Pretty in Pink Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 We are looking to switch from Verizon. We'd like to get to get unlimited voice/messaging/data with our new phones. Dh wants to go with Sprint which will cost 129.00/mo plus taxes, surcharges, insurance, etc. We can purchase the same phones that he likes at the Sprint store from Virgin Mobile. The same plan will cost us just 55.00/mo per phone (and, really, we'd probably get the 45.00/mo plans that have unlimited everything and 1200 minutes of talk time each, so it would be just 90.00/mo). Virgin Mobile runs off of Sprint towers, so we'd have the same coverage as with Sprint, right? Dh has an aversion to pre-paid and pay-as-you-go phones for some reason. He says that nobody uses them and that they sound too good to be true. So, I'm looking for your experience with Virgin Mobile. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 I have VM, with an LG Optima, and it's worked great for me. The only place I haven't had coverage is in the middle of Alligator Alley, going across the everglades (and I'm not sure that was VM's fault). I have the el-cheapo, 300 voice/unlimited data/text plan, and it's been exactly what I need, since I use text/data FAR more than voice. One downside, though, is that you are limited to 3g. I haven't had problems with it, but I know one of my friends who moved from an iPhone to a VM smartphone plan was disappointed in the difference in speed. For me, having gone from a dumb phone that only called people to a VM smartphone, it's been wonderful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty in Pink Posted October 17, 2011 Author Share Posted October 17, 2011 I have VM, with an LG Optima, and it's worked great for me. The only place I haven't had coverage is in the middle of Alligator Alley, going across the everglades (and I'm not sure that was VM's fault). I have the el-cheapo, 300 voice/unlimited data/text plan, and it's been exactly what I need, since I use text/data FAR more than voice. One downside, though, is that you are limited to 3g. I haven't had problems with it, but I know one of my friends who moved from an iPhone to a VM smartphone plan was disappointed in the difference in speed. For me, having gone from a dumb phone that only called people to a VM smartphone, it's been wonderful. We're in the same boat -- we've only ever had phones that talk and text. Any phone with a data plan will be like Christmas morning to us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter's Moon Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 I've had Virgin Mobile since November. If you can afford one of their more expensive phones, I say go for it! Their "cheaper" phones usually have bad reviews and lots of issues. I only hear good things about the Android and Blackberry phones, though. I am pretty sure with their Blackberry devices, you don't need to pay any extra fee. I may be wrong, though. I have few service issues. Sometimes I have to restart my phone because a text won't send, but that may be a phone issue, not VM service. It does seem too good to be true, but the only catch is you must buy their phones. There really is unlimited data, though it does slow down after a certain amount of usage. I use it a lot and haven't had it slow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypatia. Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 We've been using Virgin Mobile since 2004, we've been happy with it. DH's phone has been strictly pre-paid basic phone, he rarely uses it except for emergencies. A year ago we changed mine to one with a data plan and I've still been happy with them. I've loved not having a cell phone contract. We're getting ready to switch over to a contract with Sprint now, but only after serious consideration and due to the fact that I can't get the phone I want on VM. :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RegGuheert Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 FYI, T-Mobile's unlimited voice/messaging/internet family plan is only $49.99/mo./phone right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brilliant Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 We have had prepaid phones in our family since at least 2004. Started w/Virgin Mobile, then Tracfone, now we still have 2 Tracfones and I recently ditched my iPhone for an android smartphone on VM. Coverage has always been fine - I get lousy coverage at my house which is on the edge of nowhere, but I got lousy coverage w/ AT&T, too. Customer service isn't that great, but neither was it with AT&T! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stayseeliz Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 I have had VM since May and I like it. I'm having an issue with facebook on my phone right now but it's not that big a deal. I use it mostly for calling, text and email. Good coverage and I love having no contract! I have the LG Rumor Touch phone but I'm thinking about upgrading to a droid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty in Pink Posted October 17, 2011 Author Share Posted October 17, 2011 We are thinking about the LG Optimus V which has Android. