Next-up for the iPhone...Virgin Mobile!

[JB2K]

More, here.

 

[EveDallas]

"an iPhone from Virgin will set you back $549 for the iPhone 4 and $649 for the 4S."

For that kind of money, I'll stick with my trusty Optimus V.

 

[jillyb]

Guess I better start saving my pennies now!!!

 

[lukenick1]

Yay!!!! but who can afford that???

 

[DawnM]

Could you just use your older Sprint iphone when you cancel the plan?

 

[DawnM]

What does it mean that data is "throttled" at 2.5GB?

 

[beaucoup]

I was all excited about this when I heard about it until I looked at their coverage map. No 4G in area at all. Lots of places without data coverage, and most of the voice coverage map was shaded in the fair quality color.

I don't live in a city, or near a city. Small town. That kind of coverage just won't work for me. Bummer.

 

[AnOtHeRdIsNeYfReAk]

This actually is a great deal for me. Through Verizon I paid $100 for my phone plus I have the lowest plan they offer: $40 for phone, $10 for 1000 texts and $30 for 2gb of data. So over the life of my contract I pay out $2020 (cost of phone included). Looking at the article the plan best for me with Virgin mobile would be the $30 a month with 300 minutes, unlimited texts and 2.5gb of data. Two years of that plus the cost of the iphone 4 would be $1269. I'd save $751. Hmm, my contract is up in Dec. I may just switch over.

 

[Melani]

Yu never know, they might go on sale.
I got my Motor Triumph half price during Christmas.
Saw it on their website when checking my account, sold out in days. Now that phone is close to $300.

 

[JB2K]

What does it mean that data is "throttled" at 2.5GB?

"Throttled" is an industry term, meaning the cell phone company will deliberately slow-down your download speed for what they consider "excess' data usage on an unlimted data plan.

A good example of this is if you use the cellular networtk to constantly stream Pandora, Netflix, etc.

Since AT&T and Verizon no longer sell unlimted plans to new customers, that leaves Sprint (and prepaid subsudies Virgin and Boost Mobile) as the only carrier offering "unlimted" service (but, with that comes caveats).

 

[JB2K]

Yu never know, they might go on sale.
I got my Motor Triumph half price during Christmas.
Saw it on their website when checking my account, sold out in days. Now that phone is close to $300.

Doubtful, because at the heart of it all, it's an an APPLE iPhone.

Those who know deals best, know that Apple devices never go "on sale" (putting the iPhone and other Apple products on sale would diminish the brand's "boutique" appeal).

While the price sounds discouraging, the economics of it says it's not, since that price is the NORMAL "full retail" price of an iPhone sold without a contract. The "savings" comes with VM's plans, which are far cheaper than their contract counterparts (when one pays $150 for an iPhone with a 2-year contract, the remaining $400 or so dollars is being subsidized by the wireless carriers).

 

[furb & dez]

We did the math and even with buying the iPhone at retail price, it was $1000 savings over a two-year period.

Not sure if we're going to go with it, but we'll see.

 

[Green Tea]

I was all excited about this when I heard about it until I looked at their coverage map. No 4G in area at all. Lots of places without data coverage, and most of the voice coverage map was shaded in the fair quality color.

I don't live in a city, or near a city. Small town. That kind of coverage just won't work for me. Bummer.

No iPhone operates on 4G anyway. Likely the next edition will, but for now 4g coverage is irrelivant.

 

[DawnM]

That is what I am thinking too. It will still be a savings.

My dad is on my plan and costing about $20/mo. He never uses his phone! He uses no data, no texting, and about 20-30 minutes per month. I am going to at least drop him and get him a trac phone or something.

I have an iphone but my kids don't need an iphone. They could use one of the other data phones.

$45 with a $5 discount for paying with debit or paypal.....$80 plus tax per month and $10 max for my dad's phone.....$100 or so total with tax over our current $160 including tax.

That is a savings of $720 per year.....which would cover one iphone.

Now, if I could use my current Sprint iphone when the plan runs out, even better! I think I am on another 18 months of service though.

Dh's phone is through work.

Dawn

We did the math and even with buying the iPhone at retail price, it was $1000 savings over a two-year period.

Not sure if we're going to go with it, but we'll see.

 

[tennisfan]

I wish that Virgin mobile would get the I Phone for the UK network, they have no plans too which is annoying as many other countries have it.

 

[beaucoup]

I purchased my AT&T iPhone 4 outright. NEVER a good idea to lease your phone or roll it into the contract. You pay WAY too much that way, but many Americans like to do that for some reason. Like to waste money.

 

[beaucoup]

Yu never know, they might go on sale.
I got my Motor Triumph half price during Christmas.
Saw it on their website when checking my account, sold out in days. Now that phone is close to $300.

Apple products do NOT go on sale. Apple controls the price. At best, a retailer can throw in accessories to bundle it to be more attractive than another retailer, but they cannot change the price or put it on sale.

 

[DawnM]

Not sure what you mean by Americans like to waste money....for one thing that is insulting, for another I am not sure what you are talking about.

If I want to stay with Sprint and get an iPhone, I can either get it at a discount and extend my contract or I can buy it outright but still keep my same plan for the same monthly fee.

So, which would be more prudent? Pay $200 for the phone and $90/mo for the plan or pay $550 for the phone and $90/mo for the plan? There is no rolling the rest of the money into a contract.

I purchased my AT&T iPhone 4 outright. NEVER a good idea to lease your phone or roll it into the contract. You pay WAY too much that way, but many Americans like to do that for some reason. Like to waste money.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

I want to unlock my IPhone 3GS and put a VM sim card in it. Wonder if that would work?

 

[DawnM]

What phone service was the phone with? Sprint doesn't use sim cards nor has it ever sold the 3GS phone. They only offer the 4 and the 4s.

Dawn

I want to unlock my IPhone 3GS and put a VM sim card in it. Wonder if that would work?