MetroPCS introduces pay-per-minute plans

MetroPCS made a splash yesterday by offering monthly plans with limited minutes. The refill cards will be available only at Walmart for the time being. These will come in two tiers, $20 and $30, which lead right into the $40 unlimited plan. The $20 card has 500 minutes, unlimited text messaging, and 500MB of data. The $30 card had 1,000 minutes, unlimited text messaging, and 100MB of data. Goldstein also mentions a $10 card that has 200 minutes and unlimited incoming text messaging, but I didn’t see that on MetroPCS’s website. But I did find an FAQ, which provides some interesting facts. Picture messaging is available; it counts towards your data usage. That means the size of the picture you send factors into the cost of the message. You can use the extended home coverage area, but it does cost extra. Smartphones and 4G phones are not compatible with the By the Minute plans.]]>

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12 Comments

  1. Natalia on November 30, 2010 at 10:17 pm

    You should probably add that it’s almost completely impossible to find these $20 card.It claims that there only in walmart but that is incorrect; the only one that are there are the 40,50,and 10 dollar cards.



  2. Laura on April 6, 2011 at 6:35 pm

    Metro PCS By the Minute does NOT let you use SMS texts. No alerts from facebook or setting your status, no twitter, or anything. No texting clubs for coupons either.
    Also, I’m not sure if it’s all MPCS phones that are like this, but you cannot excede 160 characters. Usually, it will just go on as another page and send multiple texts. This will not even let you do that. You have to open up a whole new message.
    Overall, despite the great deal ($20 a month for unlimited texting and a decent amount of talking minutes for a teenager? Sweet!) I am disappointed in this program.



  3. Frank on April 14, 2011 at 5:05 am

    The metro pcs pay by the minute cards are imposable to find.The 20 and 30 dollar cards are only available at walmart.The walmart stores dont carry them,the ones in my area.I took a trip to another state and found one and i bought a phone and hooked it up.I thought i could continue this service using a credit or debit card.I was wrong you can only continue this service using the pay by the minute cards.When my 30 days were up i could not continue my service.I cant find this card anywhere.I sent a message to walmarts webite complaining about this so maybe they would start selling this card online.It seems that metro pcs dont care cause the customer service rep. told me buying the pay by the minute cards is the only way to continue the service(it seems like a scam to get you started then you would not have a choice to go with the monthly plan).If any one else has this problem go to walmarts website and send them a message to start selling the pay by the minute cards online.



  4. Gloria on October 12, 2011 at 1:01 pm

    I’ve been without my phone now for 2 weeks because I can’t find a phone card either..Walmart doesn’t sell them and you can’t get a decent explaination from any of the jackels that supposedely work at Metro, if you can get a live one…oh, which you can’t do unless your hooked up and paid up which you can’t do ’cause you can’t find a CARD!!!



  5. Gloria on October 12, 2011 at 1:05 pm

    Oh, by the way, Metro, your still advertising for that $20 phone card…FALSELY!!!



  6. josh on October 20, 2011 at 1:39 am

    I have been to 7 different wal mart here in the southern california area and not one of them had either the $20 or $30 card. i asked at each store and they said that metro isn’t sending them anymore cards. so this whole service is a big scam. what a bunch of a-holes. i should have never bought the phone



  7. Fer Galicia (@Ferah11) on November 14, 2011 at 12:52 pm

    Yeah what a bunch of crap, I have been in at least 5 stores in my area and the use to have the $20 cards but then they only started to sell $30 that is a load of BS, I only use like $7 every month and I haven’t ever seen a $10 card now I’m without service until I waste my gas trying to find at least a $20 dollar card and end up buying a $30 since there’s nothing else to do. I may end up switching back to a unlimited service since we have 2 phones and after taxes on the cards the difference is only 4 dollars, and that way I can also pay from home. Really what a shame…



  8. Metroseeker on November 15, 2011 at 3:19 pm

    Check out BestBuy on-line. If I am correct I believe I saw the $10 cards pay by the minute. I couldn’t locate the $20 cards through them. Only $10 and $30.



  9. Robyn on November 16, 2011 at 9:31 pm

    I went to bestbuy.com and I saw the $10 dollar and the $30 dollar card options but no $20 dollar option. I bought the $10 dollar card online from best buy but when I tried to use the pin number they emailed me, it didn’t work. The automated system transferred me to a metropcs rep who stated I had to create another account because my phone was off for more than 30 days. I told him that is because I have been searching all over the city trying to find a Walmart or Metropcs store that sold the card. I finally get a new account with a new phone number and the pin number from the $10 dollar card still didn’t work because my account was originally set up using a $20 dollar card. I told the rep that no one is selling the $20 dollar card in the city I am in and best buy doesn’t sell it online either so I ask him what can I do, well he hung up on me. I call back and explain the same thing to the other rep and she hangs up on me too. What do they care they just got my $10 dollars while I have no phone service. METROPCS, YOU SUCK!!!



  10. Jennifer on November 18, 2011 at 10:22 pm

    I just bought a $20 card and a new phone at our local walmart. It was impossible to activate it online unless I chose a monthly plan. Finally a cust service rep activated the phone and instructed me to call the number on the back of the card and get the credit put on my phone.
    However, when I entered the pin number, I was told that that my account type won’t accept the card. After 2 calls to customer service I was told that I need to buy a “minute” card, not the type I bought. Since my walmart only sells this one type of card, I thought I was doing the right thing. I didn’t even know there were two different types of cards as I have been a tracfone user for 9 years.
    Of course, even less help than the CSRs at Metro, was the Walmart store.
    very dissappointing. I’m off to verizon’s prepaid plan because I want off of tracfone and will not go near metro again.



  11. Desire Burns on January 26, 2012 at 3:20 am

    I had unlimited $40mo but was low on cash the day it was up so I went to Cumberland Farms (small convenient store also goes by Country Farms in some areas) I’m in NJ so don’t know if thise helps anyone. But low and behold were the damn $20 cards, but they weren’t cards it was a key ring of advertisement cards hooked onto the register at the counter where the cashier had to scan one of the cards and handed me a reciept. (They do this in cities too) and I left w/my receipt & put the $ on from home. The prob 4me was b/c I had the unlimited plan when I bought the phone I wasn’t able to load the mins ! I thought if I buy 2 $20 cards it would =$40 and they’d be accepting of that (just didn’t wanna lose out on the $20 spent) Wrong ! So I ended up having the rep switch me to a “by the min” plan, used the cards until they were out (lasted me about a mo and half) and then went back to my $40plan…if you can find the cards and are a texter…the $20 are SWEEET ! In summary : Metro $20 cards are sold in Cumberland Farms aka Country Farms



  12. rita on January 31, 2012 at 6:58 pm

    They do have by the mninute cards . go unto their faq http://www.metropcs.com/metro/support/searchSupport.jsp