MetroPCS Communications, Inc., (formerly General Wireless, Inc.) was launched in 2002 and is a provider of CDMA wireless communications services in the greater Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville, Sarasota, Fort Myers, Atlanta, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Daytona, Dallas, Detroit, Orlando, Philadelphia and Sacramento metropolitan areas. It is the seventh largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States. As of the ending of third quarter of 2008, MetroPCS serves a total of over 4.8 million subscribers.1

Plans

Unlike most US cellular service providers, MetroPCS uses a flat rate billing method, offering an unlimited local calling plan without a contract for $30 per month before taxes, as well as unlimited local and long distance plans for $35-$50 per month (depending on optional features).

U30 Plan ($30 per month): Unlimited local calling (No additional features) E35 Plan ($35 per month): Unlimited local & long distance calling (No additional features) E40 Plan ($40 per month): Unlimited local & long distance calling (Standard voice mail, caller id, call waiting) E45 Plan ($45 per month): Unlimited local & long distance calling (Unlimited text and picture messaging, international text, premium voicemail, caller id, three-way calling, Mapquest, and internet access) E50 Plan ($50 per month): Everything above including Loopt and your personal MetroPCS email account.

The company offers phones manufactured by Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Kyocera, UTStarcom (formerly Audiovox), and many others. The phones come preloaded with portals to their shop that offers downloadable content, such as games, ringtones, wallpapers, etc. New phones have a portal to @metro and the phones usually have preloaded ringtones on them.

MetroConnect is a fundamental part of the @metro portal. It a separate prepaid account that customers may add funds to purchase games, ringtones, wall paper, roam off the MetroPCS network, and dial international calls.

News

MetroPCS launched service in Los Angeles on September 19, 2007. MetroPCS intends to use the money raised from their recent IPO to extend its network into New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, and San DiegoFact: date=August 2008. As of December 3, 2007, MetroPCS expanded service to the Daytona Beach and Melbourne areas, and is now planning on expanding to Ocala, Gainesville and St Augustine, Florida by June 2008 according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. MetroPCS also plans to build in Jacksonville, which will allow the company to begin offering service during the second quarter of 2008 to an estimated population of approximately 1.5 million people.