Virgin Mobile
From Freepedia
Virgin Mobile plc is a mobile phone service provider operating in the UK, Australia and Canada. Its subsidiary Virgin Mobile USA is a cellular phone service provider operating in the US. The company does not maintain their own network, and instead has contracts to use the existing network(s) of other providers. In the UK, Virgin Mobile uses the T-Mobile network. In the US, the Sprint network is the carrier. In Australia, Virgin Mobile operates on the Optus network. In 2004, the Virgin Group floated Virgin Mobile on the London Stock Exchange, retaining a 40% stake. It launched in Canada on the 1 March 2005, running off the Bell Mobility Network.
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Virgin Mobile USA
Virgin Mobile USA is the US subsidiary of Britain's Virgin Mobile. Virgin Mobile USA uses Sprint's CDMA-based PCS network. Virgin Mobile USA began operating in the summer of 2002 and was one of the first carriers in the United States to offer prepaid cellular service. As of February 2005, Virgin Mobile USA has over 3 million users.
Costs
There are three Virgin Mobile plans to choose from. The cost differs for each.
Minute2Minute Plan - Original Plan
For normal phone calls, it costs 25 cents per minute for the first ten minutes used per day. After that period, the cost is 10 cents per minute. There are no roaming fees. Using the 411 service costs $1.75, plus airtime. International calls cost 20 cents to 70 cents per minute. Text messages are 10 cents to send, and free to receive.
Day2Day Plan
A fee of 35 cents per day is charged whether calls are made or not. Then all calls are just 10 cents a minute all the time.
Month2Month Plan
For $30 a month, the plan starts off with 150 anytime minutes, and 150 night and weekend minutes. The $30 dollar cost does not include tax or regulatory fees. Usually the total rounds out to around $33 per month. Then if the 150 anytime minutes are used, $10 more is charged, and additional anytime & night and weekend minutes are added. If those are used as well, then a final $10 is charged, and additional minutes are added once again. Calls are 20 cents a minute after that, charged $10 at a time.
Text Messages
Text messages are the same cost for all 3 plans; 10 cents to send and free to receive. On the Month2Month plan, these are paid for using the cash balance on the Virgin Mobile Account. Picture messages are 25 cents to send and receive. Other costs for things like ringtones, games, etc., are posted at www.virginmobileusa.com.
Wireless Data
VirginXL is Virgin Mobile USA's high speed data service. This service utilizes Sprint's PCS CDMA2000 1xRTT network. Features supported include downloadable games, screensavers, wallpapers, and ringtones, *MTV content, Comedy Central content, rescue ring, wake-up calls, Spongebob content, and the hitlist.
The phones that can utilize VirginXL service are the Audiovox 8910/Flasher V7 and the Kyocera K10 Royale. All other Virgin Mobile USA phones at the moment use the slower VirginXtras portal.
On August 2 2005, Virgin Mobile launched web browsing capabilities for customers with VirginXL compatible phones. It is charged at $1.00 for unlimited access for 24 hours, or 500 kilobytes, which ever comes first. You may pay another $1.00 to purchase an additional 500 kilobytes of data if you exhaust the first 500 kilobytes within the 24 hour period.
As of August 2005, Virgin Mobile is charging a $0.10/day fee for access to VirginXtras and VirginXL content, regardless of whether it is accessed or not. There is the ability to opt into or out of this daily fee when logged into your account on the Virgin Mobile website, and through your phone. Opting out will disable access to the content until you opt back into paying the fee.
List of phones
VirginXtras phones:
- Kyocera Party Animal (2002) -Discontinued
- Kyocera Supermodel (2002) -Discontinued
- Kyocera K7 Rave
- Audiovox "Vox" 8500
- Kyocera K9
- Audiovox "Vox" 8610
- Kyocera Slider V5
- Nokia 2115 "Shorty"
VirginXL phones:
- Audiovox Flasher V7 (2004) - Clearance (To Be Discontinued)
- Kyocera K10 royale (2005)
- Audiovox "Snapper" (2005)
- Kyocera Sonic Slider (2005)
Virgin Mobile Canada
The Canadian branch of Virgin Mobile started in March 2005. They launched a large advertising campaign, focused on the 16-25 market, using phrases such as "Don't fall victim to the catch!". Virgin Mobile only sells its Canadian service on a pre-paid basis. Virgin leases bandwidth from Bell Canada to provide CDMA service.
Costs
Prepaid Plan
For normal (intra-province) calls, it costs $0.25CAD per minute for the first 5 minutes used per day. After that period, the cost is $0.15CAD per minute for the rest of the day.
