Virgin Web appliance sorta-Free!

[Inhibit]

Get the first year on the virgin web appliance free, pay 50$ for the second and third years. Then the toy is your's.

Not a bad deal for someone who'm just needs a web connection like my mum http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif.

heh, almost forgot www.virginconnectme.com (http://www.virginconnectme.com)

one more thing. The first 10,000 applicants only get the first year free, otherwise it's 50 bucks at signup and then 50 for two additional years. Still not a bad deal.

[This message has been edited by Inhibit (edited 05-29-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Inhibit (edited 05-29-2000).]

[Renski]

Is this an ISP provider?

[Inhibit]

It's virgin, as in Cola, Airlines, Enterprises, etc. They give you ISP dial up as well, have to check for areas covered (though I imagine it's most of the US).

They also hit you w/ some advertising, but give you free webspace/mailbox/dial-up access for the deal. Know someone who has one, and I'm getting one RSN.

[essm]

I was told I was getting one with free year to get me going, I haven't seen nor heard of it yet. How does your friend Like it. I plan on using it at a Bar for football season, ESPN.com etc....

[Ottopia]

Please read to TOS on this one

If its the same one I was looking at a month ago, the catch is in the small print.

I looked at the TOS for this offer back in april, heres the important points.

1. You are agreeing to keep the service for 3 years.
2. You have to surf w/ the gizmo for x hours per month.
3. If you dont surf for x hours a month, for the full 3 years, there is a steep termination penalty.
4. If the gizmo breaks within the 3 years and the problem is not a manufacturers defect, your choice is to either pay for full repair yourself or pay the steep termination penalty.

I would look very closely at this offer before signing up.

You can call me paraniod, but they really are out to get me!!!

ottopia

[This message has been edited by Ottopia (edited 05-29-2000).]

[xjerryx]

I signed up for this about 2 months ago, and they later sent me an email telling me they were all out. Did they get more in, or is this the old deal?

[abatardi]

Oh, lucky people. I shall tell you everything you need to know about the VirginConnect WebPlayer, i.e., the internetappliance, i.e., the POS. There should be plenty left, considering there is about a 20 - 30% return rate on the machines. If you really want one, say you make decent money and shop online a lot, and are particularly interested in buying music, videos, etc online from virgin megastore. You do get the machine free for the first year. $50/year, that includes free unlimited internet. You must surf 10 hours per month. The internet service is from good old prodigy internet (whom i also have previous loving affiliations with), so don't expect great connectivity. The unit itself is 10" lcd screen, 200mhz processor, 64mb ram with 16mb flash ram, linux OS. Kinda foolproof for people who don't have a clue, and all settings are password protected to prevent "accidents". Right now I am researching hardware hacks for it, like the popular I-opener add-a-ide-drive kits. oh yeah...and the USB ports don't work right now, so don't expect to plug in a mouse or printer like it says on the website (www.virginconnectme.com to apply). Also, the wireless keyboard likes to fail a lot, and the conexant 56k modem doesn't like prodigy's network sometimes (or, it didn't use to...maybe that's fixed.) All in all, good deal, but don't expect a great machine or a free laptop. Anymore questions about the machine I'll be able to answer. reply to this post or drop me a line... [email protected]

later guys, have fun.
-abatardi

[essm]

I too read the fine print and it also syas that if you wish to terminate return the unit and all is even, except you won't get your yearly money back (max of $50) because they bill yearly. Overall not a bad deal if you have the application for it and if they get USB and maybe a nice little hard drive for MP3's aha.....

[abatardi]

nah, i never read the fine print, i just KNOW brother. haha. it would be a nice little machine if you want to try and crack it open (void your warranty), hardwire the usb ports, add an IDE port, change the bios chip to enable the IDE port, override the current OS and flash RAM and boot from the hard drive....and then, yah, you could play mp3s on it.

[abatardi]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Inhibit:
It's virgin, as in Cola, Airlines, Enterprises, etc. They give you ISP dial up as well, have to check for areas covered (though I imagine it's most of the US).
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

If anyone needs to check for access numbers for the thing, go here:
Prodigy Access Numbers (http://www.prodigy.com/pcom/prodigy_internet/access_numbers.html)

[freenet]

I have an "extra" virgin webplayer (never registered..clean!) available for hacking or otherwise...ill risk taking the $500 hit on it if someone wants to buy it for modifying it! b/o gets it