Searching for Virgin Mobile Network

[VMboy]

When manually searching for network operators on my Virgin phone the following appear:

T-Mobile
vodafone
o2
3 UK

Occasionally I see the Orange Network show up, if I try direct with Orange it never connects, I was confused on that as I thought that Virgin used Orange.

Should I be expecting to see Virgin Mobile show when manually searching for the operators being that it is a Virgin sim? and is the reason I don't see it down to poor coverage in my area?

I was confused about it losing it's signal as the phone showed all 4 bars for signal reception, however it showed Emergency Calls Only at the bottom of the Notifications screen, and when I tried making a call it said it wasn't registered on a network, why show 4 bars when it wasn't registered at that time or is that not related?

Finally, should I be concerned about not being able to find the Virgin name when manually searching or is T-Mobile quite adequate?

Thanks in advance.

[swoop101]

They use EE (Orange/T-Mobile) as carriers, so either will be used depending on signal strength.

[rhyds]

A virgin SIM should show Orange, T-mobile or EE as "Virgin". My phone certainly does so since I installed my Virgin SIM.

[nodrogd]

Depending on the age of your SIM card you will see either:

Virgin or Orange (shown as roaming)
Virgin or virgin (shown as roaming)

The Orange ID (showing as virgin with a small v on new SIM's) is slowly dissapearing as the network is upgraded

[qasdfdsaq]

Virgin has always been an MVNO on T-Mobile, never Orange.

[Ben B]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

Virgin has always been an MVNO on T-Mobile, never Orange.

Did Orange ever have any MVNOs operating on it prior to the merger?

[qasdfdsaq]

I can't think of any but I get the odd feeling there was at least one.

[VMboy]

I very rarely see Orange on the list of operators, the one that registers is T-Mobile and also connects and registers as the preferred operator.

Virgin Sim close to a year old as I was sent a new one.

[qasdfdsaq]

That's because, as already stated, the Orange network is being progressively shut down and removed. Last I was aware less than 15% of the transmitters will be left by the end of this year.

[VMboy]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

That's because, as already stated, the Orange network is being progressively shut down and removed. Last I was aware less than 15% of the transmitters will be left by the end of this year.

Thanks for your reply, and all other replies too, much appreciated.