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter's Moon Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 We are thinking about the LG Optimus V which has Android. I was mistaken earlier in my post. With a Blackberry device, an extra $10 charge is added monthly. With an Android, there is no such charge. You only have to pay for your plan, no extra charges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 Virgin Mobile runs off of Sprint towers, so we'd have the same coverage as with Sprint, right? Not exactly. With Sprint, when you are out of the coverage, you roam on another provider's coverage. With Virgin Mobile, when you leave the Sprint area, you have NO coverage. Learned this one the hard way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty in Pink Posted October 17, 2011 Author Share Posted October 17, 2011 Not exactly. With Sprint, when you are out of the coverage, you roam on another provider's coverage. With Virgin Mobile, when you leave the Sprint area, you have NO coverage. Learned this one the hard way. Thank you. That is very helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs_JWM Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 I'm very happy with mine. I have the 300 minute plan and I was grandfathered in at the $25/month plan, so no complaints! Even the customer service has been good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 We are thinking about the LG Optimus V which has Android. I have the Optimus S which is the Sprint version. I *love* my phone. Of course, I probably don't use the majority of features that others use but I find it very easy to use. And I got the purple one which is just WAY cool! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustybug Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 We've been using VM for a few years now and the only issue that we don't like is that our phones don't have good reception when we are inside of stores. We do have really cheap phones though. lol The more expensive ones probably work better. We have the $30/month plan with 1500 anytime minutes and 500 texts and 10 MB of data. The cells are our only phones and we don't text much, except to each other and I'm not really a "chatter" either. It's worked for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguistmama Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 We've had VM service for a year and it's been great! I really like not having a contract. I have the Samsung Intercept and I love how affordable the monthly plan is. We still have the old $25/month plan and my mom bought the phone for me as a gift. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Munchkins_mama Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 My husband and I have the Optimus V on VM. We have been happy with it so far and we have had them for about 4.5 months. I like the price ($40 for 1200 and unlimited) and I got a smart phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimm Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 I just switched to them. I'm happy with it so far. We don't have a data plan but we will in December when we get the cooler phones. The phones we bought to tide us over until then are the cheapest option. They are exactly what I would expect from $20 phones but the call quality has been fine. My husband had a coworker who has a nice phone and data plan and he's happy with it, so we had a real life recommendation before we switched. We were with tmobile for a long time but the data plans are just too expensive and like everyone else, tmobile offers it's best deals to new customers instead of long time loyal customers. I get the reasoning as to why, but it was rather frustrating to me. Also, they're about to be purchased by at&t, a company I hate. :p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joules Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 LOVE Virgin Mobile. We've had it for at least five years. We only use phones as phones so I can't comment on the data plans. And we don't sit around and chat on the things. Everyone carries one in case of emergency and to make quick "When will you be home?" or "Can you pick up peanut butter?" calls. Here the signal is carried by Sprint and is very good. I get better coverage than many others. We have 5 cheap $15 phones and five numbers. If the phone breaks, it's easy to buy another cheap phone and port the number and the cash over. We've only had one die of its own accord. Others went in the creek or the wash...which is why cheap phones are best for us. Ours are on the old plan where you pay per minute and must top up $20 every 90 days, so the rarely used ones are $7 a month. The more frequently used (mine) averages about $20, but I can always control that by talking less...can't do that with a contract! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 Do you have a link. That is not the price I am seeing on their website. It says $159 for 2 phones and $30 per additional phones. Dawn FYI, T-Mobile's unlimited voice/messaging/internet family plan is only $49.99/mo./phone right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stayseeliz Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 We did have an issue where I had NO coverage when we went to the OBX last month. It depends on where you travel, etc. I stay within an hour of our house for the most part and have only found two places where I don't have coverage. One is on a back road near our house and the other is in DD1's vision therapist's office. Go figure. When we travel long distance I'm with DH who has a Blackberry so we are usually covered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RegGuheert Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 (edited) Do you have a link. That is not the price I am seeing on their website. It says $159 for 2 phones and $30 per additional phones. Dawn Here it is: T-Mobile Unlimited Value Plans. Once there, click on the link