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T-Mobile is rebranding MetroPCS, offering new unlimited plans

The prepaid brand will start using a new name: Metro by T-Mobile. It will offer new unlimited plans that include Amazon Prime membership and Google One storage.

Marrian Zhou Staff Reporter
Marrian Zhou is a Beijing-born Californian living in New York City. She joined CNET as a staff reporter upon graduation from Columbia Journalism School. When Marrian is not reporting, she is probably binge watching, playing saxophone or eating hot pot.
Marrian Zhou
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T-Mobile

MetroPCS is donning a new name.

T-Mobile  said Monday it's rebranding  MetroPCs   as Metro by T-Mobile and will launch a new campaign to highlight the prepaid brand next month with two new unlimited plans. The plans will have tiers that include Amazon Prime  membership and Google One cloud storage.

"It drives me crazy that literally millions of hard-working people are struggling to get by yet feel stuck with AT&T and Verizon because they think prepaid wireless is subpar," John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile, said in a statement. "That's outdated thinking! Metro by T-Mobile customers aren't making a compromise, they're refusing to make a compromise."

MetroPCS and T-Mobile merged five years ago but continued to operate as separate brands.

MetroPCS offers prepaid service on the T-Mobile network, though customers may experience a slowdown (compared with postpaid T-Mobile customers) if they're in a busy area, according to the statement. Also, if Metro customers use more than 35GB of data per month, their mobile internet speed may be reduced until the next payment cycle starts.

The change come as T-Mobile and Sprint are trying to gain approval for their merger deal from the Federal Communication Commission. The two have tried to combine forces several times in an effort to become more competitive against carrier giants like Verizon and AT&T. Currently, the FCC has placed the T-Mobile-Sprint merger on pause for further review.

T-Mobile didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.