Virgin Mobile USA customers - Are you having overcharging problems?

I am having a re-occuring problem with Virgin Mobile USA. Many times, I'm
getting overcharged an extra minute if it's close to the next minute. If I use
1 min 5 secs, it charges for 2 mins. That's correct - the way it's supposed
to be. But if I talk for 1 min 54 secs, it's supposed to charge for 2 mins.
Their system often times charges me 3 mins. Anyone experiencing similar
problems?

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Kurt Wyco wrote:

> I am having a re-occuring problem with Virgin Mobile USA. Many times, I'm
> getting overcharged an extra minute if it's close to the next minute. If I use
> 1 min 5 secs, it charges for 2 mins. That's correct - the way it's supposed
> to be. But if I talk for 1 min 54 secs, it's supposed to charge for 2 mins.
> Their system often times charges me 3 mins. Anyone experiencing similar
> problems?

I'm sure that someone else here will correct me if I'm wrong, but
billing is done based on "airtime" not "call duration." What's that
mean? That means that your phone, particularly in incoming calls is
actually using airtime before you answer. Airtime is used to ring your
phone. If you look in your terms of service, you should see a paragraph
supporting this. If you don't answer, there is no billing, of course.
-mike

But the phone timer on my phone counts from the very moment I press SEND. So
my phone timer starts counting, even at the beginning of the first ring,
before the call is even connected. Even if I hit END at 1 min 52 secs, I
still get charged 3 mins.

I finally got the following message from them:

<<"Thanks for your email. With any type of cellular service you are
billed in one minute increments, whether it is a contracted service or
Pre-paid. The billing cycle starts when you press the "talk" or "send"
button, and ends when you hit the end key or both parties disconnect.
Our network may take up to 5-15 seconds to make a hard disconnection
depending on when the call is ended. This is due to our towers needing
the conformation that the call has definitely ended. So, if you're on
a call that is 58 seconds in length and you press the end button, a
signal is now sent to the nearest cellular tower conforming the call is no
longer in use. The signal that is sent may not be instant due to the
weather, buildings in the area, radio/TV antennas, your distance from
the cellular tower and generally interference from other
radio-frequency sources and the distance the tower is from you. Now, a 58
second call just turned into a 1 minute and 5 second phone call, thus charging
for 2 minutes. Sorry for any inconvenience. Have a nice day!!

If you need anything else (phone information, help, lotto numbers,
Superb Apple Pie or Bodacious Chili recipes) let me know! Thank you
again for writing...">>


============================
>I'm sure that someone else here will correct me if I'm wrong, but
>billing is done based on "airtime" not "call duration." What's that
>mean? That means that your phone, particularly in incoming calls is
>actually using airtime before you answer. Airtime is used to ring your
>phone. If you look in your terms of service, you should see a paragraph
>supporting this. If you don't answer, there is no billing, of course.
>-mike
>

>Kurt Wyco wrote:
>
>> I am having a re-occuring problem with Virgin Mobile USA. Many times, I'm
>> getting overcharged an extra minute if it's close to the next minute. If I
> use
>> 1 min 5 secs, it charges for 2 mins. That's correct - the way it's supposed
>> to be. But if I talk for 1 min 54 secs, it's supposed to charge for 2 mins.
>> Their system often times charges me 3 mins. Anyone experiencing similar
>> problems?

Oh, I forgot to add that I'm talking about outgoing calls (calls I am making
from my Virgin Mobile Phone to another phone number).

===========================
>But the phone timer on my phone counts from the very moment I press SEND. So
>my phone timer starts counting, even at the beginning of the first ring,
>before the call is even connected. Even if I hit END at 1 min 52 secs, I
>still get charged 3 mins.
>
>I finally got the following message from them:
>
><<"Thanks for your email. With any type of cellular service you are
>billed in one minute increments, whether it is a contracted service or
>Pre-paid. The billing cycle starts when you press the "talk" or "send"
>button, and ends when you hit the end key or both parties disconnect.
>Our network may take up to 5-15 seconds to make a hard disconnection
>depending on when the call is ended. This is due to our towers needing
>the conformation that the call has definitely ended. So, if you're on
>a call that is 58 seconds in length and you press the end button, a
>signal is now sent to the nearest cellular tower conforming the call is no
>longer in use. The signal that is sent may not be instant due to the
>weather, buildings in the area, radio/TV antennas, your distance from
>the cellular tower and generally interference from other
>radio-frequency sources and the distance the tower is from you. Now, a 58
>second call just turned into a 1 minute and 5 second phone call, thus charging
>for 2 minutes. Sorry for any inconvenience. Have a nice day!!
>
>If you need anything else (phone information, help, lotto numbers,
>Superb Apple Pie or Bodacious Chili recipes) let me know! Thank you
>again for writing...">>
>
>
>============================
>>I'm sure that someone else here will correct me if I'm wrong, but
>>billing is done based on "airtime" not "call duration." What's that
>>mean? That means that your phone, particularly in incoming calls is
>>actually using airtime before you answer. Airtime is used to ring your
>>phone. If you look in your terms of service, you should see a paragraph
>>supporting this. If you don't answer, there is no billing, of course.
>>-mike
>>
>
>>Kurt Wyco wrote:
>>
>>> I am having a re-occuring problem with Virgin Mobile USA. Many times, I'm
>>> getting overcharged an extra minute if it's close to the next minute. If I
>> use
>>> 1 min 5 secs, it charges for 2 mins. That's correct - the way it's supposed
>
>>> to be. But if I talk for 1 min 54 secs, it's supposed to charge for 2 mins.
>
>>> Their system often times charges me 3 mins. Anyone experiencing similar
>>> problems?
>

