This is a complex topic that pops up a lot so I thought that I would organize all of the available info in one place. One of the key differentiating factors between postpaid, prepaid, and MVNO services is data prioritization. Basically carriers manage the congestion on their networks by assigning a different QCI class to different types of traffic. For our purposes, we will only be looking at QCIs 6, 7, 8, and 9 but there are higher priorities that exist for things like phone calls that will be universal across all of a carrier's plans. Higher numbers are lower priority. An important thing to note is that deprioritization is not a throttle; it only matters when the network is congested. If nobody else is using the network in your area, you'll get the full speed that can be provided. Your QCI affects not just your speed but your latency on the network. It is not unusual to see priority data with around 20-50ms latency while someone who is deprioritized is getting 100-150ms at the same time despite both plans posting high speed test results because the prioritized traffic gets to go first, just something else to be aware of.
The old one was getting a bit long after many updates so I decided to just make a whole new one. I will break it down by network and, where appropriate, specific phone plans. I am going to add business plans and first responder plans here as there were many requests for that but if I mess up anything, please let me know, as I am not as well-versed in those plans.
Also, at this point, 5QI (the 5G replacement for QCI) values have so far matched the LTE QCI on each plan I’ve seen. If this changes, I’ll make notes about it.

Verizon

Verizon only uses 3 QCI classes – 7, 8, and 9.
QCI 7 is reserved exclusively for Verizon Frontline customers so this priority level may as well not exist for those of us who aren’t first responders.
QCI 8 is given to the business Plus 5G, business Pro 5G, consumer postpaid plans (other than Welcome Unlimited), all of Xfinity Mobile’s plans, all of Spectrum Mobile’s plans, Lexvor, and MobileX. US Mobile’s Warp 5G SIM offers QCI 8 data on 5G devices only. Visible+ has QCI 8 as well until 50GB of LTE/5G Nationwide data is used (5G UW is unlimited QCI 8).
QCI 9 goes to everything else. The Start 5G business plan, branded prepaid besides the Unlimited Plus plan, Visible’s base plan, US Mobile Warp 5G when on an LTE only device, Mobi, and all other prepaid companies that use Verizon’s network are known to assigned to this QCI. Anyone who uses their premium data bucket on Verizon’s brands will be moved to QCI 9.
TracFone and their associated brands is up in the air. I have gotten reports of priority data (and seen it myself on SafeLink, a TracFone brand) but I’ve also gotten reports of deprioritized data, complete with screenshots. It seems to be random what people get so if you absolutely require priority data, it might be best to look outside of the TracFone brands.

AT&T

AT&T uses QCI 6, 7, 8, and 9.
QCI 6 is reserved for FirstNet customers (with primary status), Business Unlimited Premium (only data that qualifies for Business Fast Track, the rest is QCI 7), and some corporate responsibility plans.
QCI 7 is assigned to Business Unlimited Premium as well as Unlimited Premium PL and Unlimited Extra EL customers who pay $7 for AT&T Turbo. FirstNet extended primary plans get QCI 7 as well.
QCI 8 is assigned to Business Unlimited Advanced, Unlimited Extra EL, Unlimited Premium PL, Prepaid Unlimited Max, Prepaid Unlimited Max Plus, Cricket More, as well as plans offered by H2o, Consumer Cellular, and PureTalk.
QCI 9 is assigned to Business Unlimited Starter, the base Unlimited plans for both the postpaid and AT&T Prepaid brands, Cricket Core, other known MVNOs, and all AT&T brands once their premium data buckets have been exhausted.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile uses QCI 6, 7, and 9 for phone plans.
QCI 6 goes to all branded plans, both postpaid and prepaid, besides those with Essentials in the name. Google Fi has QCI 6 as well.
QCI 7 is applied to Essentials branded plans as well as all other known MVNOs.
QCI 8 is not used for phone plans.
QCI 9 is for those who have exhausted the data in their buckets.
I will be doing my best to keep this up to date. Feel free to let me know if I have missed anything or if I should add anything.
I first learned about data priority reading on Coverage Critic and from posts here and elsewhere. If you wish to test your QCI class yourself, you can follow this guide if you have a rooted Android phone.

