MetroPCS ALL DAY!!!

I hated the big companies. I carried the same plan on Verizon for years with no overages and yet my $49.95/month plan cost me between $98-$110/month. Yes, I said what I meant. I complained for years to Verizon that not in all that time did any two bills ever even have the same amount due, and that the fees were more than double the cost of the plan. After being told it was due to the taxes, which apparently vary month-to-month rather substantially, I discovered Metro PCS and ditched Verizon.

I like not having the ridiculous monthly bill that varies. I get more now than I ever did with any other carrier, and all for $40 a month. New accounts have recently locked in at $25/month for the same plan that I use… simple talk and text basically. Everyone that I have met who uses Metro PCS seems to share this similarity of past cell carrier experiences.

What Metro PCS customers are slow to do is to change phones. The prices are steep, and the only attractive thing lately has been the addition of Dyle TV, but that was rolled out on a cheap, more-than-a-year-old version of another handset used by one of the Big Four. Who wants to pay $500 for a ridiculously cheap and slow, antiquated handset just to watch TV.

However, nearly 20% of the Dallas-Fort Worth area (which is well in excess of 5 million people) use only over-the-air TV signals. So, for Dallas, and the other large metroplexes where Metro PCS is located, Dyle TV has a lot of value and makes sense.

This is where the merger would benefit the cost-conscious Metro PCS user… as well as the large broadcast group that formed to roll out Dyle TV and decided to use Metro PCS as their carrier – the merger would bring access to high-end phones at a substantially reduced price, even without any contracts, because of the increased BUYING POWER of the 42 million subscribers. As someone who grew tired of what amounted to at least $60/month for local stations & ESPN, I dropped the satellite/cable and went to OTV Signal. The HDTV pictures are beautiful… AND, having Dyle TV for back-up during bad weather and to use when I’m setting tile or sitting in traffic would be nice. I prefer to listen to something on TV like McHale’s Navy because it’s nice background noise, and with Dyle TV, I can take it anywhere… including the airport while I wait to board.

Metro PCS has had, LTE since 2010. Only one million customers use it currently, but for a cost conscious group of people paying more for their LTE handsets than any other Big Four subscriber, I’d have to say that one million out of nine million is pretty darn good.

If prices become more palatable, then I suspect that a very large portion of the Metro PCS customer base will immediately jump onto LTE phones. No one beats the $55/month for unlimited, unthrottled data and speed. I’d pay the $15/month extra, but I want the Dyle TV app and I want it on a current generation tech-level phone, especially if it’s going to cost me $450 for the handset.

As for loyalty… I suspect that if those talking about Metro PCS customers had been one from the beginning, like many of us have, then there would be no more talk of worrying about customers leaving. The customer base in my personal experience with Dallas-Fort Worth, has remained loyal to Metro PCS, through the growing pains, been rewarded with LTE, and will remain customers, as long as the prices remain the same.

If the merger means I keep my $25, $40 or the $55/month (truly unlimited, unthrottled LTE) plans AND I gain access to a more attractively priced AND better quality LTE phone, to possibly include some version of the iPhone, etc., or a more affordable and new tech Samsung base for the Dyle TV app, then I’m going to buy the new phone AND I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing for many years… which is remain a “Metro PCS” customer.

So, from the consumer economics perspective, the reality is that the biggest reason Metro PCS has 8 million customers NOT using LTE is that they don’t need it enough to see the point in putting that much money into a handset, many of which the consumers believe (due to technical reviews, such as those by CNET, etc.) are sub-par handsets that are “recycled”, “antiquated” technology that is ill-suited to adequately use the speed of LTE. Most people I know that use Metro PCS say they do a lot of research on the handsets and deem them to be far to costly for old technology.

Why people stay with Metro PCS:
1) Affordable
2) Big value for the cost of their monthly plan
3) The bill is always the same
4) Never having to call customer service about an issue with the bill

What people with Metro PCS want:
1) More coverage (would truly come with T-Mobile for many areas)
2) Better quality handsets (would come with merger and better buying power)
3) Better selection of handsets (would come with the merger & the buying power)
4) Better price on the handsets (would come with the merger & the buying power)

Metro PCS has served me well for many years. The only place I go where coverage is slightly suspect is on the coast of the Virginia where no one has decent coverage due to the limitations on cell towers – essentially, nothing is allowed over a couple or three stories on the Eastern Shore, so instead of bothering with towers to hold the hardware, they use the rooftops. So, no matter who my carrier was in the past, I NEVER had reliable reception everywhere on the ESVA.

I see many reasons for the merger to succeed. Even if the two companies were to essentially operate independently under the same umbrella of ownership, the very fact that improved numbers equal better buying power would probably bring a huge increase in Metro PCS subscribers because of finally having affordable, desirable handsets. Handsets are the #1 reason given by anyone I know who is NOT on Metro PCS as the reason they have not changed. They know that an unlocked phone, according Metro PCS, will do simple things on the network, but will not be able to use all of the functions meaning that a Smartphone, etc. is basically reduced to ear candy that makes and takes calls and can send and receive text messages.

Change that one thing alone at Metro PCS, and you could easily see Metro PCS double its subscribers.

The BeLo group that helped form the OTA Signal group that gave birth to Dyle TV has to ecstatic right now! They could be seeing potential handset users go from 9 million to 42 million in an amount of time they never dreamed of… and, with the dongle for the Apple products coming, they can still garner the folks using their iPad, etc. on the other carriers.

Finally, if Apple has 42 million reasons and growing to make an iPhone to sell to 42 million people who do not currently have one, then I’m betting that you will see an iPhone that works for the post-merger company. There’s just too much potential in profit to ignore those numbers for very long.