Which Virgin Mobile phone?

I am planning to switch from Sprint PCS to Virgin Mobile service, as VM
will be cheaper for us. I'll make the switch as soon as I figure out
which phone to get.

I am trying to get some idea which phone is likely to provide better
service. Coverage in our area is spotty, so how the phone handles weak
signal strength is important to me. I also wonder about voice quality.

I am primarily considering phones with a cover over the keypad so I can
stick the phone in my pocket. The phones that seem to match this need
are:

Audiovox Vox "8610"
Kyocera Slider V5

The Audiovox Flasher V7 seems ridiculously expensive to me unless it is
superior to one of the others for my needs (I don't need a camera
phone).

If one of the other VM phones would be better (aside from lack of a
cover), I'd like to know that too.

Do these phones come with a charger? The web site doesn't say.

By any chance, do the Audiovox phones use a "standard" round power
connector so that one of my existing car battery connectors is likely
to work with it?

Thanks for any suggestions! I appreciate hearing any advice!

Guy

---

› See More: Which Virgin Mobile phone?

I've had Nextel and the mainstream phone of the season (i1000plus, i90, and
now i730) for the past 5 years provided by my employer. I'm going to a new
job which does not have a phone benefit and I had a free after rebate,
kyocera k9 sitting in the closet from xmas deal. So about five days ago, I
took it out of the clamshell packaging (I hate this deadly packaging! I can
imagine going after it with a knife and severing an artery, I use tin snips
for these damn packings) charged it up and have been playing with it and
taking it around to asses reception in my relevant areas. You don't need to
activate it to see signal strength to towers. So far I'm impressed with it,
it's light but not too cheap feeling and has all features I need. I might
miss the speakerphone but I will jump to SprintPCS if I see I use too many
minutes and get a phone with one.

As far as voice reception preformance, I can give you a data point. My
townhouse has a mostly underground basement. My Nextel have always had
little to no reception in the basement, ie. 'No Service'. When it did have
a signal and caught an incoming call, it would usually be untalkable and my
routine was sprinting up to the top level. So today, I just activated the
Kyocera K9 today and tried calls under the same conditions. The Kyocera
maintains 0 to 1 bar in the basement bu I have never seen it be in an "no
service' condition. The phone call in the basement was usable but still
broken, sounded like the Nextel call on the top level. When I went to the
top level, it sounded great! Almost perfect, significantly better than the
Nextel, this was between 1 - 2 bars. I am satisfied for now, so I guess I'm
saying you'll probably be just fine with the K9 which is pretty cheap right
now. I sort of like having this anti-phone, when the time comes and I whip
it out amidst Razrs and treos, I know the phone dudes will confuse and I'll
be with my well performing, somewhat disposable phone, and the chicks will
think you're on to something, heh.

Bottom line is it depends on the warm fuzzy blanket any given provider
covers your relevant localities in. But I feel the K9 (k433l) is pretty
good at working with a non-optimal signal and other opinions on the 'Net
echo this as well.

"Guy Scharf" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I am planning to switch from Sprint PCS to Virgin Mobile service, as VM
> will be cheaper for us. I'll make the switch as soon as I figure out
> which phone to get.
>
> I am trying to get some idea which phone is likely to provide better
> service. Coverage in our area is spotty, so how the phone handles weak
> signal strength is important to me. I also wonder about voice quality.
>
> I am primarily considering phones with a cover over the keypad so I can
> stick the phone in my pocket. The phones that seem to match this need
> are:
>
> Audiovox Vox "8610"
> Kyocera Slider V5
>
> The Audiovox Flasher V7 seems ridiculously expensive to me unless it is
> superior to one of the others for my needs (I don't need a camera
> phone).
>
> If one of the other VM phones would be better (aside from lack of a
> cover), I'd like to know that too.
>
> Do these phones come with a charger? The web site doesn't say.
>
> By any chance, do the Audiovox phones use a "standard" round power
> connector so that one of my existing car battery connectors is likely
> to work with it?
>
> Thanks for any suggestions! I appreciate hearing any advice!
>
> Guy

">
> Do these phones come with a charger? The web site doesn't say.
>
> By any chance, do the Audiovox phones use a "standard" round power
> connector so that one of my existing car battery connectors is likely
> to work with it?

The standard deal is that it comes with a wall wart charger. You might be
able to use a plug from those kits, the brick is 5.2 V at 400mA and though
small, the plug is round and kinda familiar. Oh and this only applies to
the K9 phone! Don't know about the others.

Both of my parents have the Audiovox Vox 8610 and they're very happy with
them. For the car they use the GO charger from Radio Shack and it works
great from what my dad tells me. Reception isn't a problem on my end when I
talk with them on my Samsung i500. I hear them fine and the same the other
way around. We live in Queens NY. My dad even got the belt clip although he
complained it was $15 for a little piece of plastic. My mom used to have one
of the older Kyocera's and she never liked it. She couldn't hear the phone
ring most times so who ever called her would get into her voice mail. They
do come with a wall charger but I'm not sure of the size of the part that
goes into the phone. The GO charger was only like $30 with the adapter.

"Guy Scharf" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I am planning to switch from Sprint PCS to Virgin Mobile service, as VM
> will be cheaper for us. I'll make the switch as soon as I figure out
> which phone to get.
>
> I am trying to get some idea which phone is likely to provide better
> service. Coverage in our area is spotty, so how the phone handles weak
> signal strength is important to me. I also wonder about voice quality.
>
> I am primarily considering phones with a cover over the keypad so I can
> stick the phone in my pocket. The phones that seem to match this need
> are:
>
> Audiovox Vox "8610"
> Kyocera Slider V5
>
> The Audiovox Flasher V7 seems ridiculously expensive to me unless it is
> superior to one of the others for my needs (I don't need a camera
> phone).
>
> If one of the other VM phones would be better (aside from lack of a
> cover), I'd like to know that too.
>
> Do these phones come with a charger? The web site doesn't say.
>
> By any chance, do the Audiovox phones use a "standard" round power
> connector so that one of my existing car battery connectors is likely
> to work with it?
>
> Thanks for any suggestions! I appreciate hearing any advice!
>
> Guy

"Scooterflex" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:1121405434.0d7e27acdc4650acefae48a23a9240da@teranews...
> My mom used to have one
> of the older Kyocera's and she never liked it. She couldn't hear the phone
> ring most times so who ever called her would get into her voice mail.

The K9 doesn't have this problem, even the lowest setting is too loud for my
taste and the loudest is quite loud!