Talk:Virgin Mobile

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Business and economics Portal
This article is within the scope of the Business and Economics WikiProject.
Start rated as start-Class on the assessment scale
Mid rated as mid-importance on the assessment scale

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Virgin Mobile article.
Article policies
To-do list for Virgin Mobile: edit · history · watch · refresh
  • Standardise terms used (ie, post-paid, rather than monthly plan or contract)
  • General editing
Priority 4  

Contents

[edit] This Article Is Horrible

I edited some od the grammar and such, but it still needs work, mention of branson, etc. Also the plans aren't the same in Canada. All in all this article gives me a a "quickly written" feel. Lets see what we can do about it!—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Gorffy (talk • contribs) 09:05, July 30, 2005.

I've added some things on the US carrier (web browsing, VX/VXL access fees), I'm going to log in and take care of adding the Canadian plans.
IMO, I'm not sure if Branson needs mention in this article. The Virgin Group article is linked to in the first paragraph and it mentions him on that page. I know he was involved in some sort of publicity for the Canadian service launch (wasn't he?) but I've never heard of him doing much else in regards to the North American services. Is he more involved with the other branches?—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.30.70.126 (talk • contribs) 05:13, August 8, 2005.

[edit] Virgin Mobile Canada

Okay, I've added plan and wireless data information for VMC. Feel free to rearrange it to make more sense if need be. I'm in the US, so I have no idea if some of the terminology I used is correct. Please correct it if I screwed up. Additionally, VMC does not make clear some things, like if the long distance rate is lowered for Monthly Pass subscribers and how exactly international calls are charged. Additionally, if someone could double check the incoming rates on picture messaging - VMC doesn't state that explicitly. In fact, the whole explanation of picture messaging on VMC's site was confusing.

I will admit to lifting things from the US portion of the article - this was done to maintain consistency. Again, please correct anything I've gotten wrong, and/or formatted badly.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Terrin (talk • contribs) 06:28, August 8, 2005.


Something needs to be added now that post paid plans (and details regarding them) are available. I'm not sure how to do this without coming off as an ad, ideas? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.64.14.13 (talk) 03:46, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] VirginXtras price in USA

What's this with the $.10 every day thing? I've been looking around on www.virginmobileusa.com, and I can't find any mention of it anywhere, and their FAQ says that it's just $.25 on days when you use it.

Jonathan 16:00, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

I'm inclined to cut it. I checked my transaction log and there's no sign of any such fee. Carter 21:11, 19 September 2005 (UTC)
It says 10 cents per day here: http://www.virginmobileusa.com/rates/featurepricing.do 66.92.197.124 15:50, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] oh yes and in the uk too

hahaha I just love the way that a page relating to a british company (virgin mobile usa is the us subsidiary) becomes yet another opportunity for the wiki ubiquitous dominance of the US - but no surely it is correct to have the information about virgin mobile in the country that it operates down there with the footnotes - also like to say congratulations to the flag junkies for managing to get the US flag on this page It really really helps illuminate the subject and makes me admire the land of the brave even more, nice to see the good old maple leaf too, havent seen it in quite a while. 80.0.168.8 15:11, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

They're only templates, relating the service in that country. We're not about to start an article on Virgin Mobile for every country it's in. --Image:Ottawa flag.png Spinboy 16:19, 7 October 2005 (UTC)


I was wondering why the US was put at the start of lists etc too. I thought that launch dates would be a better (natural) way to list the countries?—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Andrewag (talk • contribs) 13:25, August 3, 2006.

[edit] All nighter plan (VMC)

the 'month 2 month' plan is not used in Canada anymore and was replaced with an 'all nighter plan'. also the Nokia Groove 3155i was added to the VMC lineup—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 72.60.5.4 (talk • contribs) 00:25, April 3, 2006.

[edit] Virgin Mobile US: Google Calendar

You made note that MSN is the only webbased alert that works...don't know if this counts, but Google Calendar goes through as well—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.173.222.219 (talk • contribs) 06:30, July 21, 2006.

[edit] Virgin Mobile France and South Africa

Virgin Mobile has also launched in France and in South Africa (this month).—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Joshdhaliwal (talk • contribs) 15:13, July 24, 2006.

