Is the LG 500g a hit or miss?

[delanalynn]

I was thinking about getting it soon, and I was wondering what where the pros and cons. I already have a mini SD card; so is the MP3 Player any good?

Also whenever I put in my zip code the phone does show up but on some websites it says that the service is terrible. Will it work? I prefer AT&T service, but T-Mobile works well in my area too. Thanks and if I need to post anymore information I will! Thanks again!

[Tracfancier]

I was thinking about getting it soon, and I was wondering what where the pros and cons. I already have a mini SD card; so is the MP3 Player any good?

Also whenever I put in my zip code the phone does show up but on some websites it says that the service is terrible. Will it work? I prefer AT&T service, but T-Mobile works well in my area too. Thanks and if I need to post anymore information I will! Thanks again!

Trac pushes T-Mobile wherever possible. You must determine if AT&T is better and order whichever is best. Use a zip code that will give the preferred provider when ordering directly from Tracfone.

If you have no problem with Net10 you should look closely at the LG900G and its better features. $30 with accessory bundle from Walmart (AT&T SIM): http://www.walmart.com/search/search...h_constraint=0

[ST Dog]

I already have a mini SD card; so is the MP3 Player any good?

You'll need a microSD card, not a mini. The bottom one in this picture.



The MP3 player is OK. It's a bit slow to load as it doesn't properly cache the file info.
So as you go though to browse but artist, album, etc it's a bit slow if you have a lot of file.

When I had 15-20 files it was quick. With 800+ files from 20+ albums it is quite slow.

Still better than my Coby MP3 player which corrupted files, and couldn't deal with more than 100 files.

So, I'd call it a hit. Sure it could have been better, but it's a big improvement over past TFs and the keyboard is great.

Note, I have an AT&T SIM.

[Tirod]

Check local store supplies before playing the zip code game. Radio Shack should be able to say which SIM is included (being geek enough to care.)

I direct ordered a LG500g, it came with a T SIM, and the replacement did too. The difficulty was getting the number and minutes transferred, which REQUIRES Customer Service. And that doesn't have a great track record. The 500g I finally got to use came off the hook at Radio Shack, booted up and worked in less than 9 minutes, rather than the failure to get TF's working after nine DAYS of nonservice.

The phone is great, keys are rounded enough to type well. You quickly learn the browser button is a boobytrap, don't key ahead, and avoid the .5 nick for TF web. It's worse than dialup anyway. The rest of the menu is like most others, some things left out for simplicity, as it's a $30 Blackberry clone, not a $125 plan phone. That's it's strong point - value, not necessarily cheap chat. With TF you should have low annual cost as the goal, not cheap minutes - we're talking keeping costs under $500 a year - or a plan would make better sense. They have unlimited minutes, TF, not so much.

Mp3 is a bit slow to load with 500 tracks on it. It seems to do exactly that - go look every time it's booted up. Still better than a Phillips I spent three months attempting to get working, and wouldn't. Directly ripping music to the SD card is much faster than Btooth or USB, and you have much more control with a laptop.

You can download rings, tunes, screensavers, and all the other bling so many want. It accepts use of universal Blackberry accessories, has the new standard usb charging port, which will be universal and has a lot of stuff out already. TF tends to lag behind the market, with this and the Iphone clone, they'll get a lot of upgraders to drop the older types and move up to what the market offers. Simple bars and flips are losing ground in the Internet age, for better or worse.

Would a Blackberry and plan work better? Depends on what is important for the dollar. If you are looking to radically cut costs while still having a current type of phone, this is a bargain - but it requires not burning up minutes. Otherwise, if unlimited chit chat all day at work, driving, and shopping is what you need while floating around on your hovercouch, enjoy the fantasy with a plan. After all, whats money?

[ST Dog]

!$@%@#!
10 minutes typing a reply and I click the wrong button (Advanced instead of Post) and it's all gone.


Tirod, Mimai CS is much better for "complicated" issues.
5 minutes to change from my V170 to the LG500G.

Regular number took over 30 to transfer my wife's T301G to a LG500G.

$500/yr? I'm striving to stay under $100/yr. But lately that's not happening. I may look at the 1000 or 1500 miute 1yr cards instead. So 2000 or 3000 minutes instead of 1000 (400 doubled + 200). Sort of whishing I had got the triple minute deal.
I wonder if the bonus codes work with the big cards?

[25jive1]

I don't use a Tracfone much, mostly for free incoming texts in conjunction with Google Voice and my puter.
If I don't have to add minutes my cost will be 37.50 per year for 4 years.... my due date from when I started.

[ST Dog]

25jive, well you loose the free incomming texts with the 800G (just as I did with the 500G).

So what about the cost to get the 4yrs of service that was transferred to the new phone?

[25jive1]

25jive, well you loose the free incomming texts with the 800G (just as I did with the 500G).

So what about the cost to get the 4yrs of service that was transferred to the new phone?

I do not get charged for incoming texts on the 800g if I don't open them. When "new message" appears on the screen I hit the "end" button, go to message and delete. Just as I have on every Tracfone I've ever owned.

