Virgin Mobile made some minor changes to its Prepaid Caps range just recently, however if I recall correctly it was at the lower end recharge amounts specifically the $19 Cap. It also added the 1GB data amount for all of the recharge levels except the $19 Cap which now only receives 250 MB.
This week’s changes aren’t exactly significant but they are important to note, particularly when call credits on offer have dropped across all of the recharge levels. Let’s take a look at what changed:
Prepaid Plan Previous Call Credit Previous Data New Call Credit New Data
Your Cap $19 $250 250MB $150 250MB
Your Cap $29 $500 1GB $450 1GB
Your Cap $49 $1000 1GB $900 1GB
Your Cap $79 $1600 1GB $1500 1GB
Your Cap $99 $2000 1GB $1850 1GB
Yep, call credit values have fallen, not by a lot but enough. To maintain the value, Virgin Mobile has launched a new recharge offer. Virgin Mobile will give you $50 additional credit with every recharge up to a maximum of $150. So lets say you start on $29 Cap which gives you $450 credit and 1GB data. Your first recharge following purchase of your $2 sim kit will result in the $450 call credit plus unlimited Virgin Mobile to Virgin Mobile calls. Your second recharge will give you $500 in credit (inc bonus of $50), your third recharge gives you $550 and your fourth $600. After your fourth recharge, it actually stays at $600 as long as you recharge within 28 days. The 1GB data and unlimited calls to Virgin is standard.
The question is therefore are you better off or not with the new Prepaid Caps and the recharge offer. In the main you are, for some reason the $99 Prepaid Cap offers exactly the same value as before which at that level of expenditure I would have expected a slight increase. Let’s take a look at what you now receive.
- $19 Cap will offer you $250 in credit which is the same as before.
- $29 Cap will offer you $600 in credit which is $100 more than before.
- $49 Cap will offer you $1050 in credit which is $50 more than before.
- $79 Cap will offer you $1650 in credit which is $50 more than before.
- $99 Cap will offer you $2000 in credit which is the same as before.
Data stays the same with 1GB available every month (28 days to be exact). As per normal, Virgin Mobile gives you unlimited calls and TXT to other Virgin members.
Call and TXT rates are as follows:
- Call rate: 90c/min + 40c flagfall
- TXT rate: 25c
- Data increments: p/KB
It is always great to see products changing and improving but the trend does seem to be coming through that margins are getting tighter in the prepaid mobile game and value doesn’t seem to be growing without great effort.
Also 1GB of data even with increments at p/KB is still low and doesn’t compare with offers such as Woolworths Mobile which offers 5GB data.
