I’m back from my trip which ending up costing me more than I planned. While on the trip my Sprint phone died on me. I had been looking at the LG Optimus V Prepaid Android Phone for Virgin Mobile for a while now and I decided to go ahead and get it. I don’t usually have any desire for electronic gadgets but I had been wanting this phone did appeal to me. I can somewhat rationalize the purchase since my plan with Virgin Mobile will only be about $27 a month with tax for unlimited text, data, nights and weekends and 300 anytime minutes and my plan with Sprint is just over $35 a month. With the slightly over $8 a month savings I’ll break even on my purchase in 21 months. It will actually be a little less than that since I did make my purchase through Mr. Rebates which will give me 1% cash back and I should get another 1% cash back from my Discover credit card. I’m also hoping I can sell my old phone for a little cash.
I haven’t done much with the phone yet so I am hoping that it works as well as I think it will. The setup process was a little messed up and I see three pending charges in my debit card account for the setup when there should only be one. I’m guessing the other two will go away and only one will be completed but I’m keeping my eye on the account in the meantime. If you have a more expensive phone plan than making this switch would be easier to justify.
I included a link to the Amazon page selling this phone but I bought mine through Best Buy which I think offers a better price right now. Make sure you shop around because the prices for this phone vary quite a bit.
Andy, I’ve had Verizon for over 20 years. Though I’m satisfied with their service, I don’t like being locked into a 2 year contract, and also their service is more expensive. I’m interested in your purchasing the new phone and going with a different carrier.
Would you please post in a few weeks letting us know how the phone and the service are going for you? Thank you.
When buying a phone, the specs can really say a lot but for me the actual feel and touch of the gadget is what matters. So to all phone buyers out there, go ahead and see the phone and touch and play with it before buying it.
http://www.creditdonkey.com/right-discount.html
Just make sure you don’t go over your 300 anytime minutes — even one hour of overage charges can wipe out years of phone-plan savings!
Please let us know how it performs.
Virgin has been overselling their network (they get a small piece of Sprint’s bandwidth) with “unlimited” data plans, and many report their devices are basically unusable.
Sprint Network, historically, had good EVDO performance, with somewhat inferior voice quality and coverage.
Panicky Paula, calm down. This is a prepaid phone – there are no overage charges, they just cut you off.
Sounds like you have a good deal. I hope it all works out for you. I tend to shy away from switching companies because you hear so much about dead zones or bad reception. I think it all depends on the indivdual companies and the area you are in. In my area Verizon seems to give the best coverage.
I moved to TMobile’s prepaid and couldn’t be happier! No smartphone features, just basic voice and text for 100 bucks! I get 1000 minutes that has to be used within a year! (I guess I’m even more of a tight fisted miser!!!) 🙂
I actually had TMobile prepaid a couple of years ago and I figured my cost to be less than $8 per month but now I use my cell phone more so I can’t get by with that setup. I do think it is the best solution for those who don’t use their cell phones much.