Consumer Cellular/ TracFone Coverage Meredith Area

[JanN]

We are looking into either one of these options and it is very important for us to have cellphone coverage at our lake rental in the Meredith area since there is no other phone service at the cottage--wondering if any helpful Forum members can offer any information. TIA!

[Outdoorsman]

I am local and use Verizon Wireless phone. Service is sketchy at best from Exit 19 (Tilton/Northfield) to Exit 24 (Ashland) and gets worse traveling WEST (away from the lake).

If you are not familiar with the area.... West of I-93 in that particular area seems to be terrible with Verizon.

[Water Camper]

Sue's cell phone is a TracFone. We have had reliable service in Laconia as we do not have a land line there. I can remember going up to Pittsburg with a bunch of friends and her phone was the only one that could get service.

Just saying,
Hope this helps,
Bill

[fatlazyless]

Tracfone is very reliable, and lo-priced, as well. Beieve the Tracfone flip-fone goes for 9.95 at Walmart, and the cheapest 60-minute time card is 19.95, not including a double minutes card.....which doubles your time card minutes.

A phone that is NOT a smart phone.....so that makes it a dumb phone that works great for calls, texts and photos.

[MAXUM]

Originally Posted by fatlazyless

Tracfone sold at Walmart is the phone for the very poor and homeless ..... people like me ..... except the olde flip-fone always works so unbelievably good ....that it is totally disgusting ..... plus it seems like it's cheap too.

The only way a Tracfone is "worth" it is if you never use it or stay within the usage limits of what is pre-bought.

The cost of minutes and data is incredibly expensive for what you get but that 19.95 price point suckers lots of people in, and mostly the ones that can least afford it.

Guess they prey on the fact that most people will assume it's cheaper because it's sold at Walmart and won't bother to compare costs with other carriers.

[fatlazyless]

Well, so could well be the per minute cost for calling is higher, but there is no monthly service charge. If you use it for just infrequent calls, and stick with texting, it seems to work out good. Texting costs a lot less than calling, plus you have a reliable phone for calling when you need it.

Is way better than still trying to use a pay phone .... whatever that is !

As far as staying within the usage minutes ..... the phone stops working when the time runs out ..... and it does give a ten minute beep-beep warning.

[Water Camper]

This a secondary phone for us. Sue has had a TracFone for over 10 years. We average $10/12 a month. Service has been good everywhere.

It works well for us.

Hope this helps,
Thanks,
Bill

[TCC]

FYI - Tracfone seems to have a number of different SIM cards available to them. When we moved to NH from another state about a year ago, coverage for our previously reliable Tracfone was awful. I called them and they were very easy to work with. After explaining the situation, they sent us a different SIM card at no charge. We haven't had any problems here since.

Our Tracfone is only used for basic communication when we're away from the house or other landline sources, so it doesn't get a lot of use. A one-time double minutes card ($19.99) and an annual 365-day/400 minute (800 minutes when doubled) card ($99.99) more than cover our needs.

BTW, if you buy airtime on-line, Tracfone adds some small federal fees and taxes, so you're a little better off just buying the airtime cards at the store.

HTH

[NoBozo]

My wife and I have had TracFone for about five years. We bought the first one at WallyMart in Gilford while on vacation in the lakes. The phone came with "Double Minutes" at no extra cost. Many phones do not. The carrier is Verizon.

SO: We liked the first phone and decided to get a second phone. We live in Rhode Island. The phone we bought in NH (w/Verizon) was not available in South Eastern New England. (Ct, RI, MA) Further:..The Carrier Down Here for TracFone was AT&T. We couldn't buy a second TracFone in SE New England with Verizon.

SO: We did a day trip back NH to Wallymart in Gilford to get the second phone ... With Verizon. A three hour drive each way.

We only use the phone for casual talk or emergency. We buy 60 minute cards every 90 days, About $7 a month per phone.

My wife's phone has accumulated 2573 minutes since purchase. My phone has 2398 minutes. It just keeps building.

We don't need to go to the internet on the phone to see STUFF. (The TracFone IS Internet Capable, but we don't use it) ...We have a computer for that. NB

PS: Our experience with Verizon on the lake is FINE. We stay on the east side of the lake (Wolfeboro) and have never lost a signal..Ever. On the lake..We use it for making reservations at local restaurants. We can see the cell phone tower over near Gunstock..

BTW: Our phone does NOT use "Sim Cards".

[Water Camper]

As Bill said, I have had a tracfone for a very long time. We use it, basically, as a weekend phone when we are at the lake (or when traveling). Not much use, but always great to have. Especially after a couple of breakdowns on the lake. And family/friends can get in touch with us if they want or need to. I buy my minutes a year at a time and wait for specials so I usually get 800 to 1000 minutes for about $129.00 a year, sometimes less. Can't beat that. I can get reception anywhere I go, including the lakes region, and clear as a bell on the lake. It is not for everyone who wants a smart phone and that's okay. It just works for us for our situation. Hope this helps.

