tracfone question for those who have them

[marzipanni]

3. I bought mine a few years ago

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&quot as it says in the TEXT MESSAGING info linked below- tracfone doesn't put those calls through.

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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