What exactly do you get with a premium account?

[Johnsunlight]

What exactly do you get with a premium account?

I keep hearing diferent things.

Do you have to have a premium acount to buy land?

[valerie Inshan]

You get a Linden home (512 sqm, 117 prims) which you can choose from 4 different themes on your dashboard.

Plus, you receive a 1000 L bonus 45 days after you go Premium, and you receive a 300 L weekly stipend every Tuesday.

And no, you dont have to be premium to buy land in most private regions as long as you have the lindens and can pay the tier.

Being premium also entitles you for extended support:

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Account#Premium_Account

[Venus Petrov]

In addition to Val's excellent answer, you *do* need a premium account to purchase mainland land.  Tier on mainland land is paid directly to LL (no middleman).  I consider it a 'safer' purchase than estate land because LL is your landlord and the sim on which you live will always be there. 

There are several mainland continents and you can search for mainland land in classifieds or look in the Land forum.

I have owned a sim and other estate parcels.  I have had a home on mainland for the last year and enjoy it very much.

[Claireschen Hesten]

in addition to the other answers i believe you get an extra additional L$ bonus payment if you pay by credit card

[Chic Aeon]

Along with the info you already have, here are a couple of thoughts and clarifications.

 

You can choose EITHER the Linden home with 117 prims to use for furnishings OR you can choose free tier on a mainland parcel (117) prims. The advantage to the home is that you are actually getting a lot more prims to use. The disadvantage is that all the area looks very homogeneous (the same) like a vast housing tract. There are also many rules in the Linden homes like no businesses, no skyboxes etc. So read the rules before you decide which would work best for you.

 

If you decide to choose mainland and the free tier on 512 (the smallest standard sized lot in SL) then you will need to BUY the lot. Prices vary tremendously (TREMENDOUSLY ) so shopping and exploring is needed. You can get 512 lots for less than $512  or for many thousands. Your choice.

 

If you go premium and  pay by the year the cost is very little since you get the $300 L a week (long long ago it was 500 those lucky old-timers). And you do get the sign up bonus of $1000 after 45 days. Premium support and live chat can be very helpful -- or sometimes not at all. Just depends on your problem.

 

In defense of the not going premium (I have never been), you can do very well. You can rent instead of buying which means no down payments. You can even rent on the mainland. You can set up a business without being premium. You can even upload mesh as long as you have payment info on file. So lots of folks choose the non-premium route as it can work too.

 

I have had many land parcels and rentals both on the mainland and on estate land. I have never had a problem with landlords disappearing. If you pay your tier on estate land by the week, you can never lose too much money should the worst happen. There are horror stories of course, I just tend to choose long established areas (mostly themed multi sim regions) and have enjoyed my experiences. Estate land is VERY often prettier and more well kept than mainland where you can have any neighbor move in and do most anything.

 

That's my two cents worth.