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3.7

Overall Score

LAST UPDATED: June 13th, 2023

Virgin Mobile is a provider of non-contract cellular phone and wireless services. It is a wholly owned brand of Sprint and has been providing telecommunications products in the United States since 2002 using the wireless Sprint 1900 MHz PCS, CDMA, and digital network. 

The company provides customers with branded handsets and broadband devices, which are sold through the company's website or at 40,000 retail brand locations. In fact, Virgin Mobile has one of the largest storefront presences among wireless provider companies. Customers can also get Virgin Mobile products at Best Buy, Radio Shack, Target, Wal-Mart, and many convenience stores.

It is easy for customers to purchase “top-up” cards at more than 150,000 locations throughout the country. 

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The Good

  • "Unlimited" Service Plans
  • Add-Ons
  • Simple Payment System
  • Variety of Phone Options
  • Member Benefits

"Unlimited" Service Plans

Virgin Mobile makes it easy for a customer to get set up with an affordable cellular phone or another wireless device with calling, text messages, and data. The company doesn't require an annual phone contract and has a 7-day, no-questions-asked return and refund agreement period if customers are unsatisfied.

Virgin Mobile offers three unlimited plan options. Note that after using the allotted LTE for each plan, Virgin's terms state that data speeds are then reduced to 2G.

  • For $35/month your phone plan comes with unlimited talk, data, and text with 5GB of mobile data.
  • For $45/month, you get unlimited text, talk, and data plus 10 GB of high-speed 4G LTE data. Also, the client gets 100 international minutes and unlimited international texting.
  • For $60/month, your cell phone plan gets unlimited everything, including unlimited 4G LTE data.

Add-Ons

The carrier caters to additional needs and preferences by offering add-ons for mobile hotspot, phone insurance, and international calling.

  • Mobile hotspot — Share data with up to five devices (starting at $3/day)
  • Phone insurance —  Protect your device against damage, theft, or loss ($7/month per device)
  • International calling —  Make unlimited calls to Canada and Mexico and choose from 70+ other countries for more coverage (starting at $5/month)

Simple Payment System

In addition to providing a number of service plans, Virgin Mobile also makes it easy for customers to pay their bill. Customers can get a top-up card at any of the 150,000 stores throughout the United States and add money to their current balance. This lets you pay for your phone however you'd like. You can even pay your monthly charge on your phone; there is no need to log onto an online account for you to pay with your top-up card.

Plus, it's easy to change your plan if you want more or less data, talk, or text.

Variety of Phone Options

Another thing customers enjoy with Virgin Mobile is the variety of phones available. Even though there aren't Windows or BlackBerry phones, there are several Apple smartphone and Android device options to choose from. The cost listed for most of the phones listed is significantly less than the suggested retail price. Additionally, there is also an affordable $19.99 basic flip phone that customers can use if they only need standard calling and texting (Alcatel GO FLIP).

Device brands include:

  • Alcatel
  • Apple
  • Coolpad
  • LG
  • moto
  • Motorola
  • Samsung
  • ZTE

To assist during the phone selection process, Virgin Mobile includes customer reviews of each specific phone model available online. This information helps prospective customers choose the phone that will work best for their situation.

If you want to bring your iPhone, you have the option to do so by ordering a Virgin Mobile iPhone SIM card for $9.99. Most iPhone versions work with Virgin Mobile, but make sure to check your phone's compatibility before purchasing a SIM card.

Unfortunately, you cannot bring your own non-Apple current cell phone to Virgin Mobile.

Member Benefits

In addition to network coverage and phone services, Virgin Mobile rewards customers with a number of member perks (at no additional cost) with its partners. Partnerships and deals are subject to change but benefits have included discounts for Virgin Hotels, Virgin Wines, Turo car rentals, Priceline hotel reservations, Papa John's pizza, Shaw Academy online courses, and even SoFi student loan refinancing (0.125% discount).

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The Bad

  • 4G LTE Speeds Actually Limited
  • Coverage Gaps
  • User Complaints

4G LTE Speeds Actually Limited

The word "unlimited" is somewhat misrepresentative when applied to the two cheaper unlimited plans. Even though the carrier advertises unlimited data, there is actually significant data throttling if a customer goes over the stipulated quota for the month. Customers have noted that data was incredibly slow (reduced to 2G speeds) on their phone after using the LTE GBs available with their specific plans.

Coverage Gaps

Though Virgin Mobile's network reaches 99% of people, some areas of the country, such as most of Montana and Wyoming, don't have voice coverage through Virgin's network. In some other places there is only very basic data plan coverage or voice coverage, meaning that if a customer is traveling to communities outside their normal coverage area, they might not be able to easily get a signal for their phone.

User Complaints

Customer reviews describe some potential challenges to be aware of:

  • Customer service communication issues
  • Poor coverage as compared with other carriers
  • Device issues

If customers have a problem, they can request assistance from the company seven days a week between 7:00 AM-9:00 PM CST.

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The Bottom Line

Virgin Mobile's strengths lie in its simplicity: simple plans, a simple payment system, and a straightforward inventory of phones and available services. Many customers are more than content with what Virgin Mobile can provide.

However, its less-than-perfect coverage, 4G LTE data limits, extra international fees, and lack of a multi-line family and friends discount should give potential customers pause.

Read through verified Virgin Mobile reviews on our site below for further insights.

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Star Rating

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3.1

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44 Reviews

Review Breakdown

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20%

4 grade

25%

3 grade

25%

2 grade

5%

1 grade

25%

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Catherine Tucker

Bunch of thieves.... Upgraded my phone and added on a Nintendo Switch for my Nephew for Christmas. Got it out of the box checked it and screen was ok and switched on.. thought it was ok. Came to Christmas and the charger port is broken. Called Virgin Mobile only 14 days return and Nintendo will deal with it after 30 days but will cost me £157 to repair. They are not interested in dealing with the complaint and basically told me it wasn't their problem.... If I could afford to buy out my contract would. Will never do another contract with them and just switched my home provider as well. Well done Mr B on sitting on your private island while providing the worst service ever....

