How To Add TracFone Airtime Minutes Online

For new users it's not always obvious how to add TracFone airtime minutes to your phone.  With that in mind, I've decided to add some tutorials here to show you how.  It's really not that hard, and before long you'll be an old pro at it.

There are a few different ways of buying TracFone airtime:  buy airtime online, but an airtime card at a retailer, buy airtime directly on your phone, or sign up for a value plan that adds airtime minutes every month.  How you add the airtime to your phone changes a little depending on how you buy the airtime.

Since I almost always buy my airtime online, I'll start by walking you through that process.

To start click here to go to the TracFone website so that we're all starting on the same page.

Click on the Buy/Add Airtime button.

Click on the Buy Airtime Button.

You may get a popup with a special offer of some sort.  It will automatically show the second offer after a few moments.

After closing the special offer box, enter your phone's serial number in the box.  If you need help finding it, click on the little orange button with the question mark for help.

Select the airtime you want to buy and be sure to use an appropriate TracFone promo code to get some free bonus airtime.

If you try to use an expired code, you will get this message.

If you try to use an invalid code, you will get this message.

After you try two expired or invalid codes, if you try one more expired or invalid code you will not get an error message and the process will continue without using a promo code.  So if you've tried two bad codes, close out your browser and reopen it and start over.  This doesn't always work, but if your airtime gets added without a promo code you can always call TracFone customer service with a valid code and they will help you add the bonus airtime to your phone.  

If the code you entered was good, or it's your third bad code, then you will see this screen.  You can choose one of the supersize options if you want, and then click continue to proceed.

The next step is to enter your credit card information and click continue.

The next screen will allow you to confirm all the details before clicking Purchase.

You'll be asked to wait while the transaction is processing...

and then shown a confirmation that the transaction was successful.  Tax is charged, so the total my vary depending on your local tax rates.

The next screen will show your confirmation of the minutes added to your phone.  The new airtime should show up on your phone within a few minutes.  The 60 bonus minutes in this case were from a TracFone promo code that I used.  The phone used for this screen shot does not have the double minutes feature.

And that's it!  When you click to Continue button, it will take you to the TracFone home page.  If you run into any problems along the way, you'll need to call TracFone's customer service at 1-800-867-7183, and they should be able to help you get it resolved.

For next time, I'll work on a tutorial of how to add to your TracFone the minutes from a purchased airtime card.

Comments

[Renee]

Wouldn`t it be advisable to make a copy of the last page for your records. It`s better than your memory at a later date.

[Joe]

DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE! It doesn't have wireless. I read some reviews and decided to buy the phone. If I had realized it didn't have wireless I wouldn't have bought it. A $300+ phone should have wireless. I feel ripped off. It's not worth $300, DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE!

[EM HARPER]

I had a problem adding air time on my Tracfone in January 2010.

I was purchasing on-line, and it would not go past the CONFIRMATION SCREEN. It gave me a message in a yellow colored band that said "UNDEFINED SERVICE."

It would not allow me to finish the transaction.

I called the number below. I got a nice technician who had to put me on hold for half of forever, BUT, he did talk to me quite a bit and said that the on-line service wanted the credit card my account was opened with.

???

The on-line system wants you to use the same credit card that you opened your account with, that is you have bought time on that card previously on-line. That credit card is tied to you on your on-line purchasing account.

So, I went through some paperwork, found my last purchase, and the card I used. I input that data, and the purchase took.

Executive Resolution office: 1-800-876-5753

Tracfone is not for people who don't deal with a lot of details well. You do have to input a lot of numbers to buy airtime/service - unless you have an on-line account set up (see above). Even if you do, sometimes you'll have to call into the company for help in your transaction and customer service will take 3/4 of forever to help you.

So, don't wait till the last minute to add air and service time to your Tracfone, ever. And... if you might forget, they have an on-line service you can pay for to help reactivate your phone. You can subscribe on their website. https://www.tracfone.com/direct/ValuePlans Tracfone Service Protection Plan.

No, I don't work for them. I'm just a detail person who didn't want to pay over $200 to set up a cell phone account, so I bought a tracfone years ago.

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I live in the Long Beach/Los Angeles section of LA County. I have a computer technician with a shop here that I trust. It has a website. The name is Zenix. http://www.zenixs.com 562-726-1281. It is by the 405 Freeway and Orange Avenue in Long Beach,CA. I AM NOT PAID TO ENDORSE THE SHOP. I am a local customer who was very pleased with the service and rates. Customers have to park across the street, though.

[Nancy Albert]

I always buy a 1-year card so I only have to renew it once a year. Several months ago I saw a statement from TracFone that for $50.00 you could pay them $50.00 and not have to renew on a yearly basis - just when you needed additional minutes. I have so many minutes piled up on my phone I'll never be able to use them all, but in 1 month I'm going to have to buy more to keep the phone activated. If I could find some information now about paying a one time fee to avoid having to buy minutes I don't need, I would appreciate someone telling me how to find it.

[kelly]

the website doesnt work i cant buy any mins for my cell help

[Bill Hunt]

I live overseas and visit the US several times a year. I bought a Tracphone to have service when In the US. I thought I was being smart when I bought a120 min card which I activated and a 400 min card which I decided to save for 90 days. What a nightmare! When I tried to activate the 400 min card it was invalid or something. This was a couple of years ago so I forget exact details, but I called customer service several times. I called the Walmart I bought it at. I had no receipt except a credit card statement without enough detail. Bottom line, I was out of luck as it needed to be activated at Walmart and I could have stolen the card. I liked the service but lost interest in trying to make it work for me. We were polite to each other and I told them they were making a bad business decision. What's happened to trust? If you use this service, read the fine print and be careful.

[janix7@excite.com]

I get this errorbuying minutes online, eventhough there has bee no delays in my data entry...
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