The Other Worlds Shrine

Your place for discussion about RPGs, gaming, music, movies, anime, computers, sports, and any other stuff we care to talk about... 

  • Virgin Mobile US gets Galaxy S3 for $399

  • Somehow, we still tolerate each other. Eventually this will be the only forum left.
Somehow, we still tolerate each other. Eventually this will be the only forum left.
 #160747  by Flip
 Wed Jun 12, 2013 1:44 pm
While that might sound expensive... its really not for a non-contract phone plan. The cheapest Virgin plan you can get is 300 minutes and unlimited data/message for $35 a month. This is the plan i've had for the last year after i switched from Verizon, where i was paying $90 a month for a simple individual plan with a smartphone. Therefore, even if i just have this phone for a year the $400 price is essentially an extra $33 a month ($400 / 12) on top of my $35 plan, for a total of $68 a month, which is still cheaper than a Verizon plan. Anything longer than a year is just more savings.

It sucks to have to drop $400 ot the purchase of a phone, but i just convince myself i would have been paying that and more with a $90 a month plan, i just wouldnt have noticed it, over this last year that I've been on VM. As far as the S3 vs other phones... yes, it is a one year old phone and Samsungs last year model, but i feel as if it totally still holds its own against the new phones out now, even the S4.

This is a really great deal, and good time to ditch your contracts and get on a pre-paid no-contract plan, if you have been thinking about it. Virgin also has the iPhone 4s for around the same price.

Virgin works on Sprints network and uses their LTE. People make claims that, its only 300 minutes, you cant roam on Virgin (the major carriers sign roaming contracts with each other), the network is small (Sprint?), and you dont get call priority (which sounds like conspiracy theory to me.). In the year i've had VM, i've never gone over my 300 minutes, and have never noticed the no roaming where i couldnt make a call. If youre willing to pay even $5 a month more to roam, youre a sucker, because you'll use that maybe a small small handful of times, at best. If you choose a major carrier because you think you get call priority, then i dont know what to tell you... Any call that is blocked or dropped on VM feels just as normal and frequent as when i was on Verizon. I call back and boom, back in business, just like any major carrier. You should not be paying for these small intangibles like roaming and call priority, its a complete waste of money.

VM has services me very well and i get Sprint's LTE in my area so this S3 will be speedy fast, because i'm sure i will upgrade from my old phone to it. The S3 is def the best phone VM has on its lineup currently, which is a small selection, but thats what you get for a $35 a month plan, i suppose, and i can live with that. I like HTC, and if on a major carrier, i would probably get the HTC One, but really thats just nitpicking. I'd rather save tons of money a month than have an HTC One over an S3.
 #160757  by Flip
 Thu Jun 13, 2013 10:36 am
Eric wrote:Look at you all excited for a phone. ;p
Its one of the few things i mess with everyday, i suppose. A decent phone and computer and I could live in a 200 square foot box and be happy.

The whole mobile carrier industry is interesting to me abd I'm happy i found VM as its saving a ton of money for the same service.
 #160763  by Zeus
 Thu Jun 13, 2013 6:59 pm
With the changes coming to Canadian cell contracts on Dec 2, we may actually have a better market than you guys....finally. We've been getting fucked so hard for so long it's about time we get some relief.
 #160769  by Blotus
 Fri Jun 14, 2013 2:00 am
Zeus wrote:With the changes coming to Canadian cell contracts on Dec 2, we may actually have a better market than you guys....finally. We've been getting fucked so hard for so long it's about time we get some relief.
And wouldn't you believe that a day after that CRTC ruling, Telus called to aggressively try and get me on another 3-year term. No dice, fuckos!
 #160775  by Zeus
 Fri Jun 14, 2013 7:18 pm
Blotus wrote:
Zeus wrote:With the changes coming to Canadian cell contracts on Dec 2, we may actually have a better market than you guys....finally. We've been getting fucked so hard for so long it's about time we get some relief.
And wouldn't you believe that a day after that CRTC ruling, Telus called to aggressively try and get me on another 3-year term. No dice, fuckos!
With the deals Fido and Koodo have going right now, its stupid to go to the big boys
 #160781  by Zeus
 Fri Jun 14, 2013 9:24 pm
Yeah, about 5 weeks ago my wife got that phone for $100+ tax ($113) on a 2-year plan ($39+tax a month for 450 Canada-wide min between 7am and 6pm, unlimited Canada-wide evenings and weekends, 600MB of data, unlimited texting worldwide, call display, voicemail), one month for free (worth $44.07), a $50 credit, and a $25 referral credit for me and my sis. Basically, it was the phone for free with the $39 plan.

That's better than anything I see in the US plans right now. That's what I mean. All of a sudden, in the last year, we've gone from being completely ass-fucked by the big boys to actually having better plans than the US. That's a HUGE change in a short period of time.
 #160885  by Shellie
 Mon Jun 24, 2013 8:33 am
I really love my S3. It's the best android phone I've had so far. My previous ones I felt the need to root and install a custom ROM to get ALL THE THINGS, but the S3 does everything so well I haven't bothered. The only thing I miss is free wireless tethering.
 #160886  by SineSwiper
 Mon Jun 24, 2013 9:04 am
I'm sure it comes with "unlimited data" for 5GB/month. Because when I think of "unlimited data", I think of limited data plans.

RETRAIN YOUR BRAIN TO ACCEPT THIS COGNITIVE DISSONANCE!
 #160887  by Flip
 Mon Jun 24, 2013 9:31 am
I think the Virign mobile "unlimited data" gets throttled down after 5MB. Meaning, it slows down, but you can still use it. I'm not sure i use it enough a month to have ever noticed being throttled down.
 #160893  by Shellie
 Mon Jun 24, 2013 3:33 pm
Well, in Louisville, Spring does not have 4G service, yet we pay the $10 premium data fee. The connection absolutely SUCKS. A friend of mine used her Verizon connection to share wifi for my laptop and I felt like I was on broadband it was so fast!
 #161055  by Sephy
 Thu Jul 11, 2013 2:12 am
The new T-Mobile jump program is really awesome, and I wish T-Mo was worth a crap in Pittsburgh. Stuck on Verizon ;(