39-663: Metro by T-Mobile, formerly known as MetroPCS , and simply known as Metro , is an American prepaid wireless service provider and brand owned by T-Mobile US . It previously operated the fifth largest mobile telecommunications network in the United States using code-division multiple access (CDMA). In 2013, the carrier engaged in a reverse merger with T-Mobile US; post-merger, its services were merged under T-Mobile's UMTS and LTE network. Metro by T-Mobile competes primarily against AT&T 's Cricket Wireless , EchoStar 's Boost Mobile and Verizon 's Visible as part of
78-412: A call and deduct the cost of the call from the user's account balance in near real time. If the user's balance is below the carrier-defined threshold, the next call that the user makes is routed to an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) device that announces to the user that the account balance is low and suggests they add funds to the account so their service is not interrupted. When the user's account balance
117-780: A freelance contributor to Laptop Mag, she has also served as Blog Editor for Mr. Tweet and as a Community Manager at ReadWriteWeb, the Industry Standard, Fast Company, and TED. She is co-founder of everythingtwitter.com and the Social Geeks Roundtable podcast. shegeeks.net was awarded Best Technology Blog at the 2008 Black Weblog Awards , and named one of the Top 100 Social Media, Internet Marketing and SEO Blogs in 2013. Fast Company named Raven as one of The 50 Most Influential Women in Technology in 2009 and
156-424: A lower cost (often for low usage patterns e.g. a telephone for emergency use) and make it easier to control spending by limiting debt and controlling usage. They often have fewer contractual obligations – no early termination fee, freedom to change providers, plans, able to be used by those unable to take out a contract (i.e. under age of majority). Depending on local laws, they may be available to those who do not have
195-414: A mobile account call it "churn". In the early years, a prepaid mobile phone could only be used within the network of the operator from which the customer purchased the phone. It was not possible to roam onto other GSM networks when using the phone abroad. This was because the operator had no way to bill calls in real time from another network. However, most prepaid phones now offer roaming using one of
234-568: A partner in the prepaid service; a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed in June 1997 and the final agreement was signed in late 1997. The announcement was made on January 26, 1998 (or listen to it). Prepaid service enabled carriers in third world countries to add subscribers without having to print monthly statements or having an accounts receivable department, and gave them the ability to add subscribers without concern for their ability to pay their bills. patent holder ). In 1996 MTN became
273-599: A permanent address, phone number, or credit card. This makes them popular among travelers and students away from their hometowns. Additionally, they are popular with parents who wish to have a way to stay connected with their college age students and have some control over the costs. Sometimes, pay-as-you-go customers pay more for their calls, SMS and data than contract customers. In some cases they are limited in what they can do with their phone – calls to international or premium-rate telephone numbers may be blocked, and they may not be able to roam . These limitations are usually
312-507: A phone-in show titled Tech & Talk . Their content was believed to be stereotypical and offensive. Following the T-Mobile merger, MetroPCS introduced a campaign to highlight its inclusion of all related taxes and fees in advertised prices. The campaign was ridiculed by many people who interpreted an unintended double meaning in the slogan "Period Power", referring to the menstrual cycle . Metro ranked first in customer experience among
351-514: A prepaid mobile phone may have a time limit – for example, 120 days from the date the last credit was added. In these cases, customers who do not add more credit before expiration will have their remaining balance depleted through expiration of the credits. There is no compulsion on a prepaid mobile phone user to top up their balance. To maintain revenues, some operators have devised reward schemes designed to encourage frequent top-ups. For example, an operator may offer some free SMS to use next month if
390-506: A sabbatical and moving to Atlanta , Georgia. Her trademark plain-language approach to blogging about tech is informed by her experiences teaching family members how to resolve computer problems. Speaking on the challenges of being a black woman in a largely male dominated field, Raven has said: “I do my best to let my passion [for working] with new technology speak for me. I also make a point of highlighting and recommending other women — black, white, Latina and Asian — within my network, because
429-463: A smartphone. United States Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced legislation requiring consumers to produce identification before buying pre-paid phones in 2010, which was not passed. In an effort to differentiate the prepaid from post-paid service for their customers, CSPs have branded prepaid services differently from the post-paid services. A variant of post-paid service has emerged in recent years that comes closer to
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#1732798257285468-485: A subscriber to have a credit balance in the account to make outgoing calls (except emergency calls , which are always allowed). In the US, incoming calls are also barred, while in some other countries, a prepaid mobile with zero balance may still receive calls and texts. This results in an "on/off" or "all or nothing" proposition for the prepaid service providers and their clients (i.e. the account either has enough credit to use
507-428: A user tops up by a certain amount this month. Unlike postpaid phones , where subscribers have to terminate their contracts, it is not easy for an operator to know when a prepaid subscriber has left the network. To free up resources on the network for new customers, an operator will periodically delete prepaid SIM cards which have not been used for some time, at which point, their service (and its associated phone number)
