Category: Virgin Mobile USA

Virgin Mobile Did what to my Data Speeds?

Paul

Got this text Message!

VMFreeMsg: Starting 5/6/14, if you use over 2.5GB of data during your mo. plan cycle, data speeds will now be reduced to 2G speeds. Info at http://msg4u.us/vwae

I don’t know about anyone else but when I first got this text message, I was like so How fast is 2g speeds verses 3g speeds on Google Now!  So Here’s is the breakdown of this:

Speeds

 

  • 2g is on average about 115 kilobytes per second  (A little faster than voice calling people)
  • 3g is on average about 614 Kilobytes per second (Good for some streaming media)
  • 4g is on average about 20 Megabytes per Secong (On average it varies from phone to phone)

 

As you can see this doesn’t really explain it very well but let’s try to make it easier to understand this:

1 byte is 8 bits, so 1000 kilobytes(1,024 bytes which is 8192 bits) and you need 65536 kilobytes to make 1 Megabyte of data.   So you can see that the larger the file or anything you do on the phone will be drastically slowed down on the phone.   If yo do the math or at least think about it, you can go to a free wifi hotspot to get better speeds than this.   

Virgin Mobile and Boost is screwing you!

Virgin mobile seems to want you to go to another prepaid service.   Even with Straight Talk, they do something like this on their networks.   They do limit there speeds but I am unsure as to what the speeds are lately but they aren’t unlimited either.

It looks like I have a few options, Straight Talk although they do the same thing but not as bad, T-mobile Which looks to be comparable to Virgin Mobile or Boost.   You could try MetroPCS but I can’t seem to verify that it is truly unlimited and that is what I am looking for.   I am asking for help to find something that isn’t as restrictive as what Virgin Mobile is doing.   I might buy a data plan for my home now.   So I am going to look into this some more but if you know of a prepaid plan that is truly unlimited, please leave a comment and let everyone know!

First Impressions of the LG Optimus F3 4g LTE by Virgin Mobile!

Paul

Specifications:

Display: 4.0-inches (Gorilla Glass)
Camera: 5-MP Processor 3-MP Front
Speed: 1.2 GHz OS:
Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean)
Wifi
Blue tooth
NFC (Near Field Communications)
CDMA, 4G (EVDO+HSPA), 3G

Since getting my ZTE phone wet the last few weeks ago, I decided I would jump up and try a new phone out.  So this weekend I went to Walmart to see what they had and I was surprised that they were out of the ZTE’s, I liked that phone because the screen size.   Even though they both say 4.0 screen size, I could swear the ZTE is slightly bigger probably more closer to 4.1 but that is just me.   You can read my full review of the ZTE AWE and decide for yourself.

First Impression:

I have done this in past with the ZTE Awe and I’ll talk about my first impressions of this phone and go into more detail later.   First off, it has no way to do the Wifi Hotspot like the ZTE but you do have the option of Blue tooth Tethering your phone and I can also do a hard tethering from the phone to Windows/Mac laptop.   So you can still use the 4G speed for surfing the net.  I will look into finding out how to get complete wifi tethering later on.   I know I will have to circumvent Virgin Mobile but that seems to be the only way to have true wifi tethering enable with them.   They seem to try to frustrate the customers who do want true unlimited service.   I haven’t really had the chance to see if they consider 4g as true unlimited, or if it is still bound by the reduce in speed of 3g after 2.5 GB of bandwidth.

Comparing it to the ZTE AWE!

After using the ZTE Awe, I thought I should oa quick comparison of the two phones.   Each has unique properties and have reasons why you will want to use that particular phone.   So I’m going to tell you my experience in hopes this will help you make a choice of the two.   It won’t be an in depth comparison but it will be a quick overview.

ZTE awe is a little lighter and lest thicker than the LG Optimus.   It depends on on what your looking for with weight and thickness but I honestly think the LG Optimus is slightly thicker and heavier to either to make you believe it is stronger or it is stronger.  The LG Optimus has better camera properties, even though they both have 5 Mega pixel cameras, it looks like the Awe uses software to make it get to 5mp.  You can tell when I used the camera on the LG Optimus, it actually looks better and much more responsive.  The Awe only comes with a 1mp front camera and the LG Optimus comes with a 3mp front camera.  If your going to be doing video chats on a phone, I think you will want to be much more details.  

The Touch screen on the AWE doesn’t feel anywhere like the Gorilla glass that comes with the LG Optimus F3.   I do not know how to describe this but I do enjoy the touch screen on the LG Optimus better than I do with the ZTE Awe.   If feels much more sturdier and less breakable.   Although I have dropped the AWE several times, and the phone has yet to shatter.   So I know the AWE will not break as much as it looks.  

Finally, The LG Optimus F3 is a good buy for those who want to have a better experience with photos, and even the speed.   I have been able to pick up data signal’s in places I usually had a hard time getting signals.  So that is also another plus.   The Zte AWE is good for those who need a cheap phone for games and watching movies on it.  So I’ll let you decide which on you want to buy.  

Codes you will need for the ZTE AWE!

Paul

Codes you should know!

From time to time, I occasionally like to look up codes for new phones like the ZTE AWE and keep them handy. I found some really good codes tha tyou may need in the future.   I also like to know which codes are used for certain purposes.   In this article I will tell you which codes you will need to use with Virgin Mobile USA and this will hopefully help you before you call Virgin Mobile with your phone problems.   You never know when these codes will be useful but it should at least help you get what you want from your phone!

Codes

Before I begin, I will remind all readers that you use these codes at your own risk and I can’t be held responsible for any thing you aciddently delete!

Factory Reset — *983*57#  (Will delete all you personal files and information off the phone.  Do not use unless you need to!)

IMSI (international sematech manufacturing initiative) — *983*36401*01#  Sometimes Virgin Mobile will need this to help solve your problem and thus you should either know the code or have your IMSI written down to make it quicker for them to help you!

IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) —*#06#  Good for the same purpose as the IMSI but it mostly what is requested by Virgin Mobile.   

Mutliple Menus and Information — *97*0#  This is very good code for finding out the Wifi MAC Address for those wifi networks that are limited by which mac address are allowed on that wifi network.   So you may need this information from time to time.   It also shows your batter information and how good the health of your battery!

Phone Device Information — *983*5182# very good to know you model number and which android OS your are using with what Kernel are being used currently on your phone!.   You may need thise for Virgin Mobile USA but that depends on how much information they need!

In order to use these codes you will need to go to phone dialer to use these codes. 

Another good TIP:

If you are wanting to send a file or photo to your phone you can easy do this by emailing the phone.   This is also very useful for those times when you need to know what is going on very quickly with maybe your bank account activity or something really serious.   Just send an email to: [10-digit phone number]@vmobl.com.   Just a reminder it comes over a text message(SMS) and thus you only get the first 180 characters or so.   It however can be quite useful for sending files to your phone by attachment or when you need to keep on top of a service or server and keep it from going down.   This is one of the mostly used tips in my library for my business or other such problems.  Can be quite useful when you need to keep on top of important things!

Well this pretty much does it for what you might need for Virgin Mobile USA customer support.   I am sure I have missed something but this will at least get you a head start when you call them.   You can be ready to tell them all this information and not have to wait.