Sue

[Pepper]

We had tracphones a number of years back and although we had horrible reception at our house, a friend with a different tracphone had spectacular signal when she visited. Confused, we discussed this with the desk at WalMart in Tilton and discovered that different phones use different carriers and will experience different signal strengths in various areas.

I have no idea if this is still the case, but if you do go that route be sure to purchase it locally and ask questions about which carrier's signal you will be attaching to. If it's Verizon, you should be able to receive an excellent signal anywhere in the region. If it's any other carrier, choose a different tracphone - one that will use a Verizon signal.

Hope that helps!

[BroadHopper]

There are three basic cell phone services in the US. CDMA, TDMA and GSM.

Major carrier of CDMA is Verizon, TDMA is AT&T and T-Mobile is GSM. CDMA is the predominant technology in this area. TDMA has expanded rapidly lately. AT&T recently installed a tower on Red Hill pointing North to Tamworth, Sanbornton and Ossipee area. I was told it provided coverage in the Northern part of the lake. Not sure what that means.

GSM as far as I know covers the metropolis areas and the interstate highways. I was told Laconia just receive coverage and you will find the transponder on the Opechee Conference Center smokestack.

Sprint use CDMA. If you live outside of their coverage areas, you may request for free roaming. They will gladly provide to keep the business.

Straightalk, tracfones and others depending on the local coverage will provide CDMA, TDMA or GSM phones. If you follow the money, most of these 'independants' are owned by the parent companies of the 'giants'.

[Den65]

Originally Posted by BroadHopper

There are three basic cell phone services in the US. CDMA, TDMA and GSM.

Major carrier of CDMA is Verizon, TDMA is AT&T and T-Mobile is GSM. CDMA is the predominant technology in this area. TDMA has expanded rapidly lately. AT&T recently installed a tower on Red Hill pointing North to Tamworth, Sanbornton and Ossipee area. I was told it provided coverage in the Northern part of the lake. Not sure what that means.

GSM as far as I know covers the metropolis areas and the interstate highways. I was told Laconia just receive coverage and you will find the transponder on the Opechee Conference Center smokestack.

Sprint use CDMA. If you live outside of their coverage areas, you may request for free roaming. They will gladly provide to keep the business.

Straightalk, tracfones and others depending on the local coverage will provide CDMA, TDMA or GSM phones. If you follow the money, most of these 'independants' are owned by the parent companies of the 'giants'.

Hi Broadhopper just wanted to let you know we don't have a site on Red Hill, wish we did would help me out

[Den65]

was I in the right place, nice morning for a drive. Check your private message

[JanN]

You nailed it at #48. Thanks for doing this. We love the area. Been coming to the general area for over 41 years.

[wifi]

Originally Posted by Den65

Hi Broadhopper just wanted to let you know we don't have a site on Red Hill, wish we did would help me out

Crown Castle does have a site on Red Hill, that Verizon uses, it is on the northeast side of the hill, not at the top, you can see it at the dump. It hits into Sandwich pretty good, blocked by the top of the hill into most other areas of Moultonboro; the Ossipee Mountains block it into Ossipee and most of Tamworth. Mt Whittier cell site hits most of Tamworth and West Ossipee. The fire tower is restricted by the LRCT from all commercial uses. Another present from the LRCT.

[BroadHopper]

Originally Posted by wifi

Crown Castle does have a site on Red Hill, that Verizon uses, it is on the northeast side of the hill, not at the top, you can see it at the dump. It hits into Sandwich pretty good, blocked by the top of the hill into most other areas of Moultonboro; the Ossipee Mountains block it into Ossipee and most of Tamworth. Mt Whittier cell site hits most of Tamworth and West Ossipee. The fire tower is restricted by the LRCT from all commercial uses. Another present from the LRCT.

And there is a tower over by the Moultonboro fire station near 25 and 109 facing toward Tamworth. I was told by a town official AT&T had an agreement with NH dispatch to provide coverage to those towns for emergency service. Correct me if I hear wrong.

[wifi]

Originally Posted by BroadHopper

And there is a tower over by the Moultonboro fire station near 25 and 109 facing toward Tamworth. I was told by a town official AT&T had an agreement with NH dispatch to provide coverage to those towns for emergency service. Correct me if I hear wrong.

I don't pretend to be a know it all, there are two towers in the Red Hill vicinity (that I am aware of), one actually on Red Hill, on the North east side of the hill, facing Sandwich, and another much lower, one could consider "on Red Hill", it is a few hundred feet off Rt 25 across from Fox Hollow, it faces towards the lake.

