T-Mobile's MetroPCS jumps into tablet market with Alcatel One Touch Pop 7 for $149

T-Mobile US' (NYSE:TMUS) MetroPCS prepaid brand is finally getting into the tablet market. The company is launching the Alcatel One Touch Pop 7 tablet for $149 (plus tax).

Alcatel One Touch Pop 7 tablet for $149 metropcs

Alcatel One Touch Pop 7 tablet

The jump into the tablet market is a significant one for MetroPCS, which long resisted adopting tablets before it merged with T-Mobile in 2013. The addition of tablets and tablet plans from MetroPCS could boost T-Mobile's data revenue over time.

MetroPCS is offering three tablet data plans:

  • $10/month: Unlimited data with first 1 GB of data at up to LTE speeds before throttling.
  • $20/month: Unlimited data with first 3 GB of data at up to LTE speeds before throttling.
  • $30/month: Unlimited data with first 5 GB of data at up to LTE speeds before throttling.

The Pop 7 is an HSPA+ tablet and can only access HSPA+ speeds, but MetroPCS' network can offer customers LTE speeds. A T-Mobile spokesman declined to say if or when MetroPCS will launch LTE tablets.

The MetroPCS tablet plans are $10 per month less than T-Mobile's own tablet data plans. However, on T-Mobile's plans tablet customers can get up to 200 MB of free monthly LTE data for as long as they own their tablet. Further, if T-Mobile tablet customers have a voice plan they can get an additional $10 monthly bill credit.

Befitting its low-cost price, the Pop 7 has lower-end specifications. The tablet runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, sports a 7-inch screen, 1.3 GHz dual-core processor, and has HSPA+, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.

T-Mobile took the opportunity to poke at rivals AT&T Mobility (NYSE: T) and Sprint (NYSE: S), whose respective Cricket and Boost Mobile prepaid brands do not offer tablets. "T-Mobile and MetroPCS are already number one in prepaid, and we are not stopping there," T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in a statement. "We are blazing trails again--this time with tablets for the prepaid market through MetroPCS.  Want a tablet from Boost or Cricket? They've got nothing."

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Correction, Oct. 24, 2014: This article incorrectly stated the Alcatel One Touch Pop 7 is an LTE tablet; it is actually an HSPA+ tablet.