Going to Virgin for Galaxy S2. Worth it ?

[TheMugs]

I'm currently on Virgin, but on prepaid, and I'm really interested in the Samsung Galaxy S2 because it's currently top of line and if I'm gonna pay for a phone, I don't want it to feel really dated in 6 month.

I got three questions :
1. Is it better to get a 3 years contract, or put it on tab, if I plan to get a plan of only 40$ a month ?
2. is the service really crappy since Bell take control ? And if it's really crappy, do you have to call it often ?
3. What would you do in my situation ? Take in consideration that I'm not ready to pay 600$ upfront for a goddamn phone.

Thanks in advance !

[Bray_J]

I'm currently on Virgin, but on prepaid, and I'm really interested in the Samsung Galaxy S2 because it's currently top of line and if I'm gonna pay for a phone, I don't want it to feel really dated in 6 month.

I got three questions :
1. Is it better to get a 3 years contract, or put it on tab, if I plan to get a plan of only 40$ a month ?
2. is the service really crappy since Bell take control ? And if it's really crappy, do you have to call it often ?
3. What would you do in my situation ? Take in consideration that I'm not ready to pay 600$ upfront for a goddamn phone.

Thanks in advance !

Answer to 1: 3 year term. On a Supertab with a $40/mn plan, you would still owe $286 on your tab after 4 years. It'd take about 9 years to pay off that way.
2. Customer care is still excellent. Still winning the JD Power award in excellent customer care year after year.
3. I would suggest a 3 year term. This is a very high end device, that is brand new to the market. Unless you are planning on keeping it less than about 16 months, go Supertab. However, say you only want for a year, Supertab will save you 48 off the 430 tab, so a lower than $400 cancellation on a 3 year.

[shorted999]

#1. DEFINATELY go with the 3 year. Unless you want to have the phone for more then 7 years.

#2. I'm with virgin now, and the customer service is terrible. My monthly plan of $25 dollars would have an extra $25 dollars for no reason. I asked them why, maybe I accidently went on the internet alot, and they wouldnt tell me.

And if your talking about actual cell service, I'm usually around 3 bars in the city. They hav good service out of city aswell, I had 5 bars in the middle of nowhere.

#3. If I was in your position, I wouldnt go with virgin. Too much trouble from the start. I'm glad I only had to activate on 2 year because if it was 3 i dont know what I would do. I would probably end up going with bell if I wanted the SGS2 bad enough

[Brandon57381]

Your service was just bad Shorted999, your one of the few that have those issues. Stop making companies look bad when like I said they all have flaws...they re-embursed you EVERY time! remember that...some companies will say suck it up! So Virgin isnt a bad company, they are still up there and still a tough competitor...just you wait!

[Keefer]

Perhaps Bray_J will have some response.. or otherwise.

I am trying to decide between Bell & Virgin. A big bonus used to be how Bell had a system access fee etc. Since they have lost the 9 $ charge. Wouldn't a 3 year term on a smartphone be prudent or are there other charges that Virgin saves you on. You have to admit, the prospect of upgrading after 2 or so years is a win.
That being said, I may move to the UK within the year, will Virgin UK recognise me?

[0defaced]

1. Terms are crap, ESPECIALLY a 3 YEAR.....the UK recently banned 3 year commitments outright, wonder why.....?

2. to the JD power comment.....that award really doesn't mean anything overall, and can be swayed with enough money....

3. OH NO that $600 piece of tech could actually cost you $600?????

us canadians need to get our heads out of our asses.....we're hell-bent on 3 year contracts with phones as candy-bait swinging under our noses.....it's sad really, i understand being enticed to do so, but if we actually paid for what we want i don't think we'd have so many 12 year olds running around with iphones/bb/whatever that mommys paying for the next 3 years for. we wouldn't have people trashing their new equipment because rogers (robbers) will give them a replacement for it. we wouldn't have senior citizens on their deathbeds leaving phone bills for their kids to pay off through collections.......

save some money up, buy the damn phone.

worse come to worse, sign onto a 1 year contract if you have to to get the discount to cover the difference. at least you wont be stuck 3 YEARS FROM NOW with bell or virgin.....brutally terrible companies.

/2 cents

[Shopcoop]

Agree with above! Stay away from contracts at all costs! Free agency has it's strengths.

At least with the super tab you can grab a promotional service plan and pay off your phone on your terms. 2 to 3 months later your a free agent, with a little unlocking magic.

