Update: This is now confirmed. See Virgin Mobile’s statement below.
According to a series of tips I’ve just received from multiple trusted sources, Virgin Mobile USA is planning to shut down the post-paid chunk of their wireless services on May 25th, 2010.
You see, there once was a little wireless carrier called Helio. Bringing over all kinds of crazy sliding what-nots from South Korea, they tried their damnedest to offer the coolest cell phones on the block. They also bled money like a busted spigot, burning $710 million before they were ready to call it quits. In June of 2008, Virgin Mobile (who then offered solely pre-paid wireless plans) came along and snatched up Helio for $39 million in stock, primarily to serve as a foundation for their then non-existent postpaid service.
A great plan, until Sprint acquired Virgin Mobile just a year later, primarily for their pre-paid service. Sprint obviously already has a big ol’ post-paid service, making Virgin Mobile’s (relatively small) post-paid service mostly useless.
As a result, Virgin Mobile will be ending their postpaid offerings come May 25th, less than two years after they purchased it in the form of Helio.
It’s currently unclear what will happen to active Virgin Mobile postpaid accounts, though they will presumably be transitioned over to Sprint’s postpaid services. We reached out for a comment from the two companies early this morning, and have not yet received a response.
Update: We’ve just confirmed this with Virgin Mobile. Current Virgin Mobile (ex-Helio) customers will not automatically be transitioned to Sprint. Here’s what they said:
No customer will be automatically migrated to Sprint’s postpaid service. However, Sprint has created a special offer for our customers.
Current postpaid customers are being given $50 towards the purchase of a Sprint postpaid handset with a new two-year agreement. This credit is in addition to any applicable rebates that may apply. Postpaid customers moving from Virgin Mobile to Sprint will also receive $150 off of handsets as part of Sprint’s standing new customer offer. Activation fees will also be waived.
I’m interested in seeing what happens with this. As a Helio subscriber (regardless of whoever now owns my account) I have a crazy good rate plan due to their desire to retain me.
It doesn’t run out until later this year… I’d hate to have to start shelling out extra cash now for the same service.
A call to Helio customer care (611), reveals that the text message was a hoax. There is no plan to eliminate Helio phones. The company says “If we were to make a change in your service, we would inform you in writing, not with a text message. There is no May 25th deadline, we are not eliminating Helio nor forcing Helio customers to switch phones at this time.”
Considering that we received confirmation on this directly from a Virgin Mobile rep that we know quite well, it’s most definitely not a hoax.
It’s very possible that CS doesn’t know about this yet – we did find out about it before they officially announced it, after all.
Yeah…this sucks. The wife and I have been really happy with our original Oceans, as well as the pricing. We hopped on the deal last year where you get $5-10 off per month. Couldn’t beat the plan pricing and still can’t!
Truthfully though, this is a great opportunity to end up with a better, up-to-date technologically, faster phone with a different carrier.
I am looking forward to seeing what Android phones come out in the near future with Sprint and/or Verizon. I am staying away from ATT. To many friends with horrible service/connection with ATT.
Re: Desire to retain customers
Is anyone going to try writing a letter to Virgin to see if they’ll bite at grandfathering people in who request it to keep their cheap plan in the name of retention?
If we’re going to have to pay more, would Virgin/Sprint prefer we not be customers than retain us on a cheap plan? The reason many of us are Helions was the promise of bringing Asian mobile technology to the US and Sprint obviously isn’t that carrier. The iPhone 3GS is on AT&T (or T-Mobile if you jailbreak), the Nexus One is on T-Mobile & AT&T with Verizon soon and even the Palm Pre that Sprint has is not the Palm Pre Plus on Verizon. Who wants a less capable phone when third-party testing shows that the Plus version can run at almost 4 times as many simultaneous apps with only double the memory?
If the problem is that all the Oceans’ Ultimate Inbox/Web browsers require server-side equipment to run and 86,000 users isn’t enough to maintain such servers, I would gladly buy the Palm Pre Plus from Verizon and use it on the Sprint Network if they decided to keep my Helio alumnus pricing since it would make up for the cost of buying the Palm Pre Plus and then some at full price. I can tell you right now, Sprints full retail pricing is not different enough from the other carriers for me not to switch to a carrier with phones that are actually worthy of a gadget geek. I assume we all qualify as gadget geeks if we are on this website.
Good Luck with that!
