Virgin Mobile offers a strong slate of features at one of the best values among prepaid carriers. If you’re willing to buy a new phone, and you double-check that Virgin’s sometimes lackluster coverage and data speeds work for you, the carrier can be a good choice.
AT A Glance
- Plans start at $20 a month
- Strengths: Good features at great value
- Weaknesses: Operates on Sprint’s sometimes lackluster network; can't bring your own phone
Virgin Mobile cell phone plans
Virgin Mobile offers its bread-and-butter Unlimited plans, multiline Data Done Right plans, and a non-smartphone option with the payLo plans.
- Unlimited (500MB): $30
- Unlimited (4GB): $40
- Unlimited (6GB): $50
- Data Done Right (3GB): $30
- Data Done Right, with unlimited talk and text (3GB): $40
- payLo ($1.50/MB): $20
- payLo (30MB): $30
- payLo (50MB): $40
The Unlimited plans offer three tiers of high-speed data (500MB, 4GB and 6GB), all with unlimited talk and text. After using up your data allotment, Virgin drops you down to 2G speeds for the rest of the service period. You can also stream unlimited music from Pandora, iHeartRadio, Slacker Radio, 8tracks and Milk Music without digging into your data.
Data Done Right functions as Virgin’s family plan, although you can have a single line on that plan. It’s available only through Wal-Mart. There are two single-line options: 300 minutes, unlimited text and 3GB of data for $30 a month, or unlimited talk and text with 3GB of data for $40 a month. You can add three more unlimited talk and text lines to the second option, each for an extra $25 a month. Your shared data bucket gets bigger with each additional line: 6GB for two lines, 10GB for three and 14GB for four.
You can also customize your multiline plan with Virgin’s preloaded app. It allows you to edit how much data, talk time or texting each device is allotted, plus it offers granular control over what apps are accessible on your group’s phones.
» MORE: How much data do you really need?
If you’re not on the smartphone bandwagon, Virgin’s payLo plans offer minutes and calls with a little data for basic web access on your non-smartphone. You get 400 minutes for $20 a month, on top of which you pay 15 cents per text message and $1.50 per megabyte of data. For $30 a month, you get 1,500 minutes and texts, plus 30MB of data. Pay $40 a month, and you’ll get unlimited talk and text, plus 50MB of data.
Virgin Mobile’s network
Virgin is wholly owned by Sprint and operates on its network. Both the latest RootMetrics report and PCMag’s Fastest Mobile Networks 2015 found Sprint’s network to be improving — especially in urban areas — though it’s still behind both Verizon and AT&T in speed and coverage. Of course, what matters is whether you get service, not how well a network performs overall. Talking to friends and family who use Sprint in your area is usually the easiest way to discover whether it’ll work for you.
Sprint is pretty strict about what kinds of devices are allowed on its network and Virgin cheekily follows suit, stating in its FAQ: “At this time, you cannot use a mobile phone from another wireless carrier, or any unlocked device. But it’s the perfect excuse to get a new phone.” That upfront cost is something to keep in mind when weighing your options.
Where to buy Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile phones are available from Best Buy, RadioShack, Target, Wal-Mart and many independent mobile phone stores. They’re also available online. Virgin has an exclusive deal with Wal-Mart for its Data Done Right plans.
Current Virgin Mobile deals
As of May 2016, Virgin is offering discounts on about a dozen smartphones, including the iPhone 5S and the Galaxy S5.
It’s also offering a flat rate charge on unlimited data for particular apps, only on the Data Done Right plans. You can buy unlimited data access to Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter or Instagram for an extra $5 per month. For another $5, you can get unlimited music streaming from Pandora, Shazam, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud and Spotify. Note that this is a different slate of apps for unlimited music streaming from what’s offered with the Unlimited plans.
How Virgin Mobile compares on price
Virgin Mobile is pretty much as inexpensive as it gets, especially considering what you get for your money. It has the lowest dollar-per-gigabyte cost in two data categories out of all the service providers we looked at for our comparison of prepaid cell phone plans.
How Virgin Mobile compares on features
For how inexpensive most of Virgin’s plans are, they include some attractive features. Mobile hot spot capability comes included in multiline Data Done Right plans, and unlimited music streaming comes with the Unlimited plans. Most features are available a la carte as well, like $5-a-month unlimited worldwide texting, among other international options.
Click the image to see in more detail how Virgin Mobile stacks up on features. Asterisks indicate features available for an additional charge.
Autopay discount: Not offered.
Family plans: Virgin Mobile offers its version of the family plan through the Wal-Mart-exclusive Data Done Right plans. One line of unlimited talk and text with 3GB of data is $40 a month, onto which you can add more unlimited talk and text lines for $25 a month each. That’s two lines with 6GB shared data for $65; three lines with 10GB shared data for $90; and four lines with 14GB shared data for $115.
Unlimited 2G: Allowed after going over your monthly high-speed data allotment.
Unlimited music streaming: The Unlimited plans include unlimited music streaming from Pandora, iHeartRadio, Slacker Radio, 8tracks and Milk Music. For an extra $5 a month on the Data Done Right plans, you get unlimited music streaming from Pandora, Shazam, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud and Spotify.
International calls and texts: For an extra $5 a month you get unlimited calls to mobile phones and landlines in Canada, unlimited calls to landlines in Mexico, and unlimited worldwide SMS texting. (Countries you can text to are listed here. Some allow multimedia texting as well.) For an extra $10 a month you get all that plus 1,000 minutes to call mobile phones in Mexico, unlimited calling to more than 70 countries, and discounts on Virgin’s usual international rates in more than 200 countries.
Mobile hot spot: Included with multiline Data Done Right plans. Available a la carte at $5 for 1GB of data per month or $10 for 2GB of data per month. Alternatively, you can pay $3 for 500MB of data, good for one day only.
Is Virgin Mobile right for you?
If cost is your overriding factor, prepaid mobile doesn’t get much cheaper than Virgin. Plus you get all sorts of neat features. You’ll have to buy a new phone, though, and possibly deal with spotty coverage and slower data speeds. But if Sprint has a strong network presence in your area, Virgin is worth strongly considering.
Stephen Layton is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: slayton@nerdwallet.com.
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