Virgin Mobile adds Data Rollover: how does it work?

Virgin Mobile today switched on an important new feature for all customers signing up to a new postpaid mobile plan. Called Data Rescue, it allows you to used leftover data from the last month before being charged excess usage fees.

Data Rescue is available on all Virgin Mobile Phone Plans and SIM-only plans going forward. It doesn’t apply to existing plans though, so current customers will need to sign up for new plans to take advantage of this feature.

According to Virgin, adding the data rollover feature gives customers a second chance to use the data they are already paying for. To back up this claim, Virgin is citing data from a survey it recently conducted in which 93% of people said “it's unfair that something they have paid for is taken away with no second chance to use it”. Makes you wonder why the other 7% feel differently.

More importantly, Data Rescue will act as a buffer against excess usage fees — one of the leading causes of disputes between telcos and customers. Virgin Mobile currently charge 5.2c per MB for data over your plan limit, or $52 per GB, one of Australia’s highest rates for excess data.

So how does it work?

Actually, it is quite simple. Any data you don’t use in one month is available again after you get through your data limit in the next month. Virgin include the following example of its site:

“Johnny switched to a new Virgin Mobile phone plan with 2GB included data to use in Oz, and Data Rollover. At the end of the month, Johnny has only used 500MB of his 2GB data, leaving 1.5GB of unused data.”

“Johnny’s next months data value is: 2GB (included value) + 1.5GB (rollover data) = 3.5GB”.

What this example fails to mention is that if Johnny doesn’t use his rollover data in the second month, it disappears. All Rollover Data expires at the end of the following month, which means that if you regularly use all of your data in a month, then you are unlikely to see value in a Rollover feature.

It should be a very handy feature for a great many phone owners, though. Information we've gathered at WhistleOut suggests that while the average data use is about 800MB per month, but more and more people are searching for plans with 2GB to 3GB per month.

With Data Rescue, these customers can enjoy a blow-out data month every other month. If you have a regular month of usage in April, you can feel comfortable streaming a movie to your phone in May, and so on.

Who else offers Rollover Data?

In Australia, Virgin Mobile are in a league of their own in offer a feature like this on its premium postpaid Phone Plans, but it is not the only telco with Rollover Data.

Its parent company, Optus, offer a similar feature, but only on prepaid plans, and only for data add-ons — not for the data that comes with the basic prepaid plans. If you purchase extra data through an add-on (the cheapest is 500MB for $5) the credit is valid for 30 days, but will rollover if you recharge with the same Add-On value before the original Add-On expires.

Joseph Hanlon

Editorial Director | X | LinkedIn

Joe Hanlon has been immersed in mobile phones, plans and the internet for over a decade, having written for publications like CNET, Techradar, Gizmodo and Lifehacker. He steers the editorial ship and makes sure that we are always serving up the most useful guides and recommendations. If you ever bump into Joe on the street, don't be afraid to ask for a phone recommendation. It's embarrassing how much he enjoys talking about this stuff. He also loves listening to podcasts, so feel free to email Joe with recommendations.

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