on the right in the middle that says: "Interested in our Family Value plans starting at $49.98 per month?" The plan we just got is the "Unlimited - Plus" plan. If you hover over the "?" it explains that this plan will will restrict speeds after 2 GB of data. On that page, it says you can add up to three more lines for $25.00 per month each. But that is for unlimited talk, text and data. There is another mention of being able to add up to three lines of voice (500 minutes) for $5.00 per month each, if you include the 2 GB data plans on those lines, they come to $15.00 per month, which is unheard of for a smart phone plan. This is what we now have. (BTW, the lady said that we can have 5 GB full-speed data on any of the five lines if we choose and that we can change this in the future. I think going from 2 GB to 5 GB was pretty expensive per line, however. Something like $15.00.) It's funny, yesterday when I posted I was seeing ads for this deal all over the internet. It was on practically every Amazon page that I pulled up. Today, I do not see any of these ads. The ads all said that this is a limited-time offer, so perhaps the sale is about to end. I don't know. One final note: You had mentioned in the other thread that you wanted an iPhone. If that is the case, then T-Mobile is not a good choice for carrier, since they use a different frequency than AT&T for their 3G signals. As such, you will be limited to 2.5G data if you use an iPhone on T-Mobile. For Android phones, 3G service is decent here and they have 4G (really 3.5G) service in some places. I've seen people report speeds of 8 mbps on T-Mobile. My son gets about 3 mbps at his girlfriend's house. Edited October 18, 2011 by RegGuheert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krista in LA Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 We are thinking about the LG Optimus V which has Android. I just bought one of these today for dd for her birthday - they have them on sale at Target for $99! She's had Virgin Mobile for over a year and it's been great. You can't beat the price and she's had no problem with service except when camping in the boonies. I'm waiting for my ATT contract to be up and then I'm probably switching too but I'll splurge and get the fanciest phone they have. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oak Knoll Mom Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 I've had a VM android smart phone for almost a year now. The coverage in my area is good and I've been very happy with their service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 Thank you. Yeah, I really am thinking that IF I get a smartphone it will be an iPhone. I am trying very hard to be fine with our choice to not get one right now. I want one but I can't pull the trigger to pay the monthly bill. Dawn Here it is: T-Mobile Unlimited Value Plans. Once there, click on the link on the right in the middle that says: "Interested in our Family Value plans starting at $49.98 per month?" The plan we just got is the "Unlimited - Plus" plan. If you hover over the "?" it explains that this plan will will restrict speeds after 2 GB of data. On that page, it says you can add up to three more lines for $25.00 per month each. But that is for unlimited talk, text and data. There is another mention of being able to add up to three lines of voice (500 minutes) for $5.00 per month each, if you include the 2 GB data plans on those lines, they come to $15.00 per month, which is unheard of for a smart phone plan. This is what we now have. (BTW, the lady said that we can have 5 GB full-speed data on any of the five lines if we choose and that we can change this in the future. I think going from 2 GB to 5 GB was pretty expensive per line, however. Something like $15.00.) It's funny, yesterday when I posted I was seeing ads for this deal all over the internet. It was on practically every Amazon page that I pulled up. Today, I do not see any of these ads. The ads all said that this is a limited-time offer, so perhaps the sale is about to end. I don't know. One final note: You had mentioned in the other thread that you wanted an iPhone. If that is the case, then T-Mobile is not a good choice for carrier, since they use a different frequency than AT&T for their 3G signals. As such, you will be limited to 2.5G data if you use an iPhone on T-Mobile. For Android phones, 3G service is decent here and they have 4G (really 3.5G) service in some places. I've seen people report speeds of 8 mbps on T-Mobile. My son gets about 3 mbps at his girlfriend's house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 If you could get an iPhone with VM I would be in! Dawn We are looking to switch from Verizon. We'd like to get to get unlimited voice/messaging/data with our new phones. Dh wants to go with Sprint which will cost 129.00/mo plus taxes, surcharges, insurance, etc. We can purchase the same phones that he likes at the Sprint store from Virgin Mobile. The same plan will cost us just 55.00/mo per phone (and, really, we'd probably get the 45.00/mo plans that have unlimited everything and 1200 minutes of talk time each, so it would be just 90.00/mo). Virgin Mobile runs off of Sprint towers, so we'd have the same coverage as with Sprint, right? Dh has an aversion to pre-paid and pay-as-you-go phones for some reason. He says that nobody uses them and that they sound too good to be true. So, I'm looking for your experience with Virgin Mobile. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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