Virgin Mobile Beyond Talk: $25 for Unlimited Data, Text, & 300 Minutes? Not so Fast
Shiny New Virgin Mobile Beyond Talk Plan is Enticing for Young Professionals
Virgin Mobile, a prepaid cellular phone service provider that was purchased last year by Sprint, just launched a new – and potentially game changing prepaid cellular plan, that they are dubbing ‘Beyond Talk‘. It might just grab your eye, as it did mine.
The base plan works like this:
- Unlimited data
- Unlimited text
- 300 anytime minutes
All on 3G and all for just $25/month!
For young professionals, this plan is seemingly brilliant and flawless. I find myself using cell phones less and less these days, which is why I went with Net10 prepaid (you can check out my Net10 review) to limit my cell phone bill to just $15/month and have been looking at Tracfone to take it even lower (you can also check out my Tracfone review).
When I first discovered the Beyond Talk Virgin Mobile plan, I was super excited. I thought to myself, “wow, I can move over a smart phone that I have and get unlimited data for just $10 more per month than with my Net10 plan. Finally, a plan that caters to exactly how I want to use a phone – unlimited data and text messaging, and a decent amount of minutes each month that I probably won’t use up.”
The Downside to Virgin Mobile’s Beyond Talk
But, there’s a catch, and it’s a big one. The Virgin plan comes with a huge barrier to entry (like your prom dates shotgun wielding father). According to Virgin Mobile, you need to buy one of their phones in order to be on this plan. And the only decent smart phone model they have is the Blackberry Curve. OK, Blackberry, that’s cool, what’s wrong with that? Well, for starters, the plan price goes up to $35/mo (an extra $10) with any Blackberry phone. OK, $35 for that plan is not that bad. How much is the Curve? $299!
Suddenly, your $25/mo. plan jumps up to $60 per month over the first year when you add in the Blackberry Curve!
And like I said, don’t plan on bringing your old smart phone over to their plan. They don’t want it (however, I wonder if you bought one of their cheap phones for $20, used the SIM card, and popped it in your new phone. Would it work? I hope someone gives it a try and comments).
Shame on you, Virgin, for getting me excited and making me think I had a chance, only to leave me hanging at the end of the day. Kind of reminds me of my college high school junior high days.
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Popping out the SIM won’t work because Virgin Mobile runs on CDMA. That means no SIM..
^ Correcto-mundo.
it’s expensive price, in Indonesia for unlimited data access max price is under $200
Yes, but you’ve got to compare it to a 2 year plan. The total is $1,140 for a total of 2 years. Compare it to the cheapest total BBerry package for ANY other carrier, and it’s going to be a whole lot more expensive ($1800+ AT THE CHEAPEST).
Personally, I’m going to get the LG Rumor Touch. I can hit up Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube will preloaded apps. Virgin also put in Opera Mobile so you can browse the web very well, and I’m pretty sure there will be Hulu support. Did I mention multi-tasking? Sorry Apple fans, but you got beat out by a dumphone!
I would trample people to buy one of the beyond talk phones if it had a wifi hotspot feature and tethering. My next phone has to have those features, but it also has to be affordable. Is there a blackberry wifi hotspot app?
Yeah, a blackberry costs $300 without a contract subsidy, but even after only a year this is cheaper than any other plan from any carrier in the US. It is people like you that let the industry get away with the crappy 2 year contract business model. How much would you expect a fully fledged mini computer with wifi and 3G to cost, “free” ?
I cant stand always having to pay extra. I found Net10 prepaid as it is simple and I get a lot at a great price. My new phone was only $30 and I got 300 minutes free with 2 months service free. Now I stay in touch for an unbelievable 150 minutes for $15. Net10 is a great prepaid option and I will never be overcharged again.
Eventually I’m going to be looking for a solid phone carrier that will help me get a good price for internet service. I do a lot of surfing, especially in social media. It could come in handy when I’m commuting (I don’t drive, of course!)
Alright I think im sold. All i need is texting anyway.
I’ll have to look into pay-as-you-go phones…we pay $80 total every month for 2 phones (we got for free), 700 anytime minutes that we hardly use, unlimited night and weekend and Sprint PCS to Sprint PCS minutes that we use alot, and 300 text messages per person (also hardly used).
