[DEAD]Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone: $84.99 AC AGC @bb b&m

[Pardus]

Link

$149.99 - 10% coupon in movers packet at post office = $50 gift card = $84.99. Offer valid only in store. Refills can be done at http://www.callingmart.com/, no taxes.

Best buy requires you must activate phone in store, tell them you will add money later.. you don't have to do it there.

 

[jrichrds]

What happens if you just want to do a phone swap on an existing account?

 

[Bl0cks]

Good looking deal.

 

[rivan]

What happens if you just want to do a phone swap on an existing account?

I'm not sure if normal BB stores do this, but I just moved from the Samsung Intercept (got in on the $25/month before it ended) to the Triumph deal here, which was BB Mobile stores:

http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3148912

Getting the deal at BB Mobile required a new activation, which was a bit of a PITA. I had to call Virgin to do the hardware swap.

Without the new activation, you can do the hardware swap on the website.

 

[Basilisk]

Got the Optimus V for $130 a few weeks before all these deals. A nice phone, but better for folks with smaller fingers than I have. I'd probably have gone for the Triumph had I known it existed, although there are a lot of reports of problems and folks who wished they'd kept their "V".

Doesn't make any sense that BB/VM would allow the $50 GC without a NEW activation since that's how they justify the offer -- they're paying for NEW customers. That's not to say you can't con someone into helping you.

 

[Pardus]

Was able to pick this phone up at best buy today, used coupon and got gift card.. they took the phone out of box, polished it and set it up for me... told the rep i have unused virgin mobile re-fill cards at home.

My first cell umm..real cell phone.

 

[Apex]

Got the Optimus V for $130 a few weeks before all these deals. A nice phone, but better for folks with smaller fingers than I have. I'd probably have gone for the Triumph had I known it existed, although there are a lot of reports of problems and folks who wished they'd kept their "V".

Doesn't make any sense that BB/VM would allow the $50 GC without a NEW activation since that's how they justify the offer -- they're paying for NEW customers. That's not to say you can't con someone into helping you.

For what it's worth, have an Optimus V and a Triumph here. The Triumph has noticably worse signal quality. If you live in a place with full bars, it probably won't matter. However, here, where there's on average 2 bars on the Optimus V, the Triumph shows 0 bars to no-service most of the time.

 

[Basilisk]

For what it's worth, have an Optimus V and a Triumph here. The Triumph has noticably worse signal quality. If you live in a place with full bars, it probably won't matter. However, here, where there's on average 2 bars on the Optimus V, the Triumph shows 0 bars to no-service most of the time.

Yup... that was a common complaint -- to be fair, it's not just fewer BARS (which could be a signal-display issue), it's poor/broken calls. I live in a 0 to 2 bar area (near NJ Pine Barrens) [well... until I spent $300 for an xBoost high-gain repeater on the roof to get 3 to 4 bars]. So I ache for the larger screen of the Triumph but dread its weak signal/capture while in weak signal areas all around me. [I was recently at Yale, and _shocked_ to see 6-bar service! A first for me... can't imagine such a full life! ]

 

[Apex]

Yup... that was a common complaint -- to be fair, it's not just fewer BARS (which could be a signal-display issue), it's poor/broken calls. I live in a 0 to 2 bar area (near NJ Pine Barrens) [well... until I spent $300 for an xBoost high-gain repeater on the roof to get 3 to 4 bars]. So I ache for the larger screen of the Triumph but dread its weak signal/capture while in weak signal areas all around me. [I was recently at Yale, and _shocked_ to see 6-bar service! A first for me... can't imagine such a full life! ]

Yeah, my YX510-PCS/CEL is pretty worthless here.

 

[Craig234]

Sounds interesting, though I buy so little at BB the card is a headache. How much to transfer my landline number to this phone? Any reason not to activate it in the store?

 

[Basilisk]

Sounds interesting, though I buy so little at BB the card is a headache.

Agreed.

How much to transfer my landline number to this phone? Any reason not to activate it in the store?

Free. They tell you it takes up to 3 (IIRC) days for the transfer to occur, but mine transferred in 45 minutes (on a weekday evening).
OOPS! Correction: that was a cellphone transfer which took 45 minutes, now that I think about it: I canceled my land line that day. Should still be a free L-L transfer.

 

[Basilisk]

Yeah, my YX510-PCS/CEL is pretty worthless here.

