Virgin Mobile tethering policy

[tony5593]

I have the grandfathered $40. ( Which I'm switching soon for a contract... So long VM!)
I've been having network problems since Aug. and its unbearable. Anyway about a month ago, VM texted me and gave me a phone number to call in case I was still having problems. When I called it was a VM Tech/Call Center here in the US! It was GREAT, none of them were ed, they didn't have accents and there was no wait... Once i called and put in my options the phone rung once and was answered quick. After resetting my Data, and a bunch of other troubleshooting steps the Rep told me that i must have passed my cap. So I started asking questions about the grandfathered plans and the new ones, and about the cap, and she said that ALL plans, grandfathered and new, have a 2GB data cap, and once we exceed that limit, our speeds are throttled. She said that cap was put recently and wasnt announced. She said that's probably why I was having network problems, but I told her that my cycle had started less than a week before. So then she said that then my problem is that the network is congested in my area and they cant do anything.... Sucks.

But yeah, that's what a US Rep told me, that there's a cap. I wouldn't doubt it.

And those of you saying that if you were doing something wrong, VM would Email or contact you, You're Wrong. VM never issues out warnings, and never contacts you, unless youre running out of minutes or your balance is low.

 

[buzz86us]

Wow I can barely justify unlimited at $35 now it has a cap? Republic Wireless here I come.

 

[tony5593]

I think i might go for Tmo's $30 Monthly4G plan.

Sent from my VM670 using Tapatalk

 

[GetDustin]

Throttling or not, if my plan stays $25, I'm staying VM. But then again, I only thing tether my cm7 nook on the go.

 

[Eollie]

If you are smart about the tethering there should not be a problem. When this phone first came out there was a HUGE user base that was rooting and using tether apps to do everything from browser to play COD. Once the heavy users started getting canceled and VM said we are limiting the data soon they left.

Most carriers wont say much unless you are using your phone as your primary source of inner webs.

 

[itsrayray]

Throttling or not, if my plan stays $25, I'm staying VM. But then again, I only thing tether my cm7 nook on the go.

roof i been with VM for maaaaany years. First i had the $20 unlimited text plan, then they started the phones with only beyond talk plans so i switched to the 25$ plan. And have been using it since. Like u said, as long as it stays 25 I'm staying. I got my wife to switxh when we got married 3yr ago from Verizon and she has never looked back.

Sent from your mom's phone.

 

[anthonycr]

What does virgin care if you use 2GB of data tethering or 2GB of data just on the phone... it seems like 2GB is the same regardless of where the data's headed. I'm confused, why is it bad to tether if we stay under the cap, or is it?

 

[Eollie]

What does virgin care if you use 2GB of data tethering or 2GB of data just on the phone... it seems like 2GB is the same regardless of where the data's headed. I'm confused, why is it bad to tether if we stay under the cap, or is it?

If Virgin didnt state it was against their TOS, you would have thousands of people buying android phones for the sole purpose of tethering. While that sounds good and all, for the prepaid branch of Sprint its bad. Not all people will be using the phones internet for its limited capabilities. Without tethering you cant connect a zbox,ps3,or any other console or pc. That means the only games played are designed for the mobile phone network.

In my neighborhood I live half way between two cable stub-ups and about 10 houses from the main distro box. All of my neighbors have internet and in the evening during primetime useage I notice latency issues with various games and streaming via netflix, hulu, and other services. This is on a 20mb connection. Imagine what it would be like on the spotty 3g of VM if everybody was using the phone to stream netflixs or hulu.

If you are looking for cheap internet, stop trying to tether your phone. Instead contact your local representatives and congresspersons. Tell them you are tired of having to pay outrageous prices for internet and would like them to start looking at how we can get internet like other countries like the UK has. We need to stop the monopolies of the cable providers and start getting more choices.

 

[bdfull3r]

What does virgin care if you use 2GB of data tethering or 2GB of data just on the phone... it seems like 2GB is the same regardless of where the data's headed. I'm confused, why is it bad to tether if we stay under the cap, or is it?

i could be wrong but from what i was told tethering uses a lot of data actively and is more stressful on the network then normal data.

that being said i tethered before the VM data network nose dived. With the $25 unlimited data plan i probably tethered 3-4GB of data. No ominous message or threats from VM, i doubt they noticed or cared really.