When the first one above went up (Crown Castle), it made a big improvement in Sandwich and Holland Street. Spotty improvements in Tamworth. When you get up into the higher frequencies that cellular is, it doesn't go all that far and provide continuous coverage.

When you go VHF, both sites would be a kicker. On my site, with 100W VHF, I could hit Manchester and hear a 5W portable key up, as an example.

[fatlazyless]

Well.......don't know if this 75-cent fee for 911 is something new or what.....but purchased a $29.95 Tracfone card today at Hannaford's and there it was ...... 75-cents 911 fee ...... up on the big cash register screen. Hmmmmmm....who knew about it ......not me....never seen that before .......ayuh?

[songkrai]

Originally Posted by MAXUM

The only way a Tracfone is "worth" it is if you never use it or stay within the usage limits of what is pre-bought.

The cost of minutes and data is incredibly expensive for what you get but that 19.95 price point suckers lots of people in, and mostly the ones that can least afford it.

Guess they prey on the fact that most people will assume it's cheaper because it's sold at Walmart and won't bother to compare costs with other carriers.

Not quite.
A tad off the mark.

I have had Tracfone for over 10 years.
My latest Tracfone is an LG smartphone. The operating system is Android 5.0 Lollipop.
The smartphones are all triple minutes for cards/time purchased.

In fact Tracfone is so inexpensive - I have three. One in the glove box of my car and one in the glove box of my truck. And one in my pocket.

My Tracfone carrier is Verizon. And I don't pay nearly $75.00 per month plus for all three. And I get excellent reception nationwide.

[songkrai]

Originally Posted by BroadHopper

Straightalk, tracfones and others depending on the local coverage will provide CDMA, TDMA or GSM phones. If you follow the money, most of these 'independants' are owned by the parent companies of the 'giants'.

Tracfone, Net10, Straight Talk are all brands of America Movil.
Owned by Carlos Slim - the richest man in the world. Zero connection to any of the "giants" in the US. Other then agreements to use cell towers.

Tracfone can be either GSM or CDMA depending on your zip code. In my zip code the carrier is Verizon CDMA. The GSM carrier is usually AT &T although some cases T-Mobile and Sprint. All depends on where you register the phone (Zip Code).

A good source of information is howardforum

[Mr. Prop-B-Gone]

I've used Tracfone since 2009 and it has worked fine. I buy the 1 year card, which retails for $99. If you renew before the year expires any unused minutes roll over. Unlike my kids, I do not spend my life on the phone, so I always have minutes to roll over.

The only issue I had was that Tracfone did not have a large screen smart phone. That changed a year ago last November when they offered the Alcatel Pop Icon 5 inch screen with fast a quad processor, 2 gigs built in storage, and a slot for a 32 gig SD card, along with Bluetooth, and WiFi. It has 2 cameras, the best being the rear camera which is 5 megapixels. Takes good pictures and video in good light, fair pictures in low light but low light video is not good. Battery life on standby is almost a week. Charge time is about 2 hours. We turn off the data when we are not using data to minimize data use. And, since we all go from wifi network to wifi network, once you are signed into a network the phone remembers the password and automatically hooks up to it the next time you are in range.

I found the phone new on eBay for $129.99 including a 1 year airtime card. If you deduct the cost of the airtime, you are paying $31 for a really good phone!

The phone has lifetime triple minutes, so the 1 year card provides 1200 minutes of talk, 1200 texts, and 1.2 gigs of 3G internet, which is fast enough for my needs. (newer phones will run 4G on Tracfone) It will run anything from the Google Play Store. Comes with plenty of Aps, like Google Maps GPS, a compass, an FM radio, etc.

I bought 2 phones; one for myself and one for my wife. Since over the years I had accumulated a balance of 3600 minutes, that balance went to my phone and the 2 airtime cards went on my wife's. Since there were 2 cards, the minutes were good for 2 years. We won't have to renew until next November.

So, for $260 we got 2 large screen smart phones and, for us, 2 years of service. Can't beat that! We have friends who spend more than that every month!

But wait, there's more! If your phone is connected to a wifi network, your calls, texts, and internet use are free! And, if you are of the older persuasion, there is a setting that puts a limited number of larger icons on the home screen, with the rest easily accessed from the second home screen. Or, you can use the smaller icons like other phones.

Oh, yeah, it also makes phone calls! It has a speakerphone that works well, as well as caller ID that you can link to pictures of your friends.

Didn't check, but I'll bet you can still find these phones on eBay.

Tracfone runs on the Verizon system, and works fine here in the Lakes Region. We have a second home in Stuart Florida and it works fine there, too. The only place we have ever had a problem was in Andover, NH and parts of Franklin, NH.

One last thing. If you already have a smartphone that will run on the Verizon network, you can use that phone on Tracfone. iPhones and Android Phones will work, but they must be compatible with Verizon.