Used to be on Virgin Mobile many years ago. It was cheap and easy to use. Problem with VM is COVERAGE. Unless you stay inside the city limits or near major highways, coverage is spotty at best. VM uses Sprint towers but is not (at least, it didn’t used to be) covered by their roaming agreements so if you’re not within range of a Sprint tower, your phone is a dead weight. Don’t spend your money until you check coverage in any area you’re liable to be in.
Since it’s CDMA, I’d attempt to mod my phone using a cooked ROM from http://forum.xda-developers.com. There you will find all makes, models and which ROM you want to install on your phone. I once converted my phone from Cricket to verizon, then to sprint then back to Verizon. Easy!
-L
I got the VM LG Rumor Touch. With the $25. Plan. All unlimited
Data email sms txt chat. With an apps section for free apps like, facebok twitter myspace mycontacts mypix uploader video uploads
And VM gps navigator. Plus music player 2mp cam/corder
Stereo blutooth. And voice operating.voice play of incomming messages automaticly. This phone kicks ass guys! However the touch screen is a bit buggy. But I like that you can use a stylas with this ph. Bestbuy sells lg touch this week for only $129! I absolutly
Recomend this phone.
This company is the worst company i have ever delt with. At first it took them a week to port my number to my new rumor touch. After calling them and emailing every day, they finally got my phone on and promised me a free month of service. They said i needed to add sixty to my account to have my phone activated fully and they said it won’t be touched till my free month is over with. So i agreed but they had problems with the card not processing and told me to go to a store in my city that has virgin mobile and have them add the money to my account. I went to radio shack and had sixty put on my account..yay..but the idiot gave me the wrong plan. I wanted the 25 dollar unlimited text web and data plan, and she gave me a 18 cents a min plan. I had no idea and was texting away and used up 15 dollars in one day. I checked my virgin mobile account the same night and noticed it and i changed my plan online through their website. But it took another 25 dollars out of my account. Now i racked up 40 bucks in one day! wtf! I emailed them again..asking for my money back and where my free month of service is? They emailed back , they have no idea about free month and mentioned nothing to help me. I was p.o.ed …I assumed i just got scammed so i accepted the loss and waited for the rest of my service to work i was told that my web wouldn’t work till they got me in the system. But i had waited long enough after one day and still no web I called them about the problem, it should only take 2-4 hrs to get my web started what is going on? They were having problems with all rumor touch’s not compatible with the system. (don’t sell the flipping phone if it won’t work duh) They just wanted me to bear with them. ( Not like they have helped me any) They said give till saturday at least..So i wait ..and two hours after i got off the phone with them they shut my phone off! WTF! I havn’t had this phone for a whole flipping week yet!Now it is saturday and still no phone. I emailed them telling them they shut my phone off without ever telling me. The emailed back saying that the phone was never shut off. really? then wtf does my phone not work? I made a complaint to the BBB..Let them handle it. I am so sick and tired of this company!
I have had a Virgin Mobile cell phone now since 2002. Love it except, as Southerner said, there is the coverage issue. It’s fine in Mpls/St. Paul, but totally lose it traveling outside metro areas and off major roads. I supplement my phone with a Verizon Blackberry (data plan only) for $50/mo. If worse comes to worst I can make calls on it for $.25/minute. The new Virgin plans sound fantastic to me…..except for the coverage.
lots of misinformation here, first off, the prepaid plan they offer, beyond talk, is NOT 3g, its slow. not sure what its called exactly.
second, like someone else said, they dont allow roaming with this plan. IF u get a sprint plan im sure u will have betetr coverage, but since they get charged by whatever tower you use that isnt theirs, they dont allow it. so that means alot of dead zones.
my internet is SLOW. according to the operator, my area has GREAT coverage, even the phone says the signal is good to excellent.
one more thing, the internet doesnt even load up 40% of the time. and loading something like yahoo messanger takes a good minute to load up contacts.
i just heard about the new phone plan for virgin mobile and it sounds great but none of my friends have it and i just saw it advertised in the best buy add and it was advertised with the lg rumor touch and imma get that plan in august when my next session with net10 is up and imma get either mantra or the arc cuz like none of the other phones r camera phones and i like have to have a camera phone so like is it quality service cuz i wanna upgrade my phone not downgrade i want something better than my crappy net10 phone i have now i have the samsung t401G from net10 wit a qwerty keyboard but the web is terrible and theres only a couple of webpages and its really crappy and when i get or send a txt message it takes like 30 seconds to send or recieve i hate net10
Rhia, you need to review the previous comments, Mike’s in particular are helpful.
