No. If Virgin Mobile sells a Rumor II, they really need to get the service revenue from it to cover their cost of selling the device (most cell phone carriers do not make money when they sell a device – they make money on selling services). As a result, almost all cell phones are “locked” to the carrier that sells the phone and won’t work on another carrier.

Carol

Thanks for your feedback.

First, we will definitely introduce bundled mobile internet options for our heavier users. Having said this, our casual use price for the kajeet mobile web is actually less than many cell phone providers – and we charge in increments of .25MB (not per MB). E.g., I just spot checked the Virgin Mobile plans – their mobile web price is $1.50 per MB. In this case it seems you must purchase a full MB – which means you are charged a minimum of $1.50 for each use. The kajeet plan allows customers to purchase .25 MB – much smaller increments – at the price of only $1.40 per MB.

How much is this? I’ve been using it pretty consistently on my 2700 – primarily for Yahoo Mail, weather, and Google Mobile (news, etc.) when away from the PC. I’ve been charged between $.35 and $.70 per day of use (only when I use it) for this type of casual use. If one was using it every day this would amount to about $15/month. However, if you assume a more typical use pattern of 50% of the time – that’s about $7-8/month for email, weather, and news.

Now, on your messaging question. We realize that some other providers include IM and MMS in their unlimited messaging plans. We don’t include IM and MMS in our unlimited plans because many parents do not want to make these services available for their kids – and most are very price conscious on the services they purchase. We have elected to price our unlimited texting plans at aggressive price points with text only – this allows all of our customers (including those that prefer to turn off picture messaging and IM) to get service at a very affordable price point. Note that on kajeet, for $14.99/month, you are getting not only unlimited texting but also 60 minutes!!! And for $19.99 you receive unlimited texting and 150 minutes!!! Compare this with other providers and I think you will find that you can send IMs and MMS and still save money with kajeet.

Carol

Thanks for contacting kajeet & your interest in purchasing a phone for your son. I’ve asked our customer care to reach out to you to talk to you about your specific questions on the service and coverage map. With regard to activation, you may purchase a phone any time and wait to activate it at Christmas. This way you don’t have to pay for a plan that you will not be using for several weeks. I might, however, activate the phone just a few days prior to Christmas Day so that he can use it as soon as he opens the phone.