The Unofficial 7-Eleven Speak Out Wireless Canada Consumer Page 
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5:42 pm
I really do not understand what is so GREAT about either 711 and Petrocan mobile service, they both just raised their prices, and Petrocan's minimum $15 top-up expires just in 30 days......
it is worst than Rogers, which have a $10 / 30 days prepaid !
I found that Virgin Mobile prepaid service offers 10cent/minute
Standard Rate Daytime Minutes Evenings and Weekends Extra
$ 10 / mo 10¢/min 10¢/min 10¢/min Yes
$ 20 / mo 200 Anytime minutes
Call display $ 0
Call waiting $ 0
Three-way calling $ 0
Call forwarding $ 0
Voicemail Basic $ 0
911 $ 0
611 $ 0
They also have something called PayCheck.
If somebody sign up to AutoPay (automatic monthly recharge), they will get $5 back on their account every month for up to 30 months!
This way you balance will never goes to zero, and your service will not get cancelled, will not loose your number or will not loose your balance if forget to recharge !
PS: I do not work for/related to Virgin Mobile !
5:55 pm
March 15, 2008
Offline
It all depends on your needs.
SO sells $25 airtime that lasts 365 days. If you need a cellphone for emergency or rare usage, even with SO's 99¢ monthly 911 fee, you spend a minimum of only $12/year.
Virgin's phones are CDMA and locked. If you want to switch carriers your phone is toast. SO and PCM use unlocked phones. You can use them with the supplied SIMs and/or with Rogers and Fido SIMs as well as with US GSM carriers' (T-Mobile and AT&T) SIMs to get the best rates wherever you happen to be in NA.
7:19 pm
October 14, 2008
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I used to be with Virgin. With that $10/month option you suggested, you would pay a minimum of $120.00 a year. With Speak Out, the most expensive top up is $100. Also, any top up with Speak Out lasts a year.
Another thing is I found coverage is considerably better with Speak Out?Rogers that it is with Virgin/Bell. I have been all across Ontario, including many small towns, and I have found Speak Out's coverage blows Virgin's coverage out of the water.
9:15 pm
so with SO's $25 good for 365 days, $12 would go towards the monthly 911 fee, and the remaining $12 would give me 48 minutes time.....that is an average of 4 minutes/ month
i think, that little time would be even enough for an "emergency"
--------------------------------------------------------------
as for a $100/ year vs. $120 /year total cost
SO $100/year12X0.99 911 fee= $12; remaining balance=$88 ; 20c/min =440 minutes / year
Virgin $120/year
10c/min = 1200 minutes / year
I think that paying $20 more to Virgin per year, the received extra talktime of 760 minutes (1200-440) is well worth every penny....since these 700 minutes cost only 0.027 cents/ min.
Oh, and I almost forgot the included $0.00 features of:
Voicemail Basic
Call display
Call waiting
Three-way calling
Call forwarding
9:43 pm
October 14, 2008
Offline
That's fine. I would never use all those minutes. Speak Out is for those who occasionally use their phones.
Like I said before, in my opinion, the network Speak Out uses (Rogers) is vastly superior to the network Virgin uses (Bell). Also, Bylo made a good point. You can switch sims between phones with Speak Out. With Virgin, you are stuck with the phone, and yes, Speak Out has all those features too, like call display, call answer etc (except for call forwarding, which is a feature I would never use)
Just a friendly reminder, that although I am glad you like Virgin and are extolling their virtues, slamming Speak Out is not tolerated here. As no Speak Out user here would go to a Virgin forum/site and slam them.
And yes, your first post sure reads like an advertisement for Virgin.
