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It’s been quite the week for Virgin Mobile. They’ve enhanced their website, they’ve announced new family postpaid plans, and they’ve unveiled a prepaid broadband service. To cap off the week, they announced a new handset, the Samsung m340. Otherwise known as the Mantra, the m340 is a basic clamshell featuring a VGA camera, Bluetooth, and an external display. You can nab it for $60 at Virgin Mobile’s website.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on June 12th, 2009
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We knew about Virgin’s broadband offering back in May, but today they finally announced it. The Virgin Mobile broadband plan is just about ready. It will be offered along with the Novatel Wireless MC760 modem at Best Buy later this month. The modem will cost $149.99, and there are a few pricing plans for the service, all of which are pay-as-you-go. After the jump we’ll take a look at what Virgin has in store.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on June 11th, 2009
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Ever since Virgin Mobile acquired Helio last year, we knew they’d be venturing into postpaid territory. They clearly wouldn’t abandon their prepaid service, but with Helio’s back-end in place they could make a dual offering. Today they unveil family contract plans. They say that these are three new plans, but I hadn’t even seen the first of the family plans. After the jump we’ll go over the whole shebang.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on June 10th, 2009
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That screenshot is a new feature from Virgin Mobile. It’s from Bazaarvoice’s Ask & Answer service, and it’s essentially like Yahoo! Answers, but with a specific focus. Users can ask questions relating to various pages on Virgin Mobile’s website. If you’re browsing around, see if you can answer a question. The more people asking and answering, the better the service will be.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on June 9th, 2009
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It looks like Cricket won’t be the only prepaid player in the mobile broadband game. While their $40/month offering stands alone for now, word has circulated that Virgin Mobile will begin offering mobile broadband in June. This comes from a Best Buy inventory screenshot, so obviously it will launch through there. Whether it is an exclusive or not is unknown. After the jump, details on the modem and plan pricing.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on May 27th, 2009
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In a quarter when many rivals posted impressive, even record-breaking subscriber additions, Virgin Mobile took a bit of a hit. While they did manage 630,259 gross additions, once they factored in a 4.8 percent churn rate they were left with a net loss of 133,000 subscribers. Virgin remains optimistic on their outlook, noting that 55 percent of the gross additions were for hybrid plans, which is what VM wants. They’re looking to add “high lifetime value customers,” and apparently that starts with hybrid plans. This apparently has worked, as Virgin’s net income was up 301 percent from the first quarter 2008.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on May 12th, 2009
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Just after Virgin announced a cheaper unlimited calling plan, they also made it easier on individuals who get laid off. Even though it’s a prepaid service and the inability to pay normally means not having service, Virgin will pick up up to three months’ tab for any individual laid off. There are, of course, conditions to the offer, and it does require specific enrollment. More details after the jump.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on April 10th, 2009
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Once Boost Mobile unveiled its nationwide unlimited calling plan, many analysts believed that other carriers, particularly other prepaid carriers, would follow suit. We’re seeing that right now, as Virgin Mobile has announced a price reduction in their unlimited plan. This goes from the $80 plan they introduced last June to the $50 which Boost charges its customers. According to VM spokeswoman Jayne Wallace, this is “”definitely a response to the marketplace.” Pricing war, begin!

