TracFone Wireless is the top selling prepaid brand in the United States, and there are no signs of it slowing down yet. The company is working on improving its customer service as well as expanding its already massive customer base. Over the summer, TracFone announced plans to start opening TracFone exclusive stores. Since the announcement in June, the company has opened five locations.
With locations currently in Miami, Brooklyn, Bronx, Chicago, and Huntington Park so far and more in the works, TracFone said that the purpose of these stores is simple. The company wants to keep everything in once place, allowing customers to shop for accessories, get assistance in comparing plans, or even bring phones in to be activated.
This is a pretty big deal for TracFone, as previously the company’s 25 million customers did pretty much everything online. I would say this is primarily an attempt to improve its customer service, which is a good thing because in my experience it’s horrible and desperately needs attention.
I’m not sure the stores will facilitate a big customer growth in a world that is increasingly reliant on technology and the internet, although TracFone doesn’t need much help in that department. On its website, TracFone also boasts a number of MVNOs it has acquired throughout the years including Simple Mobile, Net10, PagePlus, Telcel, Safe Link, and Total Wireless. All of these companies still have their personal website, but if you scroll to the bottom you’ll see they are provided by TracFone.
TracFone has recently added GoSmart and Walmart Family Mobile to its list of MVNO’s,
as reported by Prepaid Phone News. While there have not been any noticeable changes with Walmart Family Mobile or GoSmart yet, both companies are expected to end up with a TracFone brand on their websites.
This brings TracFone’s total MVNO count to eight. While there is definitely still a large number of companies that operate outside of TracFone, other smaller companies continue to merge or quietly shut down. In the last year we have seen PTel and Giv Mobile go out of business, and Unified Signal bought out Puppy Wireless and Data Jack. Of course, companies can only decrease prices so much to still get a profit. As larger companies continue to acquire more, and smaller companies continue to struggle to keep up, we could start to see a decrease in competition. With less competition, we can expect price increases for prepaid users. While this may not be a pressing issue, I sadly expect to see it progress in the future.
You can check out TracFone’s various plans, companies acquired, and store locations in detail on its website.]]>