Trying to activate my old (purchased in 2017) Samsung Note Pro 12.2 (SM-P905V), which is 4G LTE capable. Went to TracFone for a BYOP plan and SIM, gave my IMEI and the website said it was compatible and sent me a "used Verizon LTE device" SIM, which activated fine via account management.
However, the tablet just sits there searching for service, TF account management says "activation in progress" and to call if it's been more than 5 minutes (running up on 18 hours now) and the scripts for the phone-bank support aren't detailed enough to help. ("You need to update your Android version" and "it's all 5G now" - which got dropped when I noted that the TracFone cell I was calling on was 4G and connected fine.)
Someone in a different forum noted that this tablet was old enough to only use two LTE bands - 4 and 13 - and while TF does use band 4, it might not be available where I'm at. So, does anyone happen to know if TracFone is running on band 4 in Spokane, WA?

I got this Tracfone Orbic Journey V (2) + 1 Year of Service with 1200 MIN/1200 TXT/1200MB to extend my current Tracfone service for another year. I did it once last year and could move the sim from the flip phone to my iPhone right after the activation.
However, according to the Tracfone, the phone and SIM card are locked to be used on the Tracfone network for 60 days. Does it mean I have to use the flip phone for 60 days before moving the SIM card to my current iPhone to use it?
Any tips or alternatives to recommend?
Thanks!

Hey,
I have a tracfone sim card with the 1.5gb 1500voice/text sim card service for 1 year and I am thinking of buying a used Samsung tracfone. I still have several months of service left and I was wondering if I buy this used samsung locked phone, can I unlock the phone after 2 months of use?

My dad’s old TracFone Nokia 2760 was acting up. So I bought him a new TracFone Nokia 2760. Simple enough, right? You’d think so, but no. Getting my dad’s numbeplan/minutes from his old phone to the new phone could not have been more of a labor-intensive headache. It took several hours both on chat & over the phone over the course of 3 days to finally get it transferred/activated. Then 5 days later, after the new phone had been working fine for 5 days, the plan/minutes/etc disappeared although the service end date was still over 2 weeks away. Took another call and an additional 90 minutes to finally get it working. They’ll have you restarting the phone a half dozen times, removing the SIM, asking for the SIM# and other numbers, asking how many bars I have …. Anything but resolving the actual problem which was of course, and obviously, on THEIR end. The customer service is absolutely the worst I’ve ever encountered at any company. If I had any confidence that it could be done without spending hours I would love to port his phone number to a different cell company at this point. Verizon, as owner of TracFone, should be ashamed.

I have two lines with an expiration date of 05/16. A couple of days prior I initiated number porting when I was buying a device on Metro by T-Mobile. While Metro failed to port them in, Tracfone deactivated them. It's been 3 days and yet both lines still work perfectly fine. Texting "Balance" or "Usage" to 611611 returns "It appears your service is inactive. To reactivate it, reply REACT...". "NTP" now returns "We do not have any record in our system with your information". "FOUR" still returns the last 4 digits (of the eSIM) correctly.
What's going on? I don't mind continuing to have free service. I didn't have autopay on. So I shouldn't be worried about getting charged.
I ended up transferring a GV number to Metro.

