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Check out VirginMobile's Data Plans.

$25, prepaid, for 300 minutes and 'unlimited data'.

The LG Optimus V is on-sale right now at Target for $130 + $20 Gift Card. Plus, you can get cheap rates on the refills:

Save an extra 5% with your RedCard. I like to buy my Top Up Cards with my RedCard at Target, since I get 5% off. The best deal is getting the $20 RECHARGEABLE Top-Up card from Target. For every 5 charges, you get $10 free. Plus 5% off with the RedCard.

The terms of service for those plans don't seem to make sense from a technical perspective:

Beyond Talk Plans: $25.00 per month for unlimited domestic text messages, picture messages, instant messages ("IM") and email messages, unlimited video, unlimited access to Downloads (VirginXL) and the mobile Internet (but not unlimited downloaded content), and 300 anytime minutes.

I know it's legalese, but I've always been told that the point of such arcane terminology is to accurately and unambiguously cover all eventualities (usually in the context of none of those eventualities being the company's fault, but I digress). How can one reconcile " unlimited access to ... the mobile Internet" with "but not unlimited downloaded content" - is the mobile internet somehow defined differently to the regular internet? Obviously if something ends up getting from a server to your phone it's been downloaded, but under their odd definition does something count if it's only stored in RAM? What if it's cached on the persistent memory but automatically deleted? What if it's not automatically deleted?

Did you look at the link I posted?

From http://www.virginmobileusa.com/legal/terms-of-service-virgin-mobile#bb2g_plans_expiring

Until February 14, 2011, you may purchase or switch to the $40 Broadband2Go plan described below. If as of February 15, 2011 the last plan you purchased was the $40 Broadband2Go plan, you may continue to purchase the $40 Broadband2Go plan until further notice or until you switch to one of the other Broadband2Go plans. Once you switch to another Broadband2Go plan, you will not be able to switch back to the $40 Broadband2Go plan. If as of February 15, 2011 the last plan you purchased was a plan other than $40 Broadband2Go plan, you will not be able to purchase or switch to the $40 Broadband2Go plan.

No, he bought a device on their broadband2go plan "the only internet you'll ever need" that has been and is still advertised as unlimited data for $40/month.

You even have a month to buy in to the old plan if you so desire, which I find surprising.

Not quite. Virgin's Broadband2Go is month to month, there is no contract. So if you pay for B2G service on 14 February you will not be throttled throughout the rest of February but after 14 March you will be throttled if you go over 5GB.

I fully support this. Normal users won't use that much, however for businesses and such that need more bandwidth Virgin should offer higher priced plans with more bandwidth.

Falcon

If you don't already have the $40 'Unlimited' level on automatic update/renewal, you won't be able to buy it in the future.

They're not going to offer it at all. Just the lower level, much more limited data (and those ARE a hard limit.)

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/legal/terms-of-service-virgin-mobile#bb2g_plans_expiring

And they may cancel it completely in the future.

NOTICE: Broadband2Go Terms of Service have changed which potentially impact download and upload throughput speeds on the $40 Broadband2Go Plan when monthly data usage exceeds 5GB. The new terms and conditions will apply to new and existing customers purchasing Broadband2Go Plans on or after 2/15/11. Read More: http://www.virginmobileusa.com/legal/terms-of-service-virgin-mobile#bb2g

My voice plan through Virgin Mobile USA is currently $5 per month. Does any Android phone plan in the USA approach that?

You must have an unadvertised plan. The cheapest pay-go option Virgin advertises in the US is $20 per 3 months, at a per minute rate of $0.20. This means a total of 100 minutes, at a cost of $6.67 per month. The average person uses more than 33 minutes per month; some of us work on our cell phones; some of us don't have land lines, either at work or at home.

My usage regularly approaches 2000 minutes a month, and I very rarely talk to friends and/or family. 2000 minutes a month, by the way, is only 100 minutes per work day; this is not an unreasonable amount for anyone who must participate in tele-meetings, be available for sales calls, or perform any number of phone related work functions.

I would hazard a guess that the average usage per month for a working-age American is 400-600 minutes. Even at Virgin, you're talking $40 per month, before taxes. And those plans come with unlimited Data, and an Android phone is available!

For $110 a month, you get a device from Sprint like the EVO (or other top Android phone), unlimited Data access, unlimited voice minutes, and unlimited messaging. For me, it is a no brainer to have a 4.3" tablet in my pocket with unlimited 4G Data/Voice/Messaging, than to spend anything on TV service; or landline, or any other number of luxuries. And I do know that there are several other carriers that offer similar unlimited plans for about half the price. Unfortunately, those plans are all roaming prohibited, and for those of us that must use their phones regularly for work that can be a challenge.

