Wait, there's a 2.5GB data cap?
I have no idea how much data I'd be likely to use, and I'd try to leave it on Wifi as much as possible, but I didn't know there was a cap. What happens if you pass it?
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Virgin Mobile USA Launching iPhone on June 29 with Plans Starting at $30
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Wait, there's a 2.5GB data cap?
I have no idea how much data I'd be likely to use, and I'd try to leave it on Wifi as much as possible, but I didn't know there was a cap. What happens if you pass it?
Nope. Don't plan on that being available. The bare bones price gets you bare bones service and they have no visual voicemail on any of the phones they sell now, and I don't see them changing their backend to support it anytime soon either. Doesn't mean that things couldn't change in the future. Two years ago people wouldn't have expected the iPhone on Virgin Mobile at all. But with a $30 a month service you can and should expect some compromises.
Considering the already substantial upfront cost of the unsubsidized iPhone you should not expect to see a 64gb one. Maybe down the road. But I would not expect that anytime soon. this is a bit of an experiment for Virgin Mobile. They have never offered a phone at such a high price before. Then again, they weren't offering an iPhone either. Still...that much money upfront is a lot for many people. So I'm thinking they want to be a little conservative and see what demand is like first before offering a another model at even higher cost.
As for what's the catch? As a VM customer I can answer that in two words: Data speed. The phone service has been great, but data is an entirely different story. It's so slow that at times it is completely unusable. Particularly at high traffic times of the day or congested areas. For example, streaming music...it will work in the dead of night as you drive down the road quite well, but during the daytime hours when everyone is awake? Forget it. So many buffering issues that both the phone and you will just give up. Another example is someplace busy like a theme park. Good look looking anything up or connecting to FB in a place like that. You'll need it.
Sprint's LTE is barely in it's infancy so I would not count on that to improve 3G resources anytime soon. As for WiMax, yeah they have some people on that, and they are pushing some VM people onto it as well with their new handsets this summer. But I don't think that is a big enough footprint to make a difference. It certainly hasn't improved the service I'm getting.
Don't forget the cost of the subsidized phone. That's another reason that factors into the credit check. If they offer a $200 phone for free, they want to know you are going to actually stick around awhile making up that cost (and then some) with your monthly plan amount.
It's explained in the article AND on VM's web site. If you go past the 2.5GB threshold, your data will be throttled down to 256kbps or less until the end of the month. You will restart the next month at full speed until you use up the 2.5GB quota.
Carriers have been using different strategies to limit their subscribers' voracious appetite for data: grandfathered unlimited data plans are usually throttled (more or less gently, more or less clearly). New plans are almost all limited, with overages (typically $10/GB with a $30 minimum).
AFAIK, only Sprint offers an unlimited, unthrottled data plan.
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I find it outrageous that Virgin would lock the GSM section of their unsubsidized phone. That makes StraightTalk all the more attractive... It's even cheaper (by $5) for unlimited everything. If you travel internationally, your $650 Virgin phone will be as useful as a brick (albeit considerably lighter)
Would they need to? I just assumed it would support it, and Sprint's already got it, so that seems like they'd just be withholding a feature to try to make you pay more on Sprint?
Oh well...I've been living without that, but it does seem like it would be really cool.
And thanks for the info on the data stuff. Sounds sort of frustrating, but as long as it works well as a PHONE, the other stuff is a bonus for me mostly, and might work better for me anyway where I am.
Ooooh, okay, thanks. Yeah, I'd read that but the person mentioned a cap instead of throttling. I don't really have a problem with that at all. I mean compared to other plans, 2.5GB now is actually more than competitors provide on much more expensive plans, and then instead of ending up with a $900 bill or something if I somehow ended up going over, I'd just be throttled.
32KB/s sounds fine to me anyway, if I were really getting that. I had an iDen android phone for a while with Sprint's Boost service. iDen is "2.5G" I think, and was something like 5KB/s max, which was actually just fine for keeping stuff synced with Google, and even decent enough for web browsing in a pinch. 6x faster than that would be totally fine for me, and that's assuming I ever went over. Since cell phone carriers don't really seem to have much bandwidth available, and I don't want to screw Sprint when they're offering a good plan, I'd try to keep my data use to a minimum anyway, so HOPEFULLY won't ever get near 2GB.
Man, I don't know how I'm going to resist this when the 29th hits...my only resistance at all is just the U.S. Cellular's coverage is PHENOMENAL. Sprint's is worse, although still better than AT&T and T-Mobile here, but I think gets iffier in smaller areas :-/
But...$40/month to FINALLY have a freaking iPhone? A price I can actually justify paying? Probably too tempting for me lol
This really really ticks me off. Paying full price for a GSM-locked phone. I think I'm gonna hold of until the new iPhone is released. I'm hoping it'll finally be compatible with T-Mobile, so I can take advantage of their Monthly 4G plan.
Unfortunately no. Virgin (Sprint) is Qualcomm's CDMA, like Verizon and U.S. Cellular.
No, while VM is a subsidiary of Sprint, and uses the Sprint towers, they are still a separate system. For instance, there are times where VM data goes down and Sprint people are happily going about their business.
In addition to those technical reasons, I am sure that witholding features is a strategy as well. If they gave you the exact same thing for far less money, what would be the point? They have to differentiate their service somehow.