This is available with inline URLs and the one image that belongs to this piece on my website: https://konat.xyz/in_house/econobox_/cell_usa
"Using a feature phone in the USA: a brief guide to carrier activation and MVNOs"
This page is not meant to serve as an advertisement for any particular service or product, and has merely been written for informational purposes only.
Introduction
Unlike many other places in the world, the USA uses a completely different set of LTE bands for cellular communications, additionally, American carriers impose device restrictions, which may adversely impact uses of feature phones, as they often are heavily locked down to the carriers from which they came originally, or have to be imported. This guide simply outlines my experiences dealing with the three major carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon) and general assumptions about regional carriers (such as U.S. Cellular and Viaero Wireless).
AT&T
AT&T is potentially the worst provider for feature phone users, given that AT&T enforces a whitelist of devices which may be used on their network (PDF: read the whitelist on KONAT.xyz, mirroring the original on att.com), which impairs the use of feature phones as only a handful of models (mainly AT&T/Cricket branded [in-house] models, US-market Nokias, and rugged/work-oriented devices from manufacturers such as Kyocera). From experience, AT&T's enforcement of the whitelist is generally extremely strict, to the extent that your account may be suspended for using non-whitelisted devices.
Even if a device works on AT&T's network and is whitelisted, it may not have additional features (such as WiFi calling) functioning on the network. Additionally, carrier variants of devices (i.e. the variant sold by T-Mobile) may not be whitelisted. Below is a non-exhaustive list of MNOs/MVNOs which do and do not enforce the whitelist; this list may become outdated at any time.
AT&T uses LTE bands 2, 4, 5, 12, 14, 17, 30, 46, and 66. In my experience, bands 12, 17 and 2 are the most useful to have in urban areas. Band 14 is used for the First Responder Network Authority (commonly referred to as FirstNet). I would not advise using a device without complete band compatibility outside of urban areas.
ENFORCES WHITELIST: AT&T post-paid, AT&T pre-paid, Cricket Wireless (the prior three are all owned by AT&T). The vast majority of MVNOs can also be assumed to be enforcing the whitelist.
DOES NOT ENFORCE WHITELIST: H2O Wireless, FreedomPop, RedPocket GSMA
T-Mobile
In general, T-Mobile can be argued to be the best provider for feature phone users, as it does not enforce a whitelist, and generally allows any device with the LTE bands used in a particular area to function on the network and utilize VoLTE, WiFi calling, or other carrier functions. To further simplify this, this means T-Mobile will allow the use of imported devices which have the band(s) required to function in a particular area, as well as devices from other carriers, in addition to US-market unlocked devices and devices sold specifically for T-Mobile's network.
T-Mobile also operates an EDGE/2G network and small slivers of HSPA/3G. The EDGE network is moribund at best (and hasn't been expanded in well over a decade, nor does it appear to be a going concern maintenance-wise), and the remaining slivers of HSPA are officially meant to be offline. T-Mobile's legacy networks should not be depended upon for reliable communication.
T-Mobile operates on the following network bands relevant to feature phone users: EDGE/2G: 1900 MHz (PCS) LTE: 2, 4, 5 (only utilized in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina), 12, 66, and 71.
From experience, devices lacking any band other than B2 will work in urban areas, but B12 is generally needed for indoors signal. B71 is needed for good coverage in rural areas. As a resource for figuring out which bands are in use in particular areas, take a look at the band rollout map.
For reference, MVNOs which operate on T-Mobile include Mint Mobile, Ultra Mobile, MetroPCS (the prior three all are owned by T-Mobile), Tello, and US Mobile.
Verizon Wireless
I would personally rank Verizon as second-best for feature phone users, as Verizon generally allows any device with LTE band 13 to utilize their network. Verizon does restrict new activations, however, this can be bypassed by activating a new SIM card in a cell phone that is known to work with Verizon (such as an Apple iPhone or similar known-working device) and moving the SIM card to the B13-having feature phone (or other non-accepted B13-having) device after confirming that the activation went through successfully.
Devices without B13 may work in urban areas, but may not have voice or SMS functionality (limited to data only), thus, it is a necessity to use a device with B13. Additionally, some MVNOs on Verizon's network (the only one I know of currently is TracFone and associated brands [Simple Mobile, Total Wireless/by Verizon, Straight Talk, et. al.) may bind the SIM card to the device it was activated in, and in this case will likely suspend accounts for moving the SIM, even into another 100% functional device, thus making it impossible to use devices that require the above activation method.
Verizon uses the following LTE bands: 2, 4, 5, 13, 46, 48 and 66
MVNOs that operate on Verizon's network include TracFone et. al., Visible Wireless (the prior two are owned by Verizon), US Mobile, and Xfinity Mobile.

Has anyone successfully transfered their Tracfone service from an existing phone to a new Pixel 8a. My online attempt kept telling me they only do eSIMs for late model iPhones; but I was using an new physical SIM card, which the phone recognized to be in place. Chatted with a service rep, who said, on the basis of the IMEI, that the phone is simply not compatible. Suggested I try again in two months to see if the IMEI has gotten registered. Any ideas?

