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Virgin Mobile USA to Begin Selling iPhone 5 on June 28

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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Virgin Mobile USA today announced that it will begin selling the iPhone 5 next Friday, June 28, offering the device on its no-contract Beyond Talk service plans. The plans start at $35/month for 300 minutes plus unlimited text and data, although the carrier begins throttling data speeds after a monthly soft cap of 2.5 GB. A $45/month plan offers 1200 minutes, while a $55/month plan adds unlimited calling, and customers can earn a $5/month discount on their bills when they sign up for automatic payments.

virgin_mobile_iphone_plans.jpg
As for the iPhone itself, Virgin Mobile is offering a $100 discount off of Apple's standard unsubsidized pricing, selling the 16 GB iPhone 5 for $549.99 with the 32 GB model priced at $649.99 and the 64 GB model at $749.99.

virgin_mobile_iphone_5.jpg
We noted last October that Apple had Virgin Mobile-specific iPhone 5 models ready to go, although it was unclear at the time when they would be released and it remains unknown why it took approximately nine months after the device's launch to appear at the carrier. The iPhone 5 has been available through other prepaid carriers such as Cricket since as long ago as September.

Article Link: Virgin Mobile USA to Begin Selling iPhone 5 on June 28
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/06/21/virgin-mobile-usa-to-begin-selling-iphone-5-on-june-28/
C

Chmeeee

macrumors member
Jul 1, 2003
50
0
Boston, MA
If only there could be a quality prepaid carrier using the Verizon network...

Or have I missed something? Sprint and therefore Virgin coverage in my area is crap.
 
D

derek4484

macrumors 6502
Apr 29, 2010
363
148
But its on Sprint Network right? So, it's worthless. Sprint has almost no LTE, this doesnt do WiMax, and their 3G network can't even achieve 56K modem speeds.

----------
Chmeeee said:
If only there could be a quality prepaid carrier using the Verizon network...

Or have I missed something? Sprint and therefore Virgin coverage in my area is crap.
Click to expand...

there used to be a decent amount of Pre-paid carriers on Verizon and AT&T. Straight Talk used to be almost exclusively Verizon in the beginning. But AT&T and Verizon saw how many people were using those cheaper services so they kicked them off their networks. Verizon did it a long time ago. AT&T just recently told Straight Talk to quit selling AT&T sims.

So, now all pre-paids are on T-mo or Sprint. Sprint is terrible coverage and terrible data speeds. T-mo has good data speeds as long as you are inside a city's limits. Suburbs, not so much. And their coverage area sucks. You spend most of your time roaming on AT&T network at edge speeds.
 
R

rishey

macrumors regular
Aug 20, 2003
119
154
Oh

Are there any cheap plans like this that use AT&T or T-Mobile's network? LTE just started working on T-Mobile here in Chicago.
 
furi0usbee

furi0usbee

macrumors 68000
Jul 11, 2008
1,790
1,382
I had sprint, and had great 4G around here. However, unless I'm missing something, VM is only offering 3G for iPhone 5, at least that's what it says in that graphic. It would be nice if they gave say 1GB of 4G, then the rest at 3G speeds. I'd look into it if I could get something other than 3G.

EDIT: I just went to the site and poked around, and it seems to say if 4G is available, you'll get the 4G speeds. But if you read the disclaimer, it says something about 4G WiMAX and 4G LET Sprint, and you may not get that, etc... too early in the AM for me to digest.


http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phone-plans/beyond-talk-plans/overview/
 
kazmac

kazmac

macrumors G4
Mar 24, 2010
10,086
8,627
Any place but here or there....
Virgin Mobile = Sprint = no thanks

Since Virgin are tied to Sprint's networks, I won't switch even though the plan is better financially. Coverage, customer service etc. are worth the extra $ to me.
 
P

polymersayb

macrumors regular
Dec 12, 2012
125
130
wjdennen said:
T-Mobile sells a $30 prepaid plan. 100 minutes, 4GB data. unlim text.
Click to expand...

Do you know if it's compatible with the iPhone? The phones they try to sell with that plan are kind of crappy but it still seems that you can put it into any unlocked GSM phone. And it's listed in the compatible phones...

The biggest problem with it is that you don't get any data roaming. And a poster above mentioned that t-mobile's coverage is bad enough that you need roaming...
 
Frobozz

Frobozz

macrumors demi-god
Jul 24, 2002
1,145
94
South Orange, NJ
Over the course of 2 years, it seems like I would save about $35 a month on the 2-phone plan I have now with AT&T. You obviously pay more up front, but as you enter the tail end of that second year you're saving a fair amount.

Truth be told, we'll almost always upgrade our phones every 2 years anyway. Oh, the choices.

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kazmac said:
Since Virgin are tied to Sprint's networks, I won't switch even though the plan is better financially. Coverage, customer service etc. are worth the extra $ to me.
Click to expand...

I was a happy Sprint customer for about 9 contiguous years before I switched to AT&T to buy an iPhone 3G. Although much has changed since then, and we all know each geographic area has different coverage issues.
 