Posted in Virgin Mobile on April 9th, 2009
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CTIA is a time for new features and new handsets to be unveiled, and Virgin Mobile is no exception. They kicked things off with the announcements of Opera Mini and Connect, and now they’ve got a handset to introduce. It’s the Kyocera G2GO M200, the heir apparent to the Lingo. It looks a lot like a slider version of the Wild Card. Anyway, it features Bluetooth, a 1.3 megapixel camera, microSD expansion, and an MP3 player. It should drop later this month, though the pricing is not known at this time.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on April 3rd, 2009
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Good news for Virgin Mobile subscribers. The company has made two relatively big announcements at CTIA, both of which directly benefit the consumer. First up: Opera Mini. It’s one of the most popular, not to mention most universal, mobile Web browsers on the market. This is apparently made possible by Virgin’s acquisition of Helio last year. Opera Mini is currently used by more than 20 million people worldwide, and that number will surely grow as it is exposed to Virgin’s many subscribers.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on April 2nd, 2009
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It seems like at a time when consumers are looking to cut their cell spending, carriers are focused on premium products and services. For instance, we saw MetroPCS launch the BlackBerry Curve earlier this month. Not to be outdone, Virgin Mobile has started discussing the trick up its sleeve. The company plans to release touchscreen handsets. This seems like a peculiar move at this point, but CEO Dan Schulman thinks it fits right in with industry trends.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on March 23rd, 2009
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“In these tough economic times.” I’ve used that phrase many times in the past year, and better writers have used it even more frequently. Don’t expect it to stop any time soon, either. That doesn’t mean that we can’t do anything about it. Virgin Mobile, or more accurately Virgin Mobile Canada has launched a new website dedicated to everything recession. They aptly titled it Screw You Recession, though telling an economic movement to do anything seems a bit frivolous.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on March 18th, 2009
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In early February we heard about the Kyocera X-tc, which was ready to hit Virgin Mobile shelves. It’s ready to go now, up on the website for $100. Along with it is the Kyocera Jax, which is basically the Kyocera S1300 we saw launched on Cricket last month. No word on pricing for the Jax, but it could be as low as $10. That sounds like the right price, considering the phone’s lack of features.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on March 12th, 2009
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Last year, Boost Mobile decided to ditch the youth marketing and try for an older, more mature demographic. That paved the way for their new unlimited plan, which certainly appeals to a wider audience than the teenagers and 20-somethings they previously targeted. Now it looks like Virgin Mobile will take a similar tack. Their new ad campaign is certainly aimed at a more general audience than the youths they’ve been targeting since 2002.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on March 5th, 2009
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That there is the Kyocera X-tc, which made its way to Virgin Mobile’s website today (h/t Phone Scoop). It’s a slider with a full QWERTY keyboard and a big screen, measuring 240×320. Other features include a 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, Web browser, and media player. Best of all is the price, just $100. It has its own page, but is not listed with the other phones, and it doesn’t appear for sale yet. We’ll drop word when it does.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on February 5th, 2009
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It’s been hyped for quite some time, and with the issues surrounding Helio last year some thought it might never see the light of day. Now, though, we learn that Virgin Mobile will launch the Helio Ocean 2 on February 12. It takes advantage of Virgin’s EVDO network, giving users access to social networking applications, instant messaging, and of course the wireless Web. You can pick it up for $149.99 in just over a week.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on February 3rd, 2009
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Ready for another Best Buy exclusive from Virgin Mobile? This time it’s a pink LG Flare, and as you might imagine, sales proceeds will go to benefit breast cancer. Specifically, VM’s partnership is with Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The company will donate $5 from each unit sold (at $29.99), and will make a minimum contribution of $150,000. For more about the Flare, you can check out our original post on the handset.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on January 27th, 2009
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It looks like a la carte text messaging is up across the board. It wasn’t long ago that we learned of AT&T’s rate hike to 20 cents, which was followed closely by T-Mobile’s. We also learned recently that carriers are greatly overcharging for single messages, with the presumption that they’re trying to guarantee revenue in the form of message bundles. As Ian points out, we’re about to see the same from Virgin Mobile. Their rates are rumored to be on the uptick to 15 cents each. Bummer.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on January 20th, 2009
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It was only November when we learned that Virgin Mobile faced delisting on the New York Stock Exchange. Their valuation had fallen lower than NYSE standards, so they had 45 days to submit a business plan. On Friday we learned that the NYSE accepted the company’s business plan. There was little doubt that this would be the outcome, but the folks at Virgin Mobile have to be pleased.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on January 19th, 2009
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No, it’s not quite MetroPCS’s behemoth fourth quarter showing, but Virgin Mobile USA didn’t do so poorly themselves. They picked up a net 216,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter, bringing their total to roughly 5,380,000, or just shy of Metro’s mark. This level of growth was aided by a 4.8 percent churn rate, which is considerably lower than their 5.5 percent mark in the third quarter. That was even better than Metro’s 5.1 percent churn.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on January 8th, 2009
