Following the iPhone’s prepaid debut on Cricket Wireless just a week ago, Apple’s hugely popular smartphone is now available on Virgin Mobile. Like Cricket, Virgin is offering the handset on a prepaid basis, with prices starting at as little as $31 per month on the company’s Beyond Talk plan — which includes unlimited data, and unlimited texts.
Take advantage of the company’s offer and you could save yourself around $800 a year.
At $650, you’ll pay a lot more up-front for your iPhone 4S from Virgin, but in the long run it’s going to save you a small fortune, as we noted back in June. On AT&T, for example, you’ll only pay $199 for the iPhone 4S itself — plus a $36 activation fee — but you’ll then need to stump up $155.99 per month for the next two years to get a decent plan with 3GB of data.
By the time your contract ends, you’ll have paid AT&T a total of $2,395.75.
Take the iPhone 4S on Virgin, however, and you’ll pay just $1,609.99 over 24 months — with tethering. That’s because although you pay more for the iPhone up-front, there’s no activation fee, and you’ll only pay $31 per month for your calls, texts, and data; and $15 per month for your tethering.
Furthermore, Virgin will give you all the data you can eat, while AT&T gives you a paltry 3GB limit.
You can see how Virgin’s prices stack up to those from Verizon, Sprint, and Cricket using our handy chart:
| AT&T | Verizon | Sprint | Cricket | Virgin | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minutes | $39.99 (450) | $39.99 (450) | $69.99 (Unlimited) | $55.00 (Unlimited) | $40 (1200) | |
| Texting | $20 | $20 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| Data | $30 (3GB) | $30 (2GB) | $10 (Unlimited) | $0 (Unlimited) | $0 (Unlimited) | |
| Activation | $36 | $35 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| iPhone 4S (16GB) | $199.99 | $199.99 | $199.99 | $499.99 | $649.99 | |
| 2-Year Total | $2395.79 | $2394.79 | $2119.75 | $1819.99 | $1609.99 |
It goes without saying, then, that Virgin should be the first stop for your new iPhone.
Source: RazorianFly
Image: RazorianFly
