Looking for Prepaid Cell Phone Advice

Hi, all!

I hardly ever use my Verizon cell phone, for which I have to pay $15 a
month to keep the account active.

I'm thinking of getting one of those Virgin Mobile Shorty phones, for
which I would only have to pay $20 every three months to keep active.

My question to you, O experienced cell phone peoples, is: Is Virgin
Mobile a good company to go with, or would this be a horrible mistake on
my part?

Thanks!

Sue

That is true of all cell phone providers. You need to find out what cell
phone service works the best in your area and then find out if they offer
pay-per-go.

"Joseph" <JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:07voj1d1d82e6gdbvagbo9e0p7hj1lq66c@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 29 Sep 2005 22:22:11 GMT, Sue <sueb1863@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>>My question to you, O experienced cell phone peoples, is: Is Virgin
>>Mobile a good company to go with, or would this be a horrible mistake on
>>my part?
>
> If you know anyone who uses Sprint they'll have the same kind of
> service as you would get with Virgin. For some it works great and
> likewise for others it doesn't.
>
> - -
>

Sue wrote:

> My question to you, O experienced cell phone peoples, is: Is Virgin
> Mobile a good company to go with, or would this be a horrible mistake on
> my part?

Depends. Where do you live? In some areas Sprint has good coverage and,
therefore, so will Virgin. In some areas Sprint sucks and, therefore... you
get the idea. :>


--
Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
Company website: http://JustThe.net/
Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/
E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307

Thanks for the advice!! I'll check cellguru out! I live in the
Detroit area, it looked like we had pretty good coverage but sometimes
the maps are a bit dodgy.

Sue

Yea Virgin is a good company but you should only get them if you need a phone for just calls(not AIM or internet) not that you can do those things with the shorty but.... To answer your question VM is a good choice.

> Yea Virgin is a good company but you should only get them if you need a
> phone for just calls(not AIM or internet) not that you can do those
> things with the shorty but.... To answer your question VM is a good
> choice.
>
>
I don't use my cell phone for anything but phone calls. Guess I'm a
throwback!

Thanks for the feedback!

Virgin Mobile uses the Sprint PCS network so I wouldn't hesitate to
recommend it IF -

The plans that they have suite your needs.

"Sue" <sueb1863@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:433BC01A.6090006@earthlink.net...
> Hi, all!
>
> I hardly ever use my Verizon cell phone, for which I have to pay $15 a
> month to keep the account active.
>
> I'm thinking of getting one of those Virgin Mobile Shorty phones, for
> which I would only have to pay $20 every three months to keep active.
>
> My question to you, O experienced cell phone peoples, is: Is Virgin Mobile
> a good company to go with, or would this be a horrible mistake on my part?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Sue
>

Sue wrote:
> Hi, all!
>
> I hardly ever use my Verizon cell phone, for which I have to pay $15 a
> month to keep the account active.
>
> I'm thinking of getting one of those Virgin Mobile Shorty phones, for
> which I would only have to pay $20 every three months to keep active.
>
> My question to you, O experienced cell phone peoples, is: Is Virgin
> Mobile a good company to go with, or would this be a horrible mistake on
> my part?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Sue
>

The best site for advice is "http://prepaiduswireless.com/"

But to answer your question, Virgin would probably be a big mistake. If
Virgin had the same coverage as Sprint (whose network they use), then
it'd be great, but they don't. With Sprint, you can roam onto other
networks, including analog networks, when you're in an area where Sprint
has no coverage (which is a lot of areas). With Virgin, there is no roaming.

For a rarely used phone, look at http://gobeyondwireless.com with a TDMA
handset. It'll be good for at least two more years, then Beyond Wireless
will likely switch to CDMA. Another option is 7-11 Speak Out, which is
GSM, and is 20 cents per minute.

With Beyond Wireless, you must make one call every 60 days to keep the
account active, but other than that there are no minimums, and no need
to top up periodically. Also, you may have to get an out-of-area area
code as they don't offer area codes for all areas.

Joseph wrote:
> On Thu, 29 Sep 2005 22:22:11 GMT, Sue <sueb1863@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>
>>My question to you, O experienced cell phone peoples, is: Is Virgin
>>Mobile a good company to go with, or would this be a horrible mistake on
>>my part?
>
>
> If you know anyone who uses Sprint they'll have the same kind of
> service as you would get with Virgin.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. On Sprint you can roam when you are
out of Sprint's coverage area. On Virgin you cannot, not even for an
extra charge. It's a tremendous difference in coverage.

Steve Sobol wrote:
> Sue wrote:
>
>> My question to you, O experienced cell phone peoples, is: Is Virgin
>> Mobile a good company to go with, or would this be a horrible mistake
>> on my part?
>
>
> Depends. Where do you live? In some areas Sprint has good coverage and,
> therefore, so will Virgin. In some areas Sprint sucks and, therefore...
> you get the idea. :>

Again, with Sprint, if the coverage sucks you can roam onto other CDMA
and AMPS networks. With Virgin you cannot. It's a huge difference in
coverage area.

John S. wrote:
> Virgin Mobile uses the Sprint PCS network so I wouldn't hesitate to
> recommend it IF -
>
> The plans that they have suite your needs.

If Virgin allowed you to make calls in all the areas that you can make
calls with a Sprint phone, then Virgin would be awesome. But it doesn't
and it isn't.