Uploading LG500G texts to computer?

by Kay P
(San Jose)

2G Phone

It is a 2G phone on AT&T. AT&T is discontinuing 2G on 12/31/16. For legal reasons, I need to have a record of some text messages sent from that phone with time and date info, so I saved those texts to the SIM card.

Tracfone's Advice

Tracfone told me over the phone that I could keep the phone active without calling service after 12/31/16 as long as I paid for the minutes in advance. This way the phone would still turn on and I could view the text messages. But today I received an email from Tracfone that the phone will be totally shut down after 12/31/16.

How can I upload my text messages with time and date to my computer before then? I've downloaded the UBS driver and will get a data cable tomorrow. Will try to get 4G SD card but may only find 8G. Please help!

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Hi Kay,

Even if you service is inactive, you can still view your text messages. The 500g I used for testing has been inactive for a few years now, and I can still turn it on (after charging it) and view the texts messages stored on the phone.

Limited Transfer Options

In terms of transferring the texts to a computer, your options are somewhat limited. You cannot, as far as I know, transfer the texts to a memory card. I put a 4GB card into my device and tried that. This means that using a data cable won't be of much help either. When you connect the phone to a computer via a USB cable, all you get access to is the stuff stored on the external microsd memory card. You don't get access to the stuff store on the phone's internal memory.

You cannot transfer them via Bluetooth either.

Using a SIM card Reader

You said you have transferred your messages to your SIM card. In that case, you may be able to use a SIM card reader to transfer them to your computer. I've never tried that with a dedicated SIM card reader, but I did try this sort of thing once with a multi-card reader that was supposed to be able to read SIM cards. However, that particular (cheap) device did not work.

Other Options

I don't know what qualifies as a legal record, but you could do a couple of things:

1. Display the individual messages on your phone and take a photo of each of them. You can scroll down all the way to display the date and sender for each message.

2. Forward them to another phone.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
sb

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Jan 23, 2017
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starstarstarstarstar 		Glad it worked out.
by: sb

Thank you for the update. I'm glad it worked out.

Regards.
Jan 23, 2017
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starstarstarstarstar 		Things worked fine!
by: Kay P.

SB,

Sorry for the delay in updating how things went! Dealing with this took so much effort that I had a serious backlog of work.

Everything worked great! On Dec 28 I transferred the phone number to the new LG 306G phone. And the text messages remained on the old LG500G phone. So once I have some vacation I can go ahead and get a notarized request for the phone records on this number.

Thank you so much again for all your help! It really put my mind at ease when I was totally stressed out about this. I called Tracfone to do the phone transfer and they were really helpful, waited on the landline until the new phone was completely active and gave extra minutes and service days.

I plan to use this phone number only for my weekly heavy grocery delivery since I can't lift heavy things right now. This way the phone records will be minimal. But I think I'll upgrade the phone to a larger one since the LG306G screen is too small for texting and I send a lot the grocery orders via text msgs.

Thanks again for all your help!
Dec 27, 2016
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starstarstarstarstar 		TracFone LG 306G WITH 3G
by: Kay P.

Sorry, typo with previous post. It only makes sense to transfer service to a 3G or 4G phone since AT&T/Tracfone is ending 2G and that's the core of the problem!
Dec 27, 2016
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starstarstarstarstar 		Thanks again!
by: Kay P.

SB,

Thanks again! It was great to know that you were still able to see the text messages on your Samsung QWERTY slider from Tracfone even after you transferred the service to another phone. I will transfer my phone service/number to a TracFone LG 306G w/3that I had as a backup in a closet for the past 2 years (initial charging it for 5 hours as I type). Since I've already gotten a new Tracfone with a new # (Galaxy Prime), I'll just keep this number open with a basic plan until I get the phone records, then I'll shut it down.

With photographing the text messages, even thought the date and time stamp are on another page, it does show to which number the text was sent and that it was received, so that should be of some help as an extra back up.

Thank you again and will comment again once I've transferred the service.

Dec 23, 2016
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starstarstarstarstar 		Message should remain after transfer
by: sb

On this phone, I let the service expire. However, on other phones, where I have transferred service, the messages remained on the phone.

That is, I checked an old Samsung QWERTY slider from Tracfone, and there were still text messages on that phone from when I used it. So while I can't say for sure, it's likely that the messages would still be there on your phone as well.

If the phone records are more important, and if you need to receive a call on that number for legal purposes, then transferring your number to another Tracfone that would continue to work in 2017 makes sense to me.
Dec 23, 2016
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starstarstarstarstar 		Thank you!!!
by: Kay P.

SB,

Thank you so much! This along the lines of what Tracfone said on the phone, except that they advised that I should keep the service active even if there is no calling option (I've paid until June).

Small question, did you transfer the LG500G phone number to a new phone or just ended the service altogether? The reason I ask is because I also need to obtain the phone records for that phone number. And after getting forms notarized that I am the owner, the final step is for Tracfone's legal dept to call me on that number. Which would mean transferring the number to a new phone since 2G is ending on 12/31/16. And this could mean I would have to transfer the LG500G's phone number to a 3G phone I have on hand, thus ending service on the LG500G.

The phone records are actually more important than the text messages since as you were nice enough to say I could use a SIM card reader as well. And if I Tracfone can't call me on that number the only other way I can get the phone records is by court order in a lawsuit, which I am trying to avoid.

For the SIM card reader, I will try to find a good one. Just as important as the actual text messages are the date and time, since they prove when I sent these messages, so I hope the SIM card reader will provide that info as well.

For uploading to a PC, I was hoping the UBS driver plus LG PC SUITE or LG BRIDGE with either LG AIRDRIVE or LG BACKUP would work. But from what you wrote that looks like a non option.

For the photo option, the date and time are on another page when I scroll down, so that could be a problem. And with forwarding to another phone or email account the original date and time are not there.

Thank you again so much!! The fact that you have the same phone and are able to see the text messages puts my mind at ease.

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