I bought the NexusOne off contract for full price (for me and my wife) and we are going to use http://mysimplemobile.com for our carrier. They are a third party carrier off the Tmobile system.
The Data plan is pretty lacking, and it is pre-paid, but it is similarly priced to Helio. And because it is prepaid there are none of the crazy taxes or fees like the other carriers.
The NexusOne is an AMAZING phone BTW. I have been blown away. Who needs ultimate inbox when you have Gmail/Gtalk/Gcal/GVoice/GMaps etc etc etc. It is not much bigger than the Ocean, and it is about 1/3 as thin.
Helio is Dead and I am NOT looking back!
BTW if you haven’t seen, the NexusOne appears to be coming to Sprint for those of you that switched over. Seriously consider it!
Don’t need em so kill em
The Padrino
http://www.thepadrino.com
nooooo, Ive been using Virgin Mobile since high school :( It got cheaper over the years and now I am comfortable with my $20 phone bill. I dont want to have to sign a contract now because I hate late fees and crap.
If you’re on their pre-paid service, you’re fine. This is just for their postpaid services (reoccuring monthly bill, as you’d find with most other carriers)
watch this web site its realy good
This is bad i’ve used virgin mobile since it started back in 08. this is about the cheapest service you’ll find phone are great. I never had any problems really with my service. I am so bummed cause vm don’t charge roaming or any extra fees for anything else. And most pre paid phones for sprint are junk!
You don’t have to change service to Sprint if you are on the Virgin Mobile Prepaid plans. This is only for the contract postpaid business. Virgin prepaid is still going to be around.
I swear, people are retarded. The post CLEARLY states that this transition revolves around Virgin Mobile’s POSTPAID Contract customers, NOT their PREPAID Non-Contract customers. Yet, prepaid customers act like they cant read and start bitching that they are gonna have to change their service. Learn to read, and absorb information, then make a comment. Also, just in case you didn’t know, for those of you posting incorrect comments, Virgin Mobile didn’t start in 08′ so that is incorrect. Furthermore, Virgin mobile, and Helio were ALWAYS MVNO telecom companies leasing space on Sprint’s network. When you use Virgin Mobile, your using Sprint. Furthermore, now that Virgin Mobile is owned by Sprint, they are simply going to be Sprint’s prepaid arm. Handsets are going to get better, and plans will better align with Boost Mobile plans. Finally, for you Virgin Mobile POSTPAID customers, the fact that you get to move over to Sprint Postpaid, with an additional $50 off the ALREADY discounted phone prices, with no credit check, etc. are actually in luck. Sprint POSTPAID plans are the best plans of any other POSTPAID telecom company. Not only that, your gonna have access to more devices, and your coverage area will be LARGER as a Sprint POSTPAID customer rather than as a Sprint PREPAID customer under the Virgin Mobile or Boost Mobile brands. And FYI, POSTPAID plans all include roaming now. That’s pretty much a standard for all POSTPAID telecom companies now. So the retard that said you would have to pay for roaming is just that… a retard. =0)
It is funny that you contradicted yourself in the same paragraph by saying “Furthermore, Virgin mobile, and Helio were ALWAYS MVNO telecom companies leasing space on Sprint’s network. When you use Virgin Mobile, your using Sprint.”
and then
“your coverage area will be LARGER as a Sprint POSTPAID”
Let me clarify, coverage area will not be larger or smaller since MVNO use Sprint’s network.
Everyone can make mistakes dude including you.
Also who wants to buy another phone when you are already satisfied with current phone and service.
so i take it the handsets (ocean,ocean2, mysto) will now be nothing more than fancy paperwieghts?….this sucks….i bought a mysto last month on ebay before i found out that they were in the process of changing there post paid plans…..uuugghhh!
you’ll still be able to use your helio phone. It was on the Sprint (CDMA) network. It will still work on the Sprint network going forward. They’re only offering you a special $50 credit on a new phone as a marketing program. That’s all. No biggie. You’re still good to go.
I miss Heliocity lol…!!!
Does this mean contracts are now void?
http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2010/03/01/daily23.html
Virgin postpaid customers will have until May 25, when the service ends, to decide whether to switch to Sprint-branded postpaid service or take their phone numbers to another postpaid or prepaid carrier.
Source is usually correct about what it reports. Things can change between now and then of course. But yes our phones will become paperweights, that is unless you flash it to like cricket or something. As to my question guess I will call tomorrow I can not see how they can hold us two out contract with the service ending in about two months, right around the time my contract is up. But I want my number so I should not have to wait till the last minute to go elsewhere.
