Virgin Mobile

Network: Sprint PCS (no roaming)

Shop a phone: click here
Phone reviews: Coming Soon!

Airtime Refills: click here

Website: www.virginmobileusa.com
Customer Service: 1-888-322-1122

Standout features: Unlimited voice and messaging options, web access (at 3G speeds with certain phones), “Broadband2Go” mobile data card service

Overview: This company is focused on the teen market, or people who were teens when Virgin Mobile started several years back. Their phones are some of the most advanced on prepaid, if not the most solidly built. Powered (and half-owned) by Sprint, they have 3G data with some phones, just like Sprint. They even have a data card available, if you don’t mind paying five or six times the cost per GB of a contracted Sprint plan.

Pros: Large phone selection, variety of rate plans, plenty of features, unlimited voice for $50 with inexpensive messaging and data addons

Cons: Some low-quality phones (Kyocera), some higher-than-average rates, limited to on-network Sprint coverage

Good for: The high-tech crowd who want their phone to do everything all the time, whether that’s talking, texting, surfing the web or sending picture messages.

PLAN SELECTION
20¢ per minute or choose a minute pack (minutes carry over as long as one is purchased every 30 days) or monthly plan
15¢ per text, IM or e-mail, 25¢ per MMS, or choose a monthly plan
$1.50 per MB or 24 hours of data, whichever comes first, or choose a monthly plan

Minute packs – $20 for 200 (10¢ per minute), $30 for 400 (7.5¢ per minute), $50 for 1000 (5¢ per minute)
Message packs on basic or minute pack plans – $5 for 200 (2.5¢ each), $10 for 1000 (1¢ each), $20 for unlimited
Web access packs on basic or minute pack plans – $5 for 5MB ($1 per MB), $10 for 20MB (50¢ per MB), $20 for 50MB (40¢ per MB)

Texter’s Delight – $14.99 per month for 1000 messages, $19.99 for unlimited, 10¢ per minute
Monthly Plans – $29.99 per month for 300 anytime, 1000 night/weekend minutes (starting at 7 p.m.), $39.99 for 400 anytime, unlimited night/weekend, $49.99 for unlimited anytime
Message packs on Monthly Plans – $5 for 1000 messages (0.5¢ per message) or $10 for unlimited
Web access packs on Texter’s Delight or Monthly Plans – $5 for 20MB (25¢ per MB), $10 for 50MB (20¢ per MB)

International Rates – click here

Airtime expires in 90 days if not used or refilled unless $80 of airtime is added at once, then expiration is 1 year

PHONE SELECTION
Samsung Mantra (camera phone with Bluetooth) – $59.99
Kyocera X-tc (1.3 megapixel camera music messaging phone with stereo Bluetooth and QWERTY keyboard) – $99.99
Kyocera Jax (bar phone) – $9.99
UTStarCom Shuttle (3G Stereo Bluetooth slider phone with 1.3 megapixel camera) – $79.99
Kyocera TNT! (flip phone) – $14.99
LG Flare (flip phone with Bluetooth) – $19.99
UTStarCom Arc (camera flip phone with Bluetooth) – $49.99
Samsung Slash (camera slider phone with Bluetooth) – $79.99
Kyocera Marbl (flip phone) – $9.99
LG Aloha (flip phone) – $49.99
All phones have text messaging capability and speakerphone

Got a review or a question? Leave it in the comments!