Have a good one
11:13 pm
March 31, 2007
Offline
For me, Virgin Mobile will always have these features against them:
- not GSM, meaning the phone is useless with other carriers
- top-ups do not have the same generous expiry as Speak Out
However, I must admit, this PayCheck thing, despite the fact that they don't use Canadian spelling, is intriguing if your usage is relatively constant and in the 50-100 minutes per month range. Consider:
- $10 / month for 100 minutes
- $5 / month back, making it $5 per month for 100 minutes
- $49.99 phone with $25 airtime credit (although that credit is only good for a month and thus is mostly useless for a light user)
That's pretty good -- $60 a year; 100 minutes per month; $50 start-up for the phone. Am I missing something?
Edit: Clearly I was missing something. As some other people have pointed out, the $10 a month only gives you *the option* of paying 10 cents per minute.
7:15 am
March 15, 2008
Offline
so with SO's $25 good for 365 days, $12 would go towards the monthly 911 fee, and the remaining $12 would give me 48 minutes time.....that is an average of 4 minutes/ month
I got a SO phone about a year and half ago during their "buy $100 airtime, get free phone promo." Since then I've bought one $25 refill. I've also gotten $5 for doing a survey and $10 for a referral. I make calls whenever I need to, which granted isn't often. I don't understand people who have a cellphone permanently imbedded in their ear. I still have over $100 airtime left.
Tell me again why I'd want Virgin.
11:54 am
October 22, 2008
Offline
Jenom,
Every consumer is different. Some consumers would find Virgin cheaper. Many find Speakout cheaper. If Virgin works for you, then excellent.
12:02 pm
I agree, if someone JUST wants to have a cellphone/cellnumber and DO NOT WANT to use it, the SO $25 prepaid for 365 days is the best deal!
However, the sister company, PCM mobile already reduced their expiry times to 30/120/180 days for their $15/$25/$50 prepaid......I won't be surprised if SO would do the same !
As for to "stuck with a phone", it is not an issue, since these phones worth about $10 when they are new, and in 2-3 years they got worned out, scratched, broken and the battery weakens and die too.
711 stores in the US sell a Virgin Mobile MARBL flip phone package for $7.11 and a TRACKFONE W175 prepaid cell phone package for $9.99......I think, customers in Canada are getting ROBBED by the same company, with starting prices for their lowest priced NOKIA 1208 for $59 !!!
5:43 pm
Something else to consider is the fact that like iamdrumming, I once had the $10 Virgin prepaid plan. All this plan does is for $10 a month is buy you the 10 cents per minute. It does not buy you airtime. You still must have money in your account for your airtime. Otherwise if your comparing SO or PetroCan to Virgin, a better comparision would be the by the minute rate which is 30 cents per minute at Virgin.
7:17 pm
October 14, 2008
Offline
That's a good point Rob. $10/month only buys you the option of 10 cents per minute. Buying airtime is over and above that. I left Virgin when they were pushing their contracts on their prepaid customers. They were also greatly decreasing the expiry dates on their top-ups.
As I mentioned earlier, one major reason why I left Virgin for Speak Out is the networks they use. Speak Out's network is better than Virgin's, and the local calling area for me is considerably better as well. (It covers a good chunk of Ontario)
12:08 am
October 22, 2008
Offline
That '$10/mth gets you 10c/min' option is only beneficial if you're using at least 100 minutes/month. Any less and Speakout is cheaper.
1:49 am
jenom said:
Virgin $120/year
10c/min = 1200 minutes / year
I think that paying $20 more to Virgin per year, the received extra talktime of 760 minutes (1200-440) is well worth every penny....since these 700 minutes cost only 0.027 cents/ min.
This information was wrong. First of all, the Virgin top up airtime card and expiry days as follows:
$15 expire in 30 days
$25 60 days
$50 60 days
$100 365 days
Virgin's $10/month only buy you the option of 10c/minute. You have to buy this airtime card to use your phone. Even if you buy the $100 card that give you 365 days. The total cost for a year will be $220 minimum and you get 1000 minutes. With SO you buy $200 will give you the same 1000 minutes but you can buy less if you don't need it. But you have to pay MINIMUM $220 a year with Virgin.