So like five days ago my service ran out, I waited like two days and then paid for the renewal. However, now my iPhone only says SOS at the top and I cannot call/text/use data, or even msg 611611. I’m using WiFi to do everything. I called tracfone and they told me to call back from a different phone which doesn’t help much.
They also started out recommending I dial *73…which only cancels call forwarding. I’ve restarted my phone, taken sim out and put back in, etc. My account says I have service until the end of June.
Any recommendations?

I got fed up with the upgrade nags & threats so I bought a Verizon branded SafeLink TracFone as requested and now none of my other devices can connect to my SafeLink hotspot.
Before now, I was using a SafeLink AT&T sim and I had unlimited hotspot data (although I did have to futz around and slightly change the APN, which I am not sure is doable on the TracFone branded Moto G Power 2023).
Anyhow, if anybody gets their hotspot to work with the SafeLink Verizon sim, please share how you did it. Thank you!

I recently got a TracFone and for the first day or two, it was working fine. Today I noticed that when I tried to access the internet without being connected to Wi-Fi, I couldn't and would get messages like, "Check your connection and try again." The strange thing is that the internet logo at the top of the screen shows that I have a signal. I also checked to make sure I still have data on my account and I do, so that isn't the problem. I have already removed and replaced the SIM, ran a system update, and restarted the phone. Any tips?

I'm reaching out for help, my issue is I cannot get 5G service since changing SIM cards. Previously, I could get 5G when I used a Samsung Galaxy A53 that came with a year of service. I recently activated a TracFone BYOD SIM card with my Samsung Galaxy A54, but could only get LTE no matter what APN I used or whatever I changed in the Android Dialer Code (##4636##). I've tried this SIM card in a Pixel 4a 5G & Pixel 6a & Pixel 7a: still no 5G. I chatted with TracFone support and also called but I keep getting a scripted response about the varying nature of 5G and how it may or may not work. To be clear, I'm not getting 5G at all no matter what zip code or area code I'm in despite me knowing that Verizon has 5G service where I'm at. My SIM card kit actually included two SIM cards, I used SIM A with 89148 since I previously had Verizon.
What am I missing here?

My 7+ year old Samsung S10 was having a SIM card problem where it would keep saying that it wasn't in there despite the fact that it was. I would restart it and it would be fine for a few days. I figured that the card would stop entirely soon and I would just replace it.
Then one day, about four weeks ago, a grey box appears on top of my screen saying that it is locked, with my IMEI number along with it, saying that I am not authorized to use this phone. I contacted Samsung tech. support and they eventually directed my to my carrier: Tracfone. Then sent me a new SIM card with my current number and info., because they determined that the shift to Version had caused this, but it hasn't changed the problem. It can still receive service. I just can’t access any of it. They say that a total Factory Reset is necessary now as it is corrupted. I don’t know how that can be as when I restart it, I have about five seconds before the box locks me out, shows that everything starts to load in just fine.
Someone brought up the possibility that my IMEI number may have been stolen, as some countries excessively tax smartphones. I don’t know what I could have done, if anything, to prevent this. This person says that they (Tech. Support) could “…lock your IMEI to one SIM card and one phone.” Tech. Support says that this is impossible and that Factory Reset is the only option with nothing more that they could do. Is that truly the case, or is this problem considered too rare for modern countries that their proverbial ‘fix-it-flowchart’ does not account for it?
I now have a new Mint phone, but I'm unsure whether I should transfer my number to it, or if I should look for a store with people from Tracfone to contact someone who can actually help, or if I should just reset it and hope that a recovery program does its purpose. (I don't know if that will work or if I'm being scammed/tricked.)
I don't know what happened, or what went wrong, or if this could have been prevented, or if there is any hope for recovery at this rate.
I don't want to delete my data and I haven't used a dedicated back-up app. (I didn't know what one would be good and just put it off for too long.) Is there anything I can do to get access to my phone, weather I can call/text with it is not a concern with this; retrieve the data for transferring to a new phone in the near future, or am I doomed with my phone being a tomb?
(I'm also unsure if this is the sub-reddit [As this is the fourth one so far] to be asking about this. If not: Please don't be shy in redirecting me to another space.)

