I currently use virgin mobile and pay 35/month plus tax which comes to around 38 dollars per month for 300 anytime minute and unlimited internet and text. My phone is a virgin mobile optimus v phone.
I know people who have virgin mobile many years ago, they get the grandfathered plan where someone in my position would be only paying $25 plus tax for 300 minutes and unlimited text and web. But the same person who was in the $35 plus tax plan has 1200 unlimited minutes. I can of course change my plan to the 1200 minute plan and pay 10 dollars more plus tax which is around 12 dollars more a month.
I see people on ebay selling their grandfathered virgin mobile phones on ebay.
My first question is does that mean if you buy that phone, you will have to keep that number or will you get assigned a new number? That means there is zero chance you can use your current virgin mobile phone number and use it on that phone right?
The reason i ask this is because assuming you plan to stay on virgin mobile for many years, it would make sense in that if it saves you $11-$12 a month and the phone and plan only cost $200, wouldn’t it make sense to just buy it since in 1.5 years you basically make that money back and then every month after that you save $12 or thus you could get the 1200 minute plan per month instead of 300 minute plan?
And wouldn’t you be able to use your current virgin mobile phone for that plan or does it have to be that phone that person sold it to you? Also, couldn’t you buy that phone and plan and then just sell the phone since you already have a phone and prefer it as oppose to the one the seller is selling you?
I’m not very smart with smartphones but just want to know this.
If you buy that phone you are buying the account associated with it as well. You can keep using that number, or you can get a new random number, but you won’t be able to port an existing number to the account - you can only do that with a new account.
You can buy a new phone to replace the old phone. I don’t think you can do that with your current phone as long as it’s still associated with your current account, but if you cancel your current account your should be able to use it with the account you bought.
If you buy a new phone, the plan terminates and you have to switch to the $35 a month plan.
I suppose you could get a phone from someone who already is grandfathered in and change the billing information to you. If that doesn’t violate their terms of service (and it probably does), you can use the cheaper plan until the phone breaks. But VirginMobile phones are not the most durable ones around.
I’ve been on Virgin Mobile’s 18 cents a minute plan since 2007. I pay $20 (plus sales tax) every three months (was $15 originally), and those minutes keep accumulating, since I average less than 35 minutes each month. (I have about 1000 minutes piled up now, should I ever need to talk a lot some month.)
I replaced my phone this year, and had no trouble keeping the same plan, though Virgin Mobile stopped offering it to new customers long ago.
It could be that VM makes you switch if you’re on a more expensive plan already, but they didn’t for my cheap plan. FWIW.
You can keep on that plan, I was for a long time, until you switch to a new type of plan. You can even switch phones. However, the plans for unlimited texts and data was $25, you can keep that one until you switch phones and then the price goes up.
I doubt that one can buy someone else’s plan like that. I mean I guess you could, but I’d assume you’d have to keep that phone number, take over their payments and change everything to your name.
I have that for one of my phone, but haven’t upgraded the phone. I’m sure I can keep the plan, and it will be the current price. But the price of $20 for the plan was an increase; if you swapped out phones before that, you would have paid $20 instead of $15.
My $25 a month plan (unlimited data) was upped to $35 as soon as I swapped the phone. Same for my daughter’s.
Once you add a new phone, VirginMobile switches you over.
I wanted to upgrade my phone and keep my $25 (300 minutes, unlimited internet/text) plan. YOU MUST UPGRADE TO A CERTAIN PHONE FOR THE $25 PLAN TO FOLLOW IT. See below email from Virgin Mobile that they sent me.
Due to an unusual high volume of e-mails recently, it has taken us
longer than expected to respond to your e-mail. We are very sorry for
the delay in responding back and apologize for any inconvenience this
has caused.
All our customers that have the $25/300 minutes plan and want to keep
their plan, need to purchase a phone that was launched before May 1st.
Here is the list of phones that are still compatible with your plan:
Motorola Triumph.
LG Optimus V.
Samsung Intercept.
LG Rumor Touch.
LG Rumor 2.
HTC Wildfire S.
LG Optimus Slider.
If you want a phone that is not listed above, you need to change your
plan to one of the Beyond Talk Plans ($35, $45, $55). We recommend
waiting until your monthly plan is due to make the changes.
If you need additional assistance, feel free to let us know how we can
assist further or contact us at 1-888-322-1122 (or *86 from your
handset). You can reach us 4am - 9pm PST seven days a week. As a
reminder, please include your Virgin Mobile phone number and PIN on all
replies.
Yup. And I checked their website - they don’t have those phones available (the ones that would qualify for the old plan.) I didn’t look real HARD, mind you, but upon a cursory glance I didn’t see any of those phones mentioned on their “Shop” page.
ETA - your $35 a month plan would work with any of their smart phones, though. At least from what I’m getting from their webpage.