3:58 pm
October 22, 2008
Offline
Jenom,
Just a note about how expensive the phones are. Last 4 times I bought a Speakout phone (for me and others) the price of the phone ranged from $0.00 to $15 since I bought them during their 'Buy $100 in airtime and get $74 off a phone' promo.
How much does a Virgin phone cost? Is it more than the $0 I spent on my Speakout phone?
BTW, I have a friend who won a Virgin phone in a contest and had no use for it, and he had trouble GIVING the Virgin phone away to his friends! If you like Virgin so much, I'll see if he still has it and I'll sell it to you for $5.
6:08 pm
$10/month only buys you the option of 10 cents per minute.
now I am getting confused here,
did you mean that a montly $10 fee does not give any airtime ?
i would need to spend another $10 to be able to use the phone ?
just double checked virgin's website and talked to a custumer service representative and found out that these Virgin folks are more "confusing" than koodo with their "tab" system
The minimum monthly prepaid plan costs $15, and it is 30 cents/minute.
If I would pay another $10, then it would be 10 cents/ minute.
It would be equal $25 for 250 minutes.....too much money and time for me !
I guess, this puts Virgin into a different category !
in fact, i do not like virgin NOR any other canadian providers, all of them are gready robbers, when I compare their rate/service to other countries
however, my current Rogers prepaid is really expensive to keep, so I want to change, maybe just buy a SO SIM card and stick it into this NOKIA 2610, and see if it will work ?
too bad, that I do not see any of the mentioned promotion ($100 airtime+free phone), anybody knows when was the last time it was offered?
or if it is coming up again ?
7:20 pm
October 14, 2008
Offline
Yes, the $10 fee for Virgin does not give any airtime. You have to buy airtime on top of that, and the minimum airtime you have to buy might be higher than $15 monthly fee they now carry. Not sure though.
Yes, a SO sim card will work in the Nokia 2610 you have now, as long as it's unlocked.
The $100 airtime+free phone promotion usually happens in August, and again around Christmas.
9:34 am
I believe that once your on any monthly prepaid plan with Virgin, your airtime balance doesn't expire. That being said, it's been a while since I've had that plan and the details may have changed. I would suggest to anyone interseted to speak to Virgin C.S. because to me their website seems to be vague on this plan in particular.
11:07 am
March 15, 2008
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I believe that once your on any monthly prepaid plan with Virgin, your airtime balance doesn't expire.
With SpeakOut your balance rolls over whenever you add airtime. That can be as infrequent as once a year. There's no need to subscribe to a monthly prepaid airtime plan (other than the mandatory 99¢ monthly 911 fee.)
Bottom line: With SO your minimum annual expenditure is $25 (~$2/month) of which about half is the 911 fee and the rest is airtime.
12:54 pm
Rob said:
I believe that once your on any monthly prepaid plan with Virgin, your airtime balance doesn't expire.
Yes, they do expire as per my earlier post. If you top up before your airtime expired then all of the entire balance will be rollover to the new expiry day just like the other carriers do. Also if you register with their AutoTopup then your airtime will never expire.
12:21 am
April 22, 2009
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I own a Virgin phone, it costs me $100 a year. What Virgin offers opposed to the competition is flexibility. Virgin's 30 cents a minutes is probably better than 7-11 and Petro Canada's 25 cent rates because Virgin charges no 911 fee. If you are gabby, you can subscribe to the $20 evening and week end plans, or 200 minute plan. For $10 more you got unlimited incoming calls. You can even do weekends at $1 a day. there are tons of other options, like browsing, texting, etc, but needless to say, you got lots of choices with virgin. Oh yeah, you can get a Virgin phone at Walmart for $40. Others, not so much, at least not right now.
As for the GSM and CDMA quality, it seems like the GSM networks are more robust in Ontario, but CDMA rules in the rest of the country. There are likely exceptions, but that is mostly true.