Kurt Wyco wrote:

> Bodacious Chili recipes

Question: did you take them up on their offer? I could go for some Chili.
-mike

Sometimes, it's not even near the next full minute and I still get charged a
minute extra. I've had some instances where more than 1 minute extra is added
Ex: 1 minute call charged 4 mins, or 4 min call charged 7 mins.

I've noticed that when I had my first phone, the touchpoint 1000 I think it
was, when I was on the phone and the other party would end the call I would
just closed the flip. Doing that I thought it would end the call but it
didn't so now I always hit the end key. I don't think it works this way on
all phones but I feel better safe than sorry.

"Kurt Wyco" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Sometimes, it's not even near the next full minute and I still get charged
a
> minute extra. I've had some instances where more than 1 minute extra is
added
> Ex: 1 minute call charged 4 mins, or 4 min call charged 7 mins.

Once either party ends the call (hang up, hit the end button, whatever) it
takes the network several seconds to "break down the call". This could
easily account for the overage as you get close to the next nearest minute.

Also, the towers and the phones clocks may not be 100% accurate. I have
seen many a bill that the customer said they dialed the number at 9pm by
their phone, but billing started at 8:59 and they were charged peak minutes.
It's always best to shade these things by a good 15 seconds.



"Peterbilt" <amazon-*****@REMOVETHISeudoramail.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I've noticed that when I had my first phone, the touchpoint 1000 I think
it
> was, when I was on the phone and the other party would end the call I
would
> just closed the flip. Doing that I thought it would end the call but it
> didn't so now I always hit the end key. I don't think it works this way on
> all phones but I feel better safe than sorry.
>
> "Kurt Wyco" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Sometimes, it's not even near the next full minute and I still get
charged
> a
> > minute extra. I've had some instances where more than 1 minute extra is
> added
> > Ex: 1 minute call charged 4 mins, or 4 min call charged 7 mins.
>
>

Fellow Traveler wrote:

> Once either party ends the call (hang up, hit the end button, whatever) it
> takes the network several seconds to "break down the call". This could
> easily account for the overage as you get close to the next nearest minute.

I think this might be more of an accounting issue in Virgin's billing
system than it is the network. While the several-second call breakdown
delay was true of AMPS, CDMA tends to be a little more responsive.


> Also, the towers and the phones clocks may not be 100% accurate.

They kinda have to be. The theory and physics behind CDMA pretty much
require precise timekeeping. While a cheap phone MAY display the
incorrect time if left running for several weeks in a good coverage
area, they're generally not so inaccurate that an in-call timer would
misjudge a call duration by a minute or more.




--
E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.

It happened again today. A 25 second call was charged for 2 minutes. Either
those towers are REALLY slow (35 seconds delay?), or Virgin Mobile's
accounting department is up to some shading dealings. I wouldn't put it past
them. Money tends to corrupt. "It's a conspiracy I tell ya."

Whoops. In reference to my previous post: shading = shady

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] (kurt wyco)
wrote:
>It happened again today. A 25 second call was charged for 2 minutes. Either
>those towers are REALLY slow (35 seconds delay?), or Virgin Mobile's
>accounting department is up to some shading dealings. I wouldn't put it past
>them. Money tends to corrupt. "It's a conspiracy I tell ya."

Another trend I've been noticing is that sometimes there will be charges for
phantom calls (calls that I never made, yet get charged for, and it shows up
on my bill and call log when I look at my call log on the virginmobile
website).

An example of this is I make a real, legit call at 5:30. But then later I
check my balance on my phone, and I see my account was charged for 2 minutes
usage. I wonder why was I charged 2 minutes for that one minute call. I go
back later to peruse my call log on virginmobile's website. I see a bogus
charge to that same phone number for an earlier time, 5:15. When I know, in
fact, that I never attempted to dial or made that call (the 5:15 one). Yes, I
even put on the keyguard to make sure there are no accidental dial
out. Effectively, this is double charging me.

I write down all of my calls and track them meticulously to make sure that
there aren't any errors. Unfortunatley, there have been many instances now
where there have been double charges or calls overcharged by 1 or more
minutes.

I'm not posting this to instigate any hatred toward anyone, but just stating
my experiences. Maybe other VMobile users will read this and can relate and
they can know that they are not the only one with these problems.