Virgin Immobile Follow Up

After having used the LG Optimus V for several months on a prepaid plan this is what I can say about it. Even though it’s an Android phone, I hardly use the apps. There are a lot of preloaded apps that don’t apply to me and I’m pretty sure other people with smart phones hardly use a lot of the preloads and downloads with regularity. You know, download a free app, try it once or twice, then forget about it. By the way, for some reason some of the preloaded apps cannot be deleted.

When I bought this phone, the manual said I had to subscribe to a monthly plan. At that time their lowest tier plan was $25.00 a month for unlimited internet and 300 minutes of talk time. They have since then increased it to $35.00. I found that subscribing was not necessary if I wanted to stay with the prepaid service. After all, I only occasionally check email or browse the web via wi-fi. One problem I have now is that I can’t top-up my minutes online anymore because Virgin Mobile blocked all my credit cards. So I have to buy top-up cards or load up the minutes at a store like Radio Shack – a minor inconvenience when you’re used to topping up online. I don’t know if this is because of the supposed monthly subscription requirement or my previous dispute with Virgin Mobile (http://aboutlifeandrunning.blogspot.com/2011/01/continuing-problems-with-virgin-mobile.html). Nowadays, I only top-up every 90 days as required by the company to keep their service. I stopped using my cell phone for international calls and use MagicJack instead because it’s way cheaper. So what do I do now with all those accumulated minutes? Maybe I’ll sign up for Facebook text message updates.

Another problem I’m having has something to do with MMS (multi media messaging service). I couldn’t send or receive them. I mistakenly thought that the person I was sending a picture to did not receive it because the file was too big and she didn’t have a smart phone. Don’t worry, I wasn’t sexting and never have. I also tried to send a picture to my Facebook wall to no avail. Then I asked one of my coworkers to try to send me a picture from her phone. Still no dice. I finally emailed Virgin Mobile and they said they will forward the issue to their technicians. They just sent me a text message telling me to try using MMS again. As of this writing, it’s still not working. I’ve checked message boards and read that this is a common problem with the Virgin Mobile network. Darn! If only the price wasn’t right for my budget, I would have left this company a long time ago. The closest alternative is the AT&T Go Phone but that costs slightly more every three months and their international long distance rates are sky high. So, I can’t use my smart phone to its full capabilities. Smart phone, but dumb system.

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