@ Mike – wow, that sounds frustrating!! No thanks!
ok, to edit my last comments. according to the virgin mobile website, the blackberry 8530 and the rumor touch are both 3g enabled. My rumor 2 apparently is not.
Btw there are only 4 phones available for this plan.
ill be taking mine back before the 30 days is up and possibly check out the rumor touch.
Any other questions about the rumor2 i have, let me know.
@ if you get the Rumor Touch…. that is maybe the only way this plan is appealing. But the dropped calls and spotty coverage are big flaws.
I have had virgin mobile for 3 years now and i’m still very happy with it…especially since they just came out with the beyond talk plan…i love it cause i can text all i want to my friends and talk to my family (for a short amount of time) lol. the unlimited web is nice too. I’m going for the new rumor touch soon because all this texting is hard on the flare lol. it’s going to be simple too since all i have to do is buy the phone and log on to my account and say i’m switching phones…I’ve done it before and they just switch the number to the new phone. the old one gets shut off basically but that’s ok since we’re going to give it to my step son so he’ll have a pay as you go home phone when he’s home alone.
its great for texting.
just checked my bank online, i got charged for two months.
ugh.
they had a deal where if u give them your credit card number u get a five dollar credit at some point. i hope that happens.
wish me luck, now i have to call customer service to get this straightened out.
mike
Everyone, I currently have the rumor touch. I love my phone. The internet loads fast and I had Virgin Mobile for a year now, and barely have any drop calls. The Rumor Touch has its problems but everyone can work around it.
See, I’m a little younger at this, im 12, and Im pretty satisfied. Earlier, Ive had virgin mobile and been getting the $20/ month for unlimited messages. Because that’s what my sister got. Then i switched to cricket and got screwed. So now im back again and have been working my butt off just to get the Rumor touch. When i got it, i noticed a paper that came with it listing all the deals on the beyond talk plan. And im thinking “wow for an extra $5 a month im getting email, data, web, and 300 mins. So, what im wondering is, Should i go with the beyond talk or my old plan?
i have virgin right now and all i can afford it their no-contract unlimited txt for 30 only $20. however i would like to browse the web on my fone for free and have 300 mins for important calls to work.. i can pay the extra $5 for that amazing deal!!!!!!! i have the X-tc right now but i hate it! im goin to rumor touch i have owned a rumor and rumor2 they r petty good phones:]
Dani, i just got the beyond talk plan for $25 and i love it soo much. you should seriously get it
i have the rumor2 on Vm what the 25 dollar plan its great for me cuz ill i do is txt but i was a little angry cuz when i bought my rumor 2 a month ago they didnt even have the rumor touch in stores now mad cuz i cant get on youtube and u can with rumor touch ……..i might take the fone bak cuz i have a geek squad 1 year warranty and see if i can get i store credit to get the rumor touch cuz that fone looks wayyyy cooler then my rumor2
After dealing with the crap from Verizon, and then T-Mobile (dropped calls, awful customer service, overpriced), I couldn’t fathom the idea of owning another contract phone. My brother and mother had Virgin Mobile for about 4 years and they have more bars than I did with Verizon or T-Mobile (Massachusetts resident). So I switched over, bought the $25 Beyond Talk plan, and got the LG Rumor Touch. Pretty sure it’s one of the best money saving decisions I’ve made. I have service EVERYWHERE, I never drop calls, the unlimited texting is terrific and the data plan is fast enough to get some basic browsing done. Perfect phone for a socialite. I’ve made 4 of my friends switch over from crappy contract plans to this plan with this phone and they are all also extremely happy. If you have issues with Virgin Mobile, then I don’t understand what you’re doing wrong. Their customer service is pretty solid. When I accidentally charged my bill twice in one month, they sent me a refund immediately. TRUST ME. This plan is so worth it. I have to laugh at my friends who have contracts, with less features than me, and pay more money.