546-626: A variation of the traditional prepaid cellphone plans. Rather than needing to purchase an entirely new phone, existing phones can be used by simply replacing the SIM card within the device. Prepaid service has also evolved to include rate plans and buckets traditionally seen in postpaid plans but with a lower cost of ownership for the network operator. Such Advance Pay plans are often monthly plans with either Unlimited Voice/SMS/MMS (or monthly buckets for some of these) and Prepaid Data Volume Add-ons and throttling mechanisms. Corvida Raven Corvida Raven
585-534: Is a concern by police and security agencies that anonymous use of prepaid mobile services facilitates criminal or terrorist activities. Prepaid phone users can be anonymous for two reasons: While there is no doubt that criminals and terrorists use prepaid SIM cards to help stay anonymous and avoid easy detection, to date there has been no empirical evidence to indicate that: In fact, a publicly available policy assessment report from Mexico showed that mandatory SIM registration introduced there in 2009 had failed to help
624-695: Is an American writer, technological artist, entrepreneur and public speaker who lives and works out of New York City , New York. She has been garnering national attention since the age of 19 for her blog, shegeeks.net, and other projects aimed at making technological skills and information accessible to the public at large, and particularly to youth, people of colour, women and marginalized communities. Raised in Miami , Florida, Raven began blogging in eighth grade. She majored in Computer Science at Hampton University while working at Blockbuster before taking
663-411: Is commonly referred to as a mobile contract) is the postpaid mobile phone , where a user enters into a long-term contract (lasting 12, 18, or 24 months) or short-term contract (also commonly referred to as a rolling contract or a 30-day contract) and billing arrangement with a mobile phone operator ( mobile virtual network operator or mobile network operator ). A prepaid mobile phone provides most of
702-833: Is depleted, the service is suspended until they added funds to their account. If the user's account balance is depleted, all call attempts are routed to the IVR. These patents expired in 2010 and 2012 respectively. The prepaid service was sold to Metro Mobile in June 1989, and was implemented in November 1989. The prepaid service was also sold to carriers in Mexico; Celcom in 1994, and implementation took place in Monterrey, and to Telcel, where implementation began in November 1997 and production took place beginning in April 1998. Ericsson also became
741-418: Is discontinued. The rules for when this deletion happens vary from operator to operator, but may typically occur after six months to a year of non-use. By 2003, the number of prepaid accounts grew past contract accounts, and by 2007, two-thirds of all mobile phone accounts worldwide were prepaid accounts. The history of prepaid mobile phones begins in the 1990s, when larger markets were being sought after by
780-447: Is used to pay for telecommunications services at the point the service is accessed or consumed. If there is no credit, then access is denied by the cellular network or Intelligent Network . Users can top up their credit at any time using a variety of payment mechanisms. ("Pay-as-you-go", "PAYG", and similar terms are also used for other non-telecommunications services paid for by advance deposit.) The alternative billing method (and what
819-399: The mobile phone operators . Before this date, all mobile phone services were offered on a post-paid basis , which excluded people with poor credit. Prepaid mobile service was invented by Subscriber Computing, Inc., an Orange County company, (1986–1998), founded and directed by Arlene Harris . The patents covering this invention are: These patents describe the ability to access the cost of
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#1732798257285858-400: The brand aims to be the first prepaid mobile carrier to offer 5G in 2019. T-Mobile stated that these changes would help to reduce the negative stigmas associated with MetroPCS's prepaid services, by aligning them with other well-known brands as value-added services, and placing a larger emphasis on its use of T-Mobile's network. The renamed carrier launched in early October 2018. At the time of
897-520: The change starts with me. Sometimes you have to expose others to the things you’re already exposed to. That’s what helps you become successful in an office, boardroom and on the Web.” Raven’s blog, shegeeks.net, is her main platform for educating others about navigating social media, the internet and technological devices. Since founding the site in 2008, Raven has worked as a social media advisor for Intel and for General Motors' ChevyVolt Unplugged Tour. Once
936-619: The company announced a new long-term advertising campaign featuring Milwaukee Bucks player Giannis Antetokounmpo . The launch of MetroPCS's LTE network was met with mixed reviews. In November 2010, Gigaom 's Kevin Tofel noted that although the LTE network was based on 4G technology, "the infrastructure MetroPCS is using keeps speeds in the range of older 3G networks". Tofel measured data speeds "far slower than T-Mobile's HSPA+ network" but considered that users with only basic data requirements would find
975-607: The company operated through 21 licenses in Greater Miami , Tampa , Sarasota , New York City , San Francisco , Atlanta and Sacramento . The company expanded to the Dallas and Detroit areas later that year. On April 19, 2007, MetroPCS made its stock market debut. Its 50 million share IPO closed at $ 27.40, for a market cap of $ 8 billion. In October 2012, the company, known then as MetroPCS, reached an agreement to merge with T-Mobile USA . A reverse merger for MetroPCS,
1014-573: The deal closed on May 1, 2013. The combined company, now known as T-Mobile US , began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. On June 21, 2015, the legacy MetroPCS CDMA network was decommissioned, and customers were migrated to the company's LTE network. At the time of the merger, T-Mobile had about 32 million subscribers, to which MetroPCS added around 9 million. In 2012, there was a series of armed robberies in Metro stores which
