Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go

[dianeew]

Does anyone have any information about the reliability of
pay-as-you-go Virgin Mobile phones (www.virginmobileusa.com) and dependability of service
in the Boston area?

[njsvrzncdma]

check out sprints covergae thats who virgin uses

[GoodmanR]

i think the att prepaid is the best deal, if they have descent coverage where you live.

[jsb]

Originally posted by: GoodmanR
i think the att prepaid is the best deal, if they have descent coverage where you live.

I'm not so sure about that, although I haven't checked out AT&T's new Go plans. My wife signed up for Virgin Mobile last fall and has been pretty happy with it. She's an occasional user, so it wasn't worth paying a monthly fee. Bottom line is that she can keep her phone active by paying $20 every 90 days. Per minute cost is 25 cents for the first 10 minutes each day, then 10 cents each minute thereafter. No idea how that compares to other services. At the time we were looking, the bigger concern was the overall monthly cost and none of the other prepaid services were as inexpensive as Virgin Mobile.

As for reliability, Virgin does indeed use Sprint's network, so check with friends/family/coworkers/etc. who have Sprint service and see what they think.

[GoodmanR]

atts go phone is much much cheaper than any other prepaid option because its like having a plan with actual mins.

for $30 you get 150 mins
for $40 you get 400
and for $50 you get 550

these are all cheaper than paying $.25 a min, in fact two are .10 or less. if your planning on using the phone more than 8 mins a month, this is a better deal

[GoodmanR]

and you should look at the plans before concluding that its not a better deal. im not an att fan myself, but they certainly seem to have the edge with prepaid now

[jsb]

Originally posted by: GoodmanR
and you should look at the plans before concluding that its not a better deal. im not an att fan myself, but they certainly seem to have the edge with prepaid now

Having taken a quick look at AT&T's Go plans, it looks like you still have to pay your set amount each month, so how cost-effective it is depends on your usage. In the particular case of my wife, Virgin's plan still makes more sense. She probably uses something like 30 minutes a month. Even if you assume all 30 minutes are at the $0.25 rate, she's paying $7.50/month. Since she is only required to give Virgin a minimum of $20 every three months, that works out pretty well, since she'd be spending about $22.50 every three months. If she were on an AT&T plan, she'd be paying a minimum of $20 each month to add 80 minutes each time. So we'd be paying almost $40 more every three months for extra minutes that she doesn't need.

I didn't say Virgin's plan is better altogether, just that it makes more sense in this particular case. Sure, the extra minutes would be nice if she planned to use them, but she doesn't, so we'd rather save the money. For those who use more minutes and still don't want a postpaid plan, AT&T may well have the best plans out there. The fact that they include free nights/weekends on all but the cheapest plan is nice too, as I believe everyone else charges for n/w.

[Airb330]

ATT GoPhone is not truly "prepaid", it is a no-contract plan. Sure GoPhone is great for those with credit problems, but otherwise it'd be better to sign a contract. The best "prepaid" as in buying cards would be FREEUP by Verizon or Virgin MObile. It depends on when one talks. I used FREEUP for a long time because it had free weekends and cheaper night minutes. Virgin is good because it is cheaper (20$ every 90 days), but does not have a price reduction on n/w minutes. Check out these two prepays if you are a light user, or if you are credit challenged, try GoPhone.

[Jack]

Also nextel's Boost mobile would be a good choice if you live in california or nevada. You can use boost anywhere but can only buy them in those two states currently.

Jack

[GoodmanR]

how is go phone not prepaid? it can be prepaid and a contractless plan at the same time. you pay prior to your usage. thus it is prepaid

[Jack]

Go phone is just like a regular contract with a set # of minuts.

I think here we are discussing the plans that you pay per minute to use with No included minutes. This would include but not limited to

Virgin Mobile
Boost Mobile
Verizon wireless Free up
Alltel Simple Freedon
At&T TDMA prepaid (best from ecallplus.com)

Jack

[jsb]

Originally posted by: Jack
Go phone is just like a regular contract with a set # of minuts.

I think here we are discussing the plans that you pay per minute to use with No included minutes. This would include but not limited to

Virgin Mobile
Boost Mobile
Verizon wireless Free up
Alltel Simple Freedon
At&T TDMA prepaid (best from ecallplus.com)

The list should probably include Cingular's KIC (Keep in Contact) plans. I don't know the details, but I believe they're basically traditional prepaid plans.

[GoodmanR]

Originally posted by: GoodmanR
how is go phone not prepaid? it can be prepaid and a contractless plan at the same time. you pay prior to your usage. thus it is prepaid

except its prepaid