Porting to Virgin Mobile, good idea?

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betty85

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Hi guys

I've reached my upgrade date on my VC contract and as usual I've spent quite some time looking around at my options. I've been with VC since I first ever got a cell number and am hesitant to leave, but I've realised there's no point in brand loyalty if the brand you're with has no benefits!

I've been thinking of moving to Virgin Mobile now that they have 3G but I'm worried re getting stuck with a company I have no experience with for 2 years! Has anyone out there got experience with them? The worst I've heard thusfar is bad customer service, but that said, I've never experienced good service from a mobile company!

I'm looking at the Samsung Galaxy SII which on Virgin is free and their data charges are 60c/MB, whereas on VC I'd have to pay in R2000+ and pay R2/MB (on TopUp)

Thoughts/suggestions/alternatives?
 
I've been with Virgin Mobile for just over 3 years.There is the odd network problem, but normally only that sms's are delayed for a couple of hours. This has happened 3 times in the 3 years. Other than that you just need to check up on them while porting to ensure that they submit the port request when they are supposed to.
In my experience (Vodacom and MTN) they are no worse than the other service providers.
 
hey, thanks for your reply. I was wondering about data throughput, have you got any comparison in terms of their network speeds vs Vodacom? I don't want to buy a top of the line smartphone and then have a horrible network to use it on! I mainly sms and use data, calling is seldom and as you say, I've found that VC isn't exactly something to speak of in terms of call quality.

Re port request - did you have issues when you ported?
 
At home the data connection is fine, but at work I struggle. Must say that at work MTN and Vodacom subscribers also struggle, so is probably more a network thing.
With 2 of our numbers, they 'lost' the porting number. This meant we had to request it again. As we checked with them the day before it was supposed to be ported, it wasn't a problem. We also had a problem where MTN did not want to release a number, so maybe just check with VC as well to make sure that there is no reason why you cannot be ported. We found that it works best if you convert your number to prepaid before porting.
 
No, it is a bad idea, especially since you only want to go there for a 'free' Galaxy phone.

Go to 8ta before you go to Virgin.
 
@ABCpt thanks for that, will make sure on both sides give me the right info if I go across!

@lcbxx, why do you say it's a bad idea? I'm actually not just going for the free phone - the significantly cheaper data costs are quite a pull too! On the same monthly spend, 8ta would charge me R2900+ pay in for the phone, even more that VC, and their data is charged at R1/MB, which is better than VC, but more than VM
 
betty85 said:
@ABCpt thanks for that, will make sure on both sides give me the right info if I go across!

@lcbxx, why do you say it's a bad idea? I'm actually not just going for the free phone - the significantly cheaper data costs are quite a pull too! On the same monthly spend, 8ta would charge me R2900+ pay in for the phone, even more that VC, and their data is charged at R1/MB, which is better than VC, but more than VM
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You asked for an opinion, which I offered. If you want cheap data, go with FNB Connect. It is 69c a meg and you can buy it with ebucks as well. If you bank with them, you get data discounts too. It is however currently limited to Vodacom and MTN direct contract customers.
 
lcbxx said:
You asked for an opinion, which I offered. If you want cheap data, go with FNB Connect. It is 69c a meg and you can buy it with ebucks as well. If you bank with them, you get data discounts too. It is however currently limited to Vodacom and MTN direct contract customers.
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An opinion is normally based on experience. Just saying it is a bad idea isn't very useful.
 
@lcbxx, FNB's data rates seem to be at best 59c/MB - 1c less than Virgin, not a huge jump there, and my issue is more in question to data throughput and stability more than price - in terms of SPs, Virgin has the best per MB rate right now from what I can see (within top-up airtime).

the myBB forums seem to have quite a few negative reviews of Virgin's network however interspersed with positive accounts to counter these negative views. Since the Cell C pull out and Virgin's 'full 3G' network availability I'm wondering what the current state of the network is.

Also strangely enough I see quite a few mentions of specifically the Samsung Galaxy SII on their network initially not being able to connect via mobile data, I'm wondering if this is a reflection on the network or the device itself.

I just cannot see how the likes of VC and 8ta would charge R2-3k payin for a device that VM hands out for free!
 