WannaGoMac

WannaGoMac

macrumors 68030
Feb 11, 2007
2,722
3,992
derek4484 said:
But its on Sprint Network right? So, it's worthless. Sprint has almost no LTE, this doesnt do WiMax, and their 3G network can't even achieve 56K modem speeds.

----------



there used to be a decent amount of Pre-paid carriers on Verizon and AT&T. Straight Talk used to be almost exclusively Verizon in the beginning. But AT&T and Verizon saw how many people were using those cheaper services so they kicked them off their networks. Verizon did it a long time ago. AT&T just recently told Straight Talk to quit selling AT&T sims.

So, now all pre-paids are on T-mo or Sprint. Sprint is terrible coverage and terrible data speeds. T-mo has good data speeds as long as you are inside a city's limits. Suburbs, not so much. And their coverage area sucks. You spend most of your time roaming on AT&T network at edge speeds.
Click to expand...


There is hope as AT&T AIOwireless.com pre-paid service is supposed to roll out nationwide with substantial discounts over their post paid service.
 
scbn

scbn

macrumors 6502
Jul 25, 2010
272
22
They probably got a big discount from Apple because iPhone 5s is coming soon. It's like retail stores, you get last season's clothes from TJ Max.
 
jayducharme

jayducharme

macrumors 601
Jun 22, 2006
4,529
5,973
The thick of it
derek4484 said:
So, now all pre-paids are on T-mo or Sprint. Sprint is terrible coverage and terrible data speeds.
Click to expand...

There's that digital divide. People who can afford the major carrier's exorbitant fees get faster connections. The rest of the population flounders. In my area, there's only fair voice coverage and 3G data.

Even so, if enough people begin using the service, perhaps coverage will improve. Then there just might be real choice in the US cellular scene.
 
John.B

John.B

macrumors 601
Jan 15, 2008
4,193
705
Holocene Epoch
MacRumors said:
The plans start at $35/month for 300 minutes plus unlimited text and data, although the carrier begins throttling data speeds after a monthly soft cap of 2.5 GB. A $45/month plan offers 1200 minutes, while a $55/month plan adds unlimited calling, and customers can earn a $5/month discount on their bills when they sign up for automatic payments.
Click to expand...
My son is on a VM "Beyond Talk Unlimited Data and Text" plan and burns through his 2.5GB data "soft cap" exactly halfway through every month. I imagine this would be even worse at LTE speeds...

I am grateful for the unlimited texts, though if he was on an iPhone most of those would go through iMessage anyway...
 
Cursor

Cursor

macrumors 6502
Jul 17, 2002
329
28
polymersayb said:
Do you know if it's compatible with the iPhone? The phones they try to sell with that plan are kind of crappy but it still seems that you can put it into any unlocked GSM phone. And it's listed in the compatible phones...

The biggest problem with it is that you don't get any data roaming. And a poster above mentioned that t-mobile's coverage is bad enough that you need roaming...
Click to expand...

The iPhones are compatible (I'm on this plan), but I would recommend getting the newer iPhone 5, to take advantage of T-Mobile's signal.
 
T

techwhiz

macrumors 65816
Feb 22, 2010
1,297
1,804
Northern Ca.
JesseW6889 said:
So, do all iPhone 5's work on all networks?
Click to expand...

Yes/No is the answer.
An iPhone 5 for Verizon technically would work on Sprint but the LTE bands are different. Same with AT&T and T-Mobile. The HSPA would work across all GSM and the 3G across all CDMA. So there is a "least common denominator" that makes it fundamentally compatible with all networks. THey use a Qualcomm chipset that pretty much supports everything with the right antennae.

As for talk the phone would need to be unlocked *AND* Verizon and Sprint don't support devices on their network that don't have their branding.

There are actually at least 3-4 different versions of iPhone5 depending on who you ask. That is because they use different antennae configurations.
 
kazmac

kazmac

macrumors G4
Mar 24, 2010
10,086
8,627
Any place but here or there....
Frobozz said:
Over the course of 2 years, it seems like I would save about $35 a month on the 2-phone plan I have now with AT&T. You obviously pay more up front, but as you enter the tail end of that second year you're saving a fair amount.

Truth be told, we'll almost always upgrade our phones every 2 years anyway. Oh, the choices.

----------



I was a happy Sprint customer for about 9 contiguous years before I switched to AT&T to buy an iPhone 3G. Although much has changed since then, and we all know each geographic area has different coverage issues.
Click to expand...

Glad they treated you right. They were an absolute NIGHTMARE when I attempted to switch and had to fight for 6 months for refunds for services NEVER used. Even if their coverage was compariable to AT&T - I still would not switch based on the absolute agida I had to go through to get refunds.

Like you say, different areas/different coverage and different customer relations. Since I've had problems with Sprint and Verizon, I'll stick with AT&T and eventually try T-Mobile.

It's a shame really, the price is so right. But in this case, it really is tricky some users will get great service, others won't.
 
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