MetroPCS pre-loading Boingo Wi-Fi onto Android phones

The practice of carriers pre-loading software on smartphones is nothing new. I’ve had a BlackBerry for years and Verizon has routinely pushed me applications that I don’t want — typically because they’re service I have to pay for. MetroPCS is going to do something like this with their Android phones. All of those handsets will come with a Boingo Wi-Fi app pre-installed. It might sound like a good deal, but it’s just something you’ll have to pay for if you want it.

That isn’t to say you won’t want to pay for Boingo. It does provide Wi-Fi access at over 200,000 worldwide hotspots. I also own an Android, and I have to say that any time I can get Wi-Fi I go for it. But that usually involves free hotspots. In order to use Boingo’s hotspots you have to pay $7.95 per month. If you’re frequently out of the house that might be worth your hard-earned dollar. For most MetroPCS customers, though, I suspect it will amount to little more than what the geek community calls bloatware.

MetroPCS currently carries two Android devices, the LG Optimus M and the Huawei Ascend. It has designs on more Android handsets in the future, including models that run on its high-speed LTE network.

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1. Yes, there will be free Wi-Fi for MetroPCS | Prepaid Reviews Says
   

   [...] to the site, you may want to subscribe to the the feed.In yesterday’s story about MetroPCS pre-loading Boingo on Android phones, we missed something. It wasn’t in the press release, and it’s my fault for not [...]

   
   Posted on December 23rd, 2010 at 10:00 am

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