Verizon to Acquire Tracfone - Prepaid Brands StraightTalk, Total Wireless & Simple Mobile

Verizon Wireless announced today that they will purchase Tracfone Wireless, which owns several MVNO brands.

Tracfone is currently owned by Mexico-based América Móvil, and they are the largest prepaid wireless provider in the US. They sell plans under the Tracfone brand as well as several other brands, including StraightTalk Wireless, Total Wireless, and Simple Mobile. They currently offer plans on all of the major cellular providers.

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[ZiggZagg]

Great... I am a Straight Talk and Visible customer... I don't know if I should be happy or pissed...

[dancollins]

I have had a Tracfone "Verizon network" for at least ten years. I pay about ten dollars a month for it. I hope prices don't go up.

[randyhoward]

Well this would suck because we just dumped Verizon who were charging us $140/month per line.Big difference to go from that to $29/month by purchasing yearly refill cards and looking for deals.I agree Verizon is buying out their competitor and this should be stopped

[ratherbfishing]

Prices will go up! Service will not be as good. I thought that there could not be a Monopoly!

[motoklx]

They will jack the rates, Verizon can't get enough

[T-marie-N]

Three devices on Tracfone (via ATT) here. Verizon doesn't work well for our location. Guess we'll wait and see what happens. Dad (in his 90s) has a hotspot on StraightTalk (via Verizon network) so I sincerely hope they don't change that. Thanks so much for the heads up on this.

[biggiexiong]

I with straight talk for 7 years now n is still great

[maryholmes]

I have Net10 on Verizon towers. Good coverage. Very affordable. I'm afraid the price will go up now. :(

[kimalonzo]

Simple Mobile is under T Mobile bc I have it. I used to use NET 10 and it was a good service. SMH Such a shame what's happening. This is happening bc many ppl are dumping Verizon so they decided to pick up the pre paid services to hit ppl who choose not to be bound by contracts.

[craigb]

Well, this is going to be bad for me. As of right now I spend just over $7 a month (19.99 plus fees and tax on 90 day cards). I'm sure they are going to increase my cost.

[sourceenergy]

This ia another way to prevent any type of "PRIVACY(privacy away from the usual phone companies)"; they want you connected...some way, some how...to the grid(the grid of the main phone companies).

[TomokoAbe_]

Tracfone uses verizon towers anyway. I been on tracfone for years I love it.

[barryallen]

@Mobile Internet Resource Center You look like a prophet right about now in 2022 after this.

[amytilghman]

I don't know this will pan out as At&T is my tower and switching to Verizon tower will force me to leave straight talk to AT&T. I'll wait and see how this will pan out.

[dth]

Consolidation means more control in the hands of few, and prices go up.

[darryllmcgee]

I wonder how will this affect both Visible Wireless and Yahoo Mobile.

[ericvillano]

I recently switched from Metro PC'S by T-mobile, to Total Wireless, another one of those MVNOs acquired by Verizon, and it's like night and day. Costs about the same for three lines of unlimited call, text, and data with hotspot. An almost exact, similar plan, at a similar monthly cost. Flawless service, no dropped calls, and incredible service everywhere I go.- Even remote locations out in the woods, and in the middle of nowhere. No question about it.- Total Wireless by Verizon is hands down, a hundred times better than the crappy service I was settling for with Metro by T-mobile. At least here, in Northeastern Pennsylvania. I only wish I'd made the switch sooner. Live and learn. If you have Metro, do yourself a favor, and get rid of it, and switch to Total Wireless. I did, and will never even consider going back at any price.

[Clever-Dave]

Verizon is probably gonna transition those brands to Visible, and start selling Visible sim kits in stores as a replacement to those brands. I can see that happening.

[karinhart]

Hmm, not sure how I feel about this. I have a used phone I put on PagePlus for 500txt, 500 min talk (no data) as an emergency backup using Vz network because AT&T doesn’t work everywhere. It is only $10.78 a month including tax. For that price, it’s worth it.

[DeUndefined]

Verizon should sell family mobile and simple mobile to t-mobile.