MetroPCS will now activate your CDMA phone

We’ve long admired the flat-rate, unlimited calling plans MetroPCS offers. The only beef we had, beyond the regional coverage, was that their phones are rather expensive. This, of course, is because users don’t commit to them for longer than the current month. They have no incentive to subsidize the phones like the major carriers do. Metro has come up with a solution: MetroFlash. Now you can bring in your existing CDMA handset and have it activated with MetroPCS service.

“Offering consumers the ability to join MetroPCS with their existing handset makes switching carriers easier — and more cost efficient — than ever,” said Tom Keys, Chief Operating Officer of MetroPCS. “Not since number portability have consumers been offered such a convenient option in switching service providers. With the rising cost of gas and food, consumers are looking for ways to reduce expenses and the launch of MetroFlash, along with our flat-rate, unlimited low cost service plans, makes MetroPCS a more affordable wireless option.”

Normally, these press release quotes are nothing more than platitudes from company execs who want to hype up their product of service. But Keys has it right here. Handset portability makes prepaid even better. The whole idea is that you’re not tied to one carrier. If Carrier A upsets you, you can dump them for Carrier B. But with the current state of carrier-locked handsets, that becomes a bit more difficult.

We can only hope that other prepaid companies start offering similar services. Surely, every MVNO in the country should offer something like this in order to add a level of competition. The more carriers that practice this, the better competition we’ll have, since it will be easier to up and leave.

MetroFlash costs $30, but it also gives you a month of free service, so it evens out. It will not be available in Las Vegas or Shreveport/Bossier City, Metro’s AWS markets.

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14 Responses

1. PrepaidWirelessGuy Says
   

   This is genius and about time! You’ll notice, however, that other larger carriers (ex. Booost, GoPhone) can offer the same handsets as Metro at much lower prices due to the scale that their parent companies get with the OEMs. That said, bringing your phone with you is a great idea, and can benefit both customers and carriers. One downside though, is that with tightly controlled handset programs, carriers are able to control the quality of the phone, and how it interacts with the network to ensure that dropped calls are minimized and call quality is optmized. Allowing other carrier handsets results in a loss of this control, which could lead to unhappy customers, and high cost to service when customers call in with problems that the carrier will undoubtedly have difficulty troubleshoothing when they have no control over their phones.

   Overall a great concept though, but something worth keeping our eyes on…

   Cheers,
   PrepaidWirelessGuy
   http://www.prepaid-wireless-guide.com

   
   Posted on June 30th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
2. Joe Says
   

   I’m sure there has to be a provision with MetroFlash that says they don’t provide support for handsets not sold by them. So it’s going to be an “at your own risk” endeavor. Which is exactly why other carriers won’t do this.

   
   Posted on July 1st, 2008 at 7:44 am
3. PrepaidWirelessGuy Says
   

   That makes a lot of sense. My concern is that customers will expect support and and even just discussing whether or not they’ll get it will cost the carrier a lot of money. This will have to be managed very carefully to ensure that customers have the best possible experience, and it doesn’t backfire on the carrier. I’m looking forward to seeing how this will unfold.
   Cheers,
   PrepaidWirelessGuy
   http://www.prepaid-wireless-guide.com

   
   Posted on July 3rd, 2008 at 7:50 pm
4. Bella Says
   

   okay ya this is a good ides but they dont tell you that when you do flash a phone you DONT get internet or picture messaging or get to receive pictures or ring tones or even bluetooth stuff from phone to phone that pretty messed up!!!!!

   
   Posted on October 26th, 2008 at 2:03 am
5. omar calo Says
   

   is it possible to activate my iphone with metro pcs??

   
   Posted on June 23rd, 2009 at 3:41 pm
6. Joe Says
   

   No, omar, you cannot active an iPhone on MetroPCS.

   
   Posted on June 23rd, 2009 at 4:34 pm
7. bob Says
   

   can I activate my blackberry 8330 on metro pcs?

   
   Posted on June 25th, 2009 at 7:24 am
8. bob Says
   

   meant to say my sprint blackberry 8330?

   
   Posted on June 25th, 2009 at 7:24 am
9. Joe Says
   

   Bob, you should be able to.

   
   Posted on June 25th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
10. Alex Says
    

    can i activate a envy 3 with metro pcs??

    
    Posted on August 7th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
11. Dayi Says
    

    Can i active my LG Rumor 2 on Metro psc ?

    
    Posted on February 4th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
12. eric Says
    

    as most of u know metro is a cdma carrier gsm phones will not work at all.

    
    Posted on December 23rd, 2010 at 3:30 pm
13. Yerfersure Says
    

    so any CDMA PHONES from any phone company can are able to activate?

    
    Posted on March 12th, 2011 at 9:29 am
14. rafael Says
    

    In massachusetts???

    
    Posted on January 27th, 2012 at 7:30 am

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