MetroPCS lights up Las Vegas with LTE, makes first LTE handset available

By on Sep 21, 2010 at 9:01 AM
Breaking September 21, 2010

Today, via a press release, MetroPCS announced that it has launched its first 4G LTE market — Las Vegas — and its first LTE capable phone, the Samsung Craft. As the press release reads:

Today, MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS) became the first mobile operator to launch commercial 4G LTE services in the United States, offering talk, text and 4G Web access starting as low as $55 per month including taxes and regulatory fees. MetroPCS is also offering the world’s first commercially available 4G LTE enabled handset, the Samsung Craft™. Service will initially be available in Las Vegas, Nev., with service expanding into the remaining MetroPCS cities throughout the year.

The Craft is no slouch, and features: 1x/EV-DO CDMA and LTE radios, 3.3-inch AMOLED display, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, micro-SD card (expandable to 32 GB), and 3.2 megapixel camera; the handset will retail for $299 after a $50 mail-in-rebate. MetroPCS is the fifth largest mobile provider in the U.S. and becomes the first provider to launch a commercially available LTE network.

MetroPCS closed by writing: “MetroPCS’ Las Vegas 4G LTE network, which was built through a partnership with Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile), will cover the majority of MetroPCS’ existing CDMA network footprint in Las Vegas. 4G LTE network rollouts in the remaining MetroPCS markets are planned for later this year and early 2011. MetroPCS plans to further expand 4G LTE coverage in 2011, along with the launch of additional devices to increase MetroPCS’ portfolio of feature phones, touch screens, smartphones and 4G handsets.”

Congrats to MetroPCS! Hit the read link for the full release.

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47 Comments

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  • DonnyKerabatsos

    This makes me feel bad for a company like Tmobile who doesn’t even have a full 3G network yet. But its also good news for Verizon folk because it shows that phone manufactures (Samaung at least) are ready for dual cams/lte phones.

    • DonnyKerabatsos

      Damn swype….meant to say cdma/LTE

    • Sin City

      T-Mobile has to work with what they have available, and that’s HSPA+. They don’t have enough spectrum to build out LTE. It would cool when all of the networks go LTE, and sim cards, but roaming is still the biggest concern. It’s like 11 different bands out there for it. Anyway, props MetroPCS.

      • http://www.tmonews.com TJ

        By purchasing MetroPCS’ PCS and AWS networks, it can help them gain spectrum in many places.

      • jaymax

        From what I understand, TMO has plenty of spectrum. Rather, the government is still squatting on much of it, which inhibits the expansion of their 3G/HSPA+ network.

      • cybergrace

        It’s getting free any day now!!

  • Consumer

    Nice for those people in Vegas with MetroPCS.

  • edward

    Come on really $299? price=fail

    • Tony

      It’s a 4g smartphone without a contract. I think the price is more than fair.

      • Tony

        I take that back. It’s not a smartphone. I just assumed it was Android. Maybe $200 would be a better price.

    • psq86

      They don’t do contracts what price did you expect.

  • Tony

    Damn I can’t believe a small company beat out the big ones. Good job Metro! I wish we had them in Kansas City.

    • Rob

      While I applaud Metro for being first, it’s a little hard to compare one city launch to the 30 or so major markets Verizon is about to light up.

      • Tony

        Don’t be a hater. They are the first with LTE, and it is a big deal. Just because it’s only one city doesn’t really change that fact.

      • GoodIdeaBadApproach

        Tony

        What does change that fact is that they are a small player choosing the weaker version of LTE. They are also falling into the common trap of claiming LTE as 4G, which it isn’t according to the ITU-R’s specs for IMT Advanced, of which there are certain attributes LTE and WiMax does not have to be 4G. No carrier will have true 4G for a while. Anyways, MetroPCS is a small carrier operating in a small cost way, but surely shooting itself in the foot by going with the minimum LTE standard of using 1.4 MHz of spectrum, so at best, under balanced utilization, it will only be able to output peak 3G speeds. For comparison, Verizon will be using 10 MHz.

  • Obj_me

    Feature phone?

  • young hov

    Lol im vegas right now in the speeds are slow omg..

    • young hov

      Im in spring valley and there claiming 3-6 mbps avergage and peak of 8 according to the rep.

    • GoodIdeaBadApproach

      you’ve got LTE equipped devices already?