On a per hour rate, I'm sure I spend a lot less on my phone than I might spend on drinks, dinners, movies, and any other number of "fluffy" luxuries.

A properly designed application will include an offline mode, not only for devices without 3G but also for use on an airplane or other areas where 3G has 0 bars.

True; and having access to 3G (or WiMax/LTE/HSDPA) in more places gives you greater flexibility as to what can be done with a properly designed "seamless" offline mode. As far as I'm concerned, the new Google Navigate options are superior to any DVD Navmap system. I just drove through the Sierra's, and the offline caching mode pretty much rocked. It's never a bad thing to have more options; it's never a bad thing to have faster (or greater volumes of) data access.

It all comes down to a value proposition. Are you willing to spend more than $6 per month on your phone? Apparently not. Do you spend $100 on TV? Drinks? Dinners? Books? Any other luxuries?

Depends on you employment situation, I would guess.

Would I rather spend $100 on Voice/Data rather than one-way crap like TV, or expensive crappy magazines, or movie rentals? Absolutely.

No, they say right in the terms that they won't rate limit you for high usage or such. The significant limitation is that it is for 'personal use':

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/mobile-broadband/

(click on plan details)

I wish they'd stop inventing new names, and confusing the consumer (me). MiFi is just s 3G device that creates a local Wifi node in your home. Correct? So call it that: Portable WiFi.

Is this device from Virgin considered a MiFi too?
What about the USB dongle underneath it? Rather pricey.
http://www.virginmobileusa.com/mobile-broadband/

Well, Sprint says "Nationwide" (Yes, it's coast-to-coast), but their* 3G map looks smaller than Verizon's, based on this map:
http://www.virginmobileusa.com/check-cell-phone-coverage

compared to this one for Verizon's claimed broadband coverage area (you might need to click the radio button / refresh: http://www.verizonwireless.com/wireless-coverage-area-map.shtml)

On the other hand, maybe you're right: This article has high praise for Sprint's network; the Kindle connection really is pretty convincing -- http://www.mobile-broadband-reviews.com/sprint-coverage.html

I've seen (surprising to me!) good connection in PA, NY, WA, and MD, including on Maryland's Eastern Shore, and while in a moving train in PA.

Cheers,

Tim

* I might be wrong to call it "Sprint's" network; this comparison has rough edges, because Virgin might for some reason not have the same footprint, even though they're *using* "the Sprint network."

Since I don't need wireless I'd probably just get the Broadband2Go USB dongle. It's the same $40/month for unlimited but costs about one hundred dollars less to buy

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/mobile-broadband/ovation-mc760.html

Virgin Mobile MiFi. $40 per month for unlimited broadband, with no contract. A better price than many cable offerings, and available in almost every market.

Are you sure about that? Their website says $40 for 1GB, $60 for 5GB:

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/mobile-broadband

Does anyone know a good pre-pade type 3G data provider?

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/mobile-broadband

Uses the Sprint network.. you buy the $100 modem, top-up when you want. The plans were more desirable when I purchased it, but they're still the best I've found in terms of prepaid.

Worth mentioning this is a great option for mostly-anonymous access, too. You can buy the modem + reload cards at Best Buy (and other stores probably) with cash. No info required.

The unlimited is going to be a tough sell on open devices, but there are plans close enough to the $15/250MB available right now:

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/mobile-broadband

(Virgin Mobile is owned and operated by Sprint, they bought Virgin out last year and licensed the name)

Indeed.

Virgin Mobile is currently -- in the US, at least -- selling Kyocera TNT phones for about $15 on their website, and they've typically got similar deals available cash-and-carry at places like Wal-Mart. No contract, contact information, or anything else required except for a bit of cash.

I don't do much calling so I use Virgin Mobil pay as you go. My bills are under $100 for the year. It's $0.18/minute to call anyone in the U.S. and they cover large metro areas. I've used it all along the Frontrange in Colorado and anywhere in NJ. It makes a good low usage inexpensive phone if you live in a coverage area(map).

That, or you can create your own network by putting up one cell in a remote location like Montana (can't remember the exact place) and do everything else through roaming agreements. You don't think that Virgin Mobile owns their own network in the U.S., do you?

Where are you sourcing your information?

Presumably both Virgin Mobile and Sprint (Virgin Mobile USA is partially owned by Sprint and uses their network) make money on these plans:

http://web.virginmobileusa.com/broadbandPlans

I can see where Sprint has built out a certain capacity for voice service and is willing to sell data cheaply in order to increase utilization of that capacity, but it seems like you are overestimating the costs.