My YX545 with the two-panel directional outdoor antenna brings in 5 (of 6) bars for me when it's pointed correctly: I need to go up on the roof to re-mount the pole as the clamps I used couldn't lock the pole tightly enough and it's rotated in the wind. (The directional antenna probably wasn't necessary for me, but I was careless with the included omni-directional antenna and broke it, so I upgraded while replacing it.) Before the YX545, I was often zero bars, sometimes one bar, and just occasionally two bars... which is to say I had a lot of missed/dropped/hard-to-understand calls. Now I have better reception in my living room than in my driveway.

 

[SludgeFactory]

Sounds interesting, though I buy so little at BB the card is a headache.

I haven't done it (yet), but supposedly you can buy Amazon Kindle-branded gift cards at Best Buy, which will work on anything at Amazon. Turn the $50 Worst Buy GC into $50 Amazon GC.

I'm planning to do this deal tomorrow. Only thing I don't like is the hassle of activating and then having to deal with transferring the phone to my existing account.

There's also a 12% BB mobile coupon floating around that is valid starting 8/10/11, would be slightly better than the standard 10% coupon.

 

[Apex]

Sounds interesting, though I buy so little at BB the card is a headache. How much to transfer my landline number to this phone? Any reason not to activate it in the store?

Use it to buy airtime minute cards for Virgin Mobile. You'll be paying for the service anyway, you may as well just use the BB card.

My YX545 with the two-panel directional outdoor antenna brings in 5 (of 6) bars for me when it's pointed correctly: I need to go up on the roof to re-mount the pole as the clamps I used couldn't lock the pole tightly enough and it's rotated in the wind. (The directional antenna probably wasn't necessary for me, but I was careless with the included omni-directional antenna and broke it, so I upgraded while replacing it.) Before the YX545, I was often zero bars, sometimes one bar, and just occasionally two bars... which is to say I had a lot of missed/dropped/hard-to-understand calls. Now I have better reception in my living room than in my driveway.

Unfortunately, my entire property gets very low signal, so no matter where I put the antenna, it's pretty worthless.

I wish they would route the call through the Sprint Airvana femtocell.

 

[thephew]

This is a great budget Android phone. I got grandfathered in w/ the old $25/month plan, so I plan to stick with Virgin Mobile and the Optimus V until they eventually force the $35/month plan on me (at which point I'll join my wife on Sprint, and sign a contract to get a fancier phone).

The only drawbacks on the phone (for me) are:
-The screen is a tad small, so typing is tricky
-The onboard storage is pathetic (180mb or so). Even manually moving as many apps as possible to the SD card, you will run out of space fast. You basically have to root and move everything to the SD, or you will run out of storage.

On the plus side, signal strength and battery life compete with the latest/greatest 4.3" Android phones on the contract carriers. The CPU is fast enough, and the GPU will run most any game given the low resolution of the screen.

 

[Basilisk]

Unfortunately, my entire property gets very low signal, so no matter where I put the antenna, it's pretty worthless.

You probably understand this, but: My typical ground-level signal is about 1 bar (ranging from 0 to 2)l; at my roof it's often around 3 bars. My repeater-antenna's atop my HDTV mast -- about 40' off the ground -- but I haven't climbed up there to check the signal strength.. (I live in an area of a heavy concentration of tall trees.

 

[goobee]

I was also looking at Boostmobile and the Sanyo Incognito. Is this phone better?

 

[Apex]

You probably understand this, but: My typical ground-level signal is about 1 bar (ranging from 0 to 2)l; at my roof it's often around 3 bars. My repeater-antenna's atop my HDTV mast -- about 40' off the ground -- but I haven't climbed up there to check the signal strength.. (I live in an area of a heavy concentration of tall trees.

Yeah, I wish mine was that good up there. It's pretty close to the signal at ground level, though slightly better. It's at about -86dB on the Triumph on the roof, best case senario (weather makes a difference).

 

[Roland00Address]

Note people are still getting the $25 dollar plan if you do some certain steps. The $25 dollar plan is the same as the $35 dollar plan but $10 dollars cheaper. Virign mobile has raised its rates for new customers but older customers are grandfathered in, this thread details steps on how to get the cheaper plan.

http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3131018

 

[Basilisk]

The only drawbacks on the phone (for me) are:
-The screen is a tad small, so typing is tricky
-The onboard storage is pathetic (180mb or so).

'Agree on all points. I use "memory booster lite" to release memory, as well as killing off unnecessary programs. Haven't run out of memory since I started doing this, but you may need more than me.

 

[Pardus]

..