MetroPCS has quietly launched a new promotion increasing the amount of monthly data in one of its higher-end plans.
Prepaid Phone News reported T-Mobile’s brand is offering new users 8 GB of data with its $50 monthly plan, upping that amount from the usual 5 GB of data. The plan also includes unlimited domestic calling and text as well as unlimited hotspot usage and Music Unlimited, a zero-rated offering enabling users to listen to Pandora, Apple Music and other services without incurring data charges.
New customers can add as many as four additional lines for $30 per line. MetroPCS apparently made no official announcement about the promotion, which is reportedly available only for an unspecified limited time.
Like other packages, the provider slows network speeds for users once they’ve surpassed their monthly data allotments. The promotional offering is slotted just behind MetroPCS’s $60-a-month unlimited plan of voice, text and LTE data. On all its plans, however, MetroPCS slows speeds to its highest-end users during times of network congestion.
T-Mobile’s latest salvo in the prepaid war comes as competition in the space continues to ramp up, with carrier brands leading the charge against independent MVNOs. In July T-Mobile took aim at Sprint’s Boost with $60 handset discounts and an offer of additional lines on family plans at just $25 a month. Sprint, meanwhile, is preparing to relaunch its Virgin brand later this year, promising to introduce “a disruptive force in the wireless industry.”
Even Verizon, which had long eschewed the prepaid market for fear of cannibalizing its postpaid users, has shifted its focus to prepaid. The nation’s largest carrier today reported 83,000 net prepaid additions in the third quarter, reversing an extended streak of losses in that segment.