Get a prepaid phone?

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/rates/home.do

I use Virgin Mobile Prepaid for that. I can check my dollar balance anytime on my phone, how many minutes I have remaining, how many texts I have remaining, and even change plans!

When my account hit's $0 the phone instantly stops accepting and handling phone calls if I have no minutes, and stops accepting texts if I have none left.

I spend about $10 a month on a cell phone.

Disclaimer: I do not work for them, but I love their cheap service. I refuse to use contracts.

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/rates/home.do Make sure you check and see which plan you like though. I do a lot of texting, so I only have a texting plan, the $5 a month one.

Similar thing happens whenever I try to log into my virginmobile account. https://virginmobileusa.com/ has a certificate for www.virginmobileusa.com

They usually call them prepaid phones in the US, though Virgin call it PAYG. The pay-as-you-go thing is a bit of a misnomer - you need credit on your account for the phone to work, so you're actually paying in advance.

Yeah, you can lose your number. I use Virgin Mobile, which is add $20 every 90 days or lose service, but they also keep an account active for a year for $90 (so it is a concern, but it isn't a huge headache):

http://web.virginmobileusa.com/help/account/management/service-preserver

Their data service probably isn't what you want though:

http://web.virginmobileusa.com/help/plans/data-packs/how-it-works

(Several of the other prepaid services had similar 1 year periods for ~$100 last time I looked around, I think AT$T and T-Mobile especially)

Yeah, you can lose your number. I use Virgin Mobile, which is add $20 every 90 days or lose service, but they also keep an account active for a year for $90 (so it is a concern, but it isn't a huge headache):

http://web.virginmobileusa.com/help/account/management/service-preserver

Their data service probably isn't what you want though:

http://web.virginmobileusa.com/help/plans/data-packs/how-it-works

(Several of the other prepaid services had similar 1 year periods for ~$100 last time I looked around, I think AT$T and T-Mobile especially)

I use Virgin Mobile. They offer decent per minute rates (they are obscene if you compare them to a monthly bucket, but I very much prefer to overpay 1 minute at a time, rather than 1 month at a time, and the overall amount that I pay is less than most monthly plans, because I don't use a lot of minutes):

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/rates/minute.do

And it is a simple matter to go monthly (without a contract...):

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/rates/month.do

They are probably somewhat more expensive than other carriers, but they come with less headaches (I have my account set up such that if I forget to pay, my phone stops working; I prefer this to being charged at their whim, and so on).

Basically, I don't think it has a whole lot to do with the plans being fair or not. Sprint spent months and months advertising their fair and flexible plan, where as long as you let them overcharge you each month, they agree not to *really* overcharge you for any given month. Presumably, it worked, as they are still doing it.

There is a lot of back and forth; I tend to think that anybody paying for a fancy phone and big monthly bucket is zooming right past 'need' into 'want' territory (which, for me, undercuts the necessity of regulation, people are willingly paying for plans that they merely want), but I do see where defining exactly what needs and wants are is not straightforward.

I use Virgin Mobile. They offer decent per minute rates (they are obscene if you compare them to a monthly bucket, but I very much prefer to overpay 1 minute at a time, rather than 1 month at a time, and the overall amount that I pay is less than most monthly plans, because I don't use a lot of minutes):

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/rates/minute.do

And it is a simple matter to go monthly (without a contract...):

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/rates/month.do

They are probably somewhat more expensive than other carriers, but they come with less headaches (I have my account set up such that if I forget to pay, my phone stops working; I prefer this to being charged at their whim, and so on).

Basically, I don't think it has a whole lot to do with the plans being fair or not. Sprint spent months and months advertising their fair and flexible plan, where as long as you let them overcharge you each month, they agree not to *really* overcharge you for any given month. Presumably, it worked, as they are still doing it.

There is a lot of back and forth; I tend to think that anybody paying for a fancy phone and big monthly bucket is zooming right past 'need' into 'want' territory (which, for me, undercuts the necessity of regulation, people are willingly paying for plans that they merely want), but I do see where defining exactly what needs and wants are is not straightforward.

It isn't like you have any choice - every company does it.

• TracFone
• VirginMobile

It is prepaid, not on credit. If you have $5,000 in your phone account, you will get a big surprise, but if you have $15 in your phone account, you get a $15 surprise and then it stops working.

Also, it simply doesn't work in Canada:

http://web.virginmobileusa.com/help/service/coverage/general

They are getting better. Virgin mobile has unlimited voice (data plans, not so much) for $80:

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/rates/month.do

I take my mobile phone and Google products in the store... What's your excuse ?

