dgsteven
All-Star Author
Los Angeles
Posts:937
Points:234,500
Joined:Oct 2012
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Message Posted: Jun 14, 2013 3:05:15 AM
it is ok, I am a customer Virgin Mobile USA
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zibek
Sophomore Author
British Columbia
Posts:224
Points:37,120
Joined:May 2013
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Message Posted: May 23, 2013 7:32:24 PM
I am a customer Virgin Mobile Canada. I am happy with their service - a few weeks ago, although theoretically it was inpossible, the operator changed my plan to another, which I wanted. Virgin Mobile treats its customers well - a friendly and earnest. I would recommend.
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BMRR
Champion Author
Maine
Posts:2,715
Points:1,477,910
Joined:Oct 2007
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Message Posted: Mar 19, 2013 7:15:32 PM
Virgin offers a pretty nice selection of phones but they're hampered by their coverage (or lack thereof). StraightTalk's phone selection isn't as good, but depending on which phone you buy you might end up on either Verizon's or AT&T's towers and thus be assured of having good or even great coverage.
Unfortunately StraightTalk's customer service is unbelievably bad. So be sure to do a lot of research ahead of time and pick out a phone that will be reliable. If you get a flaky phone, ST customer service won't be very helpful.
The biggest nightmare is trying to use StraightTalk's "Bring Your Own Phone" program. You're basically on your own. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone except geeks, nerds, and hackers.
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bmxstud
Veteran Author
Chicago
Posts:284
Points:116,815
Joined:Jan 2013
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Message Posted: Mar 18, 2013 10:11:04 PM
I have VM which is based off sprints towers... which sucks. If your looking for 4g speeds you need to be ONTOP of your roof to get a connection or sometimes while driving. Downtown areas seem to have good 4g but other than that its slow!
Also support is cheap and based in India, so dont expect GOOD support...
[Edited by: bmxstud at 3/18/2013 10:11:50 PM EST]
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ldheinz
Champion Author
Chicago
Posts:19,315
Points:2,385,800
Joined:May 2006
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Message Posted: Jan 9, 2013 1:39:08 PM
I wasn't aware of that, BMRR. Thanks for the update.
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BMRR
Champion Author
Maine
Posts:2,715
Points:1,477,910
Joined:Oct 2007
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Message Posted: Jan 9, 2013 12:47:56 PM
ldheinz:
According to Wikipedia,
"Virgin Mobile USA, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sprint Nextel Corporation..."
"In 2009, Sprint Nextel Corporation bought out joint venture partner Virgin Group, becoming the sole owner of Virgin Mobile USA."
"On July 28, 2009, Sprint Nextel Corporation acquired the outstanding shares of Virgin Mobile USA, Inc. in return for Sprint Nextel stock valued at approximately US$5.50 per share of Virgin Mobile USA common stock."
Official press release from Virgin Mobile USA regarding its acquisition by Sprint:
http://newsroom.virginmobileusa.com/press-release/financial/sprint-nextel-acquire-virgin-mobile-usa
[Edited by: BMRR at 1/9/2013 12:49:30 PM EST]
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ldheinz
Champion Author
Chicago
Posts:19,315
Points:2,385,800
Joined:May 2006
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Message Posted: Jan 9, 2013 9:52:12 AM
I was recently driving through northern Kentucky and had no service for an extended period of time. Sprint has no service there.
I'm currently working in SE Indiana, west of Cincinnati, and service is OK, even though Sprint doesn't sell phones here.
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ldheinz
Champion Author
Chicago
Posts:19,315
Points:2,385,800
Joined:May 2006
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Message Posted: Jan 9, 2013 9:49:57 AM
Virgin is NOT a subsidiary of Sprint. They are an independent company that contracts with Sprint to provide cell service. Even though it's Sprint providing the cell connection, they have nothing to do with the horrible customer service.
I do like the price, though. And as long as you don't need customer service, it works out great.
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TwoNursesRUs
Rookie Author
Charlotte
Posts:43
Points:254,870
Joined:Apr 2012
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Message Posted: Jan 9, 2013 12:22:34 AM
I love my no contract plan with Virgin Mobile. I have the 300 minute talk, unlimited everything else. They slow your data speed when you reach set limit 2G I think. I've never reached that as I use plenty of WIFI
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BMRR
Champion Author
Maine
Posts:2,715
Points:1,477,910
Joined:Oct 2007
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Message Posted: Jan 6, 2013 6:50:49 PM
I was with Virgin for a year, but switched to StraightTalk a few months ago. Virgin is great if you're in an urban area, but in some suburbs and rural areas the coverage can be problematic. I also experienced a lot of dropped calls and lost/delayed texts with Virgin even when I was in urban areas and was getting a full signal.
