Just signed up to virgins $20 byo phone plan which allows you to roll over unused credit and there is an additional bonus of 1gb per month!
200 dollars credit plus 1gb is a pretty good deal to me. Especially when it is 4g compatible. Great for those who got the nexus 5 and don't need a plan with a phone.
There is no contract, you can leave anytime. I just joined up as well 2 weeks back.
Vaya's $18 plan ($650 "credit", free texts and 1.5GB data) is probably a better deal for most people, but it does have a $20 SIM fee. Their customer support is horrendous though.
There is also the $30 account cancellation fee (when you port-out your mobile number or cancel your account) involved with Vaya Mobile
And $200 deposit for just turn on the international roaming.
Good luck getting that refunded as well!
Refunded is easy. Log in and click the button to turn roaming off. But they apply it as account credit not cash back.
I'm going away again too soon (ie: need global roaming again) so I didnt bother asking to convert that account credit back to cash, as it should rightly be. Next time I come back, I will be demanding it be done properly.
But they apply it as account credit not cash back.
A mistake?
I think returning a bond as a credit would be illegal…
|There is also the $30 account cancellation fee
This is not correct. The fee is not charged when porting out. It only happens if you actually disconnect the service (not porting) when you're with Vaya. Since most people want to keep their number when cancelling, it's not an issue, and if you did really need to disconnect a number, you could just port to a $2 SIM with Vodafone then disconnect it.
vaya's data is count in per mb increments compared to virgins per kb, so vaya is not really a great deal
As far as I know, that's just the rounding at the end of each day. Not per picture, html, css, downloaded file etc. If it was, you'd only get 1500 items per month. Clearly that isn't what is happening.
It's per data session. So if your wifi drops out momentarily, the connection your phone opens for 5 seconds and transfers 2 bytes gets rounded up to 1MB. In my experience it adds about 15% to my usage, compared to how it is measured on my phone.
What about when you in and out WiFi zone several times a day? Is it still one session?
Every time you lose a data connection (the little E/3G/H/4G disappears above your signal strength) it counts as a separate session and is rounded up to 1MB. If you live in an area with bad reception and your signal drops in and out, every singly time it'll be counted as 1MB.
I ported my number from TPG to Vaya when I got a 4G phone, and my 1.5gb data was gone in 10 days, when it would last a month with TPG.
I was not using significantly more data, maybe 10% more per day (as it was a faster connection) but the fact that it was gone so quickly was enough for me to port my number out.
Excess data usage charged at 20.5c per MB (charged in KB).
Ouch.
I really got in at the right time, last year Virgin had the $19 BYO plan with 2GB bonus data and $450 on included calls.
Though I do need a 4G phone…
That's right, earlier this year I signed with Virgin, they were giving 2gb bonus data. If you live in 4G area, 1.5gb of data won't be enough, especially when you stream your music.
But having said that , additional 1gb of data is always good.
Me too! Love it.
woah! Lucky!
I'm on the $19 BYO, getting $250 and 1.25gb :(
Edit: Does you credit get rolled over if you don't use it?
Yeah, it does.
It was even better when you could get 10% of the base fare back as mobile credit from Virgin Australia. On a $19/mth bill, each trip was at least 1 month of free mobile!
What?! I signed on last year on $19 BYO $250 credit and 1.2 G
Guess I missed that deal. That is pretty good
My parent on this plan, best plan ever…
Same here 2.25 GB data and $450 calls for $19 BYO
Comparing to other BYO providers, Virgin's credit includes International voice calls. Their customer service is also miles better than TPG/Vaya/LC.
For those who are interested, this plan brings the Note 3 32G LTE down to $58 per month which is quite good considering the current local stock pricing (But not as good as last year, I got the GS3 the day after launch on a $49 plan - $450 calls + 2.25G 4G data)
Virgin customer service is based in philippines and most of them are useless people that just answer as many calls as they can and go home without resolving actual problems that the Australian customers are having. Your best bet when dealing with them is to involve TIO so that you can get in touch with their real customer relations staff based in Sydney.