You’ll be able to go month-to-month without a new contract, I believe. You just have to indicate if you want to stay on the same network you had before (Helio a.k.a. Sprint) or go to AT&T or Verizon for more $$$ out of your pocket.
Cool timing. I have been a Virgin user forever. Last month I was going to change from my Virgin prepaid to their postpaid but was too lazy to get around to it. So I will stay with my prepaid and be happy. I am not a bells and whistles person when it comes to my phone.
Procastanators of the world win again!!
Looks like they have already changed their website to reflect that thay are prepay only now.
So, does anyone know if this is justification to cancel without getting hit with the $200 ETF per line?
My wife and I got Helio less than 2 years ago (when they were still Helio) and we’ve been really happy with the service… we changed to them FROM Sprint. So, needless to say, the idea of returning to Sprint is not one that fills us with joy.
Does anyone know if this is sufficient grounds to get out of our contracts (which are up AFTER the May 25th date) so that we can port our numbers to a different company?
I just call them on my heilo 611 & they said that ETF will be waved so tomorrow I will be calling sprint 800 877-4646 for my 2 lines $400 off of handsets as part of Sprint’s standing new customer offer.
Right, the EFT is waived if you go to sprint, but what about to another company?
I do not know for shore about ETF for another company but I will be going in the sprint store today for a feel of the phones. but I will wait until I hear something finale from (Helio) Virgin mobile.
Interesting. I just called Helio customer service and they told me that they are NOT shutting down service on May 25th.
Front level CSR’s are not always in the loop. Remember regular Sprint CSR’s had no idea about the switch over deal or that the number was legit.
The wording of the article I have linked in a previous post leads me to believe this decision came form the Sprint side. Which they can do.
Again:
http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2010/03/01/daily23.html
Different part of the article this time:
“Sprint Nextel Corp. is disconnecting Virgin Mobile’s postpaid phone service as it targets the brand squarely at subscribers who buy their wireless service on a month-to-month basis.”
This falls inline with previous announcements. They wanted Virgin for the pre paid expansion
In other words Sprint the parent wants the child VM focused on pre paid only.
Oh and I almost forgot I am sure Greg’s source is way better then a front end CSR. I bet we see letters shortly from VM confirming the termination.
Oh, I have no reason to doubt the source. The comment was more just ire at the Tier I support for being clueless (and insisting that my source was incorrect).
After calling back and insisting to talk to Tier II, a very nice gentleman informed me that his department had not received “official” word (said in such a way that one could easily visualize the air quotes), but that a shutdown was on the way.
He also told me that his department had been informed that sanding policy from about a week ago was to waive the ETFs for people wishing to cancel, to ANY other company (not just Sprint).
This one is interesting form Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helio_%28wireless_carrier%29
On March 3, 2010, all Helio users received the following text message: “This VMU pospaid service (formerlio Helio) will end on May 25, 2010. Call 908-607-4014 BEFORE May 25 to keep your phone number & get new service options.” Helio sets will no longer be usable after this transition. Sprint will offer $50 credit towards the purchase of new sets.
I put that paragraph on Wiki. Again, it’s a hoax. The number is for the PR person for Virgin. They are NOT eliminating Helio; it’s some employee with a grudge or someone else, punking all of us. We got punked. Repeat, they are not eliminating Helio on May 25th, and you do not have to switch. Call 611 from your Helio phone and ask customer care.
I’m a Helio customer and I didn’t get that message. I did get a phone call from a Sprint/Virgin sales rep asking me if I was interested in $50 off a new phone and activation fees waived. I told them hell no. I’m on the Helio alumnus (ex-employee) plan and as out-dated as the Helio Ocean 2 is, no-one has been able to copy the Ultimate Inbox and/or add Twitter and Facebook to it. I have not received any written notification that they are canceling my account. I’m holding on to my Ocean 2 for as long as possible!!! I’m not letting go of my Helio alumnus plan!
The statement from Virgin is vague. Can we get confirmation from a non-CSR Virgin rep that current Helio customers will continue to be grandfathered in past the May 25th deadline or if they are canceling the remaining accounts that haven’t transitioned by then? The new Virgin postpaid plans don’t quite match up with the old Helio plans.
