Virgin Mobile rolls out payLo: your choice of two $20 prepaid plans

Ironically, we doubt payLo's presumed namesake -- J-Lo -- is going to be taking advantage of this service with her zillions upon zillions of entrepreneurial profits, but Virgin Mobile's new line of plans should find a happy home with plenty of customers. The service actually consists of two pay-as-you-go plans from which you can choose, both running $20: 400 voice minutes good for a month, or three months at 20 cents a minute. If voice isn't your thing, you'll be paying 15 cents per text, 25 cents per MMS, and $1.50 per megabyte of data per day -- so needless to say, this setup is for light users looking for an ultra-cheap way to carry around an ultra-cheap phone. There's a market for that, we're pretty sure.

[Thanks, Jusaon]

[iwebadroidcom Posted Jul 14th 2010 4:53PM]

...ultra-cheap way to get into ultra-cheap phones. There's a market for that, we're pretty sure."
Just goes to show how many cheapos there are. Just kidding :)

[Moisiom Posted Jul 15th 2010 11:41PM]

@iwebadroidcom

Cheapos, sure, but not always by choice. I spend on average about three months each year here in the US, it simply doesn't make sense for me to buy into a 12-month agreement when 9 of them are going to waste.

To be fair, I don't skimp on the hardware and usually buy unlocked smartphones, but us geeks aren't typical consumers.

[glassfin Posted Jul 15th 2010 3:26AM]

..meanwhile in finland you can grab unlimited data on prepaid for 20 bucks(40 euros gets you a starter package with a month and a 3g usb stick).

yeah, it's really unlimited. in the sense of the word that d'loading 50 gigs+ a month is cool. or maybe it's more I've snagged, haven't cared to count, since it's unlimited(the actual speeds have been in the 50-200kbyte/s range, tbh).

[paul34 Posted Jul 15th 2010 9:34AM]

The whole "minutes/data/texts expire" thing on prepaid is just absolutely ludicrous. It's not like it is a physical good that goes bad. If I pay for 500 prepaid minutes, that means I've already paid for it. It's mine. There's no justification for arbitrarily taking it away after an arbitrary period.

Too bad the prepaid community isn't bigger... otherwise someone would get some lawsuit action rolling to force the carriers to change their ways.

I'd love to get some decent prepaid data with a mifi sort of thing, but it's not possible since prepaid data is a far worse deal than just getting a regular iPhone/smartphone data plan on my existing ATT plan.

[ror Posted Jul 15th 2010 10:51AM]

nice.

[silverfang77 Posted Jul 17th 2010 10:21PM]

I used VMUSA for four years. It's an OK service for those who can't afford better. However, the ala carte pricing for calls, text and data got on my nerves because I had to constantly make sure I had enough money in my balance.

Now I'm on Boost's unlimited BlackBerry plan and it's so much better. I can abuse the crap out of my Berry for $60/month and not have to think about it.