im wondering if I buy the lg rumor touch do I have 2 get the beyond talk plan?.. can I just keep my old plan? & can I just call them on the phone 2 activate & swop phones? just wondering because ppl r saying that you have 2 get the beyond talk plan 4 your phone to actually work
So i’ve been using an Att go phone and i really dont mind it. its 60 a month for unlimited text and talk. thats all i need. hell i dont even need the unlimited talk lol. so i’ve been thinking about getting the beyond talk plan with virgin mobile. May i get some feed back from users that only text , dont really use web and very little talk? i just want to know iF this is a legit plan to invest in. thanks guys
mickey
Regarding Virgin Mobile service, my wife is using VM for over 4 years and so far, no dropped calls or coverage problem (mostly used in tri-state area: NY-NJ-CT). On the other hand, I just got Rumor2 for my son and selecting pay-as-you-go plan during activation process completely messed up their system and caused activation application to crash and create multiple accounts in their database. I was already assigned a phone number during the process but no longer able to continue activation or access my account. VM support had no clue what was going on – the only answer was that they started the “investigation” which can last for up to 72 hours … At that point I decided to return the phone to Target and get the new one. Tried to activate the new phone with exactly same result. Returned that one as well and finally got the Rumor Touch, went on line, selected “Beyond Talk” plan and the phone was activated and ready to use in less than five (5) minutes. I understand that my attempt to select pay-as-you-go service was the cause of the problem but I shouldn’t even be allowed to get that option once I enter the phone MEID which tells the application which phone I am activating and what plan is available for that particular phone. Looks as VM needs to test their applications before using them in production.
One more thing – make sure you get your phones at Target as they have Rumor2 and Rumor Touch on sale – $89.99 and $119.99, and if you want to get bonus 60 minutes of talk time, enter the following “kickback” code during the activation process: B9wqJPPP
If I buy the blackberry from VM and decides to leave them,can’t I use my BB with another phone company?
phones on a carrier can only be used on another carrier if they are “unlocked”.
im using the old 2007 wild card right now to type this message (i really need to upgrade phones). my amazing phone guy told me about this new plan and its frikin awesome!!! so you can use an older phone, but you gotta find them. the best places are amazon or ebay. if you really wanna save money get google voice. you can make text and calls for free. but data and web are not supported.
I bought this phone and the $25 Beyond talk plan last night.
I’m returning it this afternoon. As soon as I program and activated my phone, it didn’t work. I could not place/receive calls or send/receive texts. I could get onto the internet, but it would crash.
I called the first time and they said that it may have been programmed incorrectly. She kindly helped me to reprogram my phone and told me that in 4 hours, I’d receive a text and could then start using my phone. I waited 8 hours. No text..same problem. I called them back, and they reprogramed my phone the 3rd time. She was really kind and helped me try and figure out what was going on.
My zip code is 95124. I live in San Jose, CA and I have no problem getting service here from any other company. The lady helping me came to the conclusion that it might be a defective phone. The phone itself (LG Rumor Touch) showed no evidence of defect apart from one–it kept telling me my battery was low even if I charged it overnight. I’m thinking there was a problem with the battery and overall, a huge huge problem with Virgin Mobile’s network.
The first woman I spoke to told me that I couldn’t get a refund on Top Up cards. The second woman, however (after I explained that I had tried everything and used zero minutes) gave me back a full refund. So don’t let them tell you that you can’t get a refund for Top Up minutes.
So basically, Virgin Mobile ended up being 24 hours of stress, frustration and disappointment.
The deal sounds too good to be true. Because it is. I have no idea why this phone didn’t work for me, apart from the fact that their network is shoddy. When I was purchasing this phone at Radio Shack, the cashier said he couldn’t connect to their network and activate my phone and that I should activate it myself at home. I should have taken that as a sign.
The only positive from this experience is that unlike other reviewers here, I had an awesome experience with customer service. The two women I spoke with both spoke English well, were highly intelligent and helped me the best they could. I don’t blame them for any of these issues, they were really sweet and intelligently ran through every possible reason and were stumped as well. Virgin Mobile’s network is shit. That’s it.
