tracfone question for those who have them
I've just gone off my landline onto tracfone. Yay! I used up 1 of my 10 free minutes calling a friend to make sure the thing worked. Then I used 5 of my minutes buying 60 minutes (x3 with triple for life). Then I used up 5 minutes setting up my voicemail (which I have no idea how to actually access...I got lost in the phone tree so gave it up).
Anyway, that left me at 179 minutes the last time I looked. Then, my phone rang this morning. Whoa...only my boss has my new phone number. So I turned on my phone and it said I had a text. 
So I pressed the read button and found a text from a 4-digit number (I didn't bother to note what the numbers were...just had no idea who) with no actual message.
But now my minutes are down to 173.70 minutes. Huh? I thought receiving a text used up 1 minute. And why am I receiving texts from 4 numbers? Is this normal? Or did some stranger "pocket text" me or dial a wrong number and waste 5.3 of my minutes? Why did reading a nontext use up 5.3 minutes? Is any of this normal? I thought 180 minutes would be plenty to call in sick twice, make dentist appointment, hay delivery appointment and any mechanic and/or veterinary appointments over the next 5 months...was I dreaming?
= new reply since forum marked as read
not interested in changing phones or companies at this point. 
It works pretty well as long as I charge it every night.
My 18-year-old son, who I defer to in all things techie, said some messages are advertisements, but I only get occasional messages from tracfone, no other 'advertisers'.
Voting, game, & contest stuff use 4 numbers ("short code"
as it says in the TEXT MESSAGING info linked below- tracfone doesn't put those calls through.
<snip>
3. TEXT MESSAGING
The rates to send or receive a text message to another person’s phone using your TRACFONE are disclosed on your TRACFONE package. If you do not want minutes/units deducted from our TRACFONE, then do not send a text message and/or do not open any incoming text messages.
http://www.tracfone.com/terms_conditions.jsp
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Here's a tutorial on how to send and receive text messages-
http://www.tracfone.com/text_msg/index.jsp#a_txtinst
what was weird was there wasn't a message. Just a blank screen. Maybe I did it wrong and just straight deleted it, which is a good thing. I don't want to waste minutes on greetings or marketing crap. Yup. I'm that sting...er, frugal at times. 
I don't hang out on the phone at all. I'll call my dentist next month to make an appointment. I may call in sick once or twice as well at one of my part time jobs because the one with the better pay rate has me scheduled for a couple extra days. I figure 5 minutes apiece, 10 tops, for those calls. In Sept. I'll call my hay supplier to make an appointment to pick up hay...that is where I'll waste some minutes as trying to coordinate his schedule and the guy with the truck can require several calls. Although the truck guy does his biz on cell and internet, so I should be able to coordinate his end by text or email. And then in November I'll call the mechanic to make an appointment to put on winter tires and again in December to get my car inspected. That will about do it through December, unless something major happens in my so-called life, lol.
The text did delete 0.30. I must have used the other 5 minutes without realizing it, but I don't know who I may have called....must have been in my sleep 
...so that it's real easy to accidentally push it. Watch out for that. It eats minutes triple worse than voice calling.
Also, I have a secret awesome tip for getting the bestest bang for your buck when buying tracfone minutes. PM me if you want to know.