4 years ago

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Crystal Buford, GA

I have been virgin mobile customer for a long time, the service is not very good but not too bad. So paid full for a XR and activated in February. But the service is so bad on the new phone , basically you pay monthly fee for no service, so need unlock the phone to get better service. But Virgin Mobile won’t unlock the phone till 12 month payment done, that is crazy, even you discounted the service, you wasted almost a thousand dollars on the phone. So please do not use Virgin Mobile or Sprint family services. If I could, I would give them a “0”. There is no service for the money you pay and the customer service is absolutely horrible, hanged up on me period.

4 years ago

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Dennae J Sutphin Dayton, OH

Been with VM for 1.5 years. Device broke, so they replaced it (1.5 yr old device). I wasn't told I had to return my old device. They suspended my service after telling me they wouldn't when I told them I would return the broken device. "Colby" lied and told me that if I returned device and gave them the confirmation # my device would not be suspended. It's a work and personal phone. I already lost an estimated 2000 dollars of work when my device broke and it took them 4 days to solve the issue and send me a new phone. (I paid $30 for shipping and they charged my bank card twice. I had to file an unauthorized transaction with my bank to solve the issue as VM told me it was my bank's fault in which it was VM's fault). It took 5 days to receive the phone via USPS when I was told it would take 2 days. After about a month I received a text from VM telling me my service would be suspended the next day if they didn't receive the broken phone. I'm now without service and work again. Thanks VM. I will be taking my business else where.

5 years ago

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R Fitzner

Virgin is the worst company I have ever dealt with. The customer support team is entirely based in the Philippines, they sell to you with local salespeople, but when you have problems you get referred to their "Customer Care" department. The customer care department appears to be entirely based in the Philippines I called them over 12 times trying to set up a payment plan, over three different departments every staff member was a non local, who's english while passable made the specifics of the issues difficult to communicate. Their overages are insane, if you ever get caught roaming or using anything an inch beyond what your contract allows for they will nail you with hundreds of dollars of overages. Then they will call your house and mobile phone, spam your e-mail, and otherwise bully you until you pay them in full. I made the mistake of not realizing the Wifi at the university campus I was on didn't extend to the food court while doing some high bandwidth work over several days. I used an additional 2.5 gigabytes of data and they charged me 250$. More than 3x my plan for my phone and two gigs a month combined! When I called them and mentioned that 4.5 gigabytes of data normally costs around 120$ a month, they told me that I was contractually obligated and that there was nothing they were willing to do. Then told me they would go to collections if I didn't pay them by the end of the month. They also lied to me over the phone when on my 5th referral to a new department (getting passed around until I gave up) I advised them I would be recording my call for use in court, as they were refusing to help me. They then told me it was illegal to record my conversation with them, which it is not! "The Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46 [Criminal Code] imposes a general prohibition on interception (recording) of private communications, but then provides an exception where one of the parties to the private communication consents to the interception of that communication." You are allowed (without even asking for permission!) to record any conversation to which you are a party to. However they refuse and have the company policy of not allowing conversations by their customer care team to be recorded, and will lie and tell you to do so is illegal. I was offered a record of an online chat I had with one of their team members, I said yes please, but made sure to take photos and videos of the chat from my computer at the same time. The chat they sent me was doctored to hide all charges, all dates, and all names. Making it completely useless. They edited away anything conspicuous. Then, they tried to take an additional payment out of my account when I turned off pre-authorized payments. If you try and turn them off the system will still withdraw one more payment unless you deal with hours of phone calls to get them to disable it. They are rude, unprofessional, and care nothing for their clients. I will never ever be a customer for them ever again.

5 years ago

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Pat Gustafson Las Vegas, NV

VM discontinued service without warning due to a network upgrade at sprint in the middle of my billing cycle. Was told I had to purchase a new phone and calling plan to reestablish service. I complained and they offered a refund of the last billing month ( I hadn't used even a fourth of my voice minutes for the month). I then quit virgin mobile and went with a different carrier assuming I had the refund coming. Received voice mail that my refund was cancelled as I had made too many calls, even though I paid for minutes not calls. Classic bait and switch tactic. I still can't figure out why they didn't just discontinue service at the end of my billing cycle; instead they took my monthly payment first and then discontinued the service.

5 years ago

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dart

my contract with virgin mobile end they still charged me the rate with contracts , I called them to correct the rate they do not things ,they blame me did not call them before , I speak to manager , he do the same thing ,I feel been rip off , very poor service , I wish I can give them no star , I am going to other company after stay with them over 2 years

5 years ago

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Marge Morana Rochester, NY

Have had service about one month. Dropped call, voice distortion, static, breaking, bad connectivity, volume so low other end can't be heard, can't access voicemail, voicemail does no download, networking problems, on and on. Unpredictability, unreliability is unbelievable. Attempting to change service, but even this is difficult, due to communication problems with this service. Customer service is of no help.

6 years ago

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Tina Clark Fort Wayne, IN

They sent me a JUNK iPhone and blamed ME for the imperfections! I will contact better business bureau on BRIGHTSTAR AND VIRGIN MOBILE next week, if they don't send me a usable phone !!! IF THEY MAKE IT RIGHT, I'll take this bad review off.

6 years ago

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stephen schradin

Horrible customer service I could not reach a operator not matter how many times I tried

6 years ago

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Ursula Shawnee, KS

The worst company in the world! Impossible cancel account!

5 years ago

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Irene

Very poor customer service and phones are not the best

5 years ago