News 1999
Married to the Mob?
11/11/1999
(or how to buy a mobile phone, the Virgin way)
The arrival of Virgin Mobile has transformed the mobile mating game. Here's how to find your ideal cellular partner.
Walk into a Virgin Megastore or Our Price, call 0845 6000 600, or log on to www.virginmobile.com. Choose the handset that takes your fancy and fits your budget. Pay for it then and there (or in four instalments, if it's worth more than £125). Get connected. Charge the mobile and get calling. Simple.
With Virgin Mobile there are no complications to contemplate - just one low-cost tariff. There are no peak rates, no line rental and no annual contracts - because Virgin Mobile prefers an open, straightforward relationship with its customers.
In the years B.V.M. (Before Virgin Mobile), choosing a mobile phone was an absurdly confusing task, leaving millions of mobile users out of pocket and on the wrong tariff. Ouch!
Far from walking in to a mobile phone shop and buying whatever handset they fell for, there were many harsh realities for customers to face before they could make that first call. Finding the best deal meant agonising over:
Subscription phones
The mobile equivalent of a pre-nuptial agreement, these were designed to recoup the cost of that seemingly oh-so-cheap phone by milking customers over a minimum 12-month period. Once the phone was paid for, mobile companies went on to make a tidy profit from recurring 'line rental charges', as customers kept the same old phone for years on end - and spookily there was never a line in sight.
Pre-pay phones
Like a Las Vegas wedding - unglamorous but quick. Seems like a good idea at the time, but invariably caused regret. With pre-pay there were fewer, uglier phones to choose from, but c.1999 it became the most popular way to own a mobile. There were no contracts to sign or forms to fill in… and the phones were cheap and easy to come by. Then came the stings in the tail - exorbitant upkeep costs, call charges that could see off 50p a minute and vouchers that needed servicing, or that came with minutes that vanished if you didn't use them in time. Callers were in control of costs - provided they didn't make many calls.
All-in-one phones
These were short, sharp versions of the subscription deal, where callers paid a year's 'line rental' up front for a phone which was a bit of a brick. But if customers gave up on the phone at the end of the year, as many did because the networks tried to sting them for a 'surprise' monthly fee, they kissed their mobile number goodbye.
And the hardest decision of all…
The tariffs. Customers had to estimate how long they would spend tête-à-handset before they attempted to pick a suitable tariff. But would they make most calls in the daytime, the evening or at weekends? How much would it cost to listen to voicemail messages? Were inclusive minutes for off-peak calls only? How long would they want to use the phone each month?
And how could they work out and compare all the different tariffs when every company offered different combinations of line rental, voucher values, inclusive minutes and freebies?
A British mathematician calculated that in the UK alone there are over five billion combinations of network tariff and handsets available. Examining them all at a steady second each would take 150 years.
It's much simpler, and quicker, with Virgin Mobile. Now, when you choose a new phone you can follow your heart and know it's just the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
