"Slows down" what do they mean?

[I luv trolling]

Currently, I don't own a 4g phone for metro PCS so I don't have a 4g plan. I have recently been very interested in purchasing the moto x unlocked and activating it on metro. When they say "500mb of fast 4g data, then it slows down" what do they mean? Are the now throttling the 4g and if so how significantly or are they just dropping me down to 3g/EDGE/1X?

 

[BigKeenan]

They drop you to 3g/1x. Hopefully with the gsm phones they drop to hspa+ and or throttle the 4g.

 

[Gman9831]

Noo they drop your speeds to around 100-200kbps but you stay on 4G which is still good if you get

 

[I luv trolling]

Oh thats a bit disappointing. Would've preferred they drop you to 3g since the speeds are comparable but they have more widespread 3g technology. Maybe since it will most likely be a gsm moto x it will utilize tmo's towers

 

[jjrx3]

not sure about new phones but on my lg connect i used cdma/3g when im not really in the need for 4g or when i get throttled.

 

[I luv trolling]

So you're saying it gives you 3g after your data is up or you manually switch it to 3g?

 

[UKCatFan]

It doesn't switch you to the lower network. I don't think that would even be possible without having control over your phone. It keeps you on the 4G but slows down how much bandwidth you get. Considering that LTE is a battery hog, you might want to manually switch to 3G on your own if you are being throttled.

 

[Gman9831]

They throttle all technologies thats the thing nd LTE's not really a battery hog anymore and it would still give overall better performance

 

[THE W]

Dial up on steroids.

 

[n4zty]

not 3g. they slows down to 1x speeds which is 100-200 kb/s. 3g speeds on metro are 300 kb/s to 900 kb/s

 

[UKCatFan]

They throttle all technologies thats the thing nd LTE's not really a battery hog anymore and it would still give overall better performance

It always was on my Connect and on my new Lightray it is proving to be. Mind you I don't always get the best Metro signal, but I usually see a drop of about 1% every five minutes on 4G, but if forced to 3G it is a much slower drain. Don't know if that is going to be the case on the Lightray since I cannot seem to find a way to force it to 3G.

 

[Gman9831]

Well the Connect was a phone with a known battery drainage issue I know since I had it for awhile and well the Lightray is the Lightray
Didn't read any Lightray reviews?