anyone actually have virgin mobile

[OBLAMA2009]

i went to radio shack today because i was thinking about getting an lg optimus as a third phone but i was wondering if the 3g speed is significantly slower than att or verizon. the radio shack people said that they get lots of returns on their 3g usb modems because they are so slow and have poor building penetration. so im wondering how virgin mobile 3g data is in practice

 

[boomhower]

I thought they used Sprint towers? If the Sprint service is good that should be too.

 

[gsaldivar]

Try it out? Radio Shack and Best Buy both have a 30-day return policy, all you risk is $25 for a month of service.

After reading a good review here on AT I went ahead and bought two Samsung Intercepts for family members and they love them - Youtube, Shoutcast, Pandora works fine with the occasional hiccup, and the phones automatically connect to WiFi when they are at home. The Intercept is slow, but they like the qwerty keyboard so much they don't want to upgrade to the faster Optimus.

 

[foghorn67]

Yeah. My elderly grandmother bought her first phone through them. She loves it. Great reception in her area.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

Try it out? Radio Shack and Best Buy both have a 30-day return policy, all you risk is $25 for a month of service.

After reading a good review here on AT I went ahead and bought two Samsung Intercepts for family members and they love them - Youtube, Shoutcast, Pandora works fine with the occasional hiccup, and the phones automatically connect to WiFi when they are at home. The Intercept is slow, but they like the qwerty keyboard so much they don't want to upgrade to the faster Optimus.

the people at best buy said the intercept gets returned alot because it freezes and it just got named one of the worst cell phones: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/...n_818389.html#s235595&title=Samsung_intercept

but youre saying it was pretty good? is the 3g much slower than a contract service

also someone here said the optimus was 600 mhz and the intercept was 800 mhz. would that make the intercept faster or do they use different chips?

 

[OBLAMA2009]

I thought they used Sprint towers? If the Sprint service is good that should be too.

im thinking its possible that they dont let virgin data move at the same speed though

 

[gsaldivar]

im thinking its possible that they dont let virgin data move at the same speed though

Sprint customers get priority access but it varies by location and the exact details of how and when that takes effect is not public information.

This is the same with any prepaid carrier. The goal of a network owner allowing another company to sell cheaper access to its network is to utilize the excess capacity of the network (by selling it under a different name) and maximizing its ROI.

 

[soulcougher73]

I was at radio shack on thursday but they didnt have the LG phone in yet. But the guy there said they charge an extra $10 on top of the $25/month plan for Android phones. I thought that was on for black berry phones. Im seriously thinking of trying the LG out when i can but not sure at $35/month. $25 sounds a lot better. Anyone know if that is true about the $10 for Android on top of the $25/month plan?

 

[Pliablemoose]

It's only $25, he's confusing Sprint's data upcharge with Virgin's plan. The upcharge on VM is for BB's only.

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phone-plans/beyond-talk-plans.jsp

BTW, refill cards here for 3% off with coupon code ca3p-1207

http://www.callingmart.com/default.aspx

 

[s44]

also someone here said the optimus was 600 mhz and the intercept was 800 mhz. would that make the intercept faster or do they use different chips?

The Intercept has a slower modem (EVDO 0 vs EVDO A). The rest of it you can of course improve by rooting & flashing.