I am thinking of leaving Sprint for Virgin Mobile to get my bill down from $129 a month to maybe $65 for 2 lines. I know Sprint owns Virgin Mobile so I think the service will be about the same. I talked to people at Radio Shack and Best Buy and got a negative review from Radio Shack and a good one from Best Buy. I am just wondering if anyone in El Paso can provide some real world feedback on their experience with VM. Thanks in advance.
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VM in El Paso
- Thread starter jreza
- Start date
TVCCS
Android Enthusiast
If you look at the VM coverage map, all their coverage in the El Paso area is supposed to be 3G. You can check your own Sprint usage to see how much of it is local to Sprint's network, and how much is roaming. Some phones have that option on the phone, but if it doesn't, you should be able to get that info from Sprint. I did that check on my own phone before buying a VM phone, and in my case, my roaming use was only about 2%, but that will vary for each customer and location.
Coverage Map - Cell Phone Coverage from Virgin Mobile
Coverage Map - Cell Phone Coverage from Virgin Mobile
Perhaps a trial run is in order before you actually leave sprint. You can get one of the really cheap phones and like 10 dollar plan or so just to test out the coverage around town before you actually leave Sprint. I would try that first. I plan on doing this myself before long.
TVCCS
Android Enthusiast
While it's always a good idea to test service while you can...remember that Virgin uses Sprint's network. As long as you're not roaming a lot on your Sprint phone, your VM coverage should be pretty much the same. If you get a $10 plan from Virgin, you won't have 3G service, which is essential if you're going the Smartphone route. You can certainly get the $25 Beyond Talk plan and test on that. I have Sprint and VM smartphones and have to roam very little in my area, and the service to the two phones is essentially identical.
Where you run into service issues with Virgin as opposed to Sprint is that if you travel a lot, or live in a more rural area, Virgin will not switch to Verizon's network as a back up, unlike Sprint.
Traveling is the next part of my plan that I have to consider. Most of my travel will be to large cities so I don't "expect" my coverage to be degraded much while on the road. Obviously if I travel between cities then my coverage may not be as good. I do want to have 3G capability so I need to get a 3G phone at Virgin. I was going to get the Optimum S when I renewed since 4G won't come to El Paso for another year at least. Then the $10 a month fee came up and I decided if I was going to upgrade then I wanted to do so for less $$ without giving up service. That's how I started moving to Virgin.
Took the plunge today. Bought the Optimus V for my wife and am setting it up for her. I am really impressed with the phone as it is much faster and smoother than my Hero. We are traveling to northern and southern California in a week so that will be the test for how it behaves on the road. We will be driving from LA to Monterey and back. If all or most goes well I will be leaving Sprint for VM and its lower cost. I will have to pay the ETF but I will be in the black soon enough as I will be getting the $25 per month plan.