Monthly Pass Plan
For $25.00CAD per month, the per minute rate for intra-province calls drops to $0.20CAD for the first 5 minutes used per day. After that period, the cost is $0.10CAD per minute for the rest of the day. Minutes are subtracted from the $25.00CAD top up loaded into your account each month, and may be supplemented by normal top up cards. The monthly $25.00CAD top up does not roll over to the next month - the unused portion of the top up expires at the end of each month.
Long distance (inter-province or to the US) calls are charged at $0.25CAD per minute. International calling rates are listed on Virgin Mobile Canada's website, and range from $0.85CAD to $5.00CAD plus applicable airtime.
Text messages are $0.05CAD to send to other Virgin Mobile Canada subscribers, $0.10CAD to send to non Virgin Mobile Canada subscribers in Canada or the US, and $0.20CAD to send internationally. Receiving text messages is free. Picture messages are $0.50CAD to send, free to receive.
There are no roaming fees. Top ups (not including the $25.00CAD Monthly Pass top up) last 120 days. Virgin Mobile Canada's "days" start at 5:00AM in the timezone you are located in and end at 4:59AM the next day. This is both applicable to voice call fees and wireless data fees.
Wireless Data
Virgin Mobile Canada's data service is called VXL. Features supported include downloadable games, screensavers, wallpapers, and ringtones.
VXL is available on all Virgin Mobile Canada phones. Viewing the VXL main menu is free, however viewing pages beyond that will cost $0.10CAD per day. Costs for games, ringtones, etc. are available at Virgin Mobile Canada's website.
It should be noted that VXL does not provide access to WAP sites other than those run by Virgin Mobile - in other words, it is presently not possible to use Virgin Mobile phones in Canada to surf the web. There is also no support for instant messaging of any kind (besides SMS/MMS).
List of phones
Virgin Mobile UK
In the UK Virgin Mobile was launched as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator in November 1999, and has over 5 million customers.
Costs
Standard Tariff
International Calls
Calls to Virgin Phones From a BT fixed line, the following charges apply: (approximately)
Virgin Mobile Australia
Virgin Mobile Australia runs on the Optus network and is 50% owned by Optus, with the remaining 50% owned by the Virgin Group. Virgin Mobile's marketing has been aimed at the younger demographic, using advertising campaigns featuring characters such as "5 cent" (a parody of rap artist 50 cent). Virgin Mobile offers prepaid, monthly plans and cap-plans.
Costs
Standard voice call rates cover all national landline and mobile numbers and 13 numbers, but don't include 12, 18, 19 numbers, satellite and international calls. Calls are always charged per second, and not in 30 second blocks. Voicemail is free within Australia for all plans. No Australian carrier, including Virgin Mobile, charges users for receiving calls. A 20c call connection fee (also known as a flagfall) applies to all calls. All prices are in $AU and include GST. Virgin2Virgin rates are included with all plans unless otherwise stated and apply when one Virgin phone calls another.
Virgin2Virgin Voice calls are charged at 5c per minute Standard text (up to 160 characters) are charged at 5c MMS are charged at 25c
Prepaid $15 Recharge Call credits expire after 180 days unless the user recharges before the expiry date Standard calls to non-virgin phones are charged at 35c Standard text (up to 160 characters) are charged at 25c MMS are charged at 60c
$30 Recharge Call credits expire after 180 days unless the user recharges before the expiry date Standard calls to non-virgin phones are charged at 30c Standard text (up to 160 characters) are charged at 25c MMS are charged at 60c
$50 Recharge Call credits expire after 365 days unless the user recharges before the expiry date Standard calls to non-virgin phones are charged at 28c Standard text (up to 160 characters) are charged at 25c MMS are charged at 60c
$100 Recharge Call credits expire after 365 days unless the user recharges before the expiry date Standard calls to non-virgin phones are charged at 26c Standard text (up to 160 characters) are charged at 25c MMS are charged at 60c
Post-paid All post-paid plans (excluding post-paid cap plans) come with a free mobile phone. For a list of current phone and plan bundles, please consult the Virgin Mobile Australia website.
See also
- Virgin Group
- Chrismahanakwanzakah--This was a fake holiday (an amalgamation of Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza) that was the center of a popular Christmas 2004-5 ad campaign in America.
External links
Categories: Cellular telephone companies of the United States | Mobile phone companies in Canada | Virgin Group | Telecommunication companies of the United Kingdom | Mobile phone companies
