I thought it was just me. I thought Metro's current set of offers looked awfully familiar. It turns out, it's because they are. Among several offers that are currently displaying on Metro by T-Mobile's homepage right now, 3 of them really stick out. Let's have a look:
- $200 Virtual Prepaid Mastercard for those that subscribe online
- $40 unlimited plan deal for single lines
- 2 unlimited plan data lines for $70
The first two deals are online-only while the third appears to be available online and in-stores. They aren't all new, but the $200 Virtual Prepaid Mastercard offer is. And you know who else has had all the same offers? Verizon's online-only prepaid brand, Visible.
The fact that Metro's offers are all clones of what has been available at Visible is a strong indicator that other carriers now see Visible as a legitimate threat to take customers away from them. A threat that perhaps wasn't taken seriously when Visible was first launched in 2018. Visible was introduced with and continues to have no retail presence. But that may not matter as much as it once might have.
Verizon just reported that it had a very good 3rd quarter of 2020 in prepaid. The carrier won over a total of 77,000 new prepaid customers and that was a good follow up to quarter 2 when they added 12,000 subscribers. The prepaid subscriber wins marked the first time in a couple of years that Verizon saw growth there. The growth wasn't all because of Visible but it was certainly a contributor. Visible launched a TV commercial that aired heavily and got a celebrity endorser in Dan Levy. Verizon also got more aggressive with its Verizon Prepaid brand offers. And T-Mobile has certainly taken notice.
Metro's $200 Virtual Prepaid Mastercard Offer Details
On and off for over a year Metro has offered its online customers at least a $50 Visa prepaid card for bringing their own device to the network. Black Friday of 2019 saw the offer briefly increase to $100. In 2020 Metro switched the prepaid rewards card offer over to Mastercard and now it just hit its highest value ever at $200. Not only that, but the offer is available for the first time to customers who purchase a phone online from Metro. For years, Metro phones could only be purchased at dealerships. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Metro was forced to make a change and offer its devices online.
Metro's $200 virtual prepaid Mastercard online-only offer has the following requirements and fine print:
- Customers must bring their own device or purchase one from Metro and activate it online
- After 75 days of active service, qualifying subscribers will receive a text message with instructions on how to claim the offer
- Offer must be claimed within 30 days of receiving the text message
- The card will be awarded after the customer's 3rd month of service
- There is a limit of one per account/household
The offer can be combined with several others available at Metro including the $40 unlimited plan and 2 unlimited lines for $70 deals. But phone promos are still restricted to in-store only offers. So if you want a $49.99 iPhone SE, or $200 off the latest iPhone 12 model at Metro, you'll have to head to a store and you won't be able to get the $200 prepaid Mastercard. Customers can also opt to go to a store to get two free Samsung Galaxy A51 5G devices with two unlimited lines for $70/month instead of getting the prepaid Mastercard.