Virgin Mobile, like other carriers in Canada, are trying new plans and promos – their latest idea is adding two Home Internet options to the masses in order to compete with Rogers’ Fido, although it is worth noting that Virgin is only currently offering these services to existing Virgin Mobile members who are eligible to set up the service, and it’s only available in Ontario for the time being. The good news is that it is Fiber-powered for subscribers who are in the area. Right now, there are only two internet plans, but plans and the eligibility may change in a few months. This new pre-sale is only for wireless customers that have been there at least six months. On the page from their website (see below), Virgin Mobile claims there are no installation fees, no long term contract, and no hidden fees – they are calling it an “All-in. All Awesome.” For those that are curious if the service will be offered in your area, just go to the website and click “Check Availability.”
The current two plans offered are a 300GB per month option for $50 for eligible subscribers. Additional data will cost you $1 per gigabyte, and they can charge you up to $50 a month. The second plan is the Unlimited Plan that will cost you $65 a month. Both plans offer download speeds up to 25Mbps and upload speeds up to 10Mbps. To give you some perspective – it will take you 4 seconds to upload a 5MB song and 2 seconds to download the same song, if you send your pictures to the cloud, you are looking at 20 seconds for a 25MB Photo Album to upload, but only 8 seconds to download the 25MB album. It would take you 6 minutes to upload a 500MB video, but only 3 minutes to download that same video.
The modem that Virgin Mobile gives you is called Steve – it even has his name on the front of the case along with a cutout that looks like a smile. While a sharp looking device, it also has the power inside to give you excellent service. It has no less than six antennas for a “super strong signal” and three times the speeds of those regular modems. Virgin Mobile warns that your use is compliant with the Virgin Mobile Home Internet Terms and Conditions of Service. Of course, the actual speeds you will experience depends on your distance from your modem and switching equipment from Virgin Mobile, as well as the amount of internet traffic. You can either call Virgin Mobile, check availability online, or find a store nearest to you – all different ways to sign up.