{"id":379574,"date":"2010-03-01T22:10:06","date_gmt":"2010-03-02T03:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mobilecrunch.com\/?p=27199"},"modified":"2010-03-01T22:10:06","modified_gmt":"2010-03-02T03:10:06","slug":"virgin-mobile-usa-to-kill-their-postpaid-service-helio-on-may-25th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/379574","title":{"rendered":"Virgin Mobile USA To Kill Their Postpaid Service (Helio) On May 25th"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Update: This is now confirmed. See Virgin Mobile’s statement below.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

A great plan, until Sprint acquired Virgin Mobile just a year later, primarily for their pre<\/em>-paid service. Sprint obviously already has<\/em> a big ol’ post-paid service, making Virgin Mobile’s (relatively small) post-paid service mostly useless.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Update:<\/strong> We’ve just confirmed this with Virgin Mobile. Current Virgin Mobile (ex-Helio) customers will not<\/strong> automatically be transitioned to Sprint. Here’s what they said:<\/p>\n

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\nNo customer will be automatically migrated to Sprint’s postpaid service. However, Sprint has created a special offer for our customers. <\/p>\n

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\u2019s standing new customer offer. Activation fees will also be waived. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":682,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-379574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/682"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379574\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}