How is Metro PCS able to price so much lower than other cell providers, and what's the catch?

[Rigamarole]

@LilGypsyGirl

The only “catch,” I guess, if you can call it that, is that you pay for their phones outright, usually at full price. For example, their BlackBerrys are about $469, not including the service. Once you include your monthly service, you’re looking at shelling out over $500 right off the bat. When I switched to Verizon, I got my Blackberry for practically nothing with a 2-year contract. Metro’s cheapest phone is about $79, I think - and they don’t have the freebie phones like the major carriers do.

I see. It still seems like it would be much cheaper in the long run… during the period of a 2-year contract, if you pay say $40 more for Verizon, but get your Blackberry for free, you end up paying $960 more over the course of 2 years; way more than the initial cost of the phone.

Now that I look at their site though I realize your options are very limited if you want a smartphone… there are only 2 non-Blackberry smartphone models and 1 model of Blackberry (the $400+ one you mention). But it still seems much cheaper to me overall and I am strongly leaning toward their service. I just want to make sure there won’t be any nasty surprises if I go with them (and I hardly travel so that’s not a big concern right now).