Cell phones forum: New to Cell phones

Yes, it is possible that you have received a cellular number that recently and previously was assigned to someone else. Keep in mind these erroneous calls may subside if you give it some more time. If not, then indeed- calling up customer support with Tracfone may be a way to determine if they can assign you another cellular number. If it's always Tracfone trying to market you more services and/or minutes, there may be a way for you to 'opt out' of such telemarketing calls. If not, changing prepaid providers may be another way to avoid this nuisance.

When a handset is 'locked', it means a specific key command, or series of key commands is required to 'wake up' the phone so you can dial a number, etc. This is a method of avoiding accidental dialing. The phone isn't off in the sense that you cannot receive calls from others, it just won't dial w/o first pressing the unlocking sequence.

While it's true that you use your minutes when calling, you aren't using 'double minutes' on the other end. You will however have minutes deducted when someone calls you. The only U.S. provider that I am aware of that doesn't charge for incoming calls/minutes is U.S. cellular, but that' s postpaid, not prepaid service. (=$$$).

Using apps (applications) on smartphones/cell phones doesn't use up minutes but if the application requires a data connection, that uses up part of your monthly allotment of data. Typically for postpaid plans this is around 2GB per month. Keep in mind all apps don't require internet to use. For example, many games don't need to use data, they are simply installed on the device and used as desired.

....but that is how airtime is billed/used in the US. When you make a call to another cellular phone, you both use airtime (incoming and outgoing). This is clearly stipulated in the Terms & Conditions and always has been that way. If your provider calls you or you call them, it does not use airtime.

Nothing new and while some carriers offer free calls to/from the same cellular carrier, but not all carriers do.