I have called Virgin call centre around 6 times. Waiting time is none or short, and most of them is good and solved the problem on the spot. Probably you just unlucky.
I like this plan because there isn't any catch, no setup fee, no sim card fee, include international call, no prepaid or deposit (pay at end of the billing cycle), no disconnect fee, data charged at kb (only used 300Mb, compare i need at least 600Mb in Vodafone before) etc…
I am in this plan for 1~2 months, so far so good. I have considered some others provider before i join Virgin, and I can't really find a company than include international call as good as this plan. The good thing is, i can cancel this plan anytime without any cost. (woolworth plan is very good too in my opinion)
Dealing with them is PITA, I'm currently having some much difficulty with them. Everything has to go through the "back office" and they dont have direct access to fix issues.
And good luck trying to get them to understand anything!
whoever neg my earlier comment based on 100% fact is either ignorant or filo.
Accept reality, filo call centre are miles worse than australian based call centre.
While I didn't neg it myself I can understand why others did, to say that most of the Filipino's are useless people is incredibly offensive.
They are doing their job and they may not have the authority to make drastic decisions that make affect contracts and reasonable sums of money. Remember when you are dealing with them their wage will likely fall around $300-400 a month, so it's no surprise that they don't want to make decisions that could cancel contracts that could be worth 3 months wage.
They are employed to read off the screen and help to the best of their ability and authority, it's not fair to make out as though a country of people are incompetent and it is incredibly racist.
I'd rather a sexy Filipina than a fat Aussie slag any day…
Their customer service is also miles better than TPG/Vaya/LC.
You have to be kidding me…
Sure they are pleasant on the phone, but they are totally clueless about whatever problem you are calling about and usually can't/won't/don't do anything about it.
That's my experience anyway after 4 years with them…
Based on my experiences with Virgin mobile, I totally agree with jv and zan123.
Virgin's customer service IS totally useless and clueless.
I was fed up with running around in circles while not getting any problems resolved, so I left for Optus.
Where is the note 3 for $58 a month? Can't seem to find it. Thanks
Thanks I was also looking for good mobile phone with them under 30aud plan
Sony Xperia SP looks good deal.
https://www.virginmobile.com.au/Shop/ProductDetails/12768/So…
But wonder if they will add any more mobiles to the lower ranges like 20-30aud
Keep in mind Virgin recently slashed their data allowance on their plans.
Their old plans: http://i.imgur.com/EZtoPb7.jpg
Their new plans: http://www.virginmobile.com.au/monthly-mobile-plans
The 'bonus' 1GB for BYO plans just puts them back onto par of where they used to be, when Virgin used to be much better value.
They've slashed the call credit from $250 to $200 as well.
Yes but so did everyone else (major providers).. It's pretty good from a provider that actually has stores.
All I'm saying is it's not exactly worth a neg, still one of the more decent deals you can get
Back on par?
Their old plans were priced at 29 bucks with 250mb.
How is this even close to the 1.2Gb u are getting now?
On the old $29 BYO plan you only paid $19
It seems that we're getting less and less value with each revision to the plans lately.
that's called inflation.
I've spent the last 7 months trying to get any kind of operating service with Virgin Mobile and to date they have done nothing to help me and have refused to refund money spent on the service. Voting this down as Virgin are not a deal company they are a scam company who provide their customers with a service that is congested with lower priority access to the optus network than other resellers.
Virgin mobile is actually owned by Optus, i.e., not a reseller. Calling them a 'scam company' is a bit much. It's pretty obvious to most people, you get what you pay for with mobile providers these days. You want reliable service, go to Telstra. But you'll pay for it.
I heard that Kogan TV's have Samsung panels. Does that make them as good, no.Virgin's total lack of customer care is unacceptable.
In a way the whole company setup is a scam. They show up somewhere and setup shop, leveraging the Virgin name. Then the parent company sells the asset off to the first buyer, and forgets what they created.
