Beware of No-Contract Virgin Mobile

Beware of Virgin Mobile.  For their no-contract phones which
you have to activate at least every 3 months with a top-off
card, you often end up being cheated of time because of the
way they add activation time.  Time is added to the date of
when you use the card rather than starting from the expiration
date of the last card.  For example, what happened to me was
that I bought 2 cards hoping to add 6 months.  But when I
added them over 2 days, all that happened was that I got 3
months beyond the date I used the 2nd card rather than 3
months beyond the expiration date of the first.  I felt
ripped off.  The only way to maximize activation time is
to wait to the last minute before adding the next card which
is very risky to me.  "Tracfone", which does cost a little
more, at least will add time after the current expiration
date.  Be aware of this before you buy their phone.