Bell’s Virgin Plus is ending its prepaid wireless services early next year, and that means existing subscribers will need to migrate to monthly plans to keep their phone numbers and coverage active.
According to notices sent to Virgin Plus prepaid subscribers, the official shutdown date is set for January 15, 2027. After that deadline, all prepaid services will cease entirely. This includes calling, emergency 9-1-1 access, text messaging, and mobile data.
Those who don’t switch before the cutoff will permanently lose their phone numbers and saved voicemails.
Virgin Plus says to prevent service from getting cut off, prepaid users must migrate to a Virgin Plus monthly plan, either by calling in, visiting a store or on the web.
People on prepaid typically use their phones sparingly and don’t need the full blown services needed with a postpaid account. Bell has a low cost prepaid brand, Lucky Mobile, while Virgin Plus is typically seen as the flanker brand to flagship plans.
Virgin Mobile Canada (before renaming to Virgin Plus) originally launched in March 2005 as a joint venture between Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Bell, offering prepaid plans exclusively on the CDMA network.
Bell fully acquired the provider in May 2009, expanding it into postpaid offerings. The company was rebranded Virgin Plus in the summer of 2021 and stopped offering new prepaid activations at the end of September 2024, steering new pay-as-you-go customers towards Lucky Mobile.
Are you a Virgin Plus prepaid customer? What are you going to do?
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I believe you can also port your number to another carrier instead of switching to a Virgin Plus monthly plan?