It's time for a new phone. My little Alltel/Verizon LG AX275 cell phone has been acting up. Lately the LG will sit quietly at home in its overnight resting spot with everything seeming just fine. Then it emits a strange tone, another, finally shutting down because its formerly well-charged battery is extremely low! If I sneak up on it while it is sleeping and press the button that lights it's front panel, the time may be way off (several hours ahead), the signal low, and the battery charge on its way down. Same thing happened this morning when I was out on a walk, phone in pocket. Swapping out and charging batteries has no corrective effect. (It's probably an internal antenna connection problem or maybe intermittent signal for the local tower resulting in the phone endlessly seeking a signal.) So far the phone has made it through my commute and the day at the office just fine though checking, just now, I see the battery is down as is signal strength. The misbehavior began over the weekend and so I began shopping for new phones and a new provider.
I settled on TracFone and their Motorola TFW376-4 flip-style phone, ordered it online, and paid for overnight FedEx delivery. That was Monday. TracFone said they would ship on Tuesday so, naturally enough, I expected to receive the new hardware today. Uh-uh! Checking order status I found they shipped today and FedEx promises to have it in my hot little hands by 3:00 PM tomorrow. To TracFone: that's not the right way to treat a new customer; FedEx overnight delivery cost nearly as much as the phone!
So as a consumer more in a hurry than a wise shopper, I now had time to second-guess my snap decision. Oh boy! The Motorola gets decidedly mixed reviews, everything from "great phone" and "good build" to "crappy camera" and "it literally falls apart." Add to that, I consciously ordered a GSM network phone instead of the more widely-usable (in the U.S.) CDMA standard. Now I'm hoping I'll still get coverage in the places I travel. {sigh} Well, I guess the good thing is the new phone only cost me (sans shipping) about $20 so if it doesn't work I can pick up a CDMA phone for a song (or invest a bit more) and stick with TracFone — which my sister tells me is a very good provider.
By this time tomorrow night, I ought to have some idea of how things will be with my new communication tool. I'm hoping I don't have to make a quick trip to Target to replace it within the first week!
PhotonStopper 
I have had a trac phone forever and the service is really good! I recently helped a friend out with his business and he had a droid phone and every now and then, it emits this creepy little voice that says "Droid". 🙂 good luck!
Thanks so much for the reinforcement! I hope and believe I'll receive good treatment from them because all they do is what I want… provide cheap service for the few minutes I spend on the phone every month. Not sure about GSM coverage yet, but if my TracFone experience holds up, I can get a different phone from them with wider coverage. I'd love a smart phone and I think the Android phones look great but to randomly hear the robotic ~~DROID~~ sound? Hmmmm. — JG