Review by hchen42 
member for 13.4 years, 1285 visits, last login: a few hours ago
lodged 2.1 years ago
 New York,New York,NY
 $25 per month- (month by month)
 "Cheap, cheap, cheap, unlimited data, unlimited text" "3G data is sporadic depending on location" "I am cheap - can't beat $25 plan."
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(ratings well above consensus)
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I live in NYC now, Murray Hill area, 3rd Ave 34th st. I've been on TMobile 1000 anytime minutes plan for 5 years, and lately decided to get something with data. However, I just couldn't justify paying $50 plus TAX plus 2 year contract. After a few months of reading forum, research, I settled on Virgin Mobile (VM). I considered MetroPCS, but it seems there are too many complaints, and I don't know anyone using MetroPCS. Boost didn't have any attractive phone. None of the big 4 (ATT, Vz, TMo, Sprint) have good post paid plan that's comparable. I've used Sprint and feel their network is reasonable. Hence, I decided to try VM.
First order of biz was getting a phone. I got an Optimus V. I test trial it for couple of weeks. My concern was since VM has no roaming and use strictly Sprint network, I need to make sure I can pick up signals to most area I travel to. NJ/NY/Ct area is generally great. Once I am satisfied with the signal, I ported.
I called VM around 10:05am on 3/13. VM rep took all the info. Total time spent on the phone was about 10 minutes. Around 10:45AM, I noticed my TMo phone stopped working. I was able to log into VM account and top up. I made my first call around 11:00AM.
Now after 1 month and about 1 week of usage, I can say, I'll be sticking with VM for awhile.
Highlights:
- Haven't had any dropped calls.
- Signal is generally 5-6 bars in NYC and 4-5 in Queens/Hudson county NJ/Westchester.
- Texts received/sent reasonably quickly (~5 seconds). There is one exception. OnceI got a message 60 minutes late, but that could be attribute to signal. Text msgs communicated mostly with users on ATT and Verizon.
- Optimus V is great (at least compare to my old phone Nokia 3601).
- $25 + sales tax a month. Okay, I paid less. Target has discount, and I also got discount Radio Shack gift card which I use it to get top up cards. Just need to pay sales tax in NYC.
- voip is allowed over 3G if you can get reliable connection.
Low light:
- I got 3G! BUT boy, it can be slow in my office (10017). I'd be happy to get 100kbps at work. It is 1mbps+ in my apt (10016).
- No call fowarding (use ONLY once in my life time).
- no 3 way conference (never use it on a cell).
Since I choose the $25 300 minutes plan, I've set up sipdroid and google voice. I use this method to make outgoing wifi calls at home. My avg monthly usage with TMo was about 350 minutes. Using wifi/sip calling, my first month usage with Virgin Mobile was 230 minutes.
Bottom line, I can't complain with the price, call service, call quality. Data could stand for improvement.
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