I'm cheap. I have an Audiovox 8610 phone on a $7/mo plan. It doesn't appear to have the web. I use the phone primarily to arrange rides and rely on the land line for most everything else.

You wrote that whole rant but couldn't be bothered to look at what was on your screen? It actually *forces* you to examine the certificate (via the 'Get Certificate' button) prior adding an exception, which is a good thing (to prevent users from blindly clicking OK). Making the exception temporary is as easy as unchecking the 'make this permanent' box.

I'm glad Mozilla has done this, as hopefully it will motivate some webmasters to fix their broken websites.

If you believe that your work has been used on our websites or network in any manner that constitutes copyright infringement, please notify one of Virgin Mobile's copyright agents (these are the lawyers in cheap suits) by written notice ....
By mail:
Copyright Agent
Virgin Mobile USA, LLC
10 Independence Blvd.
Warren, New Jersey 07059
By email: copyright@virginmobileusa.com
By telephone: 908/607-4808
By facsimile: 908/607-4078
Policy Regarding Copyright Infringement and Designation of a Copyright Agent

Most of those pre-paid phones are as plain-jane as they come. http://www.virginmobileusa.com/phones/catalog.do A few of these phones do very little other than make calls, and I know Virgin Mobile isn't the only carrier who sells phones without a contract.

Just get an auxiliary phone:

http://virginmobileusa.com/rates/home.do

1000 messages a month for $10. (or course, they go to $0.05 per after that)

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/rates/home.do You can get the switchback for $99 Sign up for min to min $.18/min (which you won't use) Sign up for the 1000 SMS for $9.99/month you get penny txt till you go over then it's $.05/per txt It's pre-pay so no contract. SO you get txting with no voice use for 10 bux a month. And say your non-hearing imparied firends fam need to use the phone for voice you always have that option without having to have a voice plan with include min.

It felt soooo good to give Verizon the boot. :-) Anyway, if you do go with Virgin Mobile, I have one more piece of advice:

You'll need a VM-compatible cell phone. You can see their current offerings online here, but I'd suggest taking a look at the phones at a store somewhere. Sprint cellphone stores might have them; RadioShack and Best Buy have them for certain. VM seems to feature phones by a few manufacturers only: Kyocera, UT Starcom (formerly Audiovox), and Nokia. I don't know about Nokia, but avoid the ones made by Kyocera. The one Kyocera model I tried had very poor sound quality.

The phone I have now -- actually I have 2 identical ones, one of which replaced my landline and stays at home 24/7 as a sort of backup line -- is the UT Starcom/Audiovox 8610. I looked at that link above and the equivalent listing at Best Buy's website and I can't believe it ... they're down to $25-$29 in price. These little phones were worth it when I bought them for $80. It blows me away that I could get them now for $25. Anyway, as I mentioned earlier it has a dataport (other UT Starcom/Audiovox or Nokia offerings might also have a dataport ... I don't know). Unfortunately UT Starcom dropped their datacable adapter for this model of phone. No problem though, as I picked up a 3rd party USB adapter cable that came with some uber-cheezy software that was compatible with this phone for about $25.

I should really post a review of this phone somewhere, complete with some of the simple tricks I've done with it. Hmmm...

So, a couple of other people have already recommended virgin mobile. I used them as my first cellphone provider, and they worked great for me.

Just wanted to relate a little story about dealing with their customer service. I set it up with my debit card to automatically withdraw, and near the end of one semester, I lost the phone. I ended up getting a monthly plan with another carrier, as it turned out to be cheaper. However, things were busy, and I didn't have the phone handy, so I never got around to looking up their customer service number and actually canceling the service.

Then I forgot about it. I think it went for 7 or 8 months before I noticed that I was still getting charged. So, I called up virgin and canceled. They asked why, told them that I lost the phone, and got another provider, because their plan was too expensive for how much I used the phone. No hard feelings, no awkward moments. Instead, the guy looked at the last time I made a call, and refunded all the money that had been automatically deducted since my last call.

Needless to say, I was totally floored. This is the best customer service I've ever had from a cellphone company. Which I guess is another way of saying "I'm glad these guys weren't trying to screw me out of every possible penny, too."

If they had a competitively priced monthly plan, I'd be with them. The only other downside besides price is that I got the feeling that I somehow wasn't really cool enough to be using the service. It was really spunky. I'm not.. :)

Tracfone has to be the biggest rip-off out there at a best rate of $0.325/minute ($129.99 for a 400 minute card). Virgin Mobile is a little better, but it's complicated: $0.25/minute for the first 10 minutes and then $0.10/minute thereafter in a single day.

