So AT&T sucks.
I get tremendously bad reception in this town. I occasionally get full bars in some spots, most frequently get spotty service, and get completely unacceptable, call-droppingly infuriating service in my apartment, you know, the place I live and from which I make and receive 80% of my phone calls.
Anyway, I’m starting a rant about my current provider that isn’t the point. According to the internet, I can get an unlimited text and data plan at Virgin for $35/mo without contract? Say what? Now it only comes with 300 min, but if I’m willing to pay $10 or $20 more, which I am, I can get a heck of a lot more than that. So I’m looking through their website and thinking, “Let me get this straight. I can get a smart phone, pay about the same upfront as I would with my current carrier, but pay less for my monthly bill without being locked in to a 2-year contract because…?”
So I need to know, dear Chicagoans, what’s the catch? Is the service shitty? I’ve heard nothing but positive reviews of Virgin from online folks, and the one person I know IRL who uses their service, but I need to know from people in the city I live in if I’m going to want to throw my phone against the wall in a rage with Virgin the way I do with my current carrier? Because if the coverage is good, so long AT&T, and hello cool phone and extra money!
Thanks, y’all.
I live in the western suburbs and would recommend VM to anyone. My sister in law lives in Logan Square and has no complaints, either. I switched from VM (and gave up my grandfathered $25 plan :smack:) for a free T-Mobile Windows phone this spring and just switched back. Switching to and from VM was somewhat of a pain for me, but I’m inclined to blame T-Mobile since their service is shitty in every other way as well. My wife’s switches were painless and quick.
One thing to be aware of is that Virgin uses Sprint infrastructure. So, you won’t be able to use your old AT&T phone or any other that isn’t specifically for Sprint or VM. And I don’t think you can use VM phones internationally, but I’m not sure.
I may sound like a commercial, but that’s really just because I’ve had great experience with Virgin Mobile. I’ve had T-Mobile, AT&T/Cingular, and Alltel and none of them compare to the value and service of VM.
I do, but not in Chicago. I use it in the DC area, and have for 8 years or so. I like it for the most part. I have two problems, one I think is my phone though.
The roaming is non existent. Either you are in the area where there’s supposed to be coverage or it’s not. I don’t have that problem around me really, and I’ve been around the US a lot with it and haven’t had too many problems. Their coverage maps seem to be pretty good.
My biggest problem, and I think it’s my phone, is my text messaging sucks sometimes. I only just got this phone in June and I have problems most every day with it. I get late texts, my texts don’t send sometimes, things like that. I never had this problem with any other phone though and I’ve heard complaints about this phone from others as well. I got the HTC Evo 3D, and if I hadn’t paid $300 for it probably would have gone and gotten a different phone.
I’ve never had a problem with the customer service, they’ve always been friendly, but getting a phone that doesn’t work just sucks.
Aww snap! I’m in your sis in law’s hood, just a hop away, so if she’s happy I reckon I will be too.
You know, I don’t care about the int’l call thing, because when I’m abroad, I don’t make calls with my cell phone anyway. Even if I did, the few times ever when I do are well worth the savings. Plus it’s not like my current carrier’s int’l roaming charges are reasonable. In any event, the place I am everyday is Chicago which is my concern, and the only other place where I care even a little bit about the reception is Los Angeles (home turf), a place I’m even then in there twice a year. If I could somehow know I’d get good coverage where I live today, I’d switch carriers tomorrow.
I think the only “catch” is that you have to pay for the entire phone up front, with no subsidies. That can be a chunk of change, depending on what you want.
Right!
So VM will, even with the upfront phone cost that I’m looking at, will be unquestionably cheaper than a two year contract with the major carriers. My only reluctance is if their coverage sucks enough to make me want to return to one of the big guys, the cost of the phone is forever lost. So really, if I can even feel okay about Virgin’s coverage, “okay” being more favorable than I feel about my current service, switching is a no-brainer.
Now that I put it that way, I need less convincing than I thought. I thought I just needed to know that VM isn’t complete asshole in Chicago, but I already have a carrier that’s complete asshole. Okay, unless someone can convince me with Virgin can’t hold a phone call for two seconds, which AT&T in my apt cannot, I’m switching. I’ve talked myself into it.
Thanks, guys!
Not necessarily. There is a robust market for gently used cell phones at eBay. You might recoup half or more of your investment.
I had no complaints with mine in Chicago, except that occasionally while driving the GPS was spotty. Most of the time it was fine. Rogers Park.
Keep in mind, though, that signal strength can vary from block to block. I often walk to a Trader Joe’s Market a little over half a mile from my house, and if I’m streaming radio, it always cuts out just before I get there. If you do change carriers, when you get the phone spend some time testing it at home and anywhere else you expect to be using the phone routinely. If it’s unsatisfactory, you can return or exchange it during the first 30 days. (Unless that’s just a California law, not sure about that.)
If you are on Android, and you want to talk to other Virgin Mobile users, you could try androidforums.com and forums.androidcentral.com. These forums tend to be a bit nerdy, since a lot of us like to root and hack our phones, and they also tend to be more device-centered than carrier centered, in the sense that people discuss issues and fixes based on their devices. Each device model has its own subforum and there’s a lot of material there. What you can do is participate in subforums for devices that are exclusive to Virgin, like the LG Optimus V.
If you want an iPhone, there’s a link on the forums.androidcentral.com page to a similar community for iPhones (not sure if that’s an option with VM).