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Virgin Mobile updates prepaid mobile data plans with 5 GBs

March 3rd, 2010, 4:30 am by

For consumers who like the convenience of wireless Internet but don’t want to commit to yet another monthly contract, Virgin Mobile offers Broadband2Go, a pay-as-you go 3G data plan getting updated today.

The company, now part of Sprint’s prepaid group that includes Irvine’s Boost Mobile, added a 5 Gigabyte plan for $60, which the company considers as a “suitable replacement for at-home Internet broadband service.”

While that statement is arguable, the company notes that customers like the option of choosing a different plan each month so they can opt for a cheaper plan if they know they won’t be using wireless data much.

While there are no contracts or activation or termination fees, the drawback to any prepaid service plan is that minutes and megabytes can expire if you don’t use them. For example, the 5 GB plan must be used up within 30 days.  Virgin’s smallest data plan, for $10, offers 100 megabytes and must be used up within 10 days.

Here’s the guide:

Virgin Mobile Broadband 2Go plans for 2010
Price Expires MBs/GBs* Web Browsing Video Emails
$10 10 Days 100 MB 5 HRS 25 MIN 10,000
$20 30 Days 300MB 15 HRS 1 HR 25,000
$40 30 Days 1GB 50 HRS 4 HRS 100,000
$60 30 Days 5GB 250 HRS 21 HRS 500,000

*Data courtesy of Virgin Mobile

Comparably, Verizon Wireless’s 5 GB mobile broadband plan is $59.99 a month and may require a long-term commitment if you need a wireless modem to go with it.

Every level except the lowest is getting more megabytes with no change in price, as of today. When the Broadband2Go launched last June, the $60 plan included just 1 GB (read: “Virgin Mobile adds pay-as-you-go wireless Internet.”). The price of the wireless USB modem has also dropped to $99, from $149.

Broadband2Go uses Sprint’s 3G network, so expect speeds of about 600 kbps or slightly higher.

Virgin shared a little bit more about what customers are doing with the prepaid data service. Some 30 percent use it more than 4-times a week, while 16 percent used it to replace their at-home Internet connection. The biggest customer request: Larger data plans.

There should be a lot of news in the wireless data space this year, as newcomers like Cox and Time Warner (yes, the cable TV providers) jump in. Time Warner began wireless data service in December in Texas and North Carolina and plans to expand nationwide this year. Cox, meanwhile, plans to launch wireless service in Orange County sometime this month.

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Best prepaid phone service rankings revealed — what a turnaround!

August 3rd, 2009, 7:53 am by

J.D. Power and AssociatesA mobile phone without a contract? Ever? If you haven’t looked at the prepaid phone industry lately, you might want to look again. Customers are more satisfied then ever before, plus it’s cheaper. 

According to the latest report from J.D. Power and Associates, the customer-service ratings group, prepaid service has changed from when it targeted credit-challenged customers. Today, a good chunk of new users are refugees of traditional post-paid service.

Results in this year’s survey ranked overall prepaid wireless customer service satisfaction at 750 out of 1,000 points (based on service, reliability, cost and performance of prepaid service — the higher the score, the better). Last year, the industry scored 719 points. Meanwhile, the post-paid industry this year hovered in the high 600s.

mobilephonePrepaid’s overall winner, Net10, earned the highest mark of 10 prepaid carriers — 774 on a 1,000 point scale. But just a few points away at 771 in third place was Irvine’s Boost Mobile, which has been overhauling its mission in order to compete in the crowded market. This is a complete turnaround from last year when Boost was No. 7 and below the industry average. Net10 was nowhere to be found on the J.D. Power 2008 list. 

“NET10 differentiates itself from other companies by simplifying the wireless experience with straightforward pricing, virtually no roaming charges and robust nationwide network coverage,” Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates, said in this year’s press release. “Users find they don’t have to worry about restrictive calling areas and can maintain their account without hassle.”

