Stay with T-Mobile or switch to Virgin Mobile

nisryus

Senior member
Sep 11, 2007
819
172
116
Here is the story..

I have been using a cheapo Samsung t139 on T-Mobile's pay as you go plan. My work provides a LG smart phone, but due to cut back it is going to be 'trimmed' by the end of April. This would finally push me to upgrade my personal phone. Now since this will be a personal phone, wife has the say because it is related to money. Funny thing is that when I tried to upgrade my phone through the T-Mobile site, I do not have the 'upgrade your device' option like others do.. (maybe my phone is too cheap???)

T-Mobile has $50 a month plan which is nice for user such as me, who doesn't use much of the data side, except for calls and txtings. But wife wants as low as possible.. and the cheapest I can find is Virgin Mobile for $35 a month.

I have heard Virgin is on Sprint network, which I used to have years ago and totally not impressed. Has that changed and somehow their network is better now? The coverage map of Virgin for the Austin area looks to be solid.

I just want to keep the same phone number but wife wants the monthly to be as low as possible. Been looking at Boost and Metro.. but Virgin is the least - cost wise.

Any comments on Virgin Mobile?
 

Roland00Address

Platinum Member
Dec 17, 2008
2,196
260
126
It is crap most of the time for most of the time sprint is crap. Then again some places get excellent sprint speeds. (My work did get good signal, everywhere else no, but work was fine)

There is a t-mobile $30 dollar plan for 100 mins, unlimited texts, and 5gbs of high speed data after which your speed is throttled. If you need extra minutes it is 10 cents a minute (thus 50 minutes is $5 dollars), remember if you go over by a little do not worry for we are only talking a few dollars. If you are month after month needing 300 mins and not 100 or 150 then you should go with a more expensive plan.

This is assuming you get good t-mobile where you are, sometimes t-mobile is crap.

One more advantage of t-mobile is you can use any compatible gsm phone that works on t-mobile network (some at&t phones work on t-mobile). Things such as the nexus 5, the lumina 521, something you got from swappa, iphone, samsung, htc, motorola etc.
 

Lyfer

Diamond Member
May 28, 2003
5,842
2
81
Where I live Sprint or any of there MVNO's such as Virgin's, coverage is equivalent to a walkie talky.
 

paperwastage

Golden Member
May 25, 2010
1,848
2
76
question is: what do you want from your phone service? more than 100 minutes of talking/month? mostly texting? data or low data?

a <$80 Nokia 521 (or $150 Moto G or $350 nexus 5) plus the $30 100-min+unlimited text/5GB data plan from tmobile is nice. there is also a $35/month plan for unlimited min/text, no data which you can use with your existing t-mobile non-smartphone. at&t gophone has a $25/month plan for 250 minutes/unlimited txt, no data

you could also pay $100 to t-mobile, which gets you 1 year expiry, $0.10/min or text. that boils down to $8.33/month

it's a question of what you want to do with your phone
 
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senseamp

Lifer
Feb 5, 2006
35,787
6,197
126
Having had both, I am sticking with Tmobile. VMo coverage was horrendous. Sprint proper lets you roam on Verizon if you are out of range, but VMo doesn't have that crutch. I got the $30 TMo Walmart plan with 100min and unlimited data. My wife is more of a talker, so she got PagePlus $29 plan with a used Verizon iPhone4. That's the only MVNO I would consider.
 

SunnyD

Belgian Waffler
Jan 2, 2001
32,674
146
106
www.neftastic.com
Other options:
Walmart Family Mobile (T-Mobile): Talk/Text/Web* for $39.88/month
Walmart Family Mobile (T-Mobile): Talk/Text for $29.88/month
StraightTalk Wireless (AT&T/T-Mobile): Talk/Text/Web* for $45/month
H2O Wireless (AT&T): Talk/Text/Web* for $30-60/month
GoSmart Mobile (T-Mobile): Talk/Text for $25/month
GoSmart Mobile (T-Mobile): Talk/Text/Web* for $35-45/month
AirVoice Wireless (AT&T): Talk/Text/Web* for $30-60/month
PagePlus Cellular (Verizon): Talk/Text/Web* for $39.95-55/month
PagePlus Cellular (Verizon): 1200m/3000T/500MB for $29.95/month
Net10 Wireless (T-Mobile/AT&T): Talk/Text/Web* for $40-60/month

I explicitly left off Sprint MVNOs because I don't feel that any Sprint-based carrier is worth the money you'd spend on it given the alternatives available.

