For the latest, see the 2011 Virgin Mobile 3G Coverage Review
Virgin mobile coverage for 3G mirrors Sprint’s.
The difference is in the roaming coverage. Virgin has none.
Virgin Mobile coverage for 3G data services is an interesting case. As we mentioned before, they resell Sprint’s service. Based on that you’d think they have the same coverage as Sprint right?
Yes…and no.
Allow me to explain.
If you take a look at coverage at Virgin’s site, you’ll only find a map remarkably similar to Sprint’s map…as a matter of fact, it IS Sprint’s coverage map (just without the 4G coverage).
While Sprint offers extensive roaming coverage in addition to their already sizeable network, that same courtesy is not extended to Virgin.
Why?
The obvious reason is money.
Sprint already has to pay premium price to other carriers with whom they have roaming agreements. For that reason, they’ve capped current plans at 200 MB of roaming data usage (much smaller than the regular 5 GB cap). After 200 MB of roaming, they will start to charge you premium overage rates. Knowing this, it’s no surprise that Virgin, even if given the opportunity, wouldn’t wish to incur that extra cost if they didn’t have to. While they could just pass it off to the consumer, why bother pay for it if the demand may not even be there?
So what does Virgin mobile broadband 3G coverage look like?
Take a look at Sprint’s mobile broadband coverage map below, and ignore any of the spots marked as roaming.
That will give you the most accurate depiction of the coverage you’ll get with Virgin mobile broadband until they decide to update their coverage map to include 3G coverage and not just voice.
When you click on the map, it’ll take you to Virgin Mobile’s 3G coverage tool. Be sure to select 3G coverage since Voice is enabled by default..
Now that you know Virgin mobile prepaid plans, broadband speed & 3G coverage, the last thing to learn about is the devices available to connect to their network. At the time of writing, there is only one Virgin mobile broadband card.
jason says:
excellent svc
Joe Mitchell says:
I have had Virgin for over 2 years,it wasn’t too bad at first. Then they came out with the new $50 plan( I have the $40 unlimited plan),and my service now sucks. As soon as they came out with the new plan my service slowed,now I’m lucky to get anything to work even with exellent reception.
A Turner says:
I see that Virgin removed the “…all 50 states” verbiage from the website. A trip thru the upper Midwest and West US left me high and dry for most of it. And there is no longer ANY coverage in Montana… none! I expect gaps in coverage between towns, but between states?
Here is where the ‘No Roaming’ thing is potentially dangerous. If I’m not mistaken, no roaming means no 911 as well? I didn’t try it, tho, for fear of abusing the 911 system. With vast areas of zero coverage in the US (they apparently offer roaming in other countries?), not even having the option of roaming is a disservice, and touting the “no roaming charges” thing seems disingenuous and even a bit cynical.
C’mon VM- spend some funds from those recent new accounts to get roaming contracts in place. Seems to me that the ability to make a call (even at the higher roam rate) is more than just a standard feature that all carriers should offer; one day, someone’s life will be on the line, and they will reach for YOUR phone to find about as useful as a small flashlight.
Thanks for the comment spot MBR.
-aT
ecstacy says:
joe is right ever since plan change its been a slow network. reason? i called and they said they have network issues.but having network issues for two months i think there liars. i used to play xbl with my optimus v and i would get 2 to 3 bars online witch is good sorta but i didnt lag or anything when the battery ran low i started lagging well anyways all of a sudden one day my connection was 1 bar which is red internet just went slow one day which suck i tried at all diffrent times of the day. morning was 1 bar afternoon 1 bar night 1 bar but for some reason between the times of 2am-6am i got a good two bars sometimes three but after those time i got shit for internet i use to be able to stream movies but now i cant it litarlly takes hrs or days i wish we had a answer to why the internet speed drop but thats a secrect from virgin we wont ever know
Omar says:
I have been useing virgin mobile now for about a year and for the most part it works fine if indeed one bar is what you would call it. The only down side is Video. I get about 2 seconds and then it buffers 3 to 5 seconds if not longer
http://fight.so says:
I was curious if you ever considered changing the
structure of your blog? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
But maybe you could a little more in the way of content
so people could connect with it better. Youve got
an awful lot of text for only having one or two images. Maybe you could space it out better?
Kyle Sherrill says:
Just bought a new 4g android and got Virgin mobile prepaid for one month. 3G is spotty, 4g nonexistant. Very happy I’m only out the $55 and a month of shitty coverage I’ll never get back. Oh well, even my crappy straighttalk phone and speed was better, and I thought they were the worst. Vm, you’re fired. Next.