Metro by T-Mobile

Early history

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, 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.

Merger with T-Mobile

In February 2012, Sprint Nextel Corporation pursued a plan to buy MetroPCS, though the plan was rejected by Sprint's board of directors shortly before it was due to be announced.

In October 2012, MetroPCS reached an agreement to merge with T-Mobile USA. Shortly after the announcement, Sprint was reported to be considering a rival bid. A reverse merger for MetroPCS, 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 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.

Criticism

Network quality

In November 2010, 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 the no-contract deal refreshing. Referencing Tofel's review, Corvida Raven of Laptop Mag concluded that MetroPCS "probably isn't using the best LTE technology."

In February 2011, Farhad Manjoo of Slate 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 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.

However, in a 2019 study by J.D. Power, Metro by T-Mobile ranked highest among non-contract full-service carriers.

Marketing

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 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.

Cybersecurity incidents

In November 2015, a MetroPCS payment system vulnerability was identified by security researchers Eric Taylor and Blake Welsh. The flaw in the company’s online payment portal allowed anyone with knowledge of a customer’s phone number to view sensitive account details, including the subscriber’s home address, phone model and serial number, and billing plan. The issue was reported responsibly to MetroPCS and was subsequently patched.