While these two companies have improved, others completely tumbled, including last year’s winner MetroPCS, which landed at the very bottom this year. The company, known for offering generous unlimited plans fumbled on customer service, performance and reliability issues and promotions. Rival cheap carrier Cricket Communications also fell to ninth place, from last year’s perch in third. Read the rest of this entry »

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Boost gets new sibling as Virgin joins Sprint family

July 28th, 2009, 7:30 am by

Virgin Mobile USABoost Mobile may be “Where you at,” but today, rival Virgin Mobile USA is where it’s at. Boost’s parent, Sprint Nextel, announced plans to buy the prepaid wireless provider for $483 million.

“Prepaid is growing at an unprecedented rate with consumers keenly focused on value. Virgin Mobile is an iconic brand in the marketplace that will complement our Boost Mobile brand,” said Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel president and chief executive officer in a statement.

Virgin, based in New Jersey, uses the Sprint network for its service. It has competed head-to-head for years with Boost Mobile, based in Irvine. Boost was among the first of the prepaid crowd to offer a $50/month unlimited plan in January (see, “Boost Mobile adds ‘tax-free’ $50/month unlimited plan“).   Virgin added its unlimited plan for one penny less in April.

The union of the two prepaid rivals should be civil. Sprint plans to keep each brand separate and distinct. But Dan Schulman, currently Virgin’s chief executive officer, will lead Sprint’s prepaid business after the deal closes. I’ll be speaking to Matt Carter, Boost Mobile’s president, later this week to see what he thinks about that.

Sprint said it will pay a total equity value of $483 million for Virgin. That includes Sprint’s 13.1 percent ownership interest in Virgin. Sprint plans to retire Virgin’s outstanding debt, which is around $248 million. Public shareholders will receive $5.50 per share.

Sprint will release its second-quarter earnings report on Wednesday. More details are expected. 

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Virgin Mobile adds pay-as-you-go wireless Internet

June 10th, 2009, 1:42 pm by

Broadband2Go pay-as-you-go wireless modem from Virgin Mobile USA

Corrected 6/15/2009: Virgin Mobile says this service is not yet available for Mac/Linux users but will be in upcoming weeks. 

For people too cheap to cough up monthly fees for wireless broadband cards, Virgin Mobile USA just announced a wireless modem that is pay as you go. No monthly fees, no contracts, no activation fees. (Nice!)

The aptly named Broadband2Go runs on Sprint’s EV-DO wireless network, so users can expect download speeds of around 1 megabit per second. The modem is a Novatel Wireless USB key, model number MC760. It plugs into a laptop, picture on right (image courtesy of Virgin Mobile). It also includes a microSD card slot to store files.

The prepaid mobile phone market has become hyper competitive this year as companies like Irvine’s Boost Mobile introduced unlimited plans for $50/month. But Virgin Mobile’s news today could bring prepaid to a new audience of people who don’t want to commit to costly monthly mobile broadband plans.

But this doesn’t mean it is cheap.

The modem costs $149.99. And then you’ll need to purchase data plans via “Top-Up” cards or credit/debit cards so it can be pay as you go. According to Virgin Mobile, users will need to buy the cards — available in amounts of $10, $20, $40 or $60 — and then use those to buy data plans, from 100 megabytes to 1 gigabyte. 

Virgin Mobile estimates that a $20 card, which is enough for a 250 MB plan, translates into 12 hours of Web browsing. That beats Verizon Wireless’ fee for its broadband card, which is $40 for 250 MB. 

But to match Virgin Mobile’s best value, the $60 1 GB plan with Verizon’s or Sprint’s standard data plan, you’ll boost the cost to $360 for 5 GBs. That’s significantly higher than the $60/month fee that Verizon and Sprint charge for the same amount of data.   

Virgin Mobile adds prepaid mobile broadband. Chart of prices.And one big drawback to pay as you go is that if you don’t use it, you lose it, a common feature with prepaid plans. Virgin Mobile’s data packages expire. The 100 MB plan must be used within 10 days. The other plans expire within 30 days. However, the expiration data starts over if you add more megabytes.