Virgin has the exact same coverage as Optus, and is never deprioritised
Source - I work there
wat abt vaya then? are they de-prioritised?
Vaya is not deprioritised. It is worth noting that Virgin use different APNs which may affect data speeds. You can change it though to Optus.
Yep, machej is correct. For some reason the Virgin APN is congested and quite slow, if you switch to the Optus APN it will be significantly faster.
Unsure about other third party carriers, I notice that some of them seem to have not as good reception/data speed. But not 100% sure
Virgin has the exact same coverage as Optus, and is never deprioritised
They didn't when I spoke a couple of years back they told me they only used part of the network. It was evident when there was no Virgin coverage in Horsham but there was for Optus.
I used to work for a reseller a while back and the coverage was identical going back seven years ago, as it is today. It's quite novel when Virgin customers complain about the difference between Optus coverage and their "second rate" Virgin coverage.
First of all make sure you do a hard reset of your phone and update your network settings if possible. Call virgin at any time when you are having the problem off a different phone, advise them of the issue and take a quick note on a note pad. Get the name of the person you spoke to, what the issue is and how it was fixed (if it was) written down.
While you are on the phone tell them about every problem you have had, rant and rave about it without getting angry (very difficult) and remember that the person that you are speaking to is not directly responsible for your bad service and doesn't deserve abuse. If you feel as though you have yelled or abused them directly then appolagize as being rude seriously doesn't help your cause.
If they are unwilling or incapable of helping then tell them you want to speak to their supervisor and that you aren't willing to get called back you want it remedied immediately. Their supervisor will be in a 'meeting', if they can't pass you over then tell them you want to speak to their complaint department immediately. Go over every problem you've had with anyone you speak to, it doesn't matter who they are or why they are on the phone they need to hear your crappy experience and why it needs to be fixed 7 months ago.
When they haven't resolved the issue/s tell them what you want to achieve, do you want out of the contract immediately? If they can't help you work towards that then the TIO (telecommunications industry ombudsman) is your friend, tell Virgin that you will gladly contact the TIO if the issue isn't remedied. They are legally unable to advise against you going to the TIO but they may offer to cancel your contract if there's not that much in it for them.
If they call your bluff then don't bluff, contact the TIO and give them all the relevant info, if you have it then documentation of what issues you've had, when you've had them and how long as well as who you've spoken to at Virgin will certainly help. They will lodge the complaint with Virgin and you will be contacted by Virgins TIO department who are the best equipped at getting the job done. If they still can't make you happy then keep in contact with the TIO and let them know how shit Virgin are being and that you want out of your contact or whatever it is you are after and if you are in the right then you will certainly be released.
Important things -
If you are 7 months in to a 24 month contract then do not let them screw you for another 17 months, if you don't speak up then they will. Hopefully I haven't just gone over the shit you already know but regardless hope it helps.
They've also changed their plans so that calls aren't charged by the minute, but by every 2 mins. :(
that's $2.36/2min
I wasn't notified and didn't realise until I was browsing their website.
Are you sure that's not just an example cost of a 2 minute call? I'd say they still charge per minute.
Exactly right, they use a 2 minute example to hide their call connection charge.
98cents per minute + 40cents call connection =
$2.36 for a 2 minute call (less than 1:59)
http://www.virginmobile.com.au/global/virgin-mobile/static/p…
Exactly right, they use a 2 minute example
I thought it was now a requirement for all providers to give examples of 2 minutes for comparisons…
http://www.whistleout.com.au/MobilePhones/Guides/The-New-ACM…
Offer and Contract Information
Information About Pricing which includes:
The cost of making a two-minute standard national mobile call (including flagfall where applicable).
jv is right, they're not hiding flagfall - it's the ACCC industry standards that they have to simplify costs and provide Customer Information Summary (CIS) telco products.
seems like a good deal.
am I reading it right that you don't have to sign up for a year or anything but and they'll just charge you each month till you cancel?
and the 1gb is every month not just the first month right?
Yeah that is right. All BYO plans are just month by month. No lock in contract.
