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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Virgin Mobile $40 Prepaid Unlimited Launches
Matthew Sauk, Photographer
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Patrick Fallon, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Columbia | MO | USA | Posted: 3:14 PM on 08.26.10 |
->> And yet Sprint still charges $60 a month.... same service essentially, since where I live there is no 4G.
Sprint's contract subscribers are getting totally hosed on this. Time to call em up. |
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Matthew Sauk, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | United States | Posted: 4:13 PM on 08.26.10 |
->> I believe Virgin Mobile is owned by Sprint which is funny.
Anyways that seems like a pretty good price for what is said to be truly unlimited use. |
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Patrick Fallon, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Columbia | MO | USA | Posted: 4:23 PM on 08.26.10 |
| ->> Exactly. |
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Greg Francis, Photographer
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Rochester | NY | USA | Posted: 9:34 PM on 08.26.10 |
| ->> StraightTalk.com $45/month unlimited voice & date. $30/month 1,000 mins/ 1,000 txts. Works well for me the first month |
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Jason Hirschfeld, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Norfolk | VA | U.S. | Posted: 10:11 PM on 08.26.10 |
->> The iPhone My-Fi app is awesome. Insane even. It's a one-time $20 app fee and that's it. The app creates its own hotspot...I use it daily without any problems whether I'm transmitting back to the photo desk or just casually surfing the web.
@Greg: How's the coverage with the StraightTalk?? |
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Jonathon Bird, Photographer
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Port Clinton | OH | United States | Posted: 10:36 PM on 08.26.10 |
| ->> I'd be interested to hear if anybody uses StraightTalk. I've been looking around my contract with Alltel is up on Sept 19 and it wont get here fast enough. I'm also kind of interested in the iphone but its a lot of money each month. I think only 2G is available where I live and 3G is available near the big towns. |
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Greg Francis, Photographer
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Rochester | NY | USA | Posted: 9:59 AM on 08.27.10 |
->> Jason, StraightTalk uses the Verizon network so coverage is great. I was out in Colorado this month at a friends 30 mins outside town up in a canyon, in previous years I wasn't able to get AT&T coverage there, but StraightTalk worked, choppy, but did work.
And I neglected to mention, no contract with StraightTalk.com and you can renew monthly coverage by buying a card with activation code @ WalMart.
The phone I got is a Samsung M450 and saved $20 by buying a refurb from the StraightTalk site, arrived in 5 or 6 days. |
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Curtis Clegg, Photographer
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Yamil Sued, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Peoria | AZ | USA | Posted: 11:45 PM on 09.03.10 |
->> Man, I'm tied up in my Verizon MiFi contract for two years :(
It happens I guess!! By the time my contract expires something better might come along.
Y |
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Michael Durisseau, Photographer, Assistant
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Santa Fe/Houston | TX | USA | Posted: 3:04 PM on 09.04.10 |
| ->> +1 on StraightTalk...my wife loves it! She's on the $40/month plan. |
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Alex Boyce, Photographer
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Florence | EU | Italy | Posted: 4:04 PM on 09.04.10 |
| ->> you guys pay so much in the states..... i pay 40 euros a month i get 800 mins out going calls including international to europe and usa etc, 400 texts, and 10 gigs a month. and the contract was only a year.....oh yes an incoming calls are free to receive....hmmm what are they doing to you there? |
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Darren Whitley, Photographer
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Northwest Missouri | MO | USA | Posted: 8:35 PM on 09.04.10 |
| ->> Matt, you are correct. Sprint bought out Virgin or whatever you want to call it. |
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Israel Shirk, Photographer, Assistant
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Boise | ID | US | Posted: 10:05 PM on 09.04.10 |
->> Alex-
We have more land area to cover :)
(In addition to them ripping us off!) |
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Juerg Schreiter, Photographer
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Fort Lauderdale | FL | USA | Posted: 1:43 AM on 09.05.10 |
->> @Alex .... who is your provider ?
J |
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Michael Myers, Photographer
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Miami | Florida | USA | Posted: 1:09 AM on 09.08.10 |
->> The whole mobile phone deal in the US really bothers me. In India, you go buy whatever phone you want, from whichever supplier you want to deal with. If you want an HTC, you can buy it from any number of phone stores and shops, or online.
Then, you can get a SIM card from any of the service providers, either pre-pay or post-pay. It's so easy.
