Getting Tracfone working on AT&T in USA

I have a 2e and live in Dallas, TX, USA. I have been trying to get my phone number transferred over from my old phone (on a Verizon network) for a week now. I have been through five different Tracfone folks (including 2 “managers”) to no avail. They even sent me a second SIM Card thinking the first one was bad. I know I live in good AT&T coverage but the “bars” icon on the upper right of the main page never shows bars but only an empty triangle with an x in the lower right of it. Has anyone had this problem or gotten this phone to work with Tracfone on an AT&T network (or any other?). Thank you!

Could you try Tracfone’s T-Mobile SIM card - https://shop.tracfone.com/shop/en/tracfonestore/simcards/tf-t-mobile-byop-mini-sim-tri-punch ?

Well, I could but coverage is not so great in my area. This is supposed to work. I have read the the 2e should work on AT&T.

Agreed - it should work ideally. You can try 2 things:

  1. Try the SIM in the 2nd slot if you haven’t already.
  2. Do you have access to a TMobile, Metro, Mint or AT&T SIM? If yes, you can try them just to make sure that the phone is working fine.
    2.1 If you don’t have any of those, then a local brand store should allow you to do a quick check.

We have ordered our own test SIM as well (arrives in 2 days).

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Thank you. Yes, as part of the troubleshooting with the Tracfone folks I tried it in both slots and it did the same thing. I have tried two Tracfone AT&T sim cards with the same results. I always have the x, no bars. The AT&T website map shows me with up to 5G coverage. The only other cell phone I have is Verizon so I don’t think those work with the 2e. Thanks again for your help. Do we know that someone has gotten the 2e to work on Tracfone AT&T?

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So, no one has gotten the 2e to work on Tracfone AT&T?

Hello @bassman,

Have you contacted Tracfone yet your self to inquire about this issue? Some users using ‘Cricket’ another AT&T MVNO have also had difficulties activating their services, so it is very likely the issue is the same / similar - Cricket wireless issue with Teracube 2e (Update: AT&T is working fine)

Per that thread they are working on certification for AT&T which should help to resolve issues with activating on some MVNOs but this is probably still a few weeks out before it will be completed based on the threads on the forum.

That said, it wouldn’t hurt for you to actually call Tracfone your self and ask them why it won’t activate, they are the only ones that will be able to give you the real answer. Maybe you just haven’t setup the APN settings correctly and its causing an issue for you? You won’t know till you contact them and find out.

What I can tell you is that I was able to activate my phone on RedPocket GSMA (AT&T) sim without any issues, however, I did have to manually setup the APN to get data services.

My 2 cents.

Cheers!

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Thanks for the help. I have spent a total of about 2.5 hours on the phone with five different Tracfone people, two of which I was transferred to as they were higher ups and knew more after the original gave up. Nothing. It really shouldn’t be this hard. I am going to try taking it to an AT&T store and (if they will talk to me) see if they can verify that the phone will work on their network. Yes, I heard I might have to change the APN but it looks like it is set. I just want it to connect at all! I was just hoping someone had already done this so I know it it achievable. As I understand it, you should get some bars and all I get it an x. Thanks again.

Hi @bassman - I was able to enable Tracfone AT&T on our unit. Here is what I followed:

  1. Put the SIM in there. As you said, it had the empty signal thing.

  2. Then activated the SIM on a desktop computer by going to tfbyop.com . You’ll need the SIM card number.

  3. Reboot the phone.

  4. After reboot - the phone showed 3G. That was encouraging.

  5. Now had to create a new APN (here is a howto on creating an APN).
    Use these settings to get LTE working. Everything is case-sensitive.

Name : RESELLER
APN : RESELLER
MMSC: http://mmsc.mobile.att.net
MMS Proxy: proxy.mobile.att.net

All other values as default. Save and select this new APN.

Let me know if you run into any issues.

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Sharad! Thank you! I wish I had had this before I was foolish enough to call them and have them “help” me. After two weeks and two sim cards (the second one they sent me as they said the first one I bought was “defective”. I finally had my phone working…with a new phone number they said they couldn’t change, and with a year and a half of my service gone. I tried one last time with the “chat” and God gave me a great guy. We finally put the first sim card in and he was able to fix everything including my old phone number back. Lesson learned: do it yourself as you outline. Thank you so much for proving that it was possible and especially for the clear procedure and links including the APN stuff.

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Hi @bassman - could you check if your phone is getting VoLTE (HD calling)? One way to check is to disable wifi, call someone and see if LTE drops to 3G during the call.

Another user is having their signal drop to 3G during the calls.