Virgin mobile mifi

[nixiemaiden]

I just wanted to warn about this ... not sure if the AT&T data plans work the same way.

If you buy a 300 MB pack and after 15 days you still have 50 MB left but are going to be going out of town or something...if you add another 300 MB pack that day, you lose the 50 MB that were left from the first 300 MB. Lame.

 

[pelicanflip]

You're not purchasing additional data, you're purchasing individual prepaid data plans.

Couldn't you have just waited until you used up more of the 50 MB and then bought an additional plan afterwards?

 

[nixiemaiden]

You're not purchasing additional data, you're purchasing individual prepaid data plans.

Couldn't you have just waited until you used up more of the 50 MB and then bought an additional plan afterwards?

I haven't purchased any data yet. I was just e-mailing customer service to find out. Basically I can see this situation happening if I am going on vacation and don't have access to wifi. I was hoping I could "add MB" before I ran out so I wouldn't have to find wifi to add more or call customer service to have more added.

 

[TheXIIIth]

I just wanted to warn about this ... not sure if the AT&T data plans work the same way.

If you buy a 300 MB pack and after 15 days you still have 50 MB left but are going to be going out of town or something...if you add another 300 MB pack that day, you lose the 50 MB that were left from the first 300 MB. Lame.

Virgin Mobile explains that this will happen in the provided literature. No real need for a warning if you read all the material.

I'll be activating mines when I get home from work today.

 

[nixiemaiden]

Virgin Mobile explains that this will happen in the provided literature. No real need for a warning if you read all the material.

I'll be activating mines when I get home from work today.

Where does it say this just out of curiosity? After reading the entire tos book that came with it...it was still a question I had. All it says in mine is that MB expire 30 days after purchasing. (or 10 in one case).

Looking through it again I still don't see anything about it.

 

[TheXIIIth]

Where does it say this just out of curiosity? After reading the entire tos book that came with it...it was still a question I had. All it says in mine is that MB expire 30 days after purchasing. (or 10 in one case).

Looking through it again I still don't see anything about it.

I read the info in the brochure placed on the Virgin Mobile Broadband2Go mini kiosk at my local Best Buy last night when I picked mines up. Although I only quickly glanced at a Top Up card before paid for my MiFi, I think it mentions that any leftover MBs will be reset when you Top Up on the back of it.

You can find info about no rollover of MBs in the Virgin Mobile Ask & Answer section of their website
http://www.virginmobileusa.com/phones/mobile-broadband-2200.html
Browse All > Page 2 > "Does unused service roll over?"

 

[nixiemaiden]

I read the info in the brochure placed on the Virgin Mobile Broadband2Go mini kiosk at my local Best Buy last night when I picked mines up. Although I only quickly glanced at a Top Up card before paid for my MiFi, I think it mentions that any leftover MBs will be reset when you Top Up on the back of it.

Oh ok well I haven't seen the top up cards or the kiosks. I just saw it posted here, read about it on their website, ordered it, received it, read the TOS book and e-mailed to ask if my account would automatically deduct MBs from the plan that expires first before deducting from the second plan.

I just figured someone who might be considering buying it might want to know that the service doesn't work in that way and you can only have 1 plan at a time.

 

[wyre]

Oh ok well I haven't seen the top up cards or the kiosks. I just saw it posted here, read about it on their website, ordered it, received it, read the TOS book and e-mailed to ask if my account would automatically deduct MBs from the plan that expires first before deducting from the second plan.

I just figured someone who might be considering buying it might want to know that the service doesn't work in that way and you can only have 1 plan at a time.

it is confusing, especially if you're used to their phones. The good news, if you can call it that, is that you can log in, even after your GBs run out, so you can easily add more by charging to your credit card, or using a prepaid card (that wouldn't be activated until you typed in the numbers) -- or you could put money into your account but not apply them to a 'plan' until you need it. The trick is to not activate too soon, because as soon as you charge or enter the info on the prepaid top up card, the calendar limits go into effect. They really should revise this... people would spend MORE money, not less.... they may not want to deal with the logistics of managing the carry over, but that's silly, since they are tracking usage anyway. Probably it's **(pure speculation) because they're using a variation of the sprint software and there are only limited ways to modify the accounting procedures.

 

[nixiemaiden]

Another wacky thing in the terms of service...it says if you don't purchase a plan for a year, your account will be terminated and you will lose any unused data...how is that even possible if it expires after 30 days.

Good to know I will be able to add more to my account once mb are expired. They made it seemed like I would have to find Internet access elsewhere to do this.

 

[Bulldog3777]

Virgin Mobile Mifi

I have had mine for a week and used it a lot. So far not one MB has been subtracted from my 300mbs. But, every couple of days it becomes "not activated". I have to call because it won't activate on line. It just says there is a problem with my wifi or account. So far Virgin Mobile reps say they do not know why but I am not alone. I would not mind using it free if I could activate on line and not call. The wait times have been very, very long. One more time and I am returning it and going to Verizon mifi. Don't like that because it is a 2 yr commitment or no contract and $15 a day.

