsidiary of América Móvil.
Tracfone
Originally, TracFone service was limited to TracFone-branded phones, which are locked to the TracFone service using an internal SIM card. Other GSM phones, even those that were unlocked from another carrier, could not accept a TracFone SIM card, because these are bound to a specific handset. However, in 2013, TracFone began selling SIM cards that could be inserted into qualifying non-TracFone phones (such as Verizon CDMA phones) to register them with TracFone. In 2015, this program was extended to compatible unlocked GSM phone
Other brands
In addition to its namesake product, TracFone Wireless offers products under the brands Clearway, GoSmart Mobile, NET10 Wireless, Page Plus Cellular, Safelink Wireless, SIMPLE Mobile, Straight Talk, Telcel América, Total Wireless, and Walmart Family Mobile. These brands differ not only in their logos and prepaid minute rates, but also in their service offerings.
Class actions
Misleading "unlimited" plan claims by Straight Talk, Net10 Wireless, Simple Mobile, and Telcel America – 2015
The Federal Trade Commission started a lawsuit naming TracFone, saying that they limited their "unlimited" data. This led to $40 million in consumer refunds as a result.
Roaming and repair issues – 2007
On February 9, 2007, a preliminary settlement in a class-action lawsuit against TracFone was carried out by Jeanette Wagner, and approved in the Boone County Circuit Court in Kentucky.[5][6] The complainants alleged that TracFone misled consumers by charging a roaming rate in their home calling area (they were charged for 2 units per minute, not the usual 1 unit per minute), and that it refused to extend their prepaid service time during handset repairs. As a result of the settlement, Tracfone gave each of their customers an extra 20 units of airtime.
Networks and coverage
TracFone Wireless uses the networks of major wireless providers to offer service, the coverage of which varies by the provider for each device. Retail boxes indicate the network with a code printed in the lower right corner on the back of the box.
| Network | Box code | Technology | LTE since |
|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T | GSM-A | GSM | September 2013 |
| T-Mobile | GSM-T | GSM | March 2014 |
| Sprint | CDMA-S | CDMA | May 2013 |
| Verizon | CDMA-V | CDMA | December 2014 |
References
- García-Moreno, Carlos. "América Móvil's first quarter of 2019 financial and operating report" (PDF). www.americamovil.com. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
- "About Us". TracFone Wireless. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
- Lunden, Ingrid (March 18, 2019). "America Movil acquires Nextel in Brazil for $905M". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
- "Miami Company Prepares Prepaid Cell-Phone Invasion". South Florida Business Journal. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
- "News Northern Kentucky | The Enquirer". Cincinnati.com. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
- "TracFone Wireless Inc. Roaming Fees Class Action Settlemen". Class action news consumers can use. Retrieved February 6, 2011.