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Throughout the current economic downturn, we’ve seen a number of media outlets begin to discuss prepaid wireless as a way to cut household costs. We’ve seen prepaid carriers gain subscribers in this time, and even saw T-Mobile add more prepaid customers than postpaid in the third quarter. We haven’t, however, seen prepaid carriers aggressively pushing this message. That could change soon, as Virgin Mobile has hired Shift Communications to help convey its message.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on January 5th, 2009
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Times have not been good for Sprint. The nation’s No. 3 wireless carrier has been losing subscribers all year, and it’s unknown if that will change during this fourth quarter. If they do lose another million or so, though, it won’t be for lack of effort on their part. They scored well on their second straight customer service survey, which means they’re improving on their biggest weakness. They’re also offering more incentives to MVNO Virgin Mobile. They’ll pay out a bonus for customers added in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on December 24th, 2008
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It seems Virgin Mobile knows its customers. They’re mainly of the teenage and early 20s crowd, with whom social networking is a big thing. So what have they done? They’ve launched two social networking services. There are for use with both their prepaid and postpaid customers — postpaid meaning current Helio customers. These include “Connect,” which gives users updates from social media and networking sites, and “Mobile Lounge,” which is a “Virgin Mobile USA customer-exclusive mobile community.” It can be found on the VirginXL deck.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on December 5th, 2008
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There’s some more bad news for Virgin Mobile. Earlier this week, the company announced job cuts amounting to 10 percent of their workforce. Late yesterday news hit the wires that they have received a notice of non-compliance from the New York Stock Exchange. The company went public just over a year ago, their stock opening at $15.00 and closing its first day at a gain. They’ve tumbled since then, as their stock is now below $1.00.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on November 20th, 2008
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We heard last April that Virgin Mobile might be cutting some jobs. Back then, the rumor claimed 300 jobs would be slashed, but Jayne Wallace, VP of Corporate Communications, set the record straight. This week, we learned of actual layoffs. Virgin will cut 45 jobs, which amounts to 10 percent of their workforce. This is a drastic decrease from the rumored 300, which would account for two thirds of their employees.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on November 19th, 2008
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Two days, two content deal for Virgin Mobile. Yesterday it was youth-oriented news sites from the Associated Press. Today we learn about a partnership with Local.com. This will provide local search services to Virgin Mobile customers, allowing them to find businesses, products, and services in their area.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on November 13th, 2008
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Do youngsters care about the news? Many say no, but the Associated Press aims to find out for sure. Yesterday they announced two youth-oriented mobile websites, which they hope will resonate with users of Virgin Mobile USA. Not that they’re serving up actual news. It’s more like the fluff of the wire service’s wide range of news items. Yet, they think they can capture an audience elusive to most major news organizations.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on November 12th, 2008
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We saw from Virgin Mobile’s second quarter results that the company is going through some tough times. Just a week after that announcement, though, they officially picked up Helio, which gave them a boost for the third quarter. Numbers weren’t great on the whole; they still lost subscribers and realized increased churn from last year. However, the situation was mitigated a bit by the acquisition of Helio.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on November 11th, 2008
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We’ve talked about prepaid international calling before, but we’ve never really brought Virgin Mobile into the picture. Looks like they’re forcing their way in. They’ve announced lower prepaid international calling rates to Latin America, South America, and Asia. These are said to go as low as two cents per minute, though keep in mind this means two cents per minute plus applicable airtime. So if you’re getting Virgin minutes at 10 cents each, a 2-cent international call would cost 12 cents per minute.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on October 17th, 2008
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The holidays are nearing, and that means plenty of shopping for your favorite friends and relatives. Some might enjoy the act of shopping — sifting through a sea of people just to check the price on something you want for dear Aunt Pearl. For others, though, shopping is a perilous task. Virgin Mobile USA is trying to make things a bit easier on you. They’ve teamed with Slifter for a location-based way to shop. The application allows customers to search products (from among 300 million) and find local availability, as well as directions to the closest store. It’s like shopping online, only you get the joy of instant gratification.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on October 16th, 2008
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There are just so many awards these days that it’s tough to keep up. In the mobile space, we mainly turn to J.D. Power and Associates, a company that specializes in surveys and the awards which stem from them. Today we look at the Silver Circle SPARC (Supplier Performance Awards by Retail Category) award, handed out by the nation’s top retailers. This one goes to Virgin Mobile USA, as they’re being recognized for “new product innovation, service programs, delivery commitments, replenishment, advertising support and overall account management.”

