iPhone vs hotspot on virgin mobile

[RobinHood5]

I was thinking of getting an iPhone through virgin mobile for $35 a month, but when they only sold the 16gb and it was gonna be $650 I started considering other options. I mean the point of a no contract plan is that your not out a bunch of money but when you spend $650 to start with it kinda defeats the point.

Virgin mobile also sells a mobile 3G/4G hotspot for $35 a month for 2gb 3G and 10gb 4g. It's only $150 for the hotspot and I would be able to connect my iPad and my itouch. What is everyone's experience with these things. Im in an area that's 200 miles from the nearest 4g but we have good 3G, this would be instead of getting an iPad with 3G or an iPhone. I have cable Internet that I would do any real downloading on so the 2gb of data is not a problem.

Let's hear your opinions and experience on these matters!

 

[FearNo1]

To spend $650 is too much for a phone. I don't understand where they get that price from. Regarding mifi cards they work well..battery life could be better tho. You sometimes can get the card free. I have thought about getting one but there are tons of free internet in my area so I don't have a data plan.

 

[Wilson1313]

To spend $650 is too much for a phone. I don't understand where they get that price from. Regarding mifi cards they work well..battery life could be better tho. You sometimes can get the card free. I have thought about getting one but there are tons of free internet in my area so I don't have a data plan.

I'm getting the iPhone on VM today. While that seems like a lot, if you do the math, compared to a comparable plan from at&t or verizon you still end up saving over $1000 over two years. While I know there is a new iPhone just around the corner, nothing can touch VM price wise.

 

[Beelzbub]

I have one of Virgin Mobiles HotSpots, the MiFi 2200. I have had it for a couple of years, although it is not currently activated. I am still on one of their unlimited plans for when I do need it, I just logged into it to check my status. It works pretty well. The speeds are decent for my use. I went with VM because of the low cost no contract and I did not want to sign a 2 year contract for something I was only going to use a few times a year when I was on vacation. The only problem I had with it is it did not support the type of VPN I use. When I bought it I was told it supports a VPN. Well it didn’t. So since I was stuck with this device, and since I am the IT manager, I setup a box with remote desktop that I could just RDP into and get back into my office when needed. When I called VM's tech support about the VPN problem, I was asked "What is a VPN?", I was like seriously... Anyways, depending on your use, it is a decent device. My family and I rent cabins in a state park here in Indiana every year and the HotSpot from VM works well, where as other phones do not work in that area, never have, so everyone with Verizon and AT&T and some Sprint phones do not work, which I find it funny that the VM device works since it works off of Sprints network. I am seriously thinking about activating it again for the month of September which is when my family and I are going back to those cabins. The only reason I quit using it was because it is cheaper for me to pay an extra $20 a month on my AT&T iPhone and have the hotspot feature for those times when I need it, it just never works at the cabins we rent.

So that’s my experience with them. Other than tech support being subpar, it’s a decent device.

I am hoping that if someone on this forum gets an iPhone from them, if they could or have the means of testing out the VPN feature on it, I would be curious if it works or not.

 

[wordoflife]

To spend $650 is too much for a phone. I don't understand where they get that price from.

On Virgin Mobile, you can cancel your plan whenever you want. That's why you pay the full price of the phone up front.

On AT&T/Verizon/Sprint ... they'll discount the phone but they require you stay for at least 2 years (in most caäses)

 

[unlimitedx]

I think one of the downsides is the the phone is locked to virgin mobile, so resale value may be limited.