$? Opti S v Opti V

[jefboyardee]

Far as I can tell, two years of my Optimus S, which I got for ?free,? will cost about 2K. Two years with Optimus V (same phone?) through Virgin Mobile, even though they charge 150 bucks for it, will cost half that much. The key to that is Sprint?s 75-ish monthly charge versus Virgin?s mere 35.

Is there something awful about Virgin that should scare me from switching suppliers?

Tangentially related: if I do switch, do I get to keep my number?

Hell, if I do this, I might as well upgrade to a real phone, with a larger screen and 4G transmission, and still break even...

 

[blackops1125]

Coverage & speed is not as good on Virgin mobile, plus you will lose some features.

sent from my CM7 gingerbread Optimus S

Always happy to help, hit that thanks button if I did!

 

[jimt1029]

No roaming w/Virgin. If you are in an area with weak or zero Sprint Coverage (since it uses Sprint's network), you won't roam on Verizon (like you would w/Sprint Contract). Not a big deal if you stay in coverage area most of the time. You can compare the Virgin coverage map with Sprint's to get a sense of whether this will be a problem. Virgin Mobile Cell Phone Coverage Map & Sprint - Nationwide Coverage Map

 

[Kamron]

I could be wrong, but I don't think Virgin has free mobile to mobile like I have on Sprint. Without free Mobile to Mobile, I'd likely need the $55 plan, not the $35 plan. I would guess that's the same for alot of people. It brings the comparison a little bit closer. Also, I've been with Sprint for over 10 years; so, I get the premier gold reward of 1 year upgrades. I get to see what's free and better than and Optimus S between Christmas and New Years. I'm sure they'll have some deal...

(This is an interesting topic, thanks for posting) I didn't realize that Virgin plans were that inexpensive.

 

[jefboyardee]

According to their site, the stores that sell Virgins are in the malls, and, of all places, the local Sprint stores. They don’t have nuthin 4G, the upgrade phone is the Triumph, which is about 300 -- that would eat into the relative savings but still works. With 1200-minute plan, 50 * 24 plus 300 for the phone makes 1500, still 500 saved... I may have to visit my Sprint guy.

 

[jefboyardee]

It lists Best Buy, Walgreens, Wal-Mart, Target, Office Max, Kmart, 2 Sprints, and RadioShack. An odd collection to be sure, but they at least say it’s at Sprint -- I’ll find out if they mean it in a couple.

My latest trepidation is what it costs to turn in my “free” Optimus S. Sprint expects me to pay another eighteen months service -- if they charge me real money, this great deal becomes pointless.

 

[anon(182107)]

Simple answer: VM sucks, you get what you pay for.

As a VM customer I don't have basic calling features like 3-way calling, conditional call forwarding, and I'm not sure if I have call waiting or not (I don't remember it actually working ever.) I'm lucky I have Caller ID included!

One really awesome feature that all the VM customers do have is/are weekly outages! There's no outage refunds because they occur so often. VM support has minimal acknowledgment of the issues.

So if your okay with losing your 3G just about every other Friday it might be a better idea to go with VM. In my opinion (and many other people's) Virgin Mobile doesn't have the service reliability of Sprint, and that's an understatement.

And I almost forgot, ever since EVERYONE bought the Optimus V the data speeds are only ~200kbps-~400kbps or worse. I used to be able to reach 1+ Mbps on my intercept.

Sent from my Optimus V using Tapatalk

 

[jefboyardee]

That’s a scathing review to add to the other negatives on this thread. This money-saving idea might be too good to be true, like all the others. Thanks all.

 

[memsman]

I think Sprint will apply an increase on the administration fee on september. If you want out without the etf, you can use that. (Check slickdeals for details or Google it)

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