Simple mobile runs on tmobile towers. Can I use an active tracfone sim (tmobile) in a simple mobile phone?
What about a tmobile tracfone sim in a locked total wireless phone (which works on verizon but has bands for tmobile)?
Will tracfone unlock a simple mobile phone if I have it on tracfone for 12 months or must it be a tracfone branded phone to be eligible for unlock?
Thanks
Based on my reading via Tracfone forums (Turk & Howard)....
You should be able to swap an already-active Tracfone SIM (of any brand, including Simple Mobile) into another Tracfone-family branded phone with no issue. (Or a non-Tracfone-branded phone, for that matter.) Assuming carrier compatibility, of course.
Be aware that Tracfone ties the SIM # and the ESN of the Trac-family phone it came in together, permanently. If you swap that SIM into another phone, you must not sell, give away, or otherwise activate the original phone within the Tracfone family while you're using the original SIM in another phone-- doing so will cancel your line if the original phone is activated again, even with a different replacement SIM. You can avoid this issue by requesting another SIM from Tracfone (for a Tracfone-group-branded phone) for your new phone. You could do this after you've confirmed the new phone works as intended with the swapped SIM. (You would probably also have success in activating the Simple Mobile phone on Tracfone with the original Simple Mobile SIM, although you might have to ask CS for assistance in officially rebranding the phone.)
Maybe. This is probably the least-likely move within the Trac-family, since Total is Verizon only. You should be able to move a SIM from an active Trac/To-mo to a Total Wireless phone IF Tracfone considers the phone to be multi-carrier. (Almost certainly if the model # of the phone you want to swap to has a model # with a -DL suffix, for Verizon, AT&T, & T-Mo, including the Moto E5/E6, Alcatel TCL LX, and Alcatel MyFlip. A few Samsung -VL suffix models appear in both brands, and would likely work, although I haven't seen it confirmed and hadn't noticed those model #'s in the Simple Mobile lineup until looking just now.). I've kind of glossed over discussions about compatibility across brands with branded iPhones, since I have no intention of owning one. Can't hurt to try if you have both devices.
It is far from clear that any of the Tracfone group will actually unlock any branded phone after 12 months. The question you're asking is valid, and has been asked in other forums-- but with almost no verified reports of Tracfone actually unlocking anything, there isn't enough data to predict. Your best chance would be if you asked Tracfone for a new SIM for the Simple Mobile phone, rather than SIM-swapping from a different phone into the SM phone. (See above comment about SIM # and ESN being tied together for Tracfone-family phones- Tracfone will see the original phone associated with the SIM as being in use if you swap SIMs.)