 

[Eollie]

i could be wrong but from what i was told tethering uses a lot of data actively and is more stressful on the network then normal data.

It is not tethering that uses the data as much as why the people are tethering. If you tether and only browse using a computer to check email, facebook, and basic surfing it uses the same amount of data. Its when people use tethering to play MMO games and such.

that being said i tethered before the VM data network nose dived. With the $25 unlimited data plan i probably tethered 3-4GB of data. No ominous message or threats from VM, i doubt they noticed or cared really.

The soft cap on data is 5gb. Our soft cap on unlimited data is the same as Sprints (we are really just prepaid Sprint). So you wouldnt have been notified. And if you only did it a couple times they would have not really cared, it was the people hitting 5+ each month that they contacted.

 

[anthonycr]

Yeah, Eollie, I agree they should make internet available everywhere, I can't get it at my house because its too much trouble for the companies to connect me... or they just don't care. That's why I tether, I've never gone over 2.5 GB though, I just browse the internet a little, back a few months ago, I kept track of all my data use to make sure I wasn't using alot and I didn't use that much. As for network stress bdfull3r, that doesn't make sense because all the data gets shunted through our phones anyway. So for now, I'll just tether and try NOT to exceed the cap... which I'm sure I won't

 

[daddy4life09]

the cap is bs,I have had vm for over a year and tether all day everyday,I download movies,wii games all kinds of stuff,I have hit 3mbs down using virgin,I have found that phone positioning is key to good speeds,my speed has dropped all the way down to 10kbs because of phone position,If I sit my phone upright and kind of angle it towards the nearest tower my range jumps to 1.5 to 3mbs using ov....also speeds are alot better at night

 

[anthonycr]

Dude really... that's why they decided to boost prices, because people like you are devouring the bandwidth

 

[deety]

If you are looking for cheap internet, stop trying to tether your phone. Instead contact your local representatives and congresspersons. Tell them you are tired of having to pay outrageous prices for internet and would like them to start looking at how we can get internet like other countries like the UK has. We need to stop the monopolies of the cable providers and start getting more choices.

This

 

[asadullah]

Everyone views this subject differently but what if your internet provider said unlimited data but if you go over 2gb your gonna get throttled? You would find a different provider quickly wouldn't you? It's not different from that.

They didn't raise the prices cuz of people tethering it's because they want more money and know they can get it. they did manage to turn people against each other and get us to talk trash to each other.

 

[daddy4life09]

when has a company not raised prices?

 

[anthonycr]

Sprints biggest draw (and consequently VM's) was their unlimited data, when they say unlimited, get you to buy a plan, and then throttle you for going over 2GB, that's just straight up lies and hypocrisy. At the moment, their cap doesn't bother me because I don't go over, but if I ever go over and they throttle me, I'll be unhappy because their 3g speeds are already horrendous. Communications needs an overhaul: they need to focus again on providing service than selling phones.

 

[LeslieAnn]

when has a company not raised prices?

For the first 7 years I was on VM my bill really only ever went down.

 

[Eollie]

When you show me Virgin Internet service we can compare that to home internet.

What you pay for is mobile access to the internet via Virgin/Sprints mobile broadband.

I have unlimited internet here at home however if I start using more than a certain amount they contact me and ask if something is out of the ordinary. If I was getting letters stating I was using too much internet then yes I would be shopping around.

My stance on tethering goes for every single carrier. Not just Virgin. But as it is we have a awesome plan for a very low price. I dont want to jeopardize that, and if I can keep others from possibly jeopardizing my plan getting a price increase or even worse limited then I will. People that come to forums to brag about how much data they used are trolling. They are hoping to get a response out of people and by golly Im normally the first one to respond. Not one time have I responded to those trollbaits and not had people to agree with me.

Anthony Virgin said a while back they werent going to implement the 2gb cap right now. This was partially in response to several thousand people mocking Sprints ad campaign regarding truly unlimited mobile data. I agree the 3g speeds are just plain horrible.

 

[LeslieAnn]

In many places a 5gig cap is useless as it will take almost all month of solid downloading to hit it based on some of the speeds.

The other night took me 30 minutes to get 5 megs. Another took 3 hours for 20 megs.