Call 888-88Helio for Helio Customer Care. They will tell you, Gary and others, that this is a rumor being spread on the internet. Has anyone you know been notified of the change in writing, as required by law? I suspect the answer is NO. We got punked, guys.
I am holding the letter from them in my hand. It came in the mail today. On May 25th my Ocean will become a brick. I have to sign a two year contract to Keep my number or start all over with another Carrier and get my number ported. This sucks because the iPhone4 comes out in June and will be available on Verizon.
Yeah and the EVO 4G is sometime in the summer.
Guess we will have to wait and see if it a hoax wait.
Another part of the biz journal entry
http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2010/03/01/daily23.html
The decision will affect about 86,000 Virgin customers who sign annual contracts, company spokeswoman Nichole Cappitelli said.
Here is what I found on the spoke women when I entered the name then Sprint
Nichole Cappitelli of Boost Mobile +1-949-748-3364, Nichole.Cappitelli@BoostMobile.com
This is Off virginmobileusa.com FAQs
Q: I’m a Virgin Mobile postpaid customer. Can I switch to Sprint?
A: In the weeks following the close of its transaction, Sprint will be working with existing Virgin Mobile postpaid customers who are interested in switching and upgrading their service. Stay tuned for more details.
Virgin Mobile Finally Hanging Up on Helio Customers
It’s Posted on yahoo.news
http://news.yahoo.com/s/zd/20100302/tc_zd/248816
http://news.google.com/news/story?q=Virgin+Mobile+Helio&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ncl=dWilnXUqiyRy-yMNnAcJjsXXEZNBM&hl=en&ei=XGGPS5jpKs7tlAf5vIyUDQ&sa=X&oi=news_result&ct=more-results&resnum=1&ved=0CAkQqgIwAA
RIP Helio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCFgaTJ9VHE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWcPh21F9Sk
@David Lewis,
You’re an absolute moron. It was confirmed by Sprint executive office that Helio is coming to an end. Everyone at Heliocity predicted it. We just didn’t know when.
@Erik U,
Why would Sprint charge you an ETF if THEY are terminating service thus violating the contract?
Consumers with Helio devices are free to walk away as was predicted.
I’m not a moron. I have 3 college degrees, including a Juris Doctor from UCLA
In law, testimony which is not based on personal knowledge is excluded as hearsay.
Call Helio customer care at 888-88HELIO. Ask about the rumored end of Helio on May 25th. The Helio representative will tell you what she told me: This is simply a rumor spread by people with an agenda on the internet. It’s not true.
I spoke to one of my Helio friends who went to VMUSA and now Sprint and he confirmed that Helio was at “the end of the road”. Sorry for those of you who wanted to keep Helio…
If its a rumor and its on all the major news agencies why has Sprint or VM not released a press article denying this clam. It not like it a clam just being made on mobile fan boy sites.
Hmm let’s see. So if you’re a corporation and you don’t deny a rumor, then it’s true?
It is true that Helio customers will be regarded for accounting purposes as Sprint customers, rather than Virgin Mobile customers. And it may be true that Helions will be given incentives to buy Sprint units, and throw out their Oceans and Mystos. And it’s also true that as always, actual calls will go out on the Sprint network.
But if you can continue to make calls with your Helio handset, what difference any of this makes, is beyond me.
But you are trying to say that if CSR’s say its a rumor then it is. Just like Sprint CSR’s saying the switch over deal was not true. There was a big thing at Helio City over that deal when it first started.
I have been with Helio going on 4 years and i was happy with them.I look forward to my new phone with sprint .Lets face it the phones are great but out dated . It will be a sad day for Helio .
I’ll miss heliocity.net. Thanks for the memories, Greg!!!
Who’s still out there using an Ocean 2? Let’s connect even though heliocity.net is gone. I thought I saw that there were 86,000 of us Helio users left. I don’t know how many that is after the $50 offer. :( Maybe heliocity.net should come back as helioalumnus.net.
Dear 0000000000,
Thank you for contacting Helio by Virgin Mobile.
We appreciate you emailing us to verify this information. I would like to inform you that after May 25 of this year, we will no longer offer service for Virgin Mobile postpaid. During this period, you can migrate over to Sprint with a special offer. And, we believe you will be very happy with Sprint’s more robust postpaid offerings. Sprint is currently offering $150 towards the purchase of a new handset with a new two-year agreement. In addition, there is another $50 off as well. That is a total of $ 200 towards a new phone.
