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Review by hchen42 See Profile

  • Location: New York, New York, NY, USA
  • Cost: $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.
Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

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.

member for 24.2 years, 1912 visits, last login: 2 years ago
lodged 12.9 years ago

ArizonaSteve
join:2004-01-31
Apache Junction, AZ

ArizonaSteve

Member

You gotta be kidding!

There's no broadband plan for $25, you must be talking about a mobile phone.
It used to be unlimited for $40/mo but since they capped it at 5Gb then reduced that to 2.5Gb and raised the price from $40 to $50 it's still not even usable. The speed here is below 56k dial-up speed, it's nothing but a ripoff!

lighthouseJ
cheers
join:2005-05-02
Golden, CO

lighthouseJ

Member

Tether and you have broadband

you can tether threw the phone and have a Broadband Connection!

compuguybna
join:2009-06-17
Nashville, TN

compuguybna

Member

Re: Tether and you have broadband

that's about to come to an end. SPRINT already sent out an OTA firmware to the Optimus S and disabled the hot-spot capability.

only a matter of time before it hits the Optimus V.

by the way, this forum is for mobile broadband devices, not cell phones.