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Using PAYG phone in the USA |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,546
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Using PAYG phone in the USA
I wonder if their are any Virgin mobile customers who might be able to help me.
I will be visiting the US and have no plans to use my mobile phone there at all except in dire emergency. I will be topping up my phone so that I have about £50 worth of credit on it. I am struggling to understand the potential call charges. They say on their website that to make a call costs £1.40 and to receive one costs 80p. That's all they say except that calls are charged by the second. Am I to pay £1.40 a second ![]() ![]() or is that the charge for a minute and the second charge 2.33p?I tried ringing but their automated service just says that all the information I require is on the website. I was not offered a real person to speak to. I could make a trip into town and visit one of their shops but wondered if anybody might know the answer. |
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#2 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 3,636
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Quote:
I wonder if their are any Virgin mobile customers who might be able to help me.
I will be visiting the US and have no plans to use my mobile phone there at all except in dire emergency. I will be topping up my phone so that I have about £50 worth of credit on it. I am struggling to understand the potential call charges. They say on their website that to make a call costs £1.40 and to receive one costs 80p. That's all they say except that calls are charged by the second. Am I to pay £1.40 a second ![]() ![]() or is that the charge for a minute and the second charge 2.33p?I tried ringing but their automated service just says that all the information I require is on the website. I was not offered a real person to speak to. I could make a trip into town and visit one of their shops but wondered if anybody might know the answer. Only Virgin Mobile can verify this. |
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#3 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,546
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Quote:
What it means is that you are charged £1.40 per minute, but that you're being calculated by the second. You need to clarify if that means that they break down £1.40 into 2.33p, or if it means that every time you go over a minute, you'll be charged another £1.40. I would interpret it meaning that you're being charged the 2.33p increment for each second you use.
Only Virgin Mobile can verify this. I'll pop into one of their stores next time I'm in town I think. |
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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Sussex
Posts: 12,173
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And remember, if you have a smartphone you need to turn off Data roaming to make sure your phone isn't checking for Facebook, Twitter, email updates every few mins as the roaming data costs are even more outrageous than the voice call charges!
An alternative is to get a Three PAYG SIM and use their 'feel at home' service where calls, text and data is charged at local UK costs such as 1p per MB of data, 2p per text an 3p per minute voice call in 11 countires including the USA. That way a top up of say £15 means you can actually use the smartphone for data and voice calls without any huge bill.... maybe leave a voicemail message on the virgin number to give out your temp travel (Three PAYG) number? |
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#5 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,546
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Quote:
And remember, if you have a smartphone you need to turn off Data roaming to make sure your phone isn't checking for Facebook, Twitter, email updates every few mins as the roaming data costs are even more outrageous than the voice call charges!
An alternative is to get a Three PAYG SIM and use their 'feel at home' service where calls, text and data is charged at local UK costs such as 1p per MB of data, 2p per text an 3p per minute voice call in 11 countires including the USA. That way a top up of say £15 means you can actually use the smartphone for data and voice calls without any huge bill.... maybe leave a voicemail message on the virgin number to give out your temp travel (Three PAYG) number? We will make it clear to everybody here that we will be out of touch sometimes. It's just that if Virgin are charging £1.40 per second (!) even a very short call would eat up my £50. |
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#6 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Sussex
Posts: 12,173
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It's not super clear but has to be £1.40 per minute....with one minute minimum charge as it says:
"The rest of the world A one minute minimum charge applies to all calls. Calls are billed by the second." Probably worth turning voicemail off while there otherwise people might leave voicemail and it'll cost you £1.40 (I'm guessing) per min to listen to it. http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/callC...ymentPlan=PAYG |
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#7 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Essex
Posts: 16,218
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Don't know if it helps but if you are a virgin media landline customer as well as mobile then they have a VoIP app (similar to skype) that you can use with WiFi or 3G to make calls to the UK and get charged at the same rate as your UK landline.
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#8 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,286
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That's not exactly how it works.
The VOIP app only allows you to make free calls and even then only if they are unlimited in your package. If you don't get an unlimited allowance for a certain type of call, you can't make that call using the app. |
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#9 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Essex
Posts: 16,218
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Quote:
That's not exactly how it works.
The VOIP app only allows you to make free calls and even then only if they are unlimited in your package. If you don't get an unlimited allowance for a certain type of call, you can't make that call using the app. |
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#10 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,286
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Yeah, anytime packages are basically the only ones that can make use of it properly. Even then you can't make premium rate calls or other chargeable calls.
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#11 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,546
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Thanks all.
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