Metroflash is over.

[L0GiC4L 3ViL]

As many of you know there has been rumors of metroflash being over I can confirm the rumor is true. Metro pcs is no longer flashing handsets, they are no longer contracting flashing through houdini, all you nickel and dime flashers are stuck.

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[ChazzMatt]

As many of you know there has been rumors of metroflash being over I can confirm the rumor is true. Metro pcs is no longer flashing handsets, they are no longer contracting flashing through houdini, all you nickel and dime flashers are stuck.

Interesting. Then they are finally getting serious about moving people to LTE.

Before Metro kept saying they wanted to move people to LTE, but yet kept accepting phones from other CDMA carriers which could not run on Metro's LTE. Would run on CDMA only and even then those flashed phones wouldn't work in all of Metro's markets (like New York, Phillie, etc. due to Metro running on AWS frequencies in those areas.)

As long as they kept accepting these phones, which were not compatible with LTE and not even totally compatible with Metro's CDMA in all markets, that was only enlarging the customer base of non-LTE phones.

But Metro management now must have a timeline of when they want to go LTE only? Maybe two years from now or something? And accepting flashed phones hinders that plan...

Well, not flashing "outside" phones is only Step #1. Step #2 is to stop selling CDMA-only phones. When Metro stops introducing new CDMA-only phones, THEN you know we are about a year from LTE only for Metro. (Yeah, I'm looking at you, LG Optimus M+. Coming soon to Metro, and CDMA-only.)

Just to be clear, even when Metro eventually turns off their CDMA transmitters for LTE only, MetroPCS LTE phones will STILL have CDMA chipsets -- so they can handle the CDMA roaming nationwide on other networks with which we have agreements. Only when there's some nationwide LTE roaming network agreement (perhaps with Sprint's new LTE network?) will Metro be able to ditch CDMA chipsets entirely. Until then, all LTE phones will really be LTE + CDMA.

[n4zty]

My opinion about ending flashed phone is that one other reason for ending this service is beacause they cant cap the 3g speed on flashed phones and we all know that metro wants to have control of everything running on their network.

[ChazzMatt]

My opinion about ending flashed phone is that one other reason for ending this service is beacause they cant cap the 3g speed on flashed phones and we all know that metro wants to have control of everything running on their network.

Here's another couple of reasons -- SPRINT.


MetroFLASH was so effective, that Virgin SUED MetroPCS over it. Actually, they traded lawsuits with each other. http://goo.gl/Tppqi < that is fact.

The rest of this I am about to mention is fact mixed with speculation:

1) Recently Sprint almost bought MetroPCS... So, one other reason Metro may have cancelled it would be to show goodwill, as Sprint now owns Virgin Mobile? Hoping for a future merger!

2) There's also rumors that just as Metro has a CDMA roaming agreement with Sprint, they are inking an LTE roaming agreement with Sprint with Sprint's still-being-built LTE network. Don’t make a partner mad you are stealing their customers with their own phones.... Because it was Sprint, Virgin, Verizon, and Cricket/Leap customers you steal with something like MetroFLASH. Sprint and Virgin are the same company.

[leakforyou]

My opinion about ending flashed phone is that one other reason for ending this service is beacause they cant cap the 3g speed on flashed phones and we all know that metro wants to have control of everything running on their network.

Lol thats True

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[mike2828]

So many changes for metro lately coño

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[MA56]

Finally, I'm sick of people asking me why their old flashed sprint phones are not working in the Flint area. Thank you for the confirmation.

[will2017]

Well the website is still up http://www.metropcs.com/metro/houdin...x.jsp?manu=HTC

[L0GiC4L 3ViL]

Well the website is still up http://www.metropcs.com/metro/houdin...x.jsp?manu=HTC

That may be but they nolonger flash handsets all previous handsets work but no new flashes.

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[ChazzMatt]

It's now hit the press.

"The carrier has ended the acquisition of licenses for the Houdini flashing service and all dealers are being instructed to cease offering the service in legacy markets, with any and every reference to the service to be eliminated by the end of this month."

