MetroPCS Bring Your Own Phone GSM?

[smeg36]

Has anyone here switched to the new MetroPCS bring your own phone plans with the new GSM iPhone 5 that will work on T-Mobile's LTE and HSPA+? I just noticed that the plan is now available in Miami, and am strongly considering switching over in October when my contract is up. Even with buying a new iPhone every year at full retail, switching my family plan to a comparable plan on Metro would save around $300/year over AT&T.

I'm just wondering if anyone has taken their iPhone 5 over, and how it's working out. Do you get LTE? What kind of speeds do you get after going over the 500MB of 4G data with the $40 plan, or 2.5GB with the $50 plan? There's not a lot of info on these new plans because they just started, but it seems you should get identical service as you would from T-Mobile in that area because they use the T-Mobile towers, correct? In Miami, that should equate to pretty good service.

 

[Mr.Womanizer]

I work for Metro, we just launched in Fresno also. I have at&t with my iphone 5 im deciding also to switch, the Metro people tell us the unlocked phones will work, and bc TMobile bought out MetroPCS its using their towers now, so if Tmobile has LTE in your area they for sure will be able to handle LTE on your iphone 5, i havent switched yet bc Tmobile hasnt configured their LTE towers yet, theyre her just not activated.

 

[smeg36]

Cool, thanks for the info. From what I can gather, t-mobile LTE is deployed in Miami, and coverage is rapidly increasing. And the HSPA+ 42 is as fast, or faster, than my current AT&T LTE in a lot of spots. I can't wait until my contract is up, and I can switch. I rarely ever leave the city, so for 99% of the time my service should be at least as good at AT&T is, but cost $55-$65 less/month, and that's after a discount I get from AT&T.

What I really want to know now is what kind of speeds I would get if I got the 2.5GB plan, and went over. I've found that info for CDMA Metro, and t-mobile, but not GSM Metro. I'd assume it would be the same as t-mobile, except I read somewhere that t-mobile throttles down to 2g speed, and read somewhere else that the GSM Metro would throttle to 3G speed. I also wonder if I'd get HD voice. Again, since it would use t-mobile's towers, I assume I would.

 

[smeg36]

To update my own post, and answer some of my own questions, I was able to cancel AT&T without an ETF, and got Metro service a few days ago. Metro is even running a promo through the end of September where you can get a $50 credit card MIR for bringing your own device, and a $50 credit card MIR for porting in your number. They're giving me $200 (2 lines of service) to cut my bill in half!

I haven't left Miami, and won't anytime soon, so my experience is only around downtown Miami. But so far I've got as good, or better, service than I did with AT&T. I am getting LTE, and when I turn that off HSPA+. The LTE speeds are faster than I was getting in AT&T, and the HSPA+ is around the same speed. I haven't gone over the 2.5GB limit to see what throttled speeds are like yet. My wife's iPhone 4 is getting 3G, with similar speeds to AT&T. Call quality has been comparable. I haven't been able to test HD Voice yet.

 

[stephen1108]

That's really awesome... if I were on my own plan, I'd def make the switch to Metro/T-Mobile. I live in Ft. Lauderdale, any word on how it is over here?

 

[smeg36]

That's really awesome... if I were on my own plan, I'd def make the switch to Metro/T-Mobile. I live in Ft. Lauderdale, any word on how it is over here?

I'm not sure, I haven't been up that way yet. I did experience some poor connection today in an area AT&T had good service though. I was in western Miami, and my signal dropped completely a couple times, went from LTE to 4G a bunch, and dropped down to Edge as well. It's not an area I frequent though, so I don't mind. I'm sure you could find reports for the quality of T-Mobile in your area, that's the service you'll get with Metro. It connects to T-Mobile towers, and the Carrier under About on my phone even says T-Mobile 14.2.