Posted in Virgin Mobile on September 29th, 2008
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I’m not sure why more companies, especially prepaid phone carriers, don’t have referral programs in place. They’re win-win. The customer gets a reward for bringing someone else into the fold, providing them with motivation to do so. The company obviously gets business, possibly business they wouldn’t have had otherwise. When you’re dealing with a service-oriented industry like cellular, that can translate into hundreds, even thousands of dollars over the course of time. On Friday, Ian detailed changes to Virgin Mobile’s Kickbacks program.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on September 16th, 2008
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It seems that when we hear a bit of news from Virgin Mobile, we’re bound to hear a bit more in the coming days. So when they dropped the Helio by Virgin Mobile news on Tuesday, you knew there was more to come — especially since this is CTIA. The latest is the official announcement on the Shuttle, which we discussed earlier in the week. This is Virgin’s first EVDO handset, and it will take advantage of many features and services which came along with the Helio acquisition.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on September 11th, 2008
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That logo to the right? That’s the new logo for Helio which, as you know, was bought by Virgin Mobile USA not too long ago. They took the first step in their integration yesterday at CTIA, announcing the brand as Helio by Virgin Mobile. It also comes with the nifty tag line “Plan to have it all.” That makes perfect sense, since Helio’s premier line features unlimited plans. The Helio.com main page displays two plans: unlimited voice for $80 and unlimited voice, text, email, IM, mobile Web, GPS, data — the whole shebang — for $99. Looks like they’re taking the fight right to Sprint, the company which hosts their MVNO.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on September 10th, 2008
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When you’re out and about in the city — any city, really, but particularly one unfamiliar to you — don’t you want to have information on the best entertainment venues? Which club has the best shows? Which restaurant serves the most succulent steak? Virgin Mobile has added a social network and entertainment service called buzzd, which will provide those services over Virgin’s WAP deck. Dubbed “buzzd on Virgin Mobile,” the service will provide editorial and user information and reviews about venue pricing, location, and other details, such as special events.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on September 3rd, 2008
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This news came down the pike on Friday afternoon, but we’re only covering it now. Why? Because your trusty editor was enclosed in a metal tube, some 30,000 feet in the air, on his way home from the Prepaid Press Expo when it broke. After passing through the proper legal and regulatory bodies, the merger between Virgin Mobile and Helio is a done deal. As under the original terms of the deal, SK Telecom and EarthLink will receive “limited partnership units and shares equivalent to 13 million shares of Virgin Mobile USA stock.”

Posted in Virgin Mobile on August 25th, 2008
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By now, most people are familiar with ringback tones. You know, the songs that play while you’re waiting for your buddy to pick up the phone. The biggest complaint about these is that they get old. Really fast. I had a friend who had “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” as her ringback tone for the better part of two years. That got a little annoying. With Virgin Mobile, you won’t run into this issue. They’ve just teamed with LiveWire Mobile to create ringback playlists. Now you can treat your friends to a rotating set of songs, rather than the same on over and over again.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on August 18th, 2008
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The months of April through June were not kind to Virgin Mobile. While they introduced an unlimited calling plan and acquired Helio, those two moves didn’t occur until the final week of the quarter. They took some lumps before that, losing 111,273 customers in those three months, according to Reuters. Over 728,000 people signed up for the company’s plans, but even more decided to quit.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on August 14th, 2008
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USA Today has a much-cited article on the success of Virgin Mobile. Rather than rehash it from top to bottom, let’s take a look at some of the key elements of where Virgin Mobile did right where most other MVNOs went wrong. Before even delving into the article, though, we know that being an early adopter certainly helped their cause. Back in 2002, when they launched, there weren’t too many MVNOs, though one of their competitors, Boost Mobile, was already targeting the youth market. So how did they differentiate?

