tracfone vs. virgin mobile

Hello all,
I purchased a brand new tracfone (pre-paid phone)
and so far, the phone works great here in atlanta area.

I haven't ventured outside my local area.

The only problem is that it requires me to buy a card
every 60 days. With virgin mobile, I have to buy a card
every 90 days.

I read about virgin mobile using the sprint network and
was wondering how the two compare in terms
of best coverage and signal strength.

Let me know your experiences.

Thanks

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› See More: tracfone vs. virgin mobile

"ap" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> I purchased a brand new tracfone (pre-paid phone)
> and so far, the phone works great here in atlanta area.
>
> I haven't ventured outside my local area.
>
> The only problem is that it requires me to buy a card
> every 60 days. With virgin mobile, I have to buy a card
> every 90 days.
>
> I read about virgin mobile using the sprint network and
> was wondering how the two compare in terms
> of best coverage and signal strength.
>
> Let me know your experiences.
>

JoshIII [email protected] responds:
Virgin Mobile is for people that want prepaid at a slightly better
cost/minute rate, but don't care about or need rural area coverage.

Virgin Mobile only uses the Sprint network, and *will not roam* on any other
networks like TracFone.

Sprint's own postpaid plan customers are allowed to roam on other networks
in certain areas, including the Verizon network. Not Virgin Mobile.

In the Atlanta area, the TracFone TDMA models (Nokia 5125 and Nokia 1221)
are still available for activation. The rural area coverage for TDMA
cellphones is diminishing nationwide. TDMA networks are going away or being
converted to GSM or CDMA, so its not a good idea to activate a TDMA
cellphone if coverage is important to you.

What model TracFone did you activate?

JoshIII, 16JAN06
Prepaid questions? Just ask!
http://pasofinosc.tripod.com




..

Thanks for replying.

I have a nokia 1100.

"ap" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> Thanks for replying.
>
> I have a nokia 1100.
>

JoshIII responds: [email protected]

I'm in the upstate of south carolina, but have a cousin that lives in
Cumming, GA (northeast atlanta).

I had my TracFones (Nokia 1100 and 5180i) with me when I visited him.

The 5180i (TracFone) carrier is Verizon. The 1100 (TracFone) carrier is
Cingular GSM.

The 5180i has slightly better coverage than the 1100 in low lying areas
(lots of hills in and around Atlanta). As long as terrain is relatively
flat or near the top of hills, the coverage Cingular GSM provides is
excellent in and around Atlanta.

I have the Nokia 1100 for the single rate (no roaming charge) and the 5180i
(2units/minute roaming rate) for the good coverage carriers, i.e.,
Verizon/Alltel/et.al. The 5180i TracFone roams on several different
networks.

I always take both TracFones with me when I am on the road and out of the
local calling area, just in case I don't have a digital signal with the
Nokia 1100. All GSM cellphones require a digital signal, and have no
provision to fall back to analog like the 5180i (CDMA) model.

JoshIII, 16JAN06
Have a question about TracFone?
http://pasofinosc.tripod.com