MetroPCS is owned by T-Mobile and offers prepaid, no-contract plans on its parent network. But MetroPCS also offers family plans, a feature not available with T-Mobile’s prepaid cell phone plans.
AT A Glance
- Plans start at $30 for 2GB
- Notables: Inexpensive plans; data may be slowed to serve T-Mobile customers
MetroPCS cell phone plans
MetroPCS keeps its plans simple. The carrier gives customers a handful of options, including two unlimited data plans.
- 2GB: $30
- 5GB: $40
- Unlimited: $50
- Unlimited + hot spot: $60
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The 5GB plan includes unlimited music streaming from select services. Mobile hot spot access is included with every plan except the $50 unlimited data plan.
MetroPCS is also one of the few prepaid carriers that offers family plans. It gives a $10, $20 or $30 discount for each additional line, depending on the plan. You can have up to five lines on one account.
MetroPCS’ network
MetroPCS customers use T-Mobile’s nationwide network. But the self-proclaimed “un-carrier” prioritizes the data usage of customers signed up with T-Mobile over that of MetroPCS customers. That means MetroPCS users likely will have slower data speeds.
How MetroPCS compares on price
1GB or less 2-4GB 5-7GB 8-10GB Unlimited
*Project Fi customers pay $20 for unlimited talk and text. Data is billed at a rate of $10 per gigabyte.
**Republic Wireless customers pay $15 for unlimited talk and text. Data is billed at a rate of $5 per gigabyte.
AT&T GoPhone
$35 (1GB) $50 (8GB) $65
Boost Mobile
$35 (3GB) $50
Cricket Wireless
$25 (talk and text only)
$30 (2GB) $40 (5GB) $55
MetroPCS
$30 (2GB) $40 (5GB) $50
Project Fi*
$20 (talk, text and Wi-Fi)
$30 (1GB)$40 (2GB)
$50 (3GB)
$60 (4GB)$70 (5GB)
$80 (6GB+)
$80
Republic Wireless**
$15 (talk, text and Wi-Fi)
$20 (1GB)$25 (2GB)
$30 (3GB)
$35 (4GB)$40 (5GB)
$45 (6GB)
$50 (7GB)$55 (8GB)
$60 (9GB)
$65 (10GB)N/A
Sprint prepaid $45 (4GB) $65
Straight Talk Wireless $30 (1,500 minutes, unlimited texts and 100MB data) $35 (2GB) $45 (10GB) $55
T-Mobile prepaid
$45 (4GB) $55 (6GB) $70
Verizon prepaid
$30 (500MB) $40 (3GB) $50 (7GB) $60 (10GB) $75
Virgin Mobile
$35 (5GB) $45 (10GB) $60
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Kelsey Sheehy is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: ksheehy@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @KelseyLSheehy.
