Virgin Mobile to roll out a fully customizable prepaid plan with limited web access

By Rich Edmonds
last updated

Virgin Mobile will be rolling out a new no-contract wireless plan, sold exclusively through Walmart. The mobile operator will be offering Americans the ability to activate up to five phone lines for a monthly fee starting from just $7 for each line. Available on August 9th, those who opt for Virgin Custom will have the option to customize everything to suit current needs and requirements, so long as you only enjoy using some of the popular social networks available.

The idea is to better empower customers (who can't afford or do not wish to take out contracts) when it comes to selecting how much they require from a wireless plan, while making it so subscribers can only access the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest. Subscribers will be able to manage their plans through a mobile interface. Instead of offering unlimited access to all websites, Sprint will restrict access to just a few of the popular apps. Other apps may be added in future, but for now you'll need a data plan for everything else.

Pricing will see subscribers charged $5 for each of the big sites detailed above, while $15 will allow access to all four. That's on top of the $7 line rental.

For the time being, enjoy the helpful little video published by Virgin Mobile. Interested? Stay tuned for August 8th when this new wireless plan becomes available.

Source: Virgin Mobile{.nofollow}, via: WSJ

6 Comments
  • I'll definitely be checking this out. Posted via Android Central App
  • Wonder how coverage is compared to ATT? Posted via Android Central App
  • Absolute crap. It might be different where you live, but when I was on VM I had decent signal in my home town, good signal in some nearby major cities, and nearly no signal anywhere else. Also, even when I did have good signal, it was the most unreliable and sketchy network I've ever used. There were signal outages that lasted days at least twice a month, the 3G was borderline useless, and the customer service was just awful.
    YMMV, but where I was, $7 a month was about all that network was worth.
    Am now on AT&T-based StraightTalk, and while it seems to have its own special set of issues, at least I've never been without signal.
  • It uses Sprint Network, so if Sprint is better (is it?) Than AT&T or any other carrier in your home/work/fun etc. town than go for it Posted via Android Central App on my T-Mobile LG G3
  • i just left virgin mobile for an att mvno. virgin mobile has terrible coverage unless you live in a city and never travel. because sprint customers get to roam on verizon they don't have a problem. i say avoid virgin mobile.
  • Well, I have had this service for a week now, and I am very pleased. Our main attraction was the low cost; we have 250 min./750 texts/$5 Pinterest /no data (use wi-fi) = less than 1/3 of what we were paying on the lowest AT&T contract plan (and, in my research, cheaper than any other pre-paid plan out there). Signal strength has been good, keeping in mind we live in the Chicago suburbs - and in our calling patterns, it actually has better signal strength and sounds better than AT&T. Bought the middle phone in the lineup (LG Pulse); a little learning curve coming from the Apple world, but the main functions are easy enough to figure out. Small instruction manual covers the basics - there is a lot of stuff/icons going on the screen that I will have to google about. Very hard to find cases for this phone - not many LG cases in general at Fry's, Best Buy, Target, etc. Ended up buying an Otterbox knock-off for LG phones at the local mall.
    Caveats - not all Walmarts carry this program even in good signal strength areas, supply was very low at rollout, and store associates will probably be setting these up for the first time. (Hint: if you have a 9-digit AT&T account number, pad it with 3 zero's at the end to get by that setup step...)
    I understand the concerns about net neutrality, etc. but given our budget, pocketbook trumped principle. I love the feature that you can make changes to the rate plan on the fly on the phone. (We'll probably dial up the data option when we go on vacation.) This is probably not everyone's cup of tea, but it is nice to know there are programs for people who don't need everything, every time.