[edit] Layout of the information

There has to be a better way to present this information. The article, in its current state, is somewhat of a wreck... just look at it -- it's jumbled and hard to follow. I seriously have no idea how to approach fixing this, though. I'm almost tempted to tag the article for clean-up. Bp28 08:53, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Virgin Mobile South Africa

Cover please. --Scotteh 19:07, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

the calling plan info is really outdated. so is the list of phones—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.210.247.159 (talk • contribs) 02:49, September 20, 2006.

[edit] Statement is inaccurate

In the UK, USA, Australia & South Africa, Virgin Mobile also offer a "pay monthly" option, which allows users to pay for bills in arrears.

This statement is not accurate in the USA. Virgin Mobile USA (VMU) offers a monthly plan, but money is added prior. The subscriber is never in arrears (otherwise VMU would have a mountain of debt on 12-18 year olds. I'm not logged in, but will make a change to this statement unless someone else beats me to it. Thanks.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 64.105.163.163 (talk • contribs) 20:00, October 5, 2006.

[edit] Canadian "cost"

This paragraph:

Less than 6 months after a heavy Christmas 2005 ad campaign the dates changed, lowering the life of the top-up cards. From June 12, 2006 the $15 cards will only last for 45 days, thereby raising the cost per year to $120, an increase of 166%. The lowest price option is a $100 card that will last the full year, but this still represents an increase of 122%. The $25 cards last for 90 days, which totals to $101 per year, where the $50 top-ups lasts only 120 days, which is the most expensive of all - $152 per year.

May need to be changed. They have a monthly plan which has a cost of $0, so if I understand it correctly, if you associate with a credit card, you can maintain the phone for free all year at no cost except when you use it.--Crossmr 01:20, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

I don't think so... regardless of how you pay for your top up (credit card or otherwise), it still expires at some time (depending on the amount you put in). So the minimum is still $100 per year to keep your phone active. Of course this allows you to make $100 worth of calls (at $0.25 per minute), but you can't just pay nothing and have a phone that works forever. On a different note, I believe the "Day 2 Day," "Minute 2 Minute," and "All Nighter" plans no longer exist, so those likely need to be removed or edited. Sewebster 09:28, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
Your credit card can't expire. The amount you can put it on it does, but since the monthly plan is $0, there is no amount being kept on it and your payment information hasn't expired, like if you'd bought a card.--Crossmr 14:26, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
? You can't set it up so that when you use the phone for 1 minute, it directly charges your credit card $0.25. You have to use the credit card to "top up" the account, either manually or automatically (when your account balance reaches a certain threshold). So you use your credit card to top up your account $15. Then you have that money in your account, but it will expire after some period of time if you don't use it up making calls first. It's your account balance that expires, not your credit card. Sure there is no "monthly plan," this is just a strict pay as you go model, you pay up front $0.25 per minute for whatever calls you want to make. But you can't just put money on your account and have it last forever, it expires. Sewebster 21:36, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
Ah when I read automatic, I thought that meant it could be set up to to just charge you CC on a per minute basis when you actually used it.--Crossmr 22:02, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] No title

The page has no title in the title bar. It only shows the URL. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 210.4.77.150 (talk) 13:14, 2 January 2007 (UTC).


[edit] This Article Reads Like an Ad

I don't think it's useful to have all of the tariffs for a mobile phone operator in Wikipedia. It seems like a PR firm has created this article.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 87.82.0.53 (talk • contribs) 05:19, January 15, 2006.

[edit] Cost Information - Remove

The priciing/cost information should be removed. Not only is it not encyclopedic, but it's far too changeable to keep up with. Links to the official sites will supply that information. See WP:NOT, specifically the WP:NOT#IINFO section. Other providers' pages (via the info boxes at each section) don't list this information. --Bdoserror 20:37, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

I have removed that info now. --Bdoserror 20:44, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Cost Information isn't necessarily like an ad

I think the cost information could be kept in without it being advertising for Virgin so the article is more informational not just stubs on each section of Virgin Mobile. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Xtreme racer (talk • contribs) 20:15, 15 February 2007 (UTC).

