 dondude
join:2005-09-15
Marine City, MI
2 edits | reply to Now_with_MC
Re: Has anyone gotten the $40 unlimited deal? Anyone having issues with graphics and ads loading? Might be a problem with DSL Reports other sites non issue? |
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jfd15
join:2008-01-07
West Sacramento, CA | reply to Now_with_MC
so what's the initial cost - just $70 modem and $40 first month or a bunch of additional fees? may be worth a test as my Franklin 680 seems to have some troubles lately anyway... |
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 dib22
join:2002-01-27
Kansas City, MO
kudos:2
3 edits | reply to jweek
said by jweek:I also have sprint and get better speeds at the same location - at least I'm not tied to a 2 year contract. that is correct... for all wondering VirginMobile is basically a "virtual lan" on sprints network back to one of several output locations set asside for virgin mobile... I usually get routed out via the virgin mobile california location.
Now that sprint has 100% ownership of the virgin mobile band we might see that routing change to match sprints... but I doubt it.
I have noticed a sprint card get 2.3meg then the virgin mobile cap out at 1.4meg same location often... if you check their fine print they say something like 600-1.2 meg... in other areas i have seen the virgin mobile hit 2 meg... I think the tower setup might be involved? ... or it could be the location they go out being overloaded but that seems unlikely from sprint... they have a LOT of peering.
Some other information for those thinking about it:
You are not assigned an actual internet IP address like you are on sprint... you get assigned an internal ip for virginmobiles virtual lan... I have not really had any problems with this with most applications. I did have a cisco vpn that couldn't connect... but most microsoft vpn and openvpn connections seems to work.
Mine originally was purchased as a backup to a at&t card... since you could add $60 whenever you needed it... and it was another network (think giant att outage one morning etc).
Since then I grabbed a Mifi as well and here is some info they don't tell you about it upfront (or get wrong when asked):
-You CAN use it as a broadband card without the wifi router running. When you connect it via the included usb cable it presents a virtual drive with windows and mac drivers. It doesn't act like the usb dongle (mc760) you don't use their dialer... just like the old days (and prefered method for many) build a DUN connection aim it at the modem and connect.
-No antenna port on the mifi... if you want/need an antenna to see a sprint evdo signal get the mc760.
-The mifi has no real indicators of signal strength you have to open a web browser to hunt down the best location and then you have wait around 15 seconds for a refresh to see the "real" current signal strength.
-It powers itself off randomly when connected to power with the power down when idle option set to NONE.
To be honest I've used it as a modem more than the wifi feature but I did watch a few episodes of a series or two on the mifi the other day on an iphone... worked pretty well. |
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dib22
join:2002-01-27
Kansas City, MO
kudos:2 | reply to jfd15
said by jfd15:so what's the initial cost - just $70 modem and $40 first month or a bunch of additional fees? may be worth a test as my Franklin 680 seems to have some troubles lately anyway... Just a modem and either a top up card (doesn't matter if it says broadband or minutes as long as the value adds up to 10 or 40... you can stack multiple ones on your account) or you can use your credit card with them as well ... no other fees... used it off and on for months.
1. when you try to register you will feel like you are on a 300 baud modem while the registration page loads.
2. when your 30 days are up poof the connection is gone until you add another 30 days. |
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jfd15
join:2008-01-07
West Sacramento, CA
1 edit | thanks dib22....
looks like the Cradlepoint 1000 supports Virgin Mobile and the mc760 device - with 2 modems @ $80/month might be able to get some decent speeds too, maybe >1.6 mbps safely.....only $10/mo more than my current "unlimited" at Millenicom and likely better speeds and closer to true "unlimited"...
wondering what the likely limit is on any tower, 3 mbps if no one else is using? |
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| reply to Now_with_MC
After a couple of days of use, I have come to the following conclusions for me:
1. Connection quality is not as good as Sprint. I'm having to reload pages often (blank or missing graphics as another member noted above), and when I check email, a couple of accounts always time out. Not sure if this is the carrier or the modem (was using a Sierra 598u with Sprint).
2. Customer service via email is non-existent. I have asked two questions and gotten nothing but an automated response.
Unless this improves, as soon as this leverages the other carriers to the same or a similar price deal, I'll probably change again.
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Current setup: Parabolic grid, Cyfre CA-819, MC760 in Cradlepoint MBR1000.
