Metro PCS vs. Virgin Mobile

[THE W]

metro completely owns all of the other budget phone services at this point.

 

[THE W]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience but this does not mean everyone who is on metro is guaranteed to have a similar experience and I certainly have not myself. There are customer service horror stories from people on every carrier. Metro isn't the only one and probably isn't any worse than the other budget carriers out there.

 

[AppleUser]

On metro phone dial *228 then click 5 when it asks what you want then say yes if it asks for confirmation about roaming list update. Once updated phone will reboot and if you got prl #3020 there's a good chance you'll get 3G service. I've been trying but I'm still stuck on prl #3019.

How does one determine which "prl" you get or are at ?

 

[UKCatFan]

How does one determine which "prl" you get or are at ?

It is in your settings in about phone.

 

[lingming]

well i can say this 4g less them 1mb 1x 100kbs-200 and their 3g signs will get you 500kbs tested in LA LV MI and AZ place like tmo and sprint might not get you unli 4g for a good press but you can get the unl 3g witch is 2-4mb and maybe 2g of 4g tmo also has a non contract metro is falling they mgiht be getting better phones but but their is no more unli 4g unless you pay 70bucks and 4g at metro is slow 1mb if your lucky

 

[THE W]

maybe im totally wrong about what i've been saying.

what other carrier is giving you unlimited talk, text, and unlimited 4g data for lower than $70 a month that has faster data speeds than metro?

 

[Spike15]

and 4g at metro is slow 1mb if your lucky

You are probably in a bad area. I get 2-7 Mbps depending on the area. The most common speeds I see on my phone are in the range of 3-5 Mbps.

 

[narutoninjakid]

Virgin now kicks metros ass. Go look at some of the phones they have now. HTC evo 3d, iPhone 4 and 4s plus HTC one v. I'm switching this month. If metro wants to keep up they better step up their game. That's all I have to say anyway.

 

[THE W]

was thinking about switching to them too until i saw that they have a 2.5Gb data limit(3.5GB with mobile hotspot). their top plan is the same as metros $50 plan which is $5 cheaper.

iphones are 3g only so your data speeds wont be faster than what metro offers. i do agree that you're getting a better phone with the evo but with such restrictions you wont be able to use it to its potential.

 

[Spike15]

Virgin now kicks metros ass. Go look at some of the phones they have now. HTC evo 3d, iPhone 4 and 4s plus HTC one v. I'm switching this month. If metro wants to keep up they better step up their game. That's all I have to say anyway.

Buy they don't have LG Esteem!

 

[dose17]

was thinking about switching to them too until i saw that they have a 2.5Gb data limit(3.5GB with mobile hotspot). their top plan is the same as metros $50 plan which is $5 cheaper.

iphones are 3g only so your data speeds wont be faster than what metro offers. i do agree that you're getting a better phone with the evo but with such restrictions you wont be able to use it to its potential.

the 2.5GB limit applies to 3G data, but the Wimax is caped at 10GB...

 

[narutoninjakid]

Buy they don't have LG Esteem!

sold mine a few days ago on ebay for $313

 

[THE W]

the 2.5GB limit applies to 3G data, but the Wimax is caped at 10GB...

Ok,

Someone else told me the 4G is capped at 2.5gb but the 3g is unlimited. Which one is true?

 

[alfick3]

Ok,

Someone else told me the 4G is capped at 2.5gb but the 3g is unlimited. Which one is true?

I just looked at their Web site, and the 3G/4G data is capped after 2.5GB. If you get the hot spot, then you get 3.5GB. You still can use as much data as you want, but after those 2 numbers your speed will get capped.

In my opinion, that still makes Metro come out on top for data service. I'm quite content with my Optimus M+ also.

Edit: oh by the way, I looked up boost mobile and they are imposing the speed cap as well, after 2.5GB.

 

[THE W]

yeah, i've looked at the website.

they throttle you down to 256kbps for the remainder of your billing period after your allowance. someone talked about how they got on the phone with a salesrep and they were told that 3g was unlimited. i dont believe this as it doesnt say this on the website, all the fine print points to both 3g and 4g being throttled and it would be a great disservice to virgin to not put on their website that their 3g is unthrottled if it really is or that the 4g is uncapped up to 10gbs.

virgin and boost are more or less the same BTW.