  • Ghostnyc

    Wow..METRO PCS..ahead of VZW, ATT & TMO with 4G and released in a major city too.

  • young hov

    No were on metro pcs site does it say anyrhing about speeds. i cant find anything about there claimed speeds.. Bg do you know anything.

  • http://tmonews.com terryjohnson16

    Lets see how long before TMobile buys metropcs.

    Same pcs 1900 and aws 1700 networks. Perfect spectrum partners.

    I think TMobile will scoop metro pcs up once metro pcs has lte in a few more markets. Save Tmobile some work.

    • GoodIdeaBadApproach

      That is a terrible idea if TMobile is trying to compete with the bigger operators. It will have to foot the bill for MetroPCS’ stupid LTE implementation. MetroPCS isn’t even installing new sites. They don’t have to with the cheap way they’re going about doing things. TMobile already has HSPA+ lighting up around the US. Their HSPA (not HSPA+) will still be sufficient compared to the throughput that you’d get from MetroPCS, regardless of the tech used. Dig deep into the details of MetroPCS’ maneuvers before considering them for M&A. TERRIBLE IDEA!

      • http://www.tmonews.com terryjohnson16

        Um…T-Mobile is quietly moving to LTE. It’s just not known when they will launch it.

        Just cause they don’t have enough spectrum to launch LTE, doesn’t mean they can’t start purchasing and installing equipment. Whose to say, they aren’t already installing LTE equipment at the same time, they are upgrading to HSPA+?

        Back before they had enough 3G spectrum, they had already started installing 3G equipment in several markets. They just waited til they bought and owned the spectrum to flip the switch.

    • Jones

      T-Mobile isn’t likely to buy MetroPCS so don’t get your hopes up and MetroPCS isn’t going to sell to T-Mobile either…Everyone is going to be jumping on the 4G bandwagon soon anyway…Its not so much about the 4G as it is about the price at which MetroPCS can offer customers service. Face it, no one can touch MetroPCS’s unlimted everything for 50 bucks a month with taxes included…If T-Mobile bought Metro, how long do you think they would keep those Metro customers when they have to sign a contract and pay $125 per month for the same thing? Not long! Who would the former Metro cusomers go to? Probably Cricket or Boost, MetroPCS isn’t stupid, they are sitting on solid ground with a huge customer base…They aren’t selling anything to T-Mobile…Oh BTW, MetroPCS will have 4G up and running in every major city by mid to late 11′

  • http://twitter.com/otakujedi JedizenMaster

    This is great news and not too suprising that smaller carriers can get things rolled out quicker.

    • menno

      Actually it’s not that surprising.

      It’s comparatively easier for a small carrier to launch in a single city than it is for a major player to launch the same tech. The main reason being is that someone like Verizon, att, and even Tmobile can’t launch in just one city, they have to launch in multiple markets.

      What IS surprising is that they were the first to get a phone that can take advantage of this network. That is something to applaud, though their choice of making it a dumbphone is questionable… seriously.. BREW on LTE?

  • tetero

    If it has to switch radios on/off like with Sprint 4G then its a total fail. They need to start making these phones run on LTE at all times.

    • young hov

      So it will kill your battery. Yea dumb ass

      • sl228

        Actually, LTE is pretty power efficient, so it wouldn’t kill your battery any faster than the cdma radio would. so you’re the dumbass.

        The reason why it won’t work is the reason stated below you. LTE is data only for now, so cdma2000 will be used for voice, and LTE will be used for data.

    • young hov

      Lte and wimax are data only at the moment

  • 3 Phones Jugglin

    Now what needs to happen…is comparisons of Sprints 4G in Las Vegas to Metros LTE. LTE is LTE…so why wait for VZW? Lets put these debates to rest.

    Listening BGR? Dont let Engadget beat you to such a simple idea.

  • VegasGuy

    I just went by to test it out, and not impressed at all. You can tell that they do not have enough back haul on the tower(s). Also, the guy said it doesn’t even cover the whole city.

    • young hov

      Yea its really disapointing i couldnt belive how slow it was..
      its a joke

  • Matthew Mills

    well it is cool to see a smaller company launch the first LTE networks, curious to see what they are charging for that and what verizon plans on charging for their LTE plan when they launch it and cancel unlimited data plans

  • phone capo

    when did they get 3g?

