Activation of Straight Talk phone on TracFone?

**WheelieBoot** · 06-01-2023, 12:04 PM

How recently has anyone here activated a Straight Talk phone on TF and if they did, were there any problems or how did it go?

I saw a ST LG Pure for $40 online and was thinking of activating it with a transfer from an active phone. It might be able to be door dashed today or tomorrow.

I did activate a Straight Talk Fiesta with a transfer maybe three years ago, and they said I had to rebrand it. The next morning the SIM showed as out of service so I transferred the service back to the other phone. The Fiesta was bought from Best Buy from their website online.

I worry about phones not being scanned properly even if they were purchased at the store in person.

I would rather buy a refurb Moto Play from the TracFone website for $40, but I've heard about weird things happening to orders placed at their website and it worries me too.

I really don't need to buy a phone with another year's service at this time or I could pay double that and get a TracFone LG Reflect from the eBay store.

Sent from my moto g(7) optimo maxx(XT1955DL) using HoFo mobile app

**WheelieBoot** · 06-01-2023, 02:23 PM

I went to the TracFone website and entered a chat with a CSR on the phone sale page. Louise said that Straight Talk phones could be rebranded to TracFone but that their customer service people will have to do it for me.

Meaning I guess that I can't just do it myself online by choosing to activate the phone with a transfer, and there will be no way they'll know it was a Straight Talk phone.

My real worry is Walmart will not scan it properly and it will end up with an activation issue, like it will go out of service suddenly.

I'm not sure that saving a few bucks is worth the worry.

If I buy a refurb Moto Play or Stylus from the TF website I'm forced to buy a plan with it which raises the price, even though I already have enough service on my other phones to activate with a transfer.

$15 is the cheapest smartphone plan I know of, so the refurb Play is raised to 55 or the Stylus would be raised to 65.

Still that is way cheaper than buying those new without service. I just don't want to have to enter the phone number I want to use to activate the phone at the point of sale. I want to wait until I get the phone to decide which one. But when I choose upgrade they ask for the number.

Sent from my moto g(7) optimo maxx(XT1955DL) using HoFo mobile app

**Landngroove** · 06-01-2023, 03:15 PM

I bought a ST Nokia 2760 at Walmart last year. I called the corporate number to transfer my TF service to it as I wanted to use it on TF. They said it needed to be rebranded, and I said do it. In no time it was up and running on TF.

**advcomp2019** · 06-01-2023, 03:36 PM

I have rebranded a number of phones.

The last two that I had to rebrand was a Net10 phone to Tracfone and Tracfone phone to Total Wireless. Both I had to get a CSR to rebrand them.

I know the one still works since my grandma uses it every day.

**SlowLoris** · 06-01-2023, 04:05 PM

Originally Posted by WheelieBoot

I just don't want to have to enter the phone number I want to use to activate the phone at the point of sale. I want to wait until I get the phone to decide which one. But when I choose upgrade they ask for the number.

If you are talking about not wanting to put in your number when buying from the Tracfone website, you can just select "I am a new customer" when ordering. Once you have the phone, you can still activate with a transfer of your current service.

**WheelieBoot** · 06-01-2023, 05:46 PM

Originally Posted by SlowLoris

If you are talking about not wanting to put in your number when buying from the Tracfone website, you can just select "I am a new customer" when ordering. Once you have the phone, you can still activate with a transfer of your current service.

Thank you. I tried the "add a new line" choice figuring that if I have to buy an activation plan with it, I could always activate it with a new number. Then when it's getting ready to expire, I can combine it with one of my other phones in such a way that I get to keep the telephone number that I already have.

Sent from my moto g(7) optimo maxx(XT1955DL) using HoFo mobile app

**WheelieBoot** · 06-01-2023, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by Landngroove

I bought a ST Nokia 2760 at Walmart last year. I called the corporate number to transfer my TF service to it as I wanted to use it on TF. They said it needed to be rebranded, and I said do it. In no time it was up and running on TF.

Thanks for the info. I went ahead and ordered the $40 Walmart ST Pure. Now let's just hope it was scanned properly so it won't deactivate the next day like my Best Buy Fiesta did.

There are a lot of bad reviews on the Pure but some good ones as well and I'm just hoping it will be one of the good ones.

Sent from my moto g play (XT2093DL) using HoFo mobile app

**WheelieBoot** · 06-01-2023, 05:57 PM

Originally Posted by advcomp2019

I have rebranded a number of phones.

The last two that I had to rebrand was a Net10 phone to Tracfone and Tracfone phone to Total Wireless. Both I had to get a CSR to rebrand them.

I know the one still works since my grandma uses it every day.

Thank you for the info. I was thinking maybe what I ought to do was rather than try to activate by transferring a number from an already active phone, I could pay for a cheap pin and then I'm not out so much if it deactivates itself.