 

[Sterlsilver]

yeah, i've looked at the website.

they throttle you down to 256kbps for the remainder of your billing period after your allowance. someone talked about how they got on the phone with a salesrep and they were told that 3g was unlimited. i dont believe this as it doesnt say this on the website, all the fine print points to both 3g and 4g being throttled and it would be a great disservice to virgin to not put on their website that their 3g is unthrottled if it really is or that the 4g is uncapped up to 10gbs.

virgin and boost are more or less the same BTW.

One question. Does, metro throttle your unlimited data? I heard that happened.

 

[alfick3]

One question. Does, metro throttle your unlimited data? I heard that happened.

I have not had my data throttled. 'Course I don't know that I ever reach a high level of usage. I hook into wifi a lot, so my data goes that way.

 

[THE W]

One question. Does, metro throttle your unlimited data? I heard that happened.

Hasn't happened to me.

 

[Sterlsilver]

Hasn't happened to me.

Oh ok I just had to be sure. And I hear that if you do have throttled data (say you go over 5gb) there is a way, to prevent throttling or, something like today idk.

 

[alfick3]

Oh ok I just had to be sure. And I hear that if you do have throttled data (say you go over 5gb) there is a way, to prevent throttling or, something like today idk.

I don't think there is any way you can prevent the company from throttling your data. That is getting close to sounding like you are trying to cheat the company and that is frowned upon on this forum.

 

[Sterlsilver]

I don't think there is any way you can prevent the company from throttling your data. That is getting close to sounding like you are trying to cheat the company and that is frowned upon on this forum.

I'm sorry. maybe I read too much lol. My apologies.

 

[euphan1555]

just wanted to clear up some confusion.4g on vm is truly unlimited meaning they dont throttle it.also they dont throttle 3g on the evo but they do on every other phone.the speculation is they dont have a way to tell 3g and 4g apart on the evo.

sorry for bumping a old thread but i was over here doing some research to see if metropcs was for me since im planning on ditching vm at the end of my current billing cycle.i love having unlimited 4g on vm but the speeds are not consistent in my area.i could have a 15k speedtest and 5 minutes later have one for 100.

only one thing makes me nervous about switching to metro and that is they dont offer hotspot on the 70 month plan.i already had my data banned on tmobile for for using foxfi and really dont feel like being banned on another carrier.

 

[narutoninjakid]

just wanted to clear up some confusion.4g on vm is truly unlimited meaning they dont throttle it.also they dont throttle 3g on the evo but they do on every other phone.the speculation is they dont have a way to tell 3g and 4g apart on the evo.

sorry for bumping a old thread but i was over here doing some research to see if metropcs was for me since im planning on ditching vm at the end of my current billing cycle.i love having unlimited 4g on vm but the speeds are not consistent in my area.i could have a 15k speedtest and 5 minutes later have one for 100.

only one thing makes me nervous about switching to metro and that is they dont offer hotspot on the 70 month plan.i already had my data banned on tmobile for for using foxfi and really dont feel like being banned on another carrier.

vm was the best choice i ever made metro was a joke . i even get 4g in newark nj.

 

[euphan1555]

vm was the best choice i ever made metro was a joke . i even get 4g in newark nj.

if you are in a area that has good to great 4g i will agree vm is the better choice but my 4g fluctuates way to much for it to be the right choice for me.you have no idea how frustrating it is to go from dl'ing a 200 mb file in under 5 minutes and the next one you download takes over an hour.im also getting sick of seeing netfix buffer so much.i want steady speeds and if i can get that with metro i will gladly make the switch but like said i just wish they offered the hotspot feature on their $70 plan.if i do switch i will just use pdanet and forget about wifi tethering.

 

[THE W]

apparently VM is having issues with their data tracking system so at the moment their 4g data is unthrottled.

http://androidforums.com/virgin-mobile/587922-virgin-mobile-4g-wimax-unlimited-phones.html