Virgin Mobile has announced changes to its post-paid plans as of October 2nd. Although the updates aren’t huge, one of the big losses for customers is the restructuring of the popular $29 Big Plan, which until now offered up to $450 of included monthly value. Under the new $29 plan, the $450 in plan value has been significantly decreased to $250, although the data allowance (250MB) will remain unchanged.
The names of the plans themselves are also being reshuffled. The term ‘Fair Go’ will be removed from plan titles, and all plans under $89 renamed Big Plans. Unlike its previous structure in which Big Plans favoured plan credit through voice and text, and Fair Go Plans offered higher data, Virgin Mobile appear to have wiped this distinction, by adding double the data allowance for their $39 plan (and reducing the included calls and text value by $200).
Here’s the breakdown of how Virgin Mobile plans will look under the new structure:
Big Plan $29 –
- Will still be called the Big Plan $29.
- Included value will decrease from $450 to $250.
- Included data will stay at 250MB.
Big Plan $39 –
- Will still be called the Big Plan $39.
- Included value will decrease from $650 to $450.
- Included data will increase from 500MB to 1GB.
Fair Go Plan $49 –
- Will be retitled Big Plan $49.
- Included value will increase from $400 to $450
- Continues to offer Unlimited SMS.
- Included data will stay at 2GB.
Fair Go Plan $59 –
- Will be retitled Big Plan $59.
- Included value will stay at $700.
- Continues to offer Unlimited SMS
- Included data will stay at 3GB.
Topless Plan $89 –
- Will still be called the Topless Plan $89.
- Unlimited calls and SMS will stay the same.
- Included data will stay at 4GB.
The preceding Big Plan $29 offered much better value in included calls and text, so it’s a shame that the company have decided to cut this from the plan, without at least compensating with an increase in included data (as it did with the Big Plan $39).
To go along with these changes Virgin Mobile are also offering some extra incentives to sign up for a Samsung Galaxy S II or Galaxy S III contract, with customers receiving a bonus 1GB of data for either phone on any applicable plan, and the S II discounted at $5 per month for the Big Plan $29 and the S III $5 on the Big Plan $49.
Although postpaid plans will be changing, Virgin Mobile will continue to provide its customers with member benefits including:
- Unlimited calls and text Virgin to Virgin.
- Free voicemail within Australia.
- The option to rollover unused plan credit to the next month (text and voice credit only).
- International calls and text included in plan credit.
- Coverage on the Optus network.
All of the plans listed are available as SIM-only ‘BYO phone’ plans for $10 less each month (e.g. for $19 per month, customers will receive all the inclusions of the Big Plan $29 if they bring their own phone).
The newly updated plans are available to view and compare on our Virgin Mobile page.