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.
