SK Telecom says talk of Virgin Mobile takeover of Helio is "groundless"
By Donald Melanson 
posted May 12th 2008 3:54PM
posted May 12th 2008 3:54PM
Well, it looks like the struggling Helio may not be falling under the Virgin Mobile umbrella quite just yet, with the MVNO's parent company, SK Telecom, now calling such speculation ""groundless." An SK Telecom spokesperson further added that it was not in "any sort of talks" with Virgin and that it remains "committed" to Helio, although the company did seemingly leave the door open somewhat by saying it is "actively seeking opportunities" to expand its service in the U.S. Muddling the situation a bit further, Reuters reported on Friday that the two companies were in fact in "early talks" about a deal, although the source behind that story was apparently unable to confirm whether the deal was actually a merger or a purchase, or one of a number of "other possibilities."
Does anyone actually use Helio, i'm not asking as a joke, as i've never met 1 user.
Unfortunately I was a user, and it was a big mistake. Their service sucks big time. I canceled my account and sent my Ocean back to get my refund and it literally took them six months to send it to me. I had to find and call the corp. office with my complaint. The customer reps had no clue to what was happening with my case. I had one customer serv rep. tell me that my account had been credited. I told her that was impossible because my account was closed before i sent the phone back. Never get a phone through Helio, it will be your worse nightmare.
i have helio, and unlike the comment before me, i love it. i have had service with tmobile and verizon and i would take helio over those two services anyday. i live in the las vegas area, and have had many friends and family join as well and havent heard one complaint towards the service. my coverage is exceptional. the 3g service is exceptional as well. i love the feature packed phones as well. i hope it continues and doesnt fail because i cant imagine having to go back to one of the majors and their lame ass phone and rip off service.
I too am a satisfied Helio subscriber. I bought a Drift in January of 2007, and got in on the "no contract" deal they had at the time. After a few issues getting the phone to connect initially (which Customer Service walked me through step-by-step), I can say I've had no complaints. I do live in a non-3G region, but when I travel I take advantage of the unlimited data access by upgrading my account and then downgrading it when I get home - a nice byproduct of the no-contract deal.
I'm just waiting for an improvement on the Ocean to come out, or maybe the Mysto replacement. My Drift is old and discontinued, but it still does more (and better) than most of my friends' phones. They really dig the GPS...
I've been pretty satisfied with Helio, unless I have to deal with their customer service people, who are usually nice but utterly useless. But I really couldn't ask for more from my Ocean. Still, I don't know any other helio users, and I don't even know anyone who knows another helio user, which doesn't bode well for the company seeing as I live in NY. I think maybe twices I've even seen people on the street using helio. The new iPhone might make me jump ship - especially if the ship is sinking - but in general I'm totally satisfied with Helio. Love their services and my phone isn't full of bloatware like Vcast, etc.
ok. everyone needs to stop with the
David Blane jokes. Wait, what?
Virgin Mobile what kind of crappy name is that for a company lol
I don't know, but the guy who owns Virgin is a f'n billionaire so I guess that company name worked out alright for him.
the "Virgin" company is huge, more so in england and the area then here in the US. they are the most popular music store and a great airline (love there TV ads)
I have a VM and love there service. I was kinda hopeing this would happen I want a hileo or whatever but have heard horror stories.
I have Helio and it's awesome. I don't know how anyone can complain....$65 a month for 500 minutes, unlimited text/pic message/data/video message. No roaming fees either. Helio uses the Sprint network primarily, but you roam to Verizon if the signal is stronger. I get terrible Sprint in my apartment, so the phone just roams to Verizon and I get 5 bars.
I don't get why you would sign up for anything other than Helio, it rocks. Everyone else I know who want unlimited data is paying $100+ a month for their phone. You can't argue w/ Helio $99 a month/unlimited everything plan either.
Feature packed phone, no roaming charges, dirt cheap service on two very reliable networks? The only reason I can think that Helio isn't doing better is because they're so dirt cheap....
Heli-who?