T-Mobile will be shutting down the MetroPCS Legacy CDMA network this Sunday, and there are still 190,000 customers sitting on that network, as of Friday, June 19th. T-Mobile will be shutting down the network in the final three markets of New York City, Dallas, and Miami on Sunday. Martin McBride, a spokesman for T-Mobile stated that the company expects the 190,000 figure to fall quite quickly once the network is shut down on Sunday and users lose their signal on the CDMA network. And believes that users will be more likely to switch over to T-Mobile’s GSM-based network. If we take a look at July 2014, when the company shut down MetroPCS’ CDMA network in Boston, Hartford, and Las Vegas, about 92% of those customers switched to T-Mobile’s GSM network.
“Any MetroPCS customer using a CDMA handset in a migration market has been eligible for our HSPA/LTE device Upgrade Program,” T-Mobile told FierceWireless. “In order to take advantage of the new network, all customers need to do is bring their active phone to a participating MetroPCS store, choose a new phone, apply their trade-in credit toward that phone, and start using the new network right away.”
Additionally, for those with MetroPCS‘ CDMA smartphones, their phones will deactivate on Sunday morning. However they will still be able to make 911 calls in case of emergency, obviously. In addition to 911 calls, they will also be able to make 611 calls to get a hold of MetroPCS customer care. “We have been preparing these customers for the switch, having sent messages outlining details of the transition via SMS and voicemail in English and Spanish, as well as posting information in our stores, on our website, and through customer care lines encouraging them to make the switch,” T-Mobile said. “We are ready and able to help these customers when they’re ready to make the move.”
T-Mobile is shutting down the MetroPCS CDMA network so it can use that spectrum for their HSPA+ network. While it won’t make a huge impact with building penetration, it is the same band that AT&T uses, which means unlocked phones will work better on T-Mobile once the MetroPCS network is completely deactivated.