Current Virgin Mobile Customers...a few questions

[dfchelbay]

We are considering switching to a vigin mobile plan and I have a few questions that their customer service could not answer for me today, so I am going to the good folks here on the board. For the $25.00 a month plan, you get 300 minutes and unlimited text and data. If you have this plan, how much more per month do you pay with all the add on taxes and fees. I know it doesn't just cost $25.00. Can anyone tell me what the grand total is that they pay for this plan. Also, if you have the $40/1200 minutes, what's your grand total with fees and taxes for that plan. I'm trying to compare what we pay now with ATT with what we would pay with Virgin Mobile, if we switch. I know with ATT I pay $17.88 in "other charges", and $1.26 Government fees and taxes. So, it actually costs about $20.00 more than the "listed plan price" I signed up for, with all the fees added on.

So, what little hidden extras can I expect to pay with Virgin Mobile. Also, if you go over your allowed minutes, what happens? Are you cut off from talking, or do you get a huge bill for all the minutes you used over and above the plan you are on. We currently have rollover minutes, so we don't have to pay a per minute fee for overages. We have a DS in college and going over minutes on a plan is a concern for us if there is no rollover type thing at Virgin Mobile.

Thanks all.

 

[mommy2princesses0309]

I've been with Virgin Mobile for a month now. My $25 a month plan is $26.50 a month with taxes and fees. That's it. I have 300 minutes but have only used half of them with 3 days left on my "month". If you go over your minutes they send you a message when you are close to being out of minutes and you need to add money to your account. They also have a $40 a month plan that's 1500 minutes with unlimited talk, text, web.


ETA: I switched from AT&T after being with them for 6 years, they got too expenseive with all of their fees and required data plans and so on. At the end I was paying almost $100 for my iphone and even when i switched to a plain jane phone with no web access and limited texting on their "cheapest" plan, I was still paying $75 a month. It was cheaper to pay the early cancellation fee and go somewhere else!

 

[carebee21]

My total is $27.03/month with all of the taxes and fees.

You have two options as far as paying "overage" fees. You can save your debit/credit card information and have it automatically "top-up" your accont when you go over your limits, or you can set it up so that you get a text message and have to manually pay it over your phone or internet. Since it's a pre-paid plan, they don't send you a bill. If you go over your minutes and don't top up you won't be able to make or receive calls.

The plan is a very good plan if you primarily want to text and use the internet from your phone.

 

[dfchelbay]

My total is $27.03/month with all of the taxes and fees.

You have two options as far as paying "overage" fees. You can save your debit/credit card information and have it automatically "top-up" your accont when you go over your limits, or you can set it up so that you get a text message and have to manually pay it over your phone or internet. Since it's a pre-paid plan, they don't send you a bill. If you go over your minutes and don't top up you won't be able to make or receive calls.

The plan is a very good plan if you primarily want to text and use the internet from your phone.

So, if DS uses up all his minutes before the month is over, will his text and internet still work on his phone? I'd like for him to learn to scale back instead of us paying more because he used all his minutes the first two weeks of the month. Do you know if text and internet would still work when all minutes are gone. TIA

 

[carebee21]

I have mine set up to automatically top up just in case so I've never been in that position, but since you pay for an unlimited amount of texts and internet for the month, I can't see how they could not let you use those services, even if you're out of minutes.

 

[gregokdisney]

I have the $25 per month plan with unlimited text and web and 300 minutes. I've never come close to going over the 300 minutes. I top up myself every month and don't have a credit card on file. Even if you run out of minutes, text and web should work as log as you're within the month. My bill is $26.50 with taxes and that's it but if you have a cc on file your son could download ringtones and other apps that cost, so be careful of that.

 

[torinsmom]

I chose not to put a credit card on file, because I don't want to be surprised by charges. I use the top up cards you can buy at Walmart or other stores. I would get your son whatever plan you want. If he runs out of minutes, he could add some money to his account or just use text or email after that.

 

[dodukes]

I had virgin once but switched it to tmobile home port. Anyway as far as this deal is concerned, can you use a smart phone with it? like if i switched over now and put the new sim on my current phone, does anyone know if thats possible?

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

I had virgin once but switched it to tmobile home port. Anyway as far as this deal is concerned, can you use a smart phone with it? like if i switched over now and put the new sim on my current phone, does anyone know if thats possible?

Virgin Mobile is CDMA so no sim cards. You would need a new phone.
OP I pay 26.50.

 

[Conway733]

How is the service with Virgin Mobile? I currently use tracfone but was considering switching to VM because of the text and data.

 

[JB2K]

We are considering switching to a vigin mobile plan and I have a few questions that their customer service could not answer for me today...

That's because certain companies like Virgin Mobile tend to outsource their customer service...

For the $25.00 a month plan, you get 300 minutes and unlimited text and data. If you have this plan, how much more per month do you pay with all the add on taxes and fees. I know it doesn't just cost $25.00. Can anyone tell me what the grand total is that they pay for this plan. Also, if you have the $40/1200 minutes, what's your grand total with fees and taxes for that plan

It may help if you provide your zip code for the reason that no two taxes are going to be the same. In other words, a place like Kansas is going to be very different from New Jersey.

If you're uncomfortable with providing your location, dig out an AT&T bill, determine the percentage of the taxes they are charging you and apply taxes at that same percentage to your proposed VM plan.

I'm trying to compare what we pay now with ATT with what we would pay with Virgin Mobile, if we switch. I know with ATT I pay $17.88 in "other charges", and $1.26 Government fees and taxes. So, it actually costs about $20.00 more than the "listed plan price" I signed up for, with all the fees added on.