By signing up with Sprint, you will be able:
1. Keep your current number.
2. Have your activation fee waived.
3. Have your Early Termination Fee waived with Virgin Mobile.
You can only take advantage of the special offer by calling 1-877-624-0262.
Please be advised that you must move your number to another carrier by May 25th or your service will be disconnected and you will lose your phone number.
PLEASE NOTE: this is good for any other carriers that you would want to transfer. We would waive your Early Termination Fee and you can still do the enumerated options.
Regards,
Gennefer M
Helio By Virgin Mobile Customer Care
http://www.helio.com
David Lewis still won’t believe it. His sources are way better then your email, Greg, KCBJ with there listed Sprint media contact in the article, my call to CS confirming, another person who posted who confirmed through CS and all the other major news outlets who posted the story. He will tell you the email is fake or something. It will be fun to see what he has to say on May 25th.
No seriously, I called Helio by Virgin Mobile myself tonight. The CSR confirmed that it’s true. It’s all over folks. Your Ocean can be dropped in the ocean on May 25th, becaue it won’t work. Goodbye Helio. RIP.
Yeah it sucks I was hoping to hold on to Helio at least until the summer line up was released. What crazy is the service ends right after my contract would have ended. I think it would have ended May 22.
I just received this letter in the mail. It is official.
http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/2170/helioe.jpg
Now would the carriers figure out which HTC phones they are carrying so I can decide which one to choose!
If I dont want to move from virgin mobile with my prepaid service, will i just be able to cancel the service alltogether, and not pay and etf?
It’s POST PAID not PREPAID
David Lewis still won’t admit he is a moron..LMAO.
David crawl back into your little hole.
My gf called VM today and they almost begged her to cancel her service today. HA!
Man I thought I was a d**k with my post but you just went below the belt with that. But you do realize if he has the education he says he does he probably don’t give a s**t. It not that he is a moron he like some other highly intelligent people I have met, they have a hard time admitting when they are wrong or there sources are. I
I admit that the first CSR I spoke to had misinformation. In a post above, I said that I was wrong, and that it’s over on May 25th. But it’s still best to hear it from the company, and not just internet rumors. And now we have confirmation.
soory, I meant post paid. can i canel that i wonder if i dont want to move? there ought to bea n out for something like this.
Goodbye, my Ocean. I loved you. I got the letter from Virgin Mobile that they are killing Helio and my Ocean. I don’t think I am the usual Helio demographic. I am a 64 year old female who changed from Sprint to Helio because of the Ocean phone. So where will we go? I was with Sprint when I changed to Helio and I’m not going back to Sprint, no way. Sprint used to be a good company (I was with them for a lot of years) but now doesn’t care about you unless you are a big company with a bunch of phones. And now they are killing my baby, my Ocean! Who has the best phones? That’s the question. For me, I am going with Verizon for the coverage (I travel a lot since I retired) and for the Android phone.
RE: Helio Early Termination Fee. My Helio Membership Terms read “If the changes have a material adverse effect on you, however, you can cancel your affected service without incurring an Early Termination Fee, by calling us within 60 days after we send you notice of the change”. Note that this is my terms and may not be yours (It was a PDF file on the CD that came with the phone). I am not a lawyer, but that looks to me like they can’t charge the early termination fee. But – note the 60 days. If you wait until May 25th when they actually kill Helio, that will be more than 60 days from my notice. So don’t wait until the last minute.
In CA, those are standard terms upon change of any contract. They must notify you at least 30 days in advance which they’re definitely doing way more than is necessary if they’re sending out letters now. I haven’t received my letter yet. Once you receive notification, you have 60 days to cancel without penalty. Again, this is just in CA. If you live in any other state, you’ll have to look up your state’s laws on contract changes.
I left Sprint due to their extended two year contracts and crappy customer service. Their phones are alright and their plans seem to have gotten better with the Everything plans, but their customer service still is downright atrocious.
When buying a Virgin Mobile phone get 60 free minutes by using my Kickback code qLMOQesJ Enter it when making a new account on Virgin Mobile USA!
I cant believe it….and as i discover the end of heliocity….its a sad day
This cant be good for business. I tried postpaid before but its too expensive so now i use Net10 prepaid as it is reliable and cheap. Thankfully I never have to deal with such drama. Net10 has got cool phones and I only pay $30 for 300 minutes and 2 months service. A great deal at a good price.