Barnes and Noble introduces the NOOK
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2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
4.0 stars
"Fun, Functional, & Affordable"
Pros: Affordable, fairly reliable service, no cancellation fees, a plethora of pricing plans
Cons: uninspired handset collection, most phones have no bluetooth or cutting edge features
Summary: As a subscriber to Virgin Mobile for a year and a half, I highly recommend their service for people either on a budget or who use relatively little air time. My first phone with Virgin was the now discontinued Audiovox 8610, but I quickly upgraded to the Kyocera Cyclops which features a camera phone and webs access.
Pricing
Virgin Mobile offers perhaps the most comprehensive pricing plan of any wireless carrier. You and choose between two categories (pay as you go or a monthly plan). The pay as you go requires you to ?top-up? every month in order to keep your phone number?something that can prove quite tedious. So I?ve opted for the monthly plan. The monthly plans start at $6.99 with no included minutes ($0.18 per minute) up to $99.99 for 1000 anytime minutes and unlimited night and weekend. I use the middle of the road $24.99 plan with 200 anytime minutes and 500 night and weekend. A couple of bonuses to mention: the night and weekend start extends two hours longer than most carriers from 7PM to 7AM rather than the more common 9PM to 7AM. Additionally, Virgin Mobile has the cheapest SMS rates around. Although they have publicly increased there text message rate to a still affordable $0.10 per message, I?m still paying only $0.05. But you can always opt for their message plans. The best part is that you can end your service at any time with no cancellation fee and there are no charges to switch plans (but you do lose any unused minutes).
Call Quality & Coverage
Remember, Virgin Mobile is an MVNO which shares the Sprint network, so your coverage area is the same as with that service. So the real differentiator comes down to the handset?s ability to send and receive calls. I?ve found Virgin Mobile phones to perform slightly less than average in this category. If your are looking for pitch perfect sound, you are better off with Verizon. However, I have had an acceptable number of dropped calls and the sound quality is not horrendous. So if you don?t spend an enormous amount of time on the phone, Virgin Mobile will suit your needs.
Handsets
This is obviously where Virgin Mobile is cutting corners to keep prices affordable. You won?t find the trendy Razr or iPhone here. The most advanced phones feature cameras, Bluetooth, and web access. The screen resolution of event the most advanced Virgin Mobile phones do not compare to the bottom rung phones at the major carriers. The camera on my Cyclops is very low resolution and the images are rather unacceptable. The web access is a decent feature, but it?s no iPhone. However, it?s great if you urgently need to check your email while on the go every once in a blue moon. The web access rates are extremely affordable at $1 for 24 hours or $4.99 for a month (but there are bandwidth restrictions on both plans). The best part about Virgin Mobile?s handsets are the prices. The cheapest phones start at $9.99 (for the K10 Royale) and go up to $99.99 (for the Wild Card). At those prices, you could a new phone every month and pay less than you would just for service with Verizon!
Overall
I believe Virgin Mobile has a rock solid service. If they would offer a few higher end phones Virgin would have a tough to beat value proposition to compete with the larger carriers. If you are not attached to the hip with your cell phone, you?ll find Virgin more than meets your needs. Sure you won?t have the trendiest phone with MP3 capabilities and GPS, but you?ll have plenty of extra cash in the bank to purchase those stand alone devices!