This deal has actually been around for a couple of months now - It was extended from October through to the 18 November. I have been trying to get my final contract month with virgin waved so I can go on their BYO plan. No luck at all. my contract is due to finish on the 21st but they will still charge me a months break in contract right up to the 21st!
I think with Virgin its free to cancel your PLAN after 6 months - you still have to pay out the remaining value of your handset though
why does it says "($30 plan BYO)" under $20 plan….what does it mean…can anyone explain?
I think its their $30 plan but cost $20 when you BYO phone
When you get a new phone with them it is usually on one of those plans, i.e. $30 plan, $40 plan, $50 plan etc.. If you BYO phone then they discount that plan by $10. Therefore if you want to go on the $30 plan, it will only cost you $20/month if you BYO phone. Does that help?
EDIT - BYO means 'Bring Your Own'
is the 1Gb every month or just the first month???
For the life of the plan. If you change plans then you lose the bonus 1GB data. But if they change there plans you don't lose your bonus 1GB.
I got this along with a mate and we got unlimited free calls and text to each other and $30 credit to be applied in the 2nd or 3rd billing cycle. Also liked the deal as it includes international calls. But 4g availability is crap compared to Telstra.
My wife used to have an account with them. All was well, till her phone was stolen one afternoon. Tale of woe below (almost 2 years ago to the week):
I called and reported it, and was assured that they would block the number.
I then asked how I can go about obtaining a replacement sim in Perth. Went to 3 Virgin shops, and two stalls in major shopping area. None had a blank Sim to sell me, and kept asking that I call their support for a Sim to be posted out.
I called support, and paid $15 to have a sim posted. 8 days, and a couple of calls later, I was told; Sorry, we have no record of you requesting sim, despite the charge showing up on my account.
Waited another 7 days for a Sim to be sent out. The day I received the replacement sim, I also received an email letting me know that my account had been frozen, due to it being a number of times, over the monthly limit.
I check online and found that whomever stole my phone, had made many, many calls to South Africa, and I was now some $750+ in debt to Virgin. I called them up to find out what was going on. The person on the phone said something along the lines of; When you reported the phone stolen, we placed a block on the data portion of the account, but the voice remained active.
After ~30 minutes of to/froing, and then speaking with a manager, the charges were cancelled.
I paid out the contract the next day, and never looked back.
As long as you have no need for any support, then they are ok. The minute you need something as simple as a replacement Sim, then you're on your own…..
For this reason, I'd never consider using Virgin mobile again.
That's because you asked for support from the philipines call centre which are useless, you should have gone straight to TIO, the sydney based customer relations officer would have sorted your issue within days.
I'm with virgin, and yes, their Filo customer service is totally useless… The problem was resolved after going through TIO.
Philipino customer service's English is miles better than that offered by Vaya and Yatango.
Their inability to understand common English is astonishing.
Yeah, I wasn't complaining about their English skills though.
I had a billing issue, and also I put an order down when the Sony Z1 first came out.
With the billing issue they simply just told me that I had to pay for what I didn't purchase, and I called several times…, all the same answer.
The Z1 order just simply disappeared, called them saying what happened, they just said the order was cancelled and refused to explain why.
So yeah, I don't think I'll be staying with Virgin after the contract is finished(that's like 19months away), probably not Optus either as I believe the customer service is outsourced to the same company (as Optus owns Virgin).
Definitely, much faster to deal with the TIO (rather than two weeks back and forth with "customer service")
The two days after contacting the TIO, a guy I'm assuming local (sounded Australian) called me and explained how they had fixed it.
Its not the TIO guy, its the guy from virgin customer relations office based in Sydney, you can tell by the phone number they called from, starts with 02. TIO is just facilitating your complaint to their (virgin) escalation department.
Sorry I just realised I wasn't clear, it was a virgin customer relations guy. He was WAY better to deal with than any other call staff.
OK but what is it this 200 billion dollars these companies tell about their "VIRTUAL" credit!!