Posted in Virgin Mobile on July 17th, 2008
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If we’ve learned nothing else from the Internet, it’s that some videos can spread like viruses. What was filmed in one kid’s basement one day might be viewed by 100,000 people the next day. A new charity drive involving Virgin Mobile aims to use the power of viral videos in order to raise money. It has garnered considerable controversy, though, as the campaign involves younsters performing stripteases. Unsurprisingly, many special interest groups are outraged at the notion.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on July 14th, 2008
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Earlier this week, we learned that UTStarcom is divesting its handset division. Sad news for Starcom fans across the globe. But they’re not quite done yet. Virgin Mobile has announced the release of a new device from the manufacturer, the Arc. It’s a rather basic clamshell phone, featuring Bluetooth, a necessity in the age of hands-free laws, and a VGA camera. The cost isn’t half-bad, though, running just $49.99. A picture of the beauty after the jump.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on July 3rd, 2008
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In an effort to deliver more premium content to its user base, Virgin Mobile has announced a partnership with PlayPhone. They are the “largest network of mobile content destinations in North America.” This includes media from Sony BMG, Cartoon Network, Konami, ABC Television, and more. So this will open up Virgin subscribers’ choices when it comes to mobile media.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on July 2nd, 2008
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So there are going to be some changes coming at Virgin Mobile. What follows is pure speculation, but hey, that’s the fun part about these acquisitions. It looks certain that Virgin will adopt a postpaid tier once the Helio acquisition passes through the necessary approval steps. The question for us prepaid kids is what this means for their current lineup of prepaid plans. I’m not quite sure they’ll hang onto all of those plans, and then have a series of postpaid plans on top of it. It kind of sounds like, gasp, Amp’d Mobile. So what will Virgin do to avoid that beaten path?

Posted in Virgin Mobile on July 1st, 2008
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In a move that had been rumored for nearly two months, Virgin Mobile USA finally made the announcement on Friday that they have bought Helio. The joint venture of SK Telecom and EarthLink will be sold to Virgin for $39 million in common stock. SK Telecom will also get two seats on Virgin’s board of directors. Of course, there still remains the issue of what will happen to the service. So let’s go over the salient points.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on June 30th, 2008
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And we get our official announcement. The deal will be for about $39 million in equity, or 13 million shares of Virgin Mobile stock. There are a number of other financial details that go along with the deal, including an investment by SK Telecom of $25 million in Virgin Mobile. I’m sure we’ll cover this a lot more come Monday.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on June 27th, 2008
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While Virgin Mobile’s announcement of an unlimited calling plan might have sounded good to prepaid aficionados, it didn’t resonate well with the folks on Wall St. The company’s stock took a 15 percent hit, partly because of Pali Research downgraded it to “sell.” The reason given by analyst Walter Piecyk: “We do not believe its new rate plans will help ARPU because we do not believe they are relevant to its addressable market.”

Posted in Virgin Mobile on June 25th, 2008
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While there has been no official comment from either party, the rumors of a Virgin-Helio merger have heated up this week. The Financial Times posted a report last night which suggested that the deal was agreed to in principle, and that an announcement could come this week. It has since been picked up by a number of other reputable sources, including Reuters. From the looks of it, Virgin will absorb Helio brand. Everything will be Virgin Mobile USA.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on June 25th, 2008
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Virgin Mobile made quite a splash late yesterday, as they introduced an unlimited calling plan. This is going to be right along the lines of Verizon and AT&T, which each offer subscribers unlimited voice minutes for $99 per month. Virgin will do the same, though their price is $79.99. The plan can be purchased starting July 1, and is available to all new and existing Virgin Mobile customers. Unlimited messaging can still be added for $10 per month.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on June 24th, 2008
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Mercifully, the presidential primary season is over. Anyone who followed the proceedings knows that a number of companies provide polling data. These polls are constantly cited by the media, as if they have any impact on the actual vote. You can add Virgin Mobile to the list. They are offering a text message polling service for their subscribers, most of whom are under the age of 25. And wouldn’t you know, they favor Barack Obama over John McCain.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on June 6th, 2008
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If you’re a Virgin Mobile subscriber and also plan on attending the VIrgin Mobile Festival, here’s a chance to get a good deal on the popular Kyocera Wild Card phone. Virgin has created 15,000 special edition models in conjunction with the Virgin Mobile Festival, which will take place August 9 through 10 in Baltimore. Anyone with this edition phone will be admitted to the VIP area. All you’ve gotta do is show ‘em your handset, and you’re in! Plus, you’ll get some more goodies with the new Wild Card, too.

Posted in Virgin Mobile on May 30th, 2008
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