 

[nixiemaiden]

Were you able to activate online the first time? I just activated mine and can get to where you add money. I figured I would just keep it like this unless i am somewhere and need it but if it might inactivate itself that sucks.

And the first csr i spoke to told me to add mb i would need to find a computer with Internet access. I'm stoked.

I wonder if there is a problem with your mifi or if they just have too many activations to keep up with.

 

[TraceyS/FL]

One more time and I am returning it and going to Verizon mifi. Don't like that because it is a 2 yr commitment or no contract and $15 a day.

You can buy the Verizon mifi outright and use the monthly plan rates or the crappy daily rates. The hardware just isn't $149, more like $250 last time i priced it. But when you are on the verizon webiste you should have a drop down for the pricing on a 1-2 or no contract basis and go from there.

 

[Capt T]

It is always greyed out for adding more data while I still have data left. So I am not sure you can overwrite the data left. Have never tried it.

 

[brentsg]

I haven't purchased any data yet. I was just e-mailing customer service to find out. Basically I can see this situation happening if I am going on vacation and don't have access to wifi. I was hoping I could "add MB" before I ran out so I wouldn't have to find wifi to add more or call customer service to have more added.

Even with zero pre-purchased data, you can still log into a website via the Mifi to purchase a plan. There's no need to find WiFi or plan ahead.

 

[nixiemaiden]

The plans for the virgin mobile mifi have changed. The two options are now:

$10 for 100 MB ... expires in 10 days
$40 for Unlimited ... expires in one month.

I hope this is still around in a few months so I can drop data from my cellphone plan.

 

[TraceyS/FL]

The plans for the virgin mobile mifi have changed. The two options are now:

$10 for 100 MB ... expires in 10 days
$40 for Unlimited ... expires in one month.

I hope this is still around in a few months so I can drop data from my cellphone plan.

Did you see sprint opened 4g in your neck of the woods today? The clear spot might be a handy thing to pick up! (the coverage map isn't updated.... Of course!)

 

[nixiemaiden]

Did you see sprint opened 4g in your neck of the woods today? The clear spot might be a handy thing to pick up! (the coverage map isn't updated.... Of course!)

Man I just got so excited for a second. I checked the map and they haven't rolled it out here. It is rolled out in Jacksonville, St Augustine, and Daytona...I'm in the middle of those where there isn't any. Hopefully that means soon though. I was thinking of dropping my sprint phone in February but maybe now I'll upgrade to a 4g phone.

 

[peapody]

The plans for the virgin mobile mifi have changed. The two options are now:

$10 for 100 MB ... expires in 10 days
$40 for Unlimited ... expires in one month.

I hope this is still around in a few months so I can drop data from my cellphone plan.

I wanted to say I JUSt noticed this today. That is because I haven't needed to use my mifi for the last couple of months. I just love that about the mifi. I am undecided about the $40 unlimited plan though. Not sure if its good bang for the buck and if the speeds are doing alright.

 

[Cartaphilus]

Virgin Mobile explains that this will happen in the provided literature. No real need for a warning if you read all the material.

I'll be activating mines when I get home from work today.

Good plan. When nixiemaiden attacks your house because of your smart aleck comments, the mines may provide a good defense.

 

[cprevost]

Been using the unlimited plan for about 3 weeks now. Dissapointed with speed. OK for casual surfing. Doesn't work for video. Takes 15 minutes or so for a 3 minute youtube clip to load. Tried it in several different locations to make sure it wasn't a signal problem. Terrible everywhere. BTW I'm in the Portland area....

 

[nixiemaiden]

Been using the unlimited plan for about 3 weeks now. Dissapointed with speed. OK for casual surfing. Doesn't work for video. Takes 15 minutes or so for a 3 minute youtube clip to load. Tried it in several different locations to make sure it wasn't a signal problem. Terrible everywhere. BTW I'm in the Portland area....

For me it was pretty good. I haven't needed the unlimited plan but a few weeks before they released that I had purchased a 300 MB pack for a short vacation. I only ended up using like 10 MB so I had this genius idea to use it to stream pandora in my car. It actually worked really well on a 2 hour trip. I only had one mishap the entire way and it was just along 1 mile of highway. Then again pandora's streaming music is relatively low bandwidth. I was expecting this to eat up all of my data and it only used like 70 MB. 2 hours of music in 70 MB and it sounded GOOD?

I live in Florida too so Sprint's coverage is a lot more over here than it is over on the west coast. It looks like a lot around the Portland area is Verizon and the virgin mobile mifi doesn't support roaming.

I don't get it because the pandora app on my android phone SUCKS. I can't even walk down the street without it cutting out 50 million times. And my android phone uses sprints network as well.

 

[nixiemaiden]

Good plan. When nixiemaiden attacks your house because of your smart aleck comments, the mines may provide a good defense.

LOL. No it was fine. The reason I was concerned in the first place is because the customer service agent I spoke too was uninformed and told me that I would need to find a wifi hotspot if I ran out of data and needed to add more.

I don't want to buy data unless I know I am going to need it and unless I know I will be in a coverage area...It isn't a problem though. You can log into the router and it allows you to access your account and add data when you have no MBs. And obviously if you can't access your account you don't have 3g where you are so no point in spending the money.