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How can Virgin Mobile be so much less than Verizon or ATT? From what I see the coverage does not appear to be as good nation wide as VZ and ATT; If you are in a major area coverage looks good, but not too sure how it would be if you travel? How about the service?
I also notice there's no contract so you can leave at any time, but will the phone be usable on another carrier like Verizon, ATT, etc?
No roaming is a big reason- Verizon and ATT pay smaller carriers and the other large carriers to roam on their networks. Virgin has no roaming and thus does not pay roaming charges. Another big reason is that Verizon and ATT subsidize their phones more than Virgin does. If Verizon sells you a $500 phone for $100, they've got to make it up somewhere.
How good it is during travel is entirely dependent on where you travel. Big cities and major highways should be ok. The boonies, not so much.
Virgin phones are tied to Virgin. You can't use them on any other carrier.
How can Virgin Mobile be so much less than Verizon or ATT? From what I see the coverage does not appear to be as good nation wide as VZ and ATT; If you are in a major area coverage looks good, but not too sure how it would be if you travel? How about the service?
I also notice there's no contract so you can leave at any time, but will the phone be usable on another carrier like Verizon, ATT, etc?
Thank you
Virgin is cheaper for a few reasons, but one of them being that they really charge a premium if you go over the alloted minutes. That is how they get you; many people sign up because they can get an Android phone plan for $35 a month. Yet, that only gets you 300 minutes. And even someone who rarely talks on the phone, 300 minutes spread out over the course of one month is not that many minutes at all. 1200 minutes a month gives you roughly 40 minutes a day.
I had Virgin, and now I have Verizon. Honestly, unless you are wayyyy out in the sticks, you won't notice any real difference in service. Verizon is a rip off. Once my contract is up with them, I am out. I've had T-Mo, Virgin, Metro PCS, and Verizon all within the last year. Call quality, number of bars, and 3G speeds where pretty much the same with all of them....except Metro PCS had dead spots within the city.
Yes, you can leave at anytime. But, if you keep you plan for more than one month, you end up keeping the phone, too (if you cancel service before the first month is up, you can get a refund on the phone).
I love Virgin Mobile. I signed up before the price changes. Loving my $25 a month plan.
300 minutes is more than enough. My new billing cycle starts tomorrow and .. ::checks::.. I've only used 140 minutes this month. Think I'll be using the next 160 minutes within the next 7 hours? lol
How can Virgin Mobile be so much less than Verizon or ATT? From what I see the coverage does not appear to be as good nation wide as VZ and ATT; If you are in a major area coverage looks good, but not too sure how it would be if you travel? How about the service?
You've got it. It's mainly the coverage and roaming agreements. What many people don't realize is that their AT&T / Sprint / Verizon / T-Mobile phone actually hops onto different carriers at times. For the most part this is entirely transparent to the end user, but the customer's carrier gets charged by the hosting carrier. Virgin Mobile doesn't do this; you get Sprint's native EVDO network, and that's it.
How well the coverage works is up to you. Everyone's needs vary. It's worth point out that Virgin's service is so cheap, it will pay for itself in only a few months, even if you wind up going back to one of the big four.
I've also heard anecdotal evidence that their speed isn't as good as Sprint's. This makes sense; VM customers are probably prioritized behind Sprint customers on the network. It's one way that Sprint / VM can mitigate expenses. And at that price, nobody can really complain.
300 minutes is key. If you can live with it, excellent! If you cannot, then it's clearly not the plan for you.
Supplement it with a Skype 12 month subscription for $54/year to make unlimited calls in the US as long as you have Wifi access.. then use your virgin mobile minutes to make calls when there's no wifi or to receive calls.
Supplement it with a Skype 12 month subscription for $54/year to make unlimited calls in the US as long as you have Wifi access.. then use your virgin mobile minutes to make calls when there's no wifi or to receive calls.
But good luck using that as your sole phone service..
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