They should Put it in simple words
In my experience I found a $1 pay as you go plan better than a $2000 credit plan from another provider!
It would be nice if there was an agreement that said that phone caps have to follow pricing structures eg:
Calls 25cents, SMS 25cents, MMS 60cents…
Sadly that's not the case, however they can't put it in to minutes, calls and sms's because it is a dollar value cap. Some people use more SMS and some use more calls.
When in doubt Aldi Unlimited :)
Hopefully one day telcos will be forced to use some uniform standard when promoting mobile plans — much like unit pricing for groceries (enforced by the ACCC) and comparison rates for credit providers (enforced by ASIC). :)
I'm getting this upon checkout:
Server error
The website encountered an error while retrieving https://www.virginmobile.com.au/shop/Checkout/ProcessCheckou…. It may be down for maintenance or configured incorrectly.
It's forewarning you of the type of experience you will have, browsing the Internet when connected to the Virgin APN.
really cool
Can you port number to these plans ?
yes, I think you need to tell them when you join or activation the sim card…..
Can you pay your Virgin $20 bill by BPAY?
I do not want to give a credit card number to them to signup.
No, only credit card and direct debit, and CC has 1% process fee.
Just talked to the online sales of virgin. They need a $250 NON-REFUNDABLE bond for international roaming. So if I pay that bond for my coming overseas trip, I am locking myself in a 12.5 months contract, with all the money paid in advance. Now I am re-considering the options.
@Tuhan And for the bonus data pack, I was told that if I order the sim card pack by the 18th, I will have 5 days to activate it and still receiving the 1G data pack because I ordered before the promotion ends. In your case this is perfect as you only need 3 days to finish your contract.
Thanks, Mily! I want to keep my number though and I am unsure as to whether I can do that if I get a completely new sim from them? I have been with Virgin for about 7yrs now (i've had my ups and downs, but overall more ups then downs).
Better confirm with their sales person as you are already with virgin, not a new customer. I was thinking to port from Vodafone, however the non-refundable roaming bond makes me think twice.
They need a $250 NON-REFUNDABLE bond
Non-refundable bond lol
That's called pre-pay.
I got this plan a few months a go when they were running the same promotion. Had no issues thus far as it suits my usage pattern perfectly.
I used to be on the Virgin BYO plan, signed up when it was $19/month, 2.25gb of data.
After a year or so it switched to 250mb of data. I rung them up after getting a $80 bill one month, asking if there was anyway they could either a) turn off data when I got to 250mb or b) give me a txt or email notification when I hit the limit. Both answers were no. I then asked if they could switch me to the new promotion they were having for new customers (same plan but with 2.25gb, again the answer was no).
I then switched to tpg, on their (no longer available) $17.99 plan ($550 call credit, 1.5gb data), which has a 80% txt notification, 100% limit notification, and a limit of $20 overage per month.
Virgin no longer offers the 10% mobile credit for any virgin flights booked either.
Hmm… Boost is better!
You can also pay 10 dollars for an extra 2GB of data - works out to $30 with $200 credit and 3.2GB data
When it comes to $30 mark, why not get unlimited from ALDI for $5 more? 2.5G and 3.2G aren't that different, but better signal and "infinite" call vs 100- minutes worth the extra $5 to me.
Fair call. Does the Aldi deal have 4G though?
Can I order a 4g simcard and use it on my S2(non 4g version). I am looking to get a note 3 lte soon in the future and want to make sure a 4g simcard will work on my S2 until I get my new phone
There're no 4G sim cards, 3G and 4G use the same sim cards.
But it does say on the virgin website: 'If your device is 3G, a 4G SIM may negatively impact your level of coverage.'
+1,I was told by Virgin calling centre over the phone too. The lady said they will send me a 4G sim for free when i have a 4G phone.
no such thing. 4G is turned on or off from the system end, has nothing to do with your sim card.
How long is the contract if there is one? Seems pretty good, but then Vaya is ~$18/month for what would seem like a bit more inclusions.