I like my plan even though it is $50/month -- I get a 1000 minutes though I typically only use about 4-500, some months up to 6-700, so I get anywhere from 0.125 to 0.07 per minute. I bought the phone 4 years ago so it's just a phone, nice and solid, big enough to not slip through my fingers and it has speakerphone that actually works well. Forget lousy low-res cameras and simple boring games -- a speakerphone is actually useful.

Cool, thanks! That's probably what I'll get then.

They still offer the K9 for $25. We're just looking for a cheap second phone.

Website's a little cheezy though...

Here is the description of plans.

I use the "Minute to Minute" plan - I had that a little wrong as it's $.25 for the first ten minutes - of the day though, I had thought it was the first three minutes of any call ever. It's $.10 a minute after that. But like I said I don't really use it that often.

I had my old cell phone number ported to it, worked fine.

You can just buy any phone and select one of those plans to go with it. Note that you can either register a credit-card with them to automatically "top up" the service (which is how you get a $15 every 90 day plans) or if you prefer to do it as you go, you can top-up through the phone via credit card.

Note that the service is somewhat more limited than other phones I have had - mostly in-between large cities on small back roads. I was visiting Alaska and never once, not even in large cities like Anchorage, did I have service. That was rather a bummer.

Another bummer is that no Virgin Mobile phones support bluetooth. I would love to be able to upload contacts/ringtones and have the same cheap service. On the other hand the phone I have (K9, now discontinued I think) does have the most useful feature I've ever had in a phone - built-in LED flashlight!

Another note is they ask you to top-up when the balance is at $5, but if you think about it it's really better to wait until your balance is empty and let it auto-fill. Otherwise you can hit the 90-day limit sooner and be forced to fill before you've used up you $15/$20.

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/catalog/catalog.do

Kyocera K7 Rave phone: $25
300 Minutes: $30
Selling $500/lb pot for $100/oz with complete anonymity . . . PRICELESS

Even my cheap cell phone has GPS in it. I can't go geocaching with it, but it's a basic feature for them to be able to locate me in an emergency. In fact, I recommend everybody who is concerned about their 911 coverage from VoIP service to just buy a cheap pay as you go phone. IIRC, you can still make 911 calls on a cell phone without having an active service plan. A cheap VirginMobile K7 would do the trick. Or any GPS capable phone from eBay.

Virgin Mobile: live without a plan.

Virgin Mobile. You have to buy $20 worth of airtime every three months to keep the account alive, but your minutes never expire, so if you really don't use the phone much it only costs you about $7 per month. And there's no long distance and no roaming--if you get a signal, the call is always the same price per minute.

In fact, Tracfone does support Number Portability.

And so does Virgin Mobile.

For me, any of the pre-pay plans are cheaper than a land line. I don't use enough minutes to exceed $20 every three months. You know a log of local providers willing to sell you a phone line for $7.00 a month?

That isn't everyone however. My daughter can easily eat through $50 a month on pre-paid, so for here it would be cheaper to get either a land line, vonage account, or if she needs mobility, a $39.99 a month plan, once she figures out how to manage her minutes so she isn't going over whatever limits that plan has.

My son can also work within the pre-pay limits, though he does go through more minutes at a time than I do.

How expensive your plan is depends upon how much you use the service, and what that usage will cost. It does vary from person to person.

For pre-pay plans I happen to like Virgin Mobile http://www.virginmobileusa.com/ (for US users, other urls for Europe) or Boost Mobile http://www.boostmobile.com/. Boost Mobile is a sub-division of Nextel, so they do have the PTT feature Nextel provides, though that's an additional $45 a month (on average).

Since with Pre-Pay plans you buy the phone up front, there can be a significant front end cost. Anywhere from $59 on up to over $200 for highly feature full phones. However as noted, month to month may cost you significantly less.

-Rusty

OMG, does that sound like an ad for pr0n... I am in the exact same boat, and I'd like to have a simple phone that I could use for ~$20 a month or so. None of the larger carriers have anything like that, so I started looking into the pay-as-you-go services. Most of them still try to suck you dry, but it seems like VirginMobile is a good deal. You can get their basic phone is only $40 bucks to buy, and you can just add a minimum of $30 every 90 days. That comes out to around $13 bucks a month for a cell phone. Not bad in my opinion since I use mine so little, but would still like the convience of having it. It uses Sprint's service, which has always been OK for me. Hope that helps someone, its saving my wife and I about 60 bucks a month!

Oh, and no, I don't work for them.. :)

Pre-paid from the major carriers is a rip. Use Tracfone (link currently down) for very light-duty use (the phone is pretty basic), or Virgin Mobile for more moderate use (better phones available, 10 to 25c a minute).