  • greatnews

    Good comments,

    however regarding smart phone comments. I sure they would love to have a droid LTE phone available. but as stated this is the first LTE phone. And it’s a new technology so expect better and better phone in future. As BREW is ready and available.

    Priced isn’t bad considering it’s the first phone available. The Caliber is $250 so $50 more for LTE phone.

  • Canela64

    This phone looks like Sprint’s Samsung Epic. And i think this is a pretty good move for MetroPCS, i mean they dont even have a 3G network (except in Dallas & Detroit) so its a pretty brave move to go right ahead to 4G. And this phone its NOT a smartphone & it was not crated to compete with ATT Iphone 4 (which is not even 4G), Verizon’s Droid X or Sprint’s Samsung Epic or HTC Evo. So i dont get all the hating. This phone was created as an inatiative of MetroPCS to create a better portfolio of phones. Thats it! :)

  • Canela64

    This phone looks like Sprint’s Samsung Epic. And i think this is a pretty good move for MetroPCS, i mean they dont even have a 3G network (except in Dallas & Detroit) so its a pretty brave move to go right ahead to 4G. And this phone its NOT a smartphone & it was not crated to compete with ATT Iphone 4 (which is not even 4G), Verizon’s Droid X or Sprint’s Samsung Epic or HTC Evo. So i dont get all the hating on this site. This phone was created as an inatiative of MetroPCS to improve their portfolio of phones. Thats it! :)

  • http://twitter.com/jarbro jarbro

    Those 3 million CDMA iPhones are coming to MetroPCS!

    • http://www.SilverSpoonCells.com Mannie B

      What a joke!!!!!

  • Las Vegas Dawg

    purchased this device and what a joke. If this is 4g you do not want it. Selecting any streaming video or video on demand is slower than any other 3G service. Doing anything web related even when it shows 5 bars and 4G is ridiculously slow. I see why no other carrier will launch any LTE phone devices to start as they are not ready if this is an indication. Other carriers would sell a feature phone like this for $19.99 not $299

  • http://Iphone George

    Yall haters need to shut the fuck up! at least metropcs is trying to update their service and plus they may bring out better phones in the near future.

  • Michael

    Let’s just get the facts straight. TMobile will never even consider purchasing Metro PCS. Metro works with CDMA and is a small company with very little spectrum and almost no 3G coverage. TMobile is currently discussing a merger with Clearwire, which already has 53 4G markets and is expected to have 80 markets and 120+ million POPS of 4G before the end of November. In case you didn’t know, Clearwire has 150 Mhz of bandwidth in the 100 most populous cities in America and a 120 Mhz average in most of the metro areas in the US. This is a stark contrast to VZ and T’s 4G spectrum holdings.

    On another note Metro’s Craft is not a Smartphone but rather a feature phone. Its LTE 4G phone’s speed is limited to 3G and currently only works in parts of Las Vegas. To date it has manifested absolutely no advantages over its competing technology, WiMax. If this is the best LTE 4G can do, WiMax most definately has won rounds 1 & 2. Round 1 being first to launch, round 2 manifesting better speeds and functionality.

    Remember, Metro’s low cost structure is only because of their inferior infrastructure. They barely have a 3G network. Most of their network is 1 and 2G.

    • sl228

      Metro’s implementation of LTE is vastly inferior to the one that Verizon and the majority of the world will roll out. As stated above, Metro is only rolling out on a measly 1.4mhz spectrum, when Verizon will be rolling out with 10mhz spectrum. On top of that, you need significant back end infrastructure to support it, which I can guarantee Verizon has on lock down compared to a lowly MetroPCS.

      Wimax will win in being first to launch, but LTE is the superior technology, with lower power consumption, better range from towers supporting more connections per tower, lower latency, higher speeds, and better connection when the end device is moving amongst other things.

    • Jones

      I hear Clear will be coming out with a phone soon offering service for $45 per month. They have already come to to city where I wrok but they aren’t out where I live yet but they are inching closer by the day and they are already offering 4G wireless modems for the home as well as adapters for laptops…When Clear comes out with a 4G phone it will be worth looking into…Clear will be direct competition to MetroPCS, your cable company (broadband) and telephone company (DSL)…BTW, Clear supplies Sprints 4G http://www.clear.com/

  • fidel castro

    Metro is primitive
    Metro is gay
    Metro should be a cheap chinese company

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