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Moving from Virgin Mobile to Ting
Posted June 25, 2012 – 8:55 pm by Yakov Shafranovich in Personal, Technology(Followup to my series of posts on switching from Sprint to Virgin Mobile: 1, 2, 3 and 4)
I have been using Virgin Mobile for about 1 year. However, recently there have been several changes that started me thinking about switching. First, VM raised its rates. Second they do not offer any sort of family share plans which in my case would be a better fit. Third, their phones tend to lag behind other networks in regards to upgrades for firmware (yes, I know that I can root my phone). The icing on the cake was a call that VM counted as being over 200 minutes long on my wife’s phone.
After exploring alternatives, I switched to Ting, which runs on the same Sprint network that VM does. I picked them because they seem to be honest and straight forward with customers, and their shared plans seem to make sense for my situation. I also like how they bump up automatically the service plans as you use more resources.
Right now I am using a similar model as my VM phone: LG Optimus but the Ting/Spring version came with a few pleasant surprises: visual voicemail and upgraded firmware to 2.3.3. I also installed an app acalled AutoSync which automatically cuts off syncing while off Wifi, and that seem to have cut down significantly on my data usage. I am exploring using Google Voice and GrooveIP for making Wifi calls and free SMS, but haven’t gotten there yet.
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7 Responses to “Moving from Virgin Mobile to Ting”
Just curious if you ported your existing numbers from Virgin Mobile, and how long did the process take? Was the process smooth?
By Susan Z on Nov 5, 2012
I am also curious about how your port from VM to Ting went. I recently found Ting online, and if I switch from VM, I would port my VM number over to Ting. I was looking for a provider with decent customer service and will be upgrading from a flip phone to a smartphone. VM used to have good customer service, but no more. Since VM and Ting both use Sprint’s network, I assume the coverage would be the same. The coverage is good enough for me almost all the time.
By Lauren on Dec 3, 2012
The post took a few hours. I did have to contact Ting when seemingly the port was stuck and both new and old phones stopped working.
By Yakov Shafranovich on Dec 3, 2012
I’m interested in switching from VM to Ting as well–can you explain what info you needed to retrieve from your VM account in order for the number port to be processed? Was it clear what account info you needed, or did you need to call VM support (yuck!)?
Thanks in advance!
By AK on Jan 8, 2013
You don’t need anything but your phone number and your VM pin. The account number is your phone number and the password is your pin. I did not have to call VM support, it just worked.
By Yakov Shafranovich on Jan 9, 2013
Did you purchase a phone through ting or were you able to bring your vm phone with you?
By Jen on Apr 7, 2013
I bought a new phone. Ting only lets you port phones from Sprint, not from other MVNOs like VM and Boost.
By Yakov Shafranovich on Apr 17, 2013