Oh, and that's another thing that's different...service. Virgin Mobile has no stores of their own, and their stuff is not sold at Sprint stores either. Apple stores will also not be an option on this one. So if you like walking into a store and swapping your phone out easily or talking to a rep about your phone that's not going to happen. The best you will be able to do is a 3rd party like Best Buy or Radio Shack. Some people might miss that and it might affect their decision being a little more detached like that. It doesn't bother me though.
Of course it's the carriers, but it's still locked. I shouldn't have to be dependent on the carrier to move my phone to another service. Once I've met my contractual obligations, that should solely be my decision.
The problem is there's no way to get around this carrier-induced block. With my phone and its unlocked bb, I can jb, install ultrasnow and be on Orange tomorrow.
OTOH, I can hack at a sprint phone all I want, but nothing will get it accepted on verizon's network. I have to have their permission. Sure metro pcs will take it, but they have wretched coverage out in the boonies.
I hate cdma because it doesn't even give you the option of breaking free of your carrier or using your phone with another carrier.
I've read some people used gevey to allow use of cdma phones with at&t. I don't remember how successful it was. If you're the type who updates to the latest ios or does so without thinking, however, this isn't going to work for you. Gevey is concerned with your bb, so you have to be careful when updating.
Then that's either a regional thing or a more recent change because they did not use to. What area of the country?
In Texas the Sprint stores also carry VM phones. They have for the last several years I have used them.
I was under the impression Sprint stores didn't carry prepaid either. It kind of makes sense that they would since I think US Cellular and probably Verizon and AT&T (?) do?
If they do, that's kind of nice to at least potentially be able to go in there to buy it, or maybe get them to test a flaky phone or something.
And thanks for the info about data somehow being different! Well, I'm still hoping for visual voicemail anyway
If they do, that's kind of nice to at least potentially be able to go in there to buy it, or maybe get them to test a flaky phone or something.
And thanks for the info about data somehow being different! Well, I'm still hoping for visual voicemail anyway
For a while Virgin Mobile in canada would give you a free or highly discounted iPhone if you bought like $700 dollars worth of credits... It essentially made it like a contract plan, given that you can not cash out your credits.
Interesting. I've definitely been in some Sprint stores during that timeframe in California and they did not carry them and have heard others mention that too. I will have to go back to some stores and see if anything has changed. Good to know.
Huh, that's a pretty cool way to do it! Of course in the U.S., you're still getting a way cheaper plan, so I can see how that wouldn't really work for them necessarily.
They're going to have a hard time selling many when there are options like this for half the price. Its very highly rated as well in the user reviews. 4.7/5 average rating which is extremely good.
$299.99
HTC evo V (rebadged sprint evo 3d)
Dual core 1.2 ghz
1gb Ram
1730mah battery
4.3 inch 3d QHD lcd Screen
Android 4.0 out of the box (no waiting for an update)
Excellent build quality and durability (not just picking one like with apple who doesn't have the durability aspect down)
http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phones/htc-evo-v-phone.jsp
$299.99
HTC evo V (rebadged sprint evo 3d)
Dual core 1.2 ghz
1gb Ram
1730mah battery
4.3 inch 3d QHD lcd Screen
Android 4.0 out of the box (no waiting for an update)
Excellent build quality and durability (not just picking one like with apple who doesn't have the durability aspect down)
http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phones/htc-evo-v-phone.jsp
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Huh...I didn't realize that phone was as good as it is. That actually looks like about as good as you can do. 1GB RAM, 1.2GHz CPU..don't know if it's snapdragon or A9, but either way that's very solid, and yeah, I bet you're right that that'll draw away some customers.
Really Android is tempting to me, but I just don't think it can handle podcasts the way iOS can...I mean I'd love to play with it and see if I can find a program that can, see if the interface for it is good enough. But I THINK for me I'm locked in to Apple until someone gets their act together with that.
This handles podcasts. I just did a search on google and this was the top result. Very highly rated as well.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.beyondpod&hl=en
There are many other apps as well and google offers podcast support with there google listen app.
Sorry, I somehow got a double post.
Anyway regarding that Beyondpod, thanks for the link. It looks promising though it doesn't give any info on whether podcasts can be managed manually, like whether you can see play count and then then delete or back up ones you've listened to. The lack of integration with a PC would be annoying for me too.
So I don't THINK it would work for me, though I really appreciate the link!
Anyway regarding that Beyondpod, thanks for the link. It looks promising though it doesn't give any info on whether podcasts can be managed manually, like whether you can see play count and then then delete or back up ones you've listened to. The lack of integration with a PC would be annoying for me too.
So I don't THINK it would work for me, though I really appreciate the link!
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I wouldn't be so negative about thinking it won't work as it probably will. There are tons of apps that do the same thing and google themselves has one. A lot of the negative things you'll hear about android here are really not true or exaggerated. Also most apps on android are free even when its ios counterpart costs money so you may be surprised that many of the apps you have purchased on ios that you were afraid of losing you may already have without buying them again.
Still?
When I was with Sprint about 10 years ago and traveling through Chicago on my way to MI, I zero bars on the TriState and on the 80 until about the IN state line.
Too bad there's no federal law saying they can't lock phones or that everyone has to use gsm!!
It's a shame this is a 3G iPhone 4s and not being used on their 4g clear wire network like the android 4g phones... Wonder why? And if it will change in near future?
It's a shame this is a 3G iPhone 4s and not being used on their 4g clear wire network like the android 4g phones... Wonder why? And if it will change in near future?