Review: MetroPCS Samsung Galaxy Attain 4G LTE

MetroPCS is offering the Samsung Galaxy Attain 4G LTE at $299. However, we have seen them offered in local MetroPCS stores for as low as $149 with special rebates offers.


4G LTE pricing

With their $70 per month no-annual contract, you get unlimited talk, text, data, music, and video which is a real bargain compared to Verizon and AT&T. For an additional $10 there is MetroGlobal which offers unlimited International Calling to over 1,000 destinations worldwide.

Instead of building a robust 4G network with 20MHz-by-20MHz downlink-uplink spectrum, that can deliver 15+ Mbps download speeds claimed by other LTE operators, MetroPCS built a more modest LTE network, starting with downlink-uplink bandwidth of 5 MHz-by-5MHz spectrum. Just make sure MetroPCS’s regional 4G LTE coverage map fits your daily usage.

Tom Keys, chief of operations for MetroPCS said: “We didn't build this network or this device to be all things to all people. We did this is in a very methodical fashion. We didn't try to get everything in the beginning.”


MetroPCS 4G uses AWS 1710 to 1755MHz spectrum

So how are the download speeds for the Samsung Galaxy Attain 4G LTE on MetroPCS 4G network in Sacramento Valley? Because the carrier's network is in the AWS 1700 to 1750 MHz spectrum with 5 Mhz-by-5MHz bandwidth for downlink-uplink, they cannot compete with Verizon and AT&T's fourth-generation LTE networks.

Verizon has MHz of nationwide contiguous spectrum bandwidth – 10MHz-by-10MHz downlink-uplink. In some Metropolitan areas Verizon has 20MHz-by-20MHz downlink-uplink. Today, Verizon’s 4G LTE covers 75 percent of America’s population with 350 plus markets versus MetroPCS which has less than 25 markets.

MetroPCS’ AWS 1700 MHz spectrum requires cell towers be placed closer together than the 700 MHz networks. Besides not going as far, 1700 MHz doesn't penetrate buildings and normal things like trees and bushes, as Verizon's and AT&T's 700 MHz spectrum does.

If the combination of T-mobile and MetroPCS comes about, supposedly by 2015, their combined customers will be on a 20MHz-by-20MHz downlink-uplink LTE network.


Combined MetroPCS and T-mobile spectrum

Last year MetroPCS had just the one 4G LTE handset we tested. Now they offer eight 4G LTE handsets from five manufacturers priced from $79 to $349.



Now for the speed tests on today’s Sacramento Valley MetroPCS 4G LTE network with the Samsung Galaxy Attain. The simple way to show MetroPCS speeds are screen shots.


Ookla speed test at office: 0.45mbps download – 1.53mbps upload - 153 milliseconds latency

Most folks using 3G EVDO / HSDPA phones see an average of .8mbps downloads and .4mbps upload.

While on the road near Marysville, California which we doubt has a significant number of MetroPCS 4G LTE subscribers, our speeds improved.


Speed test near Marysville, CA

BSN* Take

MetroPCS 4G LTE’s low monthly fees are something to consider if you want to get a phone for a family member who isn’t a gamer and most of the time just wants a phone for talking to people and who occasionally downloads data.

If you live in an area that offers MetroPCS 4G LTE and you remain in that are most of the time, then you should test their handsets and network. The safest way to do it is to purchase everything on a credit card. That way there will be no disputes if you find the MetroPCS approach doesn’t work for you. The biggest advantage they have is that no contract is required. So you are not locked into a two year agreement that will cost a lot of money to get out of.