Anyone here tried Virgin Mobile's pre-paid cell phone service?

I’m thinking of buying a Virgin Mobile phone. Though I hate those people who walk around chatting on their phones, or worse, drive with one stuck to their ear, I think there are times they’d be handy. I don’t use the phone that much, so I don’t want to get locked into a contract.

I’ve been checking out the various pre-paid services online. Though they lack coverage in remote areas, I’m attracted to the cost of the service. They look to be the least expensive of the bunch. I’m not in the target age for their users either, I’m in my early 40s and they seem to be shooting for the teen to early 20s croud. So I’m not interested in the MTv extras that are available.

My question is for people who have tried the service. What do you think of it? How did you like the coverage? From the looks of their map for my area, my town is covered but work, about twenty miles away, isn’t. But as long as I’m in a fairly populated area or along an Interstate highway, it looks to be no problem. Unless I’m out hiking, comping or driving in a remote area, I think the service would be adequate for my purposes.

I looked online for reviews and there were a few, but mot many. I’m interested in comments for and against the service. I’m real close to buying one this weekend.

Off to IMHO.

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-xash
General Questions Moderator

I had a Virgin Mobile when I was in England a few years ago so my memory is a bit fuzzy and no doubt the technology has changed.

I got it beacuse it had the best ring tone (by far: still haven’t heard one I like as much !) and because my roommate had one and reported no problems. It was a basic package, neither bells nor whistles, but it did everything I wanted it to (make/recieve calls, free text messaging, free voice mail) and it was pay-as-you-go, you bought cards when you needed them. The cards weren’t as widely available as other brands but I didn’t use it much, nor stray far from the Virgin store, so that wasn’t a problem.

Coverage: there was one restaurant in Bristol that for some reason I couldn’t get coverage in. It worked on a pebbly beach in Somerset, that’s the farthest I got out of town with it, though.

I have one. It’s cheap if you don’t use it much. I really hate talking on the phone when I’m out living life, but I like the convenience of having a phone with me whenever I need it (plus, I’m looking of a job, so it helps to know that someone can call me whenever). It’s not the cheapest minute for minute, but it is cheaper than having a monthly plan if you don’t use it much. The only thing I don’t like about them is that you have to use at least $20 of airtime every three months or something like that (check their site) or they will delete your number! There’s another plan out there (ATT, I think) that I’ve heard is better, price-wise. I get great coverage though…never a problem with that. Even when I drive home (between San Francisco and Los Angeles), I seems to get coverage the whole way (even in the middle of nowhere!). You can also download stupid ringtones for $1…it’s fun for annoying people.

My wife has a VirginMobile phone. She seems reasonably happy with it, but she wasn’t expecting much; she went for the cheapest possible option just so she could have a phone for very occasional use. But: The how-to that comes with the phone sucks, and customer service is almost nonexistent (no surprise, right?). For example, if I remember correctly, it took nearly a week to figure out how to change the phone’s ring to one she was trying to download from the support site.

The way I understand it, you have to buy $20 of air time every 90 days. As long as you do so before the deadline, any time you still had to use is rolled over and added to that balance.

ATT wants 50 cents/minute or 85 cents/minute for the nation wide service. Price does go down the more credits you buy at once. Whereas Virgin charges 25 cents/minute for the first ten minutes each day and then it drops down to 10 cents per minute after that, with no long distance charges.

Doesn’t look like such a bad deal to someone like me, who doesn’t like to use phones in the first place. I would probably use it a lot at first just because of the novelty but I really don’t use land line phones that much right now. Like I said in the OP, I think the biggest drawback to me would be the lack of coverage in some places.

I have this service, which works for me since I don’t need to use a cell phone very often, except when travelling. As far as marketing to the youth set, my parents, in their early sixties, have the same service.

You don’t need to use a card to add minutes–you can do this over the phone or on their webpage, assuming you have a credit card on file with them.

I’ve already talked a work colleague and his wife into getting two of them, and have heard no complaints from them either.

In short, good if you don’t use cell phones constantly, bad if you plan on getting rid of your land line.

Did the phone come with a manual? I see at the Virgin website that you can download complete manuals for your particular phone in PDF format.