Best Buy Mobile will start selling the modem in late June for $149.99. It’s compatible with computers running Windows, Mac or Linux operating systems (not yet available for Mac and Linux but will be in upcoming weeks, says Virgin Mobile) and equipped with a Type-A USB port. There’s also a meter to monitor data usage.

More on cell-phones:


Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local cell phone services

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Text Mexico, Vietnam, the world for $10/month

March 31st, 2009, 3:22 pm by

Good news for text fiends who happen to be Boost Mobile customers with lots of international friends.

Irvine’s Boost today added International Connect, an unlimited international plan for $10 a month, which can only be added on to its newish $50 monthly unlimited plan. This is a good plan for people texting from the U.S. or Baja California to anywhere in the world.

Without the plan, it’s $0.10 to text internationally and free to receive. That means the deal is only a deal if you send way more than 100 international texts a month. 

As part of the new option, users can also chat via Boost’s Walkie-Talkie service to people in Canada, Baja California, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru. Why only those places? Boost has partnered with Nextel México, Nextel Argentina, Nextel Brasil, Nextel Perú and Nextel Chile.

The $0.10 per international text is a pretty good deal anyway. I did some research and for customers of other cell phone companies, international texting rates are much higher:

AT&T charges $0.25 to send, $0.20 to receive. Multimedia messages are $0.50 to send, $0.30 to receive. Details HERE. A $9.99 monthly plan allows users to send 100 texts internationally. Received texts are counted as regular texts.

Verizon Wireless charges $0.25 to send, $0.20 to receive. If you’re outside the U.S., sending texts cost $0.50 each but $0.05 to receive. Details HERE.

T-Mobile charges around $0.35 to text internationally and $0.20 to receive. Details HERE.

Sprint charges $0.20 to send or receive international texts. Details HERE.

Virgin Mobile USA charges $0.20 to send, $0.10 to receive. Details HERE. 

Helio, now part of Virgin Mobile, charges $0.15 to send or receive an international text message. For multimedia messaging, Helio charges $0.05 per kilobyte plus $0.25 per message sent. But if you’re an “All In” customer who pays $99/month for everything, international texts are free, while multimedia texts are $0.25 each. Details HERE.

Another option for all mobile users: Send2World.com is a pay-as-you-go plan that drops the per-text rate if you send more messages. Rates range between $0.12 per text for up to 50 messages per month to $0.07 for 500 or more. Caveat: Each message still counts against any texting plan you have on your existing cell phone plan.

Are there others I’ve overlooked? Feel free to leave suggestions in the comment area.

Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local cell phone services. Latest mobile-news headlines:

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Are prepaid phone plans for you?

December 25th, 2008, 12:40 am by

Note: This is part of a series on finding cheaper cell phone plans.

I never thought much about prepaid cell phone plans. I didn’t want to mess with phone cards or  high per-minute fees. And I wanted a cool phone that didn’t deplete my bank account.

But since my T-Mobile contract was over months ago, I decided to look at all my options. Pre-paid plans are quite attractive these days and not just because they can save oodles of money.

At prepaid carriers like Virgin Mobile, you can get started for $10 for the phone and $20 a month if you talk less than 200 minutes. Per-minute charges range from $0.10 to $0.33.  And no contracts, no early termination fees and no credit checks. But coverage areas can be limited, phone choice mediocre and, as the daughter of an OC Register Mom blogger discovered, phone cards expire. 

So why go prepaid? Consumer Reports recently explored the niche in a reader survey, finding that 76 percent chose prepaid because it cost less than a monthly plan, 70 percent went prepaid because they make calls infrequently and 47 percent said they like the no contracts. 

Consumer Reports’ conclusion: A family with 2 phones and a 700-minute plan could save $220 a year by going prepaid with Virgin Mobile. Read the rest of this entry »

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