1053-592: The first mobile operator to introduce a prepaid cellular service in Africa, popularizing "pay as you go" in emerging markets. The first Prepaid card was called "Mimo" and was launched by TMN, the mobile phone operator of Portugal Telecom, in September 1995. In 2006 Swisscom celebrated ten years with its product and service "NATEL® easy" which also holds a patent on "Prepaid mobile subscriber identification card and method implemented thereby". A prepaid plan may have
1092-475: The following methods: Since July 2013, at least 80 countries globally (including 37 on the African continent) have mandated, or are actively considering mandating, the registration of prepaid SIM users. As of January 2020, researches found that governments of 155 countries have been mandating SIM registration laws; in some countries, prepaid users must submit biometrics like photos and fingerprints. The reason
1131-541: The name change, T-Mobile's subscriber number had increased to around 75 million and Metro's had doubled to around 18 million users and had increased their nationwide market reach from around 12 to 100 markets. Metro is T-Mobile US 's branch of prepaid services, currently offering a large variety of smartphones and four data plans as of March 18, 2019. Metro conducts its operations on their physical store locations only, in contrast with other prepaid brands that offer services on physical locations and online. In February 2019,
1170-498: The no-contract deal "refreshing." Referencing Tofel's review, Laptop Mag's Corvida Raven concluded that MetroPCS "probably isn't using the best LTE technology." Slate 's Farhad Manjoo panned the service by suggesting that MetroPCS was able to roll out 4G coverage sooner and cheaper than its competitors by offering only the Samsung Craft, a feature phone with sub-standard internet capabilities, as its launch device. Due to
1209-434: The non-contract full-service carriers in the 2018 and 2019 J.D. Power U.S. Wireless Purchase Experience Non-Contract Performance Studies. Prepaid mobile phone A prepaid mobile device , also known as a pay-as-you-go ( PAYG ), pay-as-you-talk , pay and go , go-phone , prepay , or burner phone , is a mobile device such as a phone for which credit is purchased in advance of service use. The purchased credit
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1248-480: The phone, or it does not). Some operators (e.g., Orange ) allow their pre-paid customers to have a small negative balance to allow short calls or texts when the customer's credit has been completely used. This is then deducted when the customer next adds more credit. The time most likely for a prepaid customer to switch to a different service provider is when the prepaid account reaches a "zero credit balance". Like other service providers, mobile service providers losing
1287-688: The prepaid service, by offering a "pay monthly" contract. Prepaid phones and SIMs in the United Kingdom are known as "Pay as you go". Usage of prepaid cellphone service was common in most parts of the world. In 2012 around 70% of customers in Western Europe and China use prepaid phones with the figure rising to over 90% for customers in India and Africa. 36% of cellphone users in the United States of America were using some form of prepaid service as of 2021. Prepaid SIM cards are also becoming
1326-414: The prevention, investigation and/or prosecution of associated crimes. As a result, policymakers decided to repeal the regulation three years later. A prepaid phone number specifically purchased to be used briefly and then replaced is known colloquially as a burner phone or burner . A Los Angeles technology company developed a mobile application of the same name that replicates this functionality for
1365-528: The quality of the device (described as being "designed not just to frustrate users but to get us to swear off ever using any phone again"), the network, and MetroPCS's decision to block video streaming services aside from YouTube under its "unlimited web" plan, Manjoo considered it a device designed to disappoint users excited for 4G. MetroPCS attracted criticism in 2010 for an advertising campaign featuring two Indian characters, Ranjit and Chad (the former being played by veteran Indian actor Anjul Nigam ), hosting
1404-450: The results of deficiencies in the prepaid systems used by the wireless carriers, as technology has evolved to the point where these are easily managed by triggers or APIs to third-party solution providers. Current models being deployed by wireless carriers are capable of setting the price points for all services on an individual basis (via packages), such that higher pricing is a marketing decision. As described above, prepaid accounts require
1443-450: The services offered by a mobile phone operator . The main difference is that with prepaid phones, payment for service is made before use. As calls and texts are made, and as data is used, deductions are made against the prepaid balance amount until no funds remain (at which time services stop functioning). A user may avoid interruptions in service by making payments to increase the remaining balance. Methods of payment: Credit purchased for
1482-404: The wireless service provider brands. Metro by T-Mobile has twenty million subscribers as of 2021. Metro was established in 1994 as General Wireless, Inc., by Roger Linquist and Malcolm Lorang. PCS referred to the industry term, Personal Communications Service . Its service was first launched in 2002. As of February 2005, MetroPCS had about 1.5 million subscribers in the country. At the time,
1521-436: Was attributed to low security measures. In the same year, T-Mobile and Metro became some of the earliest companies to offer unlimited data plans. On September 24, 2018, T-Mobile announced that it would relaunch the brand as Metro by T-Mobile (a move that would take effect two weeks later), introducing new unlimited plans offering bundled features such as Amazon Prime subscriptions and Google One storage, and announcing that
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