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Galaxy S2 is a good choice. Their R320/m deal was the best, including airtime/data minutes, but Vodacom is offering a summer special for the SG 2 at R249 on business talk, I think. Even with the R70/m difference, virgin's offer looks better.

i compared virgin's R320 deal and Vodacom's top-up 135 for either SG 2 or sensation. Even with pay-in, with moderate call/data use, vodacom's top-up is slightly cheaper over 2 years. It depends though how much data/calls you usually make.

i'm with virgin now on prepaid - very good deal, cheaper than their listed price - and have no prob's. But i'm waiting for h ta coverage then i'll get their R149 bundle for my sensation and keep the virgin SIM for a second, cheap phone.
 
Problem with VC's business talk/call contract is you're only getting specially rated minutes, no SMSs or data (or at least data worth any amount). I generally send 70-100 SMS's per month, call a very few times (but need it no matter what) and the rest is data. I'm on VC Top Up 315 at the mo and the Virgin option works out far better with their data charges and of course as I mentioned R0 payin.

Glad to hear you ok on VM, I've been browsing the forums here and I see a lot of bad press with everyone moaning from unfounded extra billing, loss of SMSes/calls and poor network reception - beginning to worry about porting away
 
betty85 said:
Problem with VC's business talk/call contract is you're only getting specially rated minutes, no SMSs or data (or at least data worth any amount). I generally send 70-100 SMS's per month, call a very few times (but need it no matter what) and the rest is data. I'm on VC Top Up 315 at the mo and the Virgin option works out far better with their data charges and of course as I mentioned R0 payin.

Glad to hear you ok on VM, I've been browsing the forums here and I see a lot of bad press with everyone moaning from unfounded extra billing, loss of SMSes/calls and poor network reception - beginning to worry about porting away
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Are you stuck on the SG 2? On VM's R320 classic contract for sensation etc you get 1000 SMS a month free. The rest of your airtime u can use on data if u don't call a lot. Or else their new 200 flexi contract for SG 2 - R320/m with 1GB free data/month. I wish the latter was available Oct before i bought the sensation - i would've swapped with the SG2
 
hi Tigerman

Both Sensation and SGII are great phones and you can get them on exact same pricing (bar SMSes - not a huge issue) from VM, the question for me is not the phone, but the network stability. The reason this contract is an option is because its exactly like my VC TopUp - pure airtime (cash) to use as I please - but with VM I'd be getting similar call costs (post first-minute) and significantly cheaper data rates - BUT cheaper data is useless if the network sucks - hence my hesitance to switch!
 
I hear you.
A housemate has a MTN blackberry but his broadband download speed is slower - really slow in fact - than my sensation, but that may be due to the sensation's 14 Mbps 3G and the BB not.
I've had no dropped calls or unsent SMS' around C Town area - overall no problems with virgin's network that i can tell. In my unscientific opinion, its similar to my previous (vodacom) reception.
 
Tigerman said:
I hear you.
A housemate has a MTN blackberry but his broadband download speed is slower - really slow in fact - than my sensation, but that may be due to the sensation's 14 Mbps 3G and the BB not.
I've had no dropped calls or unsent SMS' around C Town area - overall no problems with virgin's network that i can tell. In my unscientific opinion, its similar to my previous (vodacom) reception.
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That's a pretty positive thing to hear :-) My wife's BB is on VC and my (now old) HTC Magic is also, the speed differences are shocking - BBs seem to have rather shoddy throughput, even though we got her the 9300 "3G".

How did you experience porting to VM from VC?
 
betty85 said:
That's a pretty positive thing to hear :-) My wife's BB is on VC and my (now old) HTC Magic is also, the speed differences are shocking - BBs seem to have rather shoddy throughput, even though we got her the 9300 "3G".

How did you experience porting to VM from VC?
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Can't answer that. I'm using the VM SIM i got with the handset - porting sounded like too much hassle. It was minor prob changing contacts to new number but since i use the handset mostly for data and SMS, it wasn't too big an issue with me. I sometimes hear people say they have dual SIMS.
sorry, can't help with the porting experience
 
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