It is worth mentioning if your plan is "pay-as-you-go", all those taxes are built into the per-minute rate (I would imagine if you are making some sort of monthly payment, your taxes would be billed seperately).

Also, if you go over your allowed minutes, what happens? Are you cut off from talking, or do you get a huge bill for all the minutes you used over and above the plan you are on.

I'll leave this to the VM experts, but I would imagine your service would be suspended to the point where you couldn't make/receive any calls.

In closing, remember that Virgin Mobile uses the Sprint Nationwide Network -- if you know of any reception problems with Sprint at the places you frequent most, you will most likely experience them with VM, too.

 

[dfchelbay]

That's because certain companies like Virgin Mobile tend to outsource their customer service...

It may help if you provide your zip code for the reason that no two taxes are going to be the same. In other words, a place like Kansas is going to be very different from New Jersey.

If you're uncomfortable with providing your location, dig out an AT&T bill, determine the percentage of the taxes they are charging you and apply taxes at that same percentage to your proposed VM plan.

It is worth mentioning if your plan is "pay-as-you-go", all those taxes are built into the per-minute rate (I would imagine if you are making some sort of monthly payment, your taxes would be billed seperately).

I'll leave this to the VM experts, but I would imagine your service would be suspended to the point where you couldn't make/receive any calls.

In closing, remember that Virgin Mobile uses the Sprint Nationwide Network -- if you know of any reception problems with Sprint at the places you frequent most, you will most likely experience them with VM, too.

We are not on a pay as you go plan, we are on a Family Talk Plan with three phones. Since we are with ATT, I have no knowledge of any reception problems with Sprint. We live in a metropolitan area, I don't think that would be an issue.

An earlier response indicated that Virgin Mobile phones are CDMA...which may pose a concern. I thought those phones could not do international travel, but I'll have to check into that now...maybe they do now. DS has international travel for school, and we had to get a new phone nearly two years ago because his old phone didn't work in other countries.

 

[JB2K]

An earlier response indicated that Virgin Mobile phones are CDMA...which may pose a concern. I thought those phones could not do international travel, but I'll have to check into that now...

CDMA handsets can do some international travel -- Canada and South Korea immediately come to mind. Otherwise, the list of countries is very small.

 

[dfchelbay]

CDMA handsets can do some international travel -- Canada and South Korea immediately come to mind. Otherwise, the list of countries is very small.

That's what I heard too. DS goes to Europe and Africa, and as of November 2009, CDMA was not working there...doesn't sound like they do now either.

 

[JB2K]

That's what I heard too. DS goes to Europe and Africa, and as of November 2009, CDMA was not working there...doesn't sound like they do now either.

No, they do not - those are GSM (SIM Card) countries.

 

[marsh0013]

posted on another cell phone thread, but then saw this one. thinking of switching from verizon to virgin mobile to save money. for those of you that switched, did you get to keep your phone number? i read somewhere that it was a hassle/person had to wait a while without a phone to keep the number. thanks.

 

[torinsmom]

posted on another cell phone thread, but then saw this one. thinking of switching from verizon to virgin mobile to save money. for those of you that switched, did you get to keep your phone number? i read somewhere that it was a hassle/person had to wait a while without a phone to keep the number. thanks.

I think I answered you on the other thread, but I did not have a problem. Call and have your VM service set up first, DO NOT cancel your other service until it is set up. I had maybe 10 minutes between my AT&T phone working and my VM phone working. May be different with different carriers. I did mine on a weekend and thought I would have to wait longer, but it was quick and easy.

 

[dfchelbay]

OP here - I went to the store to look at the different Virgin Mobile phones, and they look pretty good, slide out keyboards, lots of options, etc. The sales person, who can ring up a sale, but knows nothing about the plans for the phones, said to me that I need to look into corporate email and whether it would be an additional charge. So, I am here to ask you, those that use Virgin Mobile phones with the data plan whether there is an extra fee for that. The clerk said you can check google, yahoo, aol, gmail email acccount for free, but if its a work (corporate) email , you may get charged extra.

So, does anyone check their work email and has it been free for you? Like, if you worked for costco, Sears, Disney, etc. and have an email like Johnsmith@coscto.com, were you charged any fees for that corporate email account? I look at all the fine print like the salesman said to do, but see no mention of it.

Thanks all.

 

[torinsmom]

I have no idea about corporate email. I would think unlimited data would mean you could surf the web to any site you want.

I am not sure why people don't call VM and get it straight from the horses mouth? If you just say something unintelligible every time they ask what you want or choose start service, you will get a live person pretty quickly. I would want an answer from someone who knows FOR SURE what the deal is. A lot of people think of VM as still just pay as you go. These new plans are different.

 

[dfchelbay]

I have no idea about corporate email. I would think unlimited data would mean you could surf the web to any site you want.

I am not sure why people don't call VM and get it straight from the horses mouth? If you just say something unintelligible every time they ask what you want or choose start service, you will get a live person pretty quickly. I would want an answer from someone who knows FOR SURE what the deal is. A lot of people think of VM as still just pay as you go. These new plans are different.

I have called VM several times, and they are little to know help. I am speaking to someone who I do not believe is in this country, has a very thick accent, and really does not understand what I am asking them most of the time (product wise), and is no help if I have a follow up question. Like I said in my previous post, I don't think they really know much outside of the script they have learned, as far as knowledge of the product. That's why I came here to post, because I'm not getting much help from Virgin Mobile directly. I fully comprehend that the monthly plan I am interested in is not a pay as you go plan. Also, it really is better to hear recommendations and/or horror stories from those that already have the product. I'd like to know if it's a good product, are they satisfied with it and are they getting a good value...that's all.