May not make a big difference for you on a small plan, FYI


Cheers

[Bray_J]

Sorry, have been out of country for a while. To put my two cents in, I loved the customer service so much here, I have been an employee for six months now. Reception is excellent; the same you will get with Bell/Telus. And the S2 is a good phone to go with on a 3 year. A $600 phone, you're probably gonna keep for a few years, right? Might as well go for it. There are options for early upgrades down the road anyways!

[Bray_J]

I missed part of the question. Virgin has no System access fee. Bell does. Virgin UK however, will not recognize you as they are separate companies. If you cancel on a 3 year before 1 year, it's gonna cost you $600. If you are moving before a year, go on ST, cuz tab on S2 starts at 440. You wouldn't owe more than that.

Things to think about.

[MrCrowley]

I missed part of the question. Virgin has no System access fee. Bell does. Virgin UK however, will not recognize you as they are separate companies. If you cancel on a 3 year before 1 year, it's gonna cost you $600. If you are moving before a year, go on ST, cuz tab on S2 starts at 440. You wouldn't owe more than that.

Things to think about.

Bell does not have a system access fee for their new plans. I am not even a Bell customer and I know that. Telus dumped the system access fee for their new plans too.

[Bray_J]

Whoops, I meant connection fee ^.^

[pipsqueek]

3 year or month to month? I've had a Razr V3C (cost me $79) since 2007 on a month to month. Yes, I said 3 year lockin? no way! But 4 years later where am I? Sure if you jump around a lot, move every 6 months etc etc. But some peeps have a regular job. Live in the same place for 10 years etc etc.

$25-100minutes VM CID inc
$10 for 100 Cdn LD
$35 base plus taxes $39

On average I ended up paying $45 - $55 after getting dinged for a few extra minutes and some long distance.

I just upgraded to Iphone 4 ($99) with a 3 year contract. I opted for the

$55 smartphone plan
200 anyime minutes
1 GB data usage
unlimited texting
nationwide unlimited no charge calling to 10 numbers.

In addition to that I got a retention bonus VM and CallerID free for the life of the contract. Also the guy at the Virgin kiosk gave me an extra 100 anytime minutes as well as 5GB of data for the life of the contract, all this is noted on my membership agreement, and I verified it by going online to my account at VM canada, as well as speaking to a CS rep via phone.

If I'm gonna end up using a feature phone and a talk no text plan for 4 years at $45 - 55 month to month, why wouldn't I jump at the 300 minutes and 5GB, 10 buddies, free texting, VM/CID for $5 - 10 more on a 3 year. Plus an Iphone 4 for $99.

[merc782]

From your old plan, looks like you are not much data user.

so check out koodo, for $55 ( $45 plan + $ 10 VM-CID-TXT ) you get unlimited calling/txt any where in Canada.

note this koodo plan doesnt include any data.

[pipsqueek]

That's why I took the VM plan because of the data. I don't really use voice that much, usually when we visit the grandkids, then we use LD a bit. Now I'm using more data than voice and the LD is covered by my 10 buddy list.

[yukiodinermobil]

Did you mean 2 to 3 months in your post? or 2 to 3 years?

I'd like to get a sgs2 or Sensation with Virgin on supertab & plan to pay the phone off completely once I have a better cash situation. I know that it doesn't make sense to try and pay off the phone over time with supertab on a very pricey handset (takes many years more than 3...).

Is this a reasonable idea to get the $55/month promo plan and then buy the phone outright in a while to have my freedom down the road?

Thanks!

Agree with above! Stay away from contracts at all costs! Free agency has it's strengths.

At least with the super tab you can grab a promotional service plan and pay off your phone on your terms. 2 to 3 months later your a free agent, with a little unlocking magic.

May not make a big difference for you on a small plan, FYI


Cheers

[MattyMattMatt]

I'd just like to point out that you cannot get the S2 on 40 plan. 50 minimum.

[MattyMattMatt]

1. Terms are crap, ESPECIALLY a 3 YEAR.....the UK recently banned 3 year commitments outright, wonder why.....?Because Ofcom actually works for the consumers unlike the CRTC which cares more about the companies....

Even if you're getting a really expensive phone that you cannot pay off within three years of the supertab, I still recommend it to avoid the term. Really Virgin needs to introduce a pay-off guarantee. Even if they put it at four years it would still be attractive... I have people picking Virgin all the time even though it would take them 100 months to pay it off.