Thought this was interesting:

"The introduction of MetroFLASH also heralded the birth of a cottage industry of dedicated hackers and a dev community dedicated to flashing all sorts of CDMA smartphones with full data and messaging support despite caveats given from MetroPCS regarding the lack of data access. In many cases, the flashing community superseded the products offered by Houdini to the point that many third-party dealers would forego strict Houdini use and hire dedicated flashing staff with a better grasp on the MetroFLASH service that could flash nearly every phone with full data and messaging support."



http://www.phonenews.com/metropcs-en...service-20154/

MetroPCS Ends MetroFLASH CDMA Flashing Service


By Humberto Saabedra on April 10, 2012

MetroPCS has ended actively offering its MetroFLASH CDMA handset flashing service after being the first US carrier to offer such a service when it was first offered in the carrier’s non-AWS markets beginning in 2008. The carrier has ended the acquisition of licenses for the Houdini flashing service and all dealers are being instructed to cease offering the service in legacy markets, with any and every reference to the service to be eliminated by the end of this month.

When MetroPCS first began offering this service, it was seen as a way for the carrier to attract new customers and to drive activation numbers for dealers, as the carrier’s own handset lineup was not as developed as it is now with smartphones from major manufacturers and the carrier was better known for its lineup of cheap entry level phones. With MetroFLASH, MetroPCS also gave those customers with old CDMA phones incentive to jump from Verizon and Sprint if they were out of contract, but did not want to spend more money on another phone.

However, the MetroFLASH service ended up being so popular that it attracted the ire of other prepaid CDMA service providers such as Virgin Mobile, which took MetroPCS to court and attempted to force the carrier to cease and desist from offering the service on the grounds that MetroPCS was actively committing copyright infringement by flashing Virgin Mobile models for MetroPCS service and doing nothing to address the brand confusion that Virgin Mobile assumed would occur as a result of the flashing service.

In practice, the Houdini flashing service that MetroPCS relied on to flash CDMA handsets was rather rudimentary in its application, as it flashed CDMA phones with new PRLs and messaging center numbers for the bare minimum of compatibility, but did not address the issues that cropped up with the supposed lack of data access, even going as far as offering a disclaimer that stated that the MetroFLASH service did not include data access due to technical limitations, limitations that in reality did not exist and were attributed to laziness on the part of MetroPCS rather than any longstanding data provision issue related to CDMA phones from other carriers.

The introduction of MetroFLASH also heralded the birth of a cottage industry of dedicated hackers and a dev community dedicated to flashing all sorts of CDMA smartphones with full data and messaging support despite caveats given from MetroPCS regarding the lack of data access. In many cases, the flashing community superseded the products offered by Houdini to the point that many third-party dealers would forego strict Houdini use and hire dedicated flashing staff with a better grasp on the MetroFLASH service that could flash nearly every phone with full data and messaging support.

The only real caveat to the service was due to network expansion, as the service was not available in markets which utilized its AWS network for CDMA service and flashed phones could not work on AWS networks due to the lack of the necessary radio hardware, which limited the appeal of the service to the same people that were more interest in hacking and modifying phones for use on MetroPCS.

Ultimately, the longevity of the service which was intended to be a stopgap until it could offer a deeper selection of phones grew into a trump card for the currently struggling carrier, at least until manufacturers started paying more attention to the company, which led to it expanding its handset selection to include smartphones. Now that it has officially ended sales and support for the service in favor of its transition to LTE, the carrier stands as the only CDMA carrier (ever) to allow a BYOD offering with a flashing service that no other carrier will even look at, let alone bother to respond to competitively.

[n4zty]

yea but metro is stupid for bringing down a service that was making them money and then introducing a new upgrade in terms of pricing with the useless $70 a month plan which i will add will prove to be a absolute epic failure that will cost metro dearly in terms of loyal customers and profits.I would like to know how many people so far are on the $70 plan and if there are any im sorry but they are stupid! complete waste of time and money! like i said before it would only be worth it if metro made it a plan with speed in mind meaning just like how isp charge for different internet speed package metro should of concentrated on that rather than charging by the bandwidth limititations.

[L0GiC4L 3ViL]

yea but metro is stupid for bringing down a service that was making them money and then introducing a new upgrade in terms of pricing with the useless $70 a month plan which i will add will prove to be a absolute epic failure that will cost metro dearly in terms of loyal customers and profits.I would like to know how many people so far are on the $70 plan and if there are any im sorry but they are stupid! complete waste of time and money! like i said before it would only be worth it if metro made it a plan with speed in mind meaning just like how isp charge for different internet speed package metro should of concentrated on that rather than charging by the bandwidth limititations.

*whistles* porting out as soon as I can.

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[angmchhh]

is it really over? why did i just get my phone reflashed yesterday? O.o

[n4zty]

is it really over? why did i just get my phone reflashed yesterday? O.o

could be they are pulling the plug slowly out of every market one by one.

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[Telegraph]

Although MetroPCS officially ceased flashing over phones, I can't forsee it going away COMPLETELY....