My 7+ year old Samsung S10 was having a SIM card problem where it would keep saying that it wasn't in there despite the fact that it was. I would restart it and it would be fine for a few days. I figured that the card would stop entirely soon and I would just replace it.
Then one day, about four weeks ago, a grey box appears on top of my screen saying that it is locked, with my IMEI number along with it, saying that I am not authorized to use this phone. I contacted Samsung tech. support and they eventually directed my to my carrier: Tracfone. Then sent me a new SIM card with my current number and info., because they determined that the shift to Version had caused this, but it hasn't changed the problem. It can still receive service. I just can’t access any of it. They say that a total Factory Reset is necessary now as it is corrupted. I don’t know how that can be as when I restart it, I have about five seconds before the box locks me out, shows that everything starts to load in just fine.
Someone brought up the possibility that my IMEI number may have been stolen, as some countries excessively tax smartphones. I don’t know what I could have done, if anything, to prevent this. This person says that they (Tech. Support) could “…lock your IMEI to one SIM card and one phone.” Tech. Support says that this is impossible and that Factory Reset is the only option with nothing more that they could do. Is that truly the case, or is this problem considered too rare for modern countries that their proverbial ‘fix-it-flowchart’ does not account for it?
I now have a new Mint phone, but I'm unsure whether I should transfer my number to it, or if I should look for a store with people from Tracfone to contact someone who can actually help, or if I should just reset it and hope that a recovery program does its purpose. (I don't know if that will work or if I'm being scammed/tricked.)
I don't want to delete my data and I haven't used a dedicated back-up app. (I didn't know what one would be good and just put it off for too long.) Is there anything I can do to get access to my phone, weather I can call/text with it is not a concern with this; retrieve the data for transferring to a new phone in the near future, or am I doomed with my phone being a tomb.
(I'm also unsure if this is the sub-reddit to be asking about this. If not: Please don't be shy in redirecting me to another space.)

My 7+ year old Samsung S10 was having a SIM card problem where it would keep saying that it wasn't in there despite the fact that it was. I would restart it and it would be fine for a few days. I figured that the card would stop entirely soon and I would just replace it.
Then one day, about four weeks ago, a grey box appears on top of my screen saying that it is locked, with my IMEI number along with it, saying that I am not authorized to use this phone. I contacted Samsung tech. support and they eventually directed my to my carrier: Tracfone. Then sent me a new SIM card with my current number and info., because they determined that the shift to Version had caused this, but it hasn't changed the problem. It can still receive service. I just can’t access any of it. They say that a total Factory Reset is necessary now as it is corrupted. I don’t know how that can be as when I restart it, I have about five seconds before the box locks me out, shows that everything starts to load in just fine.
Someone brought up the possibility that my IMEI number may have been stolen, as some countries excessively tax smartphones. I don’t know what I could have done, if anything, to prevent this. This person says that they (Tech. Support) could “…lock your IMEI to one SIM card and one phone.” Tech. Support says that this is impossible and that Factory Reset is the only option with nothing more that they could do. Is that truly the case, or is this problem considered too rare for modern countries that their proverbial ‘fix-it-flowchart’ does not account for it?
I now have a new Mint phone, but I'm unsure whether I should transfer my number to it, or if I should look for a store with people from Tracfone to contact someone who can actually help, or if I should just reset it and hope that a recovery program does its purpose. (I don't know if that will work or if I'm being scammed/tricked.)
I don't want to delete my data and I haven't used a dedicated back-up app. (I didn't know what one would be good and just put it off for too long.) Is there anything I can do to get access to my phone, weather I can call/text with it is not a concern with this; retrieve the data for transferring to a new phone in the near future, or am I doomed with my phone being a tomb.
(I'm also unsure if this is the sub-reddit to be asking about this. If not: Please don't be shy in redirecting me to another space.)

