Virgin Mobile acquired Helio last year, we knew they’d be venturing into postpaid territory. They clearly wouldn’t abandon their prepaid service, but with Helio’s back-end in place they could make a dual offering. Today they unveil family contract plans. They say that these are three new plans, but I hadn’t even seen the first of the family plans. After the jump we’ll go over the whole shebang.
To make this simple, here’s a listing of the family plans. The image is a bit small, as to fit in our column, so make sure to click on it for full size.
Remember, when looking at the plans, that the price per month does not include the additional line fees. So for $85 you would get 1,000 anytime minutes and unlimited nights/weekends, mobile-to-mobile, messaging, and data for just one line (which, incidentally, is a pretty decent deal). To share that plan among two lines, it would cost an extra $35, bringing the total bill to $120. Something to keep in mind while deciding if these plans are for you.
Virgin Mobile’s new additions include the $175/month plan, the $50 A La Crate plan, and a 200-minute upgrade to the $100 A La Carte plan. Again, I wasn’t even aware of these plans in the first place, so it’s all new to me.
Non-data users can benefit greatly from the A La Carte plans. Just compare the 1,000-minute offerings. As described above, you could get two lines on the All In plan for $120 per month. On A La Carte, though, you could add the $9.99 unlimited text messaging to the $60 1,000 minute plan, plus $10 for the additional line. That’s $80 for both lines, and all you’re really missing is the data. Even if it’s $10 for unlimited text messaging on each line — and there’s no indication that’s the case — it’s $90 for that plan.
It looks like Virgin has added some high-quality contact offerings to go along with its signature prepaid service. If you want more information on the contract plans, head to Virgin Mobile’s website. ]]>
