Virgin Mobile Broadband2Go vs. Sprint Mobile Broadband

Anyone interested in buying one of these Virgin Mobile devices for $40 a month unlimited, needs to read this before buying one.


An article posted over at EVDOInfo.com:




http://www.evdoinfo.com/content/view/3368/64/

My opinion: Obviously these devices are throttled from the get-go. But, I still think $40 a month, even for slower internet, is not a bad deal. Also, I'd be interested in seeing what the speedtest.net results would be for a Virgin Mobile device would be out on the road where we use them, instead of a crowded urban coffee shop like it was done in the article. I mean, If you are sitting on I40 in middle of Tennessee and essentially have the Sprint tower to your self, is it still going to be throttled? Then there is the fact that a service that can't download or view flash videos from youtube or Hulu.com is highly unlikely to go over 5 gigs, so what's the point of being unlimited?

Well anyhow, I thought I'd put this here so you other drivers looking for service can make an informed purchase.

 

I hear you. $40, even for a throttled service isn't that bad of a deal, the way I see it, but I think Virgin should be upfront about it's limitations. There is clearly some deception going on here. If the guy that wrote the article's tests are the average speed everywhere, then calling it "Broadband" isn't very appropriate.

 

You probably have that tower all to yourself right now. I never said it was a bad deal. $40 a month is a great deal. I just warned folks of what other people were telling me, that the VM device plays second fiddle to a Sprint device. In fact I started to order myself a VM Mifi the other day, but they are completely out of stock..The only place I can find one is on ebay, and I have had 2 bad experiences from buying phones off ebay. Also, I'm hearing Verizon is lowering it's prices on it's mifi. $50 for 5 gigs, and $10 a gig overage charges. The Mifi is free with a 2 year contract, so you don't have to pony up the $150. This is supposed to happen on 10/28. I'd like to get a Mifi, then replace my phone with an iPod touch, and use Skype on it to make my occasional phone calls that i make now.

 

3-4 hours of streaming HD video would bring you close to that number, but you'd have to have one hell of a fast connection.