METRO PCS changing 4g Rate Plans, say goodbye to unlimited 4g unless you want to pay $70 per month.

[raysfan]

MetroPCS to Overhaul Monthly Plans Next Monday, Adds Throttling on LTE | PhoneNews.com



$40 plan will limit you to 250mb of 4g access
$50 plan will limit you to 2.5gb
$60 plan will get you 5gb
$70 plan gets you unlimited


I don't think this is a good move by Metro. There are some better options out there (I am trying out T-Mobile prepay and love it so far) and $70 is too much for unlimited. For $10 more I could go to Sprint and have better coverage, and get a free phone.

What do you guys think about this? Is this a bad move by Metro?

 

[epayne123]

Have you confirmed this with MetroPCS? i will be contacting them today to confirm the story. This is just a move to get closer to competitors as they can without going past them as far as prices restrictions go but this is definitely a bad move IMO unless this is due to an IMMEDIATE boost in speed and coverage range which would justify the price boost. winner how they will be FORCING the new bill pricing upon us. This will be a negative.

Sent from my LG-MS910 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5

 

[raysfan]

But I have heard this was in the works, and if you look up MetroPCS in Google News, it's there. I've seen it on a few different websites already that are very credible.

 

[raysfan]

These rates are still very competitive compared to a Sprint or Tmoble, The only problem is that you get a free phone with those carriers, and with Metro you have to come out of pocket around $250 for their cheapest 4g phone. If its only $10 - $15 more per month, I'd go with the larger carrier and take the free phone and save my $250. If the difference is $25 per month or more, then its worth the savings to buy the phone up front.

 

[THE W]

Sprint and tmobile aren't giving anyone unlimited everything for anywhere near $70 let alone $60. The free phones they give on their contracts aren't gonna be their best phones. You'll get their mid to low grade phones for free while their top of the line phones will be $200 to $300 with a two year commitment.

The key will be whether metro will improve their 4G speeds. If metro can get us up to 8 or 10mbps, that would be adequate. Honestly though, with no tethering, having Verizon speeds isn't gonna do much for you. At 4mbps you're gonna be able to stream whatever you need without rebuffer.

 

[epayne123]

Yes that is what my opinion was. They are going to be going to be much Closer to t the other carriers which takes away the Metro Kills Everyone thing

Sent from my LG-MS910 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5

 

[THE W]

even at $70 they're stilling killing everyone else in terms of price. if we compare plans with unlimited talk/text/data:

metro - $70(flat rate, no throttle)
t-mobile - $79(throttled after 2gb. taxes and fees extra)
sprint - $99( mostly 3g, limited 4g. taxes and fees extra plus $10 premium data fee for smartphones)

ATT and verizon dont have "unlimited" data(honestly, neither does tmobile)

ATT - $70 for unlimited talk and text and $50 for 5GB of data(taxes and fee extra)
verizon - $70 for unlimited talk, $20 for unlimited text, and $30 to $80 for data(taxes and fees extra).

 

[epayne123]

Yes but when we are onky talking about $30 after fees fire me to have unlimited 4G then i can switch. I get discounts for wherei work

Sent from my LG-MS910 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5

 

[THE W]

the only other major carrier thats giving you unlimited high speed data is sprint and its not even 4g.

but if you dont mind paying more money for less service, go for it.

im not fortunate enough to work somewhere where i get discounts on my phone bill. neither are most other people. you could get a good deal if you're on a legacy plan with verizon or ATT.

 

[UKCatFan]

One of the biggest questions is if this will affect existing customer's plans. If so then I will not be happy since I just bought this 4G phone. I might be requesting a complete refund if this really goes down that way. I probably could get by with the $50 plan since I have used about 1GB in 18 days and much of that was from right when I got the phone and was downloading apps. I could have done that on wifi, but wanted to see how the 4G was performing.

Since it is relatively easy to switch rate plans on Metro, I wonder if some people will drop to the $40 each first day of the billing and then continue to upgrade as they hit each mark? That would save some money from prorating the bill.

As for the move itself, I think it is pretty stupid and think they are shooting themselves in the foot. They need to offer significant savings in order to be considered worthwhile over a big carrier.

 

[AppleUser]

Are 3G rates going to change also ? A friend of mine uses a Samsung 3G phone on Boost and pays $55/month unlimited everything Nationwide.

 

[UKCatFan]

Since this is a "leak" and nothing is official, nobody knows. It might not even be real or could have been an intentional leak to see how people react.

 

[UKCatFan]

So far this is the only news outlet reporting anything about this. I am starting to question the authenticity of it. It is very unusual that nobody else picked up on it. Either that or they have a great inside scoop that isn't talking to anyone else. We shall see.

 

[THE W]

so either today or next monday there will be a $70 plan?

........

what month is it?

 

[raysfan]

Yes but honestly, neither is Metro Pcs. The highest speeds I ever saw were about 5mps. That's not really considered true 4g. I know people that have sprint that get around 3mps on average, which I was lucky to get with Metro.

Since switching to Tmobile, I can say I am more than satisfied. I have the $30 plan with 100 minutes, unlimited text, and 5gb high speed internet. I don't talk on my phone a lot and use a fair amount of data, so this plan is perfect for me. As far as speeds go, the phone I have is 3g and its just a hair slower than Metro's 4g speeds. Overall though, its more consistent. I've had the phone over a week and not once lost 3g service. Never had any "could not load this webpage" errors which i saw with Metro repeaditly. (I live in a good coverage area)

I've even turned my 3g off just to see how their speeds are, and honestly its just as good as my wife's 3g is on Metro.