You’ll lose sleep over this shit plan. I hardly get scammed–and Virgin is such a big name, I’ve heard great things about their quality in other industries. Cell phones isn’t one of them. Read these reviews and save yourself the stress. Stick with Metro PCS if you want a cheap plan. Steer clear of this mess I got myself into.
i just got a text that said with this plan minutes are 10 cents a minute when u go over.
Those of you using Beyond Talk-a little help with the phone choice, please. I’d use this primarily for checking email away from home and as a second phone should something go wrong with Ooma. Text, IM, heavy web surfing not an issue. Suggestions as to which of the available phones appreciated. Essentially, I need a phone that’ll allow me to check webmail with minimal issues.
I am trying to decide if I should get the Rumor Touch or shell out the extra bucks for the Blackberry from VM. I have used VM for over 5 years and I am able to receive and make phone calls in the elevator at our hospital and through the tunnels as I drive without dropping a call. That’s insane, I love it. Currently, I have the good old Cyclops but I bought the Rumor2 for my hubby. Only thing I can’t stand about it is the screen and text on the web pages are teeny tiny. I have seen on YouTube that the Rumor Touch has a very tricky touch pad, but the Blackberry looks like it would have a small screen. I want to be able to use the web without my reading glasses. Any suggestions?
Oh btw use Opera Mini to browse it’s much faster.
anything cheaper then the touch wont have 3g from what i can see.
I just picked up the Rumor Touch for my wife and ported our landline to it. By default the plan was the 300 minute plan and Virgin Mobile will not let you upgrade your plan to the 1200 minute plan without forking over another $40, bringing the cost of the first month of the 1200 minute plan and the unlimited minute plan up another $25 just because they can.
The unlimited text, mms, and data is amazing and the email app is pretty good for a dumbphone. The touch screen on the Rumor Touch is very quirky. Sometimes it works great for me, sometimes the keyboard is necessary. Something that Virgin Mobile does not disclose is that they block you from downloading apps from getjar.com, which is the app store for dumbphones. It is still the best value in mobile phones in my area, so I will be getting one for myself as well.
I got an e-mail reply to an inquiry about getting the Rumor Touch and keeping my current 14.99 plan. They said the Loft, the Rumor2, the Rumor Touch, and the Blackberry only use the new beyond talk plan.
I wish I could feel comfortable about getting the Rumor Touch. The reviews are not positive enough for me to take the plunge yet. I’m drawn to the Blackberry but $300 is a lot to spend on a phone. Plus the data plan is extra.
My wife and I both have the cheap plans but I am going to need a smart phone (e-mail and web brwosing a must) soon for a new job. I don’t want a 2 year contract. This looks like the best option.
Okay im going to simplify everyones comments for everyone, ready!?
THE PLAN IS $25/MO FOR UNLIMITED TXT, INTERNET, DATA, AND YOU EVEN GET MINUTES!! if you want a blackberry ONLY $35/MO lets keep that in mind. This is a ridiculous low amount its allowed to have flaws and for that reason maybe its not right for everyone. However it can be a steal for some people.
1. If you don’t live in a big city or will need the phone everywhere you go, it doesn’t sound like this plan will be much help to you. However if you live in a big city like Miami for example and spend most of your time in the city, it doesn’t sound like coverage and drop calls will be an issue.
2. Yes you have to pay for a new phone, get over it! Sorry they don’t have a promotion for cheap or free phones when you sign up, and sounds like if you want to get online alot the lowest you’ll be paying for the phone is $130 and if you want a blackberry its $300. Okay so if you don’t have the extra money to invest in a new phone stick w/ your tracphone and shutup.
I plan on buying the blackberry curve tomorrow and signing up w/ virgin mobile that’s why im on here looking at reviews. im a college student about to go back down to miami so for me this sounds like a killer steal! ill be in a big city and im telling you $35 a month for a blackberry coverage is unheard of! who ever wrote the first review im sorry but did you think they where just going to give you a blackberry coverage and a blackberry for nothing extra?? The only other serves that comes close is metropcs for $50 a month n you still have to buy the blackberry. the only reason i wouldn’t buy virgin mobile is if i wasn’t in a very big city, but complaining because they went from $25 to $35 for a blackberry coverage is the stupidest thing i’ve ever hard!
(just based on the reviews i’ve read. Don’t actually use any phone w/ virgin mobbile at the moment.)
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