I found Virgin's customer service to be quite poor. And even though Virgin is a subsidiary of Sprint, the employees at the local Sprint Store wouldn't provide me with any service/support.
In fairness, StraightTalk's customer service is just as bad... but fortunately I haven't need to call or email them nearly as often as I did when I was with Virgin.
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DDRMixer
Rookie Author
Flint
Posts:12
Points:107,245
Joined:Oct 2011
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Message Posted: Jun 5, 2012 1:33:25 AM
If you have wifi turned on for your phone, it doesn't make things so bad. I am in a dead zone right now. It is really bad for trying to get calls in and out, but having wifi turned on with services such as Skype also running makes calling people and messaging easier, only if that is your thing. In cities, the connection is great. I have only had a few iffy things happen since I started using Virgin in September. Note, I am not grandfathered into the 25 dollars a month thing, I am paying 35 for their smallest stuff. They caps a data, but I have yet to hit it. If you are a normal user of the phone with calling the 300 minutes cap might be much, but if you text and use data a lot, you should be fine, just don't download a ton of videos and keep your internet browsing to a wifi connection.
;) Hope you get a great service with a good price.
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Cirdan
Champion Author
Nevada
Posts:2,029
Points:125,265
Joined:May 2006
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Message Posted: May 7, 2012 1:34:45 AM
I thought they were the most affordable cell offering when I had them ~3 years ago (voice only). Problem was the Sprint network is horrible, with no service in a lot of places. Wisconsin probably OK, but forget NV.
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ItsMorph
Champion Author
Grand Rapids
Posts:33,661
Points:3,213,235
Joined:Mar 2004
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Message Posted: Apr 20, 2012 9:23:46 PM
My wife has it with a Samsung Intercept (horrible phone), and doesn't mind it one bit. She's grandfathered in on the $25/month unlimited everything but minutes plan(300 talk minutes per month included), and it's been great as far as coverage is concerned (but that's in Michigan)!
Evidently there are a couple new phones coming out soon, one rumored to be the HTC Evo 3D. It seems certain that the LG Optimus Elite (only 3.2" screen, though) will be released shortly.
Personally, I'm on Boost Mobile due to the fact I need the Nextel Direct Connect, and I have a Motorola i1 (android) that's been pretty darn good.
Check Sprint's coverage in your area very carefully, however, as Cracked mentioned, the roaming coverage is *NOT* available to Virgin Mobile customers. I don't think it's available to Boost customers, either.
I would order the phone from Amazon just prior to needing it, as they have a 30-day return policy, I think, so that should give you plenty of time to test it out in the real world. Good luck!
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CrackedLCD
Champion Author
Alabama
Posts:9,166
Points:1,782,280
Joined:May 2008
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Message Posted: Apr 14, 2012 9:48:31 AM
I bought a low priced Virgin feature phone for my mother, who doesn't need as much power in a phone as I do.
My take on it? You get what you pay for.
It's a bargain at $25/month, with 300 minutes, 300 texts and unlimited data, if I remember correctly. But the catch is texts are delivered slow and data is very unreliable. At least it is here in Alabama. She's a *very* light user, but still ran into problems when the network was down on two separate occasions.
As far as voice goes, that has been very reliable and has never gone down. But who uses an Android phone to talk? ;-)
Virgin Mobile uses Sprint's PCS network, minus all the roaming coverage. They use CDMA technology and their 3G is EV-DO Rev. A in most places. If you already have 3G through AT&T you may find it much slower on Virgin Mobile because of the different technologies used. HSPA and HSPA+ on AT&T and T-Mobile (GSM networks) is almost always faster than EV-DO. I've got an Android phone on a similar kind of network (C Spire) with similar speeds to Sprint and it's not bad, but it can be frustrating sometimes because it's not fast enough for video or reliable audio streaming all the time.
If you don't use much data or have access to a wifi hotspot it won't be a big deal.
One other thing worth noting is that Virgin Mobile's customer service is legendarily bad, all outsourced to India. Getting billing errors or service changes through is something of a crap shoot. I've never had a billing issue with Virgin but there are many many horror stories out there if you Google around.
Hope this helps!
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mosinmama
Rookie Author
Minnesota
Posts:85
Points:21,175
Joined:Jul 2008
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Message Posted: Apr 7, 2012 12:39:51 PM
I wonder about them too! I'm going to dump Verizon when my contract expires and want to get the Android phone with Virgin also.
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