My 7+ year old Samsung S10 was having a SIM card problem where it would keep saying that it wasn't in there despite the fact that it was. I would restart it and it would be fine for a few days. I figured that the card would stop entirely soon and I would just replace it.
Then one day, about four weeks ago, a grey box appears on top of my screen saying that it is locked, with my IMEI number along with it, saying that I am not authorized to use this phone. I contacted Samsung tech. support and they eventually directed my to my carrier: Tracfone. Then sent me a new SIM card with my current number and info., because they determined that the shift to Version had caused this, but it hasn't changed the problem. It can still receive service. I just can’t access any of it. They say that a total Factory Reset is necessary now as it is corrupted. I don’t know how that can be as when I restart it, I have about five seconds before the box locks me out, shows that everything starts to load in just fine.
Someone brought up the possibility that my IMEI number may have been stolen, as some countries excessively tax smartphones. I don’t know what I could have done, if anything, to prevent this. This person says that they (Tech. Support) could “…lock your IMEI to one SIM card and one phone.” Tech. Support says that this is impossible and that Factory Reset is the only option with nothing more that they could do. Is that truly the case, or is this problem considered too rare for modern countries that their proverbial ‘fix-it-flowchart’ does not account for it?
I now have a new Mint phone, but I'm unsure whether I should transfer my number to it, or if I should look for a store with people from Tracfone to contact someone who can actually help, or if I should just reset it and hope that a recovery program does its purpose. (I don't know if that will work or if I'm being scammed/tricked.)
I don't want to delete my data and I haven't used a dedicated back-up app. (I didn't know what one would be good and just put it off for too long.) Is there anything I can do to get access to my phone, weather I can call/text with it is not a concern with this; retrieve the data for transferring to a new phone in the near future, or am I doomed with my phone being a tomb.
(I'm also unsure if this is the sub-reddit to be asking about this. If not: Please don't be shy in redirecting me to another space.)

Been trying to transfer a 1 Year Prepaid sim from a Physical sim in a Pixel 6 Pro into a iPhone 15 Pro Unlocked directly from Apple.
Tried doing it online through Activate>Keep Your Own Phone>I want to keep my number>
After I put in the IMEI number there is a pop up that says “Congratulations, your phone is compatible” and after clicking continue it just shows a spinning circle and just stays on that page and just hangs. No error message just stays on that page.
Called and chatted with customer service and even talked to “the highest tier” customer support and they say that Tracfone is not compatible with eSIM unless I buy a Tracfone branded iPhone directly from them or transfer my service to Straight talk or Total by Verizon.
I can’t with these people as everything on the Tracfone website says that they support an Unlocked iPhone 15 and eSIM and Tracfone.com/byop says my device is compatible and ready to activate. So frustrating!!!

I have a Verizon based Tracfone sim in my Pixel 7 currently. The problem is my reception at home isn't great. Bounces between 0 and 1 bars, and sometimes tells me there's no internet.
My other phone is postpaid T-Mobile, so I know T-Mobile reception is fine.
The problem is, both the website and chat can't switch my Tracfone from the Verizon based sim to the T-Mobile based sim. (Came in the same sim kit from Target.)
Is it a problem with not being able to use T-Mobile sims anymore? Or because they came in the same kit?

iPhone 11 Pro Max (Verizon fully unlocked/Verizon BYOP SIM)/Pay-As-You-Go plan since 2013/Balance is 1000+ Minutes,2000+ Texts, 2.74GB Data…
Been using this phone and sim since 2021 but only recently I upgraded my iOS from 14 to 17. Ever since the iOS update my cellular data no longer works. Phone calls and texts still work. WiFi also still works. Tried numerous troubleshooting like resetting networks, rebooting phone, remove and reinserting sim, deleting VPN settings, toggle airplane mode on/off, toggle cellular data on/off. Tried all of those multiple times. This iOS 17 version does not show any APN configurations in the settings nor any mobile carrier settings. Already texted “APN” to 611611 and multiple times it confirmed my device has the right configuration yet no data is working. Chatted with CSR 3 different times and all of them are not tech savvy and completely useless… Plan on buying a new sim kit tomorrow to see if it’ll help. It’s been a couple days and everywhere I researched every solution I found did not work for me. “LTE” still shows with full bars so I know it’s not reception. In the past I had this problem with older iPhones and usually configuration of the APN settings would fix it, this time I am just stumped and exhausted. Any help would be appreciated…
UPDATE: Bought a new KYOP Sim Kit (2 Sim Cards, A & B) Sim A is Verizon Based with no Exp date while Sim B is T-Mobile based with an Exp date. Tried to activate the Sim A online using Tracfone.com/Activate and occurred problems. After following the steps online to activate (entering my phone number, imei, SIM card number, verification of text to ensure my account is really mine) I kept getting a pop up that said something like “Heads Up… Looks like you need to purchase a SIM card… etc… Frustrating because I tried several times and the pop up message kept coming up at the end so I chatted with Customer Service on a laptop. The Customer Rep manually activated my new sim and all is working again including DATA!!! So if you run into this problem, the solution is buy a new SIM card. Dumbass CSR don’t know shit!!!!
TLDR: Buy a new SIM card to fix no cellular data working (calls and texts still working) after updating iOS.