I did not transfer 4 years of service to the new phone, just 2 1/2. The 4 years of service reference was to the time when the current Tracfone adventure began 1 1/2 years ago. (1 1/2 plus 2 1/2 = 4). The cost of length of service was minimal, regular refill cards and 1 VA canteen ($10) transfer.

I've never bought over a $20 refill yet my CPM is 6.2. I jump on 200 bonus code glitches (there has been 2) and haunt CraigsList for 1/2 price deals from folks who've bought a TF card by mistake. CL deals in my area a few and far between but I've came up with 4 in the last 1 1/2 years - 2 $20s for $10 each and 2 $40s for $20 each and nearly a year of service. Oh, I've made some mistakes mostly due to lack of self control.

Tracfone is a hobby. Its the only provider with ways around the system. I get a kick outa finding those ways.

Page Plus is cheaper but not nearly as much fun.

[Tirod]

i'm aware Miami CS is now there, too bad you have to hunt down the number and dial it. Apparently it's just for those in the know, as a call to CS won't automatically be routed there - and the CS reps outside the country are not likely to redirect it. That's the rub with TF CS, management holds no regard for the local consumer. I suspect any TF customer is likely not going to get a local CS center, and it's a narrow view to think all Spanish speaking customers can't tell what dialect is on the other end of the line. When Mexicans get the Philippine CS, or Indonesians get Guatemala, I bet the language difficulties are still there.

Of course, if they do get a local CS, then why do we get the Wheel of Fortune and almost never Miami?

I agree about $100 a year - the new 500g, and a $20 card should get me to October, another $20 to the end of the year. How someone counts up the pennies can be fun, as well as calculating the service life of a phone as new signal formats are introduced. Figuring an annualized budget - the average yearly cost over the life of phone, I anticipate just $50 next year on airtime only. vs. $25 a month for the land line. Puts it in jeopardy lately.

[ST Dog]

Well I did have free incoming texts, as in I could actually read the message with no minutes used.
All you get it a notice that you have a message, which I guess you can tell is from google and know to go check.

The newer phones all charge to actually read the message.

Not sure how many or which phones had free incoming texts, but the V170 is one of them.

I am bummed that I cannot even tell who the message if from without "opening" it.
The V170 would show me that before I opened it (and got a 0.0 minutes deducted message)

Hard to tell which messages to open and which to delete if I don't know who it's from.

[Tirod]

Agreed, messages on the 500g don't have the sender in the ID line. It's basically a guess, and guess what, TF is all about you spending minutes. I consider the obtuse methods they use as basically milking me for anything they can get.

Does that sound like an attitude or just a reality check? Either way, I use it as the operating philosophy of the phone. If TF is all about my money and minutes, then I manage it with the same zeal. It took my wife a long time to get used to it but she now sends text only, and I DON'T activate the messaging, which eats up MORE minutes. Won't make that mistake again, I'm no longer annoyed by having to dial up the message service to get voice mail from Edna in Chetopa that Earl passed away, or my son would like to be picked up to come home for a free meal. He's over 21, and borrows his GF's phone, text already.

Same for answeriing it - which I can't at work anyway. No lost minutes there, even wrong numbers are ignored. Desk jockeys aren't aware of it, most retail and almost every company vehicle driver cannot answer phones on the job. That's another 8 hours a day lost we'll never get to use 3G or a $75 a month unlimited phone, and the rules are getting more restrictive, not laxer. We're starting to see socioeconomic polarization on that - which is why so many buy Iphones or Androids. It's a status accessory, not a NEED.

Anyway, I manage the texts as simply as not handing out my number to sundry and all. Pretty easy to do, I can't use the phone 16 hours a day sleeping or working, and since I have a stable, monogamous relationship, I don't have extended relationships to interfere with my boring life. Work is enough, I'm scheduled 50.5 hours this week, already worked Sunday and Monday the 4th. One day off. Another eight hours lost I can't use the phone due to work.

And, don't need to.

[25jive1]

My son has some problems. Yesterday between him, his sister and me I sent or received over 75 text messages. All were sent from or to my Google Voice number. I used the computer to read and send, deleting all unopened from the TF which I used as an incoming text audio alert. Total cost zero

[ST Dog]

I'd like to know if the message is from my wife/son or a wrong number.
Or is it a tornado warning issued for my home location while I'm 40 miles away at work and I need to alert my wife since the house is out of earshot of the sirens (unless you're outside and the wind is just right).

The free incomming was really nice, and I'd at least like to know who a message is from before I open it.
I get that with a call. I can see the number before I answer (even the name if they are in my comtacts)


BTW I don't care for your general attitude toward people that don't nessacarily punch clock every day.
Most of us did for a long time before we got where we are now.

And even then, I work lots of 50-60 hour weeks and only get paid the same as when I do 40hr weeks.
And when was the last time the parts store sent you across country to live out of a hotel for a week or two?

I spent most of the weekend in the garden (food for the table) and under the hood of my daily driver, an '83 POS Colt.