I've gotten Nokia and Samsung phones over there, and when I come back to the US, I just put in my local AT&T SIM card (pre-pay) and I'm up and running.
I'm not really stuck on AT&T - anyone know of a good deal on a service provider for pre-pay (no contract) in the USA, and in Miami Florida if possible? |
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John Blankfort, Photographer
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Monterey | CA | USA | Posted: 6:34 PM on 11.14.10 |
->> Just a brief review on the Mifi 2200 and Virgin Mobile’s prepaid service…
If you think this is the coolest toy around, well it is…and it isn’t. I’ve been using the Virgin Mobile Mifi 2200 for about a month in California and DC as my only internet access. It sets up quickly and works as advertised, however the reliability of the network is questionable. If you’ve got 5 bars, then most likely you’ll get the advertised download speed of 600Mbps to 1.2Mbps and upload speeds of about 400 or more…however, if you drop a bar then speeds drop quickly. Speeds also seem to drop during high traffic times like afternoon commute. Use it in the middle of the night and you’ll get about 1.5 down and 500+ up.
The wifi signal is good, getting the advertised range of about 30 to 40 feet. Want more range, a wired connection or more than 5 connections? Get one of the Cradlepoint routers and you’re set. Most of the Cradlepoint routers also allow you to use the 2200 as a failover device if your cable or DSL line fails. The Virgin version of the 2200 is not supported by Cradlepoint. I bought a MBR1000, plugged it in and it works perfectly. Other Cradlepoint routers are reported to work by users.
I’ve had a few outages in the last month, one lasting about 4 hours while in downtown DC, the other was during the World Series in Central California, so I guess that is explainable. About once every three or four days I need reactivate it due to slowness or stoppage It’s a simple process, but annoying. Battery life is good at about 3 hours. If you have a problem, and call support… plan on talking to someone who only knows how to read a script, but is very pleasant and keeps thanking you for using Virgin Mobile. Most problems are solved by reactivating the router, but I have had to totally reset it a few times.
So, should you buy it? The pros are that it’s cheap, normally fast and you only need to pay the 40 bucks a month when you use it. The cons are that it’s not 100% reliable and customer service is marginal. Overall, I’m happy with it as a temporary solution to my internet needs while traveling. I’m moving out of the country in February and traveling a lot until then. I wanted a no-contract internet solution that would work wherever I was in the states. The Virgin Mobile Mifi 2200 has delivered mostly except for a few quirks. |
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Dave Breen, Photographer
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Somerset | PA | USA | Posted: 4:24 PM on 11.26.10 |
->> Equipment update: Virgin Mobile website is selling the single USB connector for $50 ($30 savings). I don't know how long the price is good.
Does anyone else have experience with their Broadband2go service? |
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David Seelig, Photographer
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Hailey | ID | USA | Posted: 11:07 PM on 11.26.10 |
| ->> It is okay but not great , pain to set up but it does work. |
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Curtis Clegg, Photographer
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Sycamore | IL | USA | Posted: 9:12 AM on 11.27.10 |
->> Dave B. I keep a Broadband2Go USB device in my laptop bag at all times, along with the PIN for a $10 top-up card. It's not super fast but it's a lifesaver for the rare occasions I have to upload on a tight deadline. There is a discussion about it here:
http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=34782
For $50 it's well-worth having for occasional use or for backup access. |
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Bryan Hulse, Photographer
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Nashville | Tn | USA | Posted: 5:19 PM on 11.28.10 |
->> I think this trend in lower priced carriers owned by the big guys is because cell users are using less and less voice, and more data. I have 4 plans on my Sprint contract. We only use about 100 minutes/month of voice. The rest is data (text and email primarily).
Sprint forces me into 1400/month of voice, although I don't use it, and can't get a cheaper plan with Sprint.
I am close to bailing on the cell plan, and I'm sure I represent a majority of users.
I see this as a way for Sprint, Verizon, etc. to retain those data heavy users without cheapening their standard prices, especially with those customers stuck in crappy contracts.
My days of spending $200+ bucks a month for multiple phones are OVER! I will either jump on board with one of these data heavy plans, or just dump the cell and use wifi, maybe via the ipod Touch. Especially since the Touch can run Skype.
In fact, I wonder if Skype would run on Virgin Mobile on the $25/month plan? That would reduce the need of using those 300 minutes a month of voice (when necessary). |
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