US Bank quadfecta app-o-ramas, Amex 10x & Chase 7x dining bonuses, Robinhood 1% brokerage matches, free cellphone plans & $20 phones, Target Circle Card churns, Pepper YOLOs & Ibotta IPOs, new Wells Fargo & cashbackmonitor discoveries and much more!

• 01:39 - Podcasts
• 06:49 - Credit Cards
• 16:23 - Brokerages
• 18:34 - Banks
• 20:38 - Meal Kits
• 23:45 - Cellphones
• 28:05 - Discounts & Freebies
• 41:42 - Final Tally

Show Notes

👇 Recommended listening

🎙️ All The Hacks

• #166: Award flight booking tools x FrequentMiler - allthehacks
• #167: Hotel award booking tools x FrequentMiler - allthehacks

📚 Churning Life

• #19: Interview with founder of Aligned Incentives (gift card brokerage) - churninglife

✈️ Thrifty Traveler Premium

• $20 off flight award email deal alerts ($79.99 / yr) - referral

🐮 Related episodes

• Ep 60 - Booking Award Flights: Best Tools & Workflow - thedailychurn
• Ep 51 - How Buying Groups Work - thedailychurn
• Ep 47 - How To Maximize Kroger Fuel Points - thedailychurn

🌱 April Churning Recap

💳 Credit Cards

• 🔥 Increased: US Bank Business Leverage/Connect/PoweTriple Cash - DoC
• Amex Business Gold 150K for $10K spend - DoC
• 🔥 Amex 10x Dining Referral $25K spend in 3 months (referrer only) - DoC
• Amex Lowes Business Card - amex
• 💪🏻 Chase Freedom Q2 7% on dining - chase
• Chase Ink Premier 100K for $10K spend - DoC referral
• Capital One Business Venture X 150K for $30K spend - DoC referral

📈 Brokerages

• [Expired] Robinhood 3% IRA Transfer Bonus - DoC
• 🔥 Back again: Robinhood 1% Brokerage transfer bonus - DoC
• RobinHood Gold Card 3% unlimited cashback - waitlist (referral)

🍱 Meal Kits aka Martha Stewart #1 Fan Club

• Marley Spoon x Martha Stewart - marleyspoon
  • Multi-use free box code (ht nsf) - churn tracker
  • Maxing out your first box - #mealkits on Discord

📱 Cellphones

• 🔥 Target only: FreedomPop Free Monthly 100min/100txt/100mb - target
• 2 x Tracfone Orbic + 1200min/1200txt/1200mb for $40 (ht pdxsymbol) - ebay
• Check if your number is tagged as VOIP (ht nsf) - freecarrierlookup.com

🆓 Discounts & Freebies

• 🌶️ Pepper App 10% back for 15 days via referral - enter 588660 during signup DoC
• Target RedCard Debit/Reloadable $50 Coupon - DoC
• 🍵 Staples $25 Starbucks GCs (triggers ABG $20 monthly credit) - staples
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Hello all, I could really use some help here. I will be travelling to Canada for a month soon and was hoping to just get a pay as you go sim card (I live in the US). Last time I went, I upgraded my cell phone plan that I currently have for one month and they assured me that it would work.
Well, when I crossed the border service shit off immediately. After contacting them again they said my phone actually is not capable of international roaming. What the heck? It's a Pixel 4A. Of course it's capable. I assume they just have it blocked for some reason.
So anyway, I'm hoping someone could recommend me a sim card that I can just get at Walmart or somewhere here in the US before going to CA. I am also open to just getting a TracFone or other pay as you go phone to ensure it works properly.
Any help is appreciated. Thanks!