To be honest, other than the benefit of prepaid having most below-the-line taxes/fees/surcharges included in the cost, if you end up putting two or more lines on a T-Mobile based postpaid plan, you end up with a postpaid service which rivals or beats the cost of most prepaid services but gives you the benefits of full roaming agreements, better customer service, better overall (and especially data) coverage and you still don't end up locked into any contract. The biggest wildcard end up being the fees though.

*Web allotments generally are either with a limited capacity bucket or "unlimited" but throttled after a certain data limit is reached.
 
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nisryus

Senior member
Sep 11, 2007
819
172
116
Thanks all. I will stay with T-mobile and go with the $30 plan. The Nokia uses micro sim card (per the rep I spoke to), so my old non-smart phone regular size sim won't fit. oh well..
 

paperwastage

Golden Member
May 25, 2010
1,848
2
76
Thanks all. I will stay with T-mobile and go with the $30 plan. The Nokia uses micro sim card (per the rep I spoke to), so my old non-smart phone regular size sim won't fit. oh well..

you can cut regular sim -> micro SIM

google "micro SIM cutting template". i've done it twice before, no problems

(nano SIM has a smaller thickness than regular sim, can't really do this trick
 

Bman123

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2008
3,221
1
81
Aio is prepaid att and you get unlimited talk and text and 500mb data for $35 a month taxes included if you use auto pay
If you go to 2.5gb of data you get it for $45 a month on auto pay

I went from t mobile to aio and im way happier I actually get signal everywhere
 

grendel19

Member
May 3, 2012
134
0
76
I'm on the $30 T-Mobile and after enabling 4G on my Nexus 4, it's much better than it used to be. With HSPA+, I could never get building penetration, no signal indoors. Then followed what some xda members were doing, Skype for outbound, T-Mobile $30 for inbound. All via Google Voice so my number is always the same. Might seem like a hassle, but for $30 + $3 (Skype), it's worth it for me. I don't make phone calls that much anyway.

No experience with Virgin Mobile, but I've always had terrible speeds with Sprint. I was with Sprint for almost 8 years.
 

Dulanic

Diamond Member
Oct 27, 2000
9,951
570
136
Smart decision to stay /w TMo over Sprint. I canned Sprint last year and I can't tell you how much happier I am /w TMo. TMo's HSPA is faster than Sprint's LTE was for me. TMo's LTE just annihilates Sprint's LTE. Heck TMo's LTE is nearly as fast as my 50Mbps Comcast business internet.
 

nisryus

Senior member
Sep 11, 2007
819
172
116
Wife has approved!!!! So now I am ready to get the phone. Been looking at Moto G (Android), and Lumia 520/620. Work prefers Windows phone, so I might be getting either 520/620.. The 620 looks nice but few reviews stated the voice quality is lacking. I might just go to the local T Mobile/walmart and ask, but I am sure they will try to steering me to $$$ phones. Anyone has used both 520/620?
 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
8
0
Wife has approved!!!! So now I am ready to get the phone. Been looking at Moto G (Android), and Lumia 520/620. Work prefers Windows phone, so I might be getting either 520/620.. The 620 looks nice but few reviews stated the voice quality is lacking. I might just go to the local T Mobile/walmart and ask, but I am sure they will try to steering me to $$$ phones. Anyone has used both 520/620?

I think the Lumia 620 was only recently announced, and hasn't really shipped yet. I might be thinking of the 630 and 635 though.

But, I do have a Lumia 521, which is what you'd be getting instead of the 520 if you're going with that TMO/Walmart plan. ;) Its a great starter smartphone, though the Moto G offers better specs, the 521 is cheaper. If you can shop around, it comes on sale very often. Got mine from Target for 65 dollars.