I switched from Verizon to Virgin Mobile about a year ago. I'm now on a 'pay as you go' plan, in which I only pay for the minutes I use (or the text messages I send or receive). Since I don't use my cellphone as my primary phone---and since I'm not fond of chatting on the phone---this plan is saving me lots of money. With the Pay-as-you-Go plan, I also don't have to pay those pesky monthly tax and service fees that inevitably increased my monthly payment from the 'Great Deal' of $29.99 to an amount closer to $40. When I add $20 to my account, all of that money goes toward the minutes I use.
Recently, I came across a blog comment from someone who also uses Virgin Mobile. In the comment, the woman mentioned that her husband earns free minutes on a monthly basis, simply by watching commercials on the Virgin Mobile site! She indicated that he earns up to 75 FREE minutes each month! I was stunned by this, but was skeptical enough that I didn't look into this myself until very recently.
I'm happy to report that Virgin Mobile does offer up to 75 free minutes through a program called 'Sugar Mama'. I log into my Virgin Mobile account, watch up to five short commercials (so far they've been heavy on Navy recruitment, TV commercials, and sports products). Afterward, I'm usually asked to rate the video ('Phenomenal', 'Sweet', 'OK', etc). Then on to the next video. I 'watch' the videos with the sound turned down---they're less annoying that way.
For five to ten minutes of my time online, I 'earn' five minutes each day (equal to $1.00 of talk time). The minutes don't expire, and roll over from one month to the next. This is just one more way I can save a few more dollars on a service that I rarely use, but which I don't want to cancel because it does come in very handy from time to time.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Why I (still) love Virgin Mobile. . .
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5 comments:
That's great! We use Trac phones -- and nearly every time you buy minutes, you can google another set of bonus minutes to add to your time. Plus we've put minute cards on our gift wish lists...for other people to buy... I think we've spent about maybe 125 all year on our two cell phones!
Sounds like you made a good decision there. I am with AT&T and have SOOO any rollover minutes it's crazy! What a waste! I'm paying close to 80 per month for what I'm not even using.
We switched from Verizon to Virgin a few years ago and pay $120 - 160 a year for two phones. We were paying $400 a year at Verizon for one phone and got 350 unused minutes a month that they gave us nothing for.
Major companies really need to get with it, but I guess they suspect a few people who take their 'cheapest' plan is better than offer a good low minute plan.
Cool that you can "earn" time :)
I'll keep that in mind if I quit my job and have to actually pay for my cell phone - right now the employer pays it. Lucky me! I just pay for the text plan.
I love my pay as you go-although a real spendthrift friend keeps trying to suggest it's a little vulgar-of course she wouldn't need to be on her phone constantly if she and DH weren't always in their cars because of their stressful jobs they can't leave because they must have new cars and phones and...Aaaaargh...
My friends' kids will idly ask to call mom on my phone to see if a play date can be made at the last minute...I haven't figured out how to get across that I don't have a zillion minutes "free" each month, but I'm working on it!!!
Thanks so much for this post-so good to have support in these things!!
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