From what I could gather from other places on the web, Virgin’s customer service is better than Sprint’s, whom they lease the airspace from. As it is, customer service seems lacking in a lot of business these days.

I was just at Target to price phones. They have the bottom of the line one, the “Party Animal,” for $59 and the top of the line one, a flip phone, for $129. From what I read here when I searched “Virgin Mobile,” I learned that flip phones are prone to trouble due to curcuit wear at the hinge. I haven’t checked to see how they are priced at Circle K here yet, but I’m thinking more of ordering the upper middle “K-7 Rave” model online. The only reasoning is the polyphonic ringtones, which sound neater than the standard beeping ones and you can be more obnoxious in your choice of songs.

My phone came with a manual. I’ve never needed help using it though (pretty simple, bottom of the line phone for me) but the one time I needed to change my number (moved to a different area code), I used their email tech support and they emailed me back within a day. No problems there. I also do love the fact that you can register a credit card with them online and then buy minutes with the push of a few bottons on your phone. Very handy.

My wife and I both have phones through them. Can’t complain about a thing. I had looked into other online places and the cheapest place would have cost me twice as much through someone I don’t know anything about. As mentioned, if you are the type that can’t go 10 minutes without talking to someone, get a monthly plan someplace. If you want one for emergencies, general contact or ordering a pizza when your computer is running the phone line, It’s nice having something that you don’t pay for if you don’t use. We got ours to always be able to be contacted by each other for traffic problems and such or the kids’ school. We are on first name basis with the school nurse, and with one kid in special ed. they sometimes have questions. 20 bucks every three months is a lot better than 20 to 40 every month whether you use it or not. If I’m running low on airtime, I press a button on the phone and I get as much as I want. And the rates really can’t be beat. The ringtones are very cool too. Right now I have Spongebob and the wife has The Great Escape (which sounds really cool). And I really didn’t think I’d like text messaging, but it is pretty cool. Email no matter where you are.

Not a bad setup they have.

A few months ago I bought one for myself, one for my wife, and one for my youngest son who is starting college. We’ve had no problems at all with the phones, and the one time I had a question for customer service I got through quickly and the CS person was very helpful.

All in all…for occasional or emergency use, I don’t think you can beat the deal they offer. The only thing that pissed me off was that two weeks after buying the phones the local Target store had them on sale for $30 off.

I’ve had Virgin Mobile for about six months, and I’ve never had any problems with it. The phone did come with the wrong manual, but a quick trip to their web site to download the pdf solved that. Until I lost the phone, I originally had a Tracphone and the Virgin service seems much better.
The only thing I had to do was buy a new faceplate, but that’s just because I didn’t want to walk around with a big “Virgin” logo on my phone :slight_smile:

Peace-DESK

I have the Supermodel phone, (and the SpongeBob ringtone!!) I like it a lot. I don’t use it very often so it’s perfect for me. The only time I couldn’t get a connection was at the It (phish) show, but that was up in Cream of Nowhere, Maine, so I wasn’t surprised. They use the Sprint PCS network, so you have the same coverage as the sprint people.

I like mine in a “don’t use it very much” way. I’ve got the party animal, and it really is a low-quality phone. But it functions. The one time I lost coverage was at the bottom of a bunch of hills in the middle of nowhere, Northern Wisconsin.

I’ve also got good coverage at home, although Virgin’s map says I only have “spotty coverage”.

-lv

I have had my Virgin phone since they first came to the U.S (a little over a year now), and I could not be happier!, since I am not a “phone guy” and I don’t use it much it is perfect for me. I have a Supermodel (with “iron man” as my personal ringtone). Virgin is way!! cheaper than other plans and they started the “rollover” on minutes, I used to work with a bunch of Europeans and when they came to the states most were shocked at how expensive cell service was here. I never miss a chance to rave about my phone, the customer service is the best!, the reception is better than some “real” phones.

VMOBL kicks ass!

unclviny

Thanks everyone for your input. I just ordered the K-7 Rave model off the Virgin Mobile website. Got a leather case too, unfortunately the belt clip alone was out of stock. I think I saved money by buying from their website, free shipping and no tax. Should arrive in two business days or so. Didn’t buy any extra time yet, my Target store had an abundance of cards when I looked yesterday.