Sprint MBB shafted me after 2+ years. Notified of the 5GB cap on Monday, over it on Tuesday, so I'm now with VM unlimited for $20 less/month. |
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| reply to Now_with_MC
Just got it today at RadioShack... I seem to have the same problem as the above users Images on a lot of sites don't load and some websites take a couple of refreshes to get it working like 8 times but strange thing is google works crazy fast and google images is super fast seems like something is wrong on there VM end as I thought it was my Cradlepoint acting up but no my Millenicom I was going to cancel right now does not have and never had any of these problems strange. |
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| reply to Now_with_MC
I hope they straiten this out soon as the connection gets dropped to much.. and hardly any sites will load except for text based sites. Maby its overloaded who knows Virgin Mobile Tech Surrport is a joke |
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rdurhamPremium
join:2002-10-13
Bowdon, GA | reply to Now_with_MC
I'm too have the same trouble as above. I still have my Sprint service and it works fine, has to be something on Virgin Mobile side, so far not to happy with it. |
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| reply to Now_with_MC
Yea just called virgin Mobile they don't even know what the heck
I was talking about I had to tell them they have a unlimited package multiple times then finally the Rep even had to check with his superiors or whatever.
Anyways I hope this problem goes away in a couple of days or its going back to the shack. |
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| reply to Now_with_MC
Do you have good signal strengths? |
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| reply to Now_with_MC
Yes I get -74 dbm same as Milleniuicom I have a Grid and a atenna booster. I have no idea what is wrong but Milleniumcom which is sprint is working fine. If its gonna be like this I guess I will have to return it. Yes I know I spelled Millenicom(Hope thats right)wrong lol always forget there name. |
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| What ping have you been obtaining? |
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| reply to Now_with_MC
You know what I went to speedtest.net and it shows somewhere in California for a server. I think it might be a Latency issue as I live in Maine lol. I wonder where the above posters with the same timeout live. |
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dib22
join:2002-01-27
Kansas City, MO
kudos:2 | reply to Now_with_MC
said by Now_with_MC:2. Customer service via email is non-existent. I have asked two questions and gotten nothing but an automated response. That is an under-statement... you have to call them for everything. In fact I have found that unless your are adding minutes or something simple even phone support is not much help.
They seem to have access to even less network related tools than sprint customer care. |
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| reply to Now_with_MC
119 under ping Test and Jitter is 5...Seems to be really good but something is wrong tho I have no idea same tower and everything. |
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| reply to Now_with_MC
The page load problem is probably not the modem.. I just speedtested & got the best return so far:
Right after this, I still have to regularly reload pages (like this one and also even VM's contact page). As another member stated above, if you go Google, it seems to be really fast. I use another homepage (startpage) and it is so slow and unreliable as to be unusable.
IF I could talk to a human at CS, I'd like to see if I could port over my 598u and see if the page loads were any better.
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Current setup: Parabolic grid, Cyfre CA-819, MC760 in Cradlepoint MBR1000.
Sprint MBB shafted me after 2+ years. Notified of the 5GB cap on Monday, over it on Tuesday, so I'm now with VM unlimited for $20 less/month. |
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| Try these:
Twitter: »twitter.com/virginmobileus
Twitter: »twitter.com/VMAngel (the person behind @virginmobileus)
Youtube: »www.youtube.com/user/virginmobileusa
Facebook: »www.facebook.com/VirginMobileUSA
Social media CSR e-mail: social@virginmobileusa.com
The squeaky wheel gets the oil. The guys behind social network/marketing tend to get me help quicker from companies that don't actually have proper customer service. Hope it helps some of you. |
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| reply to Now_with_MC
said by Now_with_MC:The page load problem is probably not the modem.. Right after this, I still have to regularly reload pages (like this one and also even VM's contact page). As another member stated above, if you go Google, it seems to be really fast. I use another homepage (startpage) and it is so slow and unreliable as to be unusable. IF I could talk to a human at CS, I'd like to see if I could port over my 598u and see if the page loads were any better. Does it make any difference if the modem is connected directly to your computer rather than thru a router?
How does Flash content behave? |
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dib22
join:2002-01-27
Kansas City, MO
kudos:2 | reply to Now_with_MC
said by Now_with_MC:IF I could talk to a human at CS, I'd like to see if I could port over my 598u and see if the page loads were any better. You can't move sprint or verizon devices to virgin... the serial number would have to match a virgin mobile serial number. (It is technically possible but none of the big cdma providers here do it... cricket will.)
What you are describing sounds like one of their web-proxy-cache machines is malfunctioning. I used to see this on sprint every now and again when I had one of their cards... and I have seen it on virgin a couple of times as well (usually when I'm on a slower connection).
Try visiting secure pages of some sort and see if they work normally... SSL pages bypass most web-proxy-cache setups.
One I can think of is »www.eff.org/ but you might google for some other SSL pages... wish someone would make a SSL speed test. |
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