Sent from my moto g play (XT2093DL) using HoFo mobile app

**whacker** · 06-01-2023, 06:46 PM

In 2018 I purchased two Straight Talk LG Fiesta 2s used on Ebay for $40 each to use on Page Plus Cellular. Got SIM cards separately. I believe I used the Chat feature for contacting them, and they just put my existing two lines of service onto these new (to me) devices. No talk of re-branding.

In 2021 I got two new Moto G Power 2020s from the Total Wireless website (pre-VZW) which came with new SIMs. Did the same thing with this pair as with the first (to use on PPC) . No mention of re-branding. I got these unlocked last year and am still using them on PPC.

Of course the TracFone CSRs service PPC customers, and maybe they have slightly different standards for some of these things, but this was my experience from a different angle than direct TracFone.

**WheelieBoot** · 06-01-2023, 08:03 PM

Originally Posted by whacker

In 2018 I purchased two Straight Talk LG Fiesta 2s used on Ebay for $40 each to use on Page Plus Cellular. Got SIM cards separately. I believe I used the Chat feature for contacting them, and they just put my existing two lines of service onto these new (to me) devices. No talk of re-branding.

In 2021 I got two new Moto G Power 2020s from the Total Wireless website (pre-VZW) which came with new SIMs. Did the same thing with this pair as with the first (to use on PPC) . No mention of re-branding. I got these unlocked last year and am still using them on PPC.

Of course the TracFone CSRs service PPC customers, and maybe they have slightly different standards for some of these things, but this was my experience from a different angle than direct TracFone.

I have a TF BYOP kit that has an unused TF-VZ SIM. If I put that in the ST Pure, would it be considered a BYOP not TF branded Pure?

I would guess they identify the phone by the IMEI not the SIM in order to determine what service it was supposed to be branded to.

At any rate, I can at least try to rebrand with the SIM it comes with.

Thank you for your insight into activating across TF brands.

Sent from my moto g play (XT2093DL) using HoFo mobile app

**WheelieBoot** · 06-04-2023, 05:32 PM

I got the Straight Talk Moto G Pure on Saturday. My WiFi here was weak so didn't finish setting up til today. I haven't activated it yet.

It was a little touchy setting up the folders I keep on the home screen. Once I got the quirks figured out, it was ok. It only allows four folders on the bottom bar.

Until I got a good WiFi connection it only had one wallpaper, the one it comes with. After WiFi connected, there were a lot more wallpapers to choose from.

Google Photos was pre-installed. I installed Smart Gallery-- Photo Manager which is similar to Simple Gallery.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...gallery.editor

I did notice that after installing Play Store apps, there were 1/2 dozen game apps installed and a Temu shopping app. I deleted them.

So far it seems like a nice phone but I'll have to work with it a while before I know its differences.

If I try to activate it, I'll probably use a $15/30 day 500/500/500 PIN. I'd use the $20/90 day basic plan card but I don't think smartphones can be activated with a basic card.

Then if the phone doesn't deactivate on me, it means Walmart scanned the codes before delivery.

I can then combine service on the phone with service from one of my Orbic flips.

Sent from my moto g pure using HoFo mobile app

**WheelieBoot** · 06-17-2023, 08:07 PM

Got this PM:

Hi, WheelieBoot. This is Alex from TracFone Wireless. Thank you so much for still choosing TracFone Wireless as your local service provider. Regarding your concern, the process of transferring your old service to the new phone is not that hard. If your old device is under Straight Talk Wireless and your new phone is under TracFone Wireless. We have to ask you which service provider you want to stay. If you choose the TracFone service, then we really need to rebrand the Straight Talk device to TracFone and the remaining service you have will be lost. To have a peace in mind allow us to help you out. Chat with us via this link https://www.tracfone.com/support/contact-us, or call us at 1-800-867-7183. For your convenience, our representatives are available Monday-Sunday from 8:00 AM to 11:45 PM EST. You can also use our self-service menu by simply texting the word HELP to 611611.

(End Quote)

I read so many neg reviews on the Walmart website for phones not being scanned properly, I decided to use the Straight Talk Pure as a WiFi device.

It's too bad the activation scan isn't done in such a way that if it's not properly scanned, the register transaction doesn't complete.

Sent from my moto e (XT2052DL) using HoFo mobile app

**LittleBear916** · 07-02-2023, 01:18 AM

I skipped all that nonsense with chat. I logged into my account and entered the MEID of my iPhone XR that I bought at WM (It was branded for either Simple Mobile or Straight Talk) and I was up and running in 5 minutes. My phone appears as a bring my own phone icon in my account.

**PaulCrawhorne** · 07-02-2023, 01:46 AM

Did you buy a BYOP SIM

or use the one sold with the iPhone ?

**hpham** · 07-02-2023, 06:59 AM

Originally Posted by LittleBear916

I skipped all that nonsense with chat. I logged into my account and entered the MEID of my iPhone XR that I bought at WM (It was branded for either Simple Mobile or Straight Talk) and I was up and running in 5 minutes. [b]My phone appears as a bring my own phone icon in my account [/].

That's fine if you don't care to get it unlocked.