Not surprisingly, I disagree. It's not just about not looking like an ad. It is also highly dynamic information that is subject to many changes and is more likely to be out of date. Keeping it up to date is busywork that is not necessary. Also, it is not encyclopedic information, and from what I could see, none of the other companies' pages list that information. However, I will defer to the consensus. --Bdoserror 22:21, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
I'm not sure I think that the cost information should be included (because it seems to change so often), but I will comment that one of the main things that differentiates various mobile carriers is their cost and/or pricing/plan structure. This seems to be a primary factor used to decide on a carrier. So, in that sense it might be useful. However, presumably some sort of commentary on their pricing model without specific numbers could be good enough. Sewebster 21:02, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
The main thing that differentiates VM from other callphone companies is that VM has "pay as you go" plans (charging a per minute rate instead of per month). I think that should be discussed, but not actual numbers used. (Because the actual price changes too often.) - Theaveng 19:28, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Why was Virgin Mobile Canada removed

I don't see as to why the Virgin Mobile Canada section needed to be removed as it had been fixed not to look like an ad and didn't contain any cost information. There was no reason for the user 74.14.144.7 to remove this section. If anyone has a reason why it should stay removed please put it on my talk page. Xtreme racer

I added it back in. I don't see why it was removed. Sewebster 22:43, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Something needs to be modified

When I read the opening paragraph it says that every other country but Canada offers monthly plans and not just prepaid. This isn't the case. I personally use Virgin Mobile Canada and know that there is several monthly plans to choose from including the 0 dollar plan which is the full prepaid but the other plans give you extra minutes or other features. If someone wants to verify this and add it that would be appreciated. Xtreme racer

These "plans" are still prepaid though; you have to pay before you get the service. Most other providers let you use your phone, then send you a bill at the END of the month. However, I don't know whether that is the case with VM in other countries. Sewebster 18:08, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

No how it works is you get a bill at the end of every month is you subscribe to any other plan other than the $0 plan which you have to load up.Xtreme racer 17:47, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Virgin Mobile files with U.S. regulators for IPO

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=c56777c4-2f8c-469d-a133-323e44089cc5&k=20948 "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Virgin Mobile USA Inc. said on Tuesday it is planning an initial public offering of as much as $100 million in Class A common stock." Mathiastck 21:01, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Logo

I changed the logo on the page to add the standard vm logo used in the USA, France, South Africa, and Austrailia beneath the new vm logo which is used only in the UK. heresthecasey | talk 17:59, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Completely disorganized, split up to fix?

This article to me seems completely disorganized. i tagged it for a complete rewrite because it seems to be trying to do too much in a single article. Each 'Virgin Mobile' in each country is really it's own distinct company and has very little to do with the others besides the name/Virgin Group affiliation. The top of this article has an infobox for VM UK, and seems mainly to deal with that company. Then just seems to tack on each other country in their own disorganized sections. I think this will be a difficult article to fix, and im leaning towards thinking it would be best to split each country up into its own page, with a disambiguation or central page dealing with all the common themes present in every 'Virgin Mobile', and then to split up the different versions as well in the 'Virgin Group' template box at the bottom. Lemme know what you guys think about this because I really think all these different companies can't be well organized on just one page. heresthecasey | talk 18:13, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

I have moved the USA and Canada sections to new pages. An Australian article was already created previously. A VM South African and a VM France article still need to be created. The article now only focuses on the parent company Virgin Mobile. There is a disambiguation page that leads to the seperate articles. Jmoz2989 21:14, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

There is no need for disambiguation page, they shoud be mentioned in the article but short with a {{main}} tag to the page. --AxG @ ►talk 21:19, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

I've tried to clean up the article, and I split Virgin Mobile UK into its own page because Virgin Mobile UK is not the parent company of the others, that is the Virgin Group. Now the page just sort of focuses on what each company has in common. I will try and create pages for France and South Africa. heresthecasey | talk 20:10, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Singapore

A section was just added on the Singapore operation... it should probably be removed given that we removed all the other sections about the other operations.... but it isn't all that long, perhaps there is some room in this article for a few details about the country-specific VMs without replicating the other article's content...? Sewebster 18:37, 22 August 2007 (UTC)


[edit] What audio codec is used?

Which codec and at what bitrate is Virgin Mobile (or Sprint PCS) sending audio? IMHO it would be worthwhile to add that to the article. - Theaveng 19:28, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] VirginMobile being sued

I think this should be mentioned in the article. http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/09/24/intv.virgin.flickr.lawsuit.cnn?iref=mpvideosview

[edit] Redirect from Chrismahanakwanzika

I don't understand why Chrismahanakwanzika should be redirected to this page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.207.195.166 (talk) 22:42, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

Neither do I. Chrisweuve (talk) 18:14, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

I saw that word when I was at Virgin Mobile's site. It's their version of "Happy Holidays" -- Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. TheMissileSilo (talk) 18:46, 31 December 2007 (UTC)