MetroPCS, CricKet intro special plans for data-driven phones

Recently MetroPCS introduced two high-end phones. One is the well-known BlackBerry Curve, available on all the national carriers but never before seen on an unlimited provider. The other: an “iPhone killer” Samsung, the Finesse, made specifically for MetroPCS to support the newer, “AWS-band” parts of their network in places like Philadelphia. Both phones, in addition to high prices outright (to be expected from a provider who doesn’t require a contract and provides unlimited service on their own network), require a special $50 plan to quench their hunger for data.

CricKet will also be launching such a plan, albeit as a $15 feature addon, with the advent of their first touch-screen, the Motorola Evoke QA4. The rationale in both cases: if a phone can browse the real web (as the QA4, the FInesse and the Curve can), data usage is going to be a lot higher than a mere “dumb phone” might generate.

Such pricing isn’t new to the wireless market; Sprint now required one of their “Everything” plans when a new customer chooses a smartphone as their device. The plan runs $30 per month above normal voice rates unless you decide to go unlimited (then it’s right in line with Verizon and AT&T’s voice-only plan costs) but saves the headache of bill-per-byte on smartphone data, which can get very expensive very quickly.

Granted, requiring a $50 plan or a $15 addon diminishes the price advantage of going with a prepaid unlimited provider over a plan provided by one of the national networks, but such plans are still a great deal. MetroPCS’s plan is the same price as Boost Mobile’s, yet MetroPCS’s network speeds are a few times faster than those of Boost’s old iDEN network. CricKet raises the bar even higher; the $15 you pay for a data plan gets you access to their 3G network, providing the same class of speed as Sprint or Verizon, albeit on CricKet’s own network.

The bottom line: if you buy an expensive smartphone from an unlimited carrier, the extra cash outlay doesn’t stop there. Though $50 per month sure beats $100, $130 or $150 for the same features on Sprint, Verizon or AT&T.