All I'm saying is that Metro can't expect people to pay $70 for a service that is far from top notch. I'd much rather pay that $70 to Tmobile prepaid (if I needed unlimited minutes) and get 5g high speed data. Yes, they throttle you, but at least the 5gb you get is faster, and more reliable. And even when you go down to 2g, it isn't that horrible.

Not to mention, the phone quality is WAY better. I just got a Galaxy S Vibrant, and even though its 2 years old, it blows away anything in Metro's stable.

 

[raysfan]

Are 3G rates going to change also ? A friend of mine uses a Samsung 3G phone on Boost and pays $55/month unlimited everything Nationwide.

I don't think so, As 3g is capped with Metro and really isn't 3g. It's more like 2.5g. I can't imagine them trying to charge more for that.

 

[raysfan]

Sprint and tmobile aren't giving anyone unlimited everything for anywhere near $70 let alone $60. The free phones they give on their contracts aren't gonna be their best phones. You'll get their mid to low grade phones for free while their top of the line phones will be $200 to $300 with a two year commitment.

The key will be whether metro will improve their 4G speeds. If metro can get us up to 8 or 10mbps, that would be adequate. Honestly though, with no tethering, having Verizon speeds isn't gonna do much for you. At 4mbps you're gonna be able to stream whatever you need without rebuffer.

You can get top of the line phones for free if you look around a little. I've seen the Nexus S, Galaxy S2, Evo 3d, and HTC Amaze for free on contract. Those are some of the best phones on the market right now.

 

[raysfan]

Metro should improve their network before charging more. I understand they need money in order to improve their network, but business doesn't work that way. You can't expect people to pay more for something that will pay off in the long run. Most of Metro's customer aren't willing to shell out $70 a month, because if they were, they would just go with a larger carrier.

 

[AppleUser]

Yes but honestly, neither is Metro Pcs. The highest speeds I ever saw were about 5mps. That's not really considered true 4g. I know people that have sprint that get around 3mps on average, which I was lucky to get with Metro.

Since switching to Tmobile, I can say I am more than satisfied. I have the $30 plan with 100 minutes, unlimited text, and 5gb high speed internet. I don't talk on my phone a lot and use a fair amount of data, so this plan is perfect for me. As far as speeds go, the phone I have is 3g and its just a hair slower than Metro's 4g speeds. Overall though, its more consistent. I've had the phone over a week and not once lost 3g service. Never had any "could not load this webpage" errors which i saw with Metro repeaditly. (I live in a good coverage area)

I've even turned my 3g off just to see how their speeds are, and honestly its just as good as my wife's 3g is on Metro.

All I'm saying is that Metro can't expect people to pay $70 for a service that is far from top notch. I'd much rather pay that $70 to Tmobile prepaid (if I needed unlimited minutes) and get 5g high speed data. Yes, they throttle you, but at least the 5gb you get is faster, and more reliable. And even when you go down to 2g, it isn't that horrible.

Not to mention, the phone quality is WAY better. I just got a Galaxy S Vibrant, and even though its 2 years old, it blows away anything in Metro's stable.

Thank you. Very well-stated. Agree that Metro should make a substantial improvement BEFORE charging more.

 

[THE W]

You can get top of the line phones for free if you look around a little. I've seen the Nexus S, Galaxy S2, Evo 3d, and HTC Amaze for free on contract. Those are some of the best phones on the market right now.

link?

im looking at tmobiles website and they have the galaxy SII for $229 w/contract. same with the HTC amaze. if you can get those phones for free, it wont be with tmobile.

fair enough man, you have a plan that works for you since you dont talk on the phone or use much data. i use tons of data and would be screwed with only 5gbs a month. like i said, if you can live with less service, go for it. not everyone will be okay with those restraints.

you probably live in a good area for tmobile and a bad one for metro. i have never gotten a page loading error on metro and i've had this phone since it came out(i live in a good coverage area for metro). metro is very competitive with the big 4 in everything except coverage area...and phones. still, they're pretty damn good for a budget service.

all im saying is(assuming this is actually gonna happen) while charging people another 10 bucks is a bad look and WILL hurt metro...badly, you're still getting a much better combination of cost and service than the big 4 when comparing unlimited services even at $70. people arent gonna think about that, they're just gonna see that they're being charged an extra 10 bucks.

and im not here to tell you that you should have stayed with metro. you found a plan that met your specific needs at a better price. you would've been dumb not to take it. myself, i want unlimited everything and nobody is giving me anywhere near as good a deal for that than metro.

 

[raysfan]

EVO DESIGN 4G : AmazonWireless: HTC EVO Design 4G Android Phone (Sprint)

EVO 3D : AmazonWireless: HTC EVO 3D 4G Android Phone (Sprint)

NEXUS S : AmazonWireless: Samsung Nexus S 4G Android Phone (Sprint)

MYTOUCH4G : Unsupported Browser

The GALAXY S2 is $49.99, but it was free a few weeks ago. I would consider all of these phone mid to high end phones, and are far better than anything offered by MetroPcs.

 

[THE W]

you should switch to sprint.


EDIT: thats odd, im looking at sprints official site and both EVOs and the nexus are $99, and the galaxy s2 is $199.

guess they have a deal with amazon to sell them cheaper there.

 

[jtw1216]

Hey guys, don't panic yet lol. Remember that the story came out on April Fools Day. This could all be a big hoax. I sure hope it is lol.

 

[UKCatFan]

Hey guys, don't panic yet lol. Remember that the story came out on April Fools Day. This could all be a big hoax. I sure hope it is lol.

I thought that as well, but the thing is that there is nothing funny. I wonder if it was a hoax by someone really mad at Metro for some reason.

 

[THE W]

yeah if this is BS then this is a total arsehole prank.

its been 2 days since the announcement and the only website that has reported this is phonenews.com. this is gigantic news and for only one news outlet to have reported it is pretty strange.