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spike32 61K Views
Aug 27, 2026 10:50 PM

Existing Metro Customers: 11" 128GB Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ 5G Tablet

Free w/ New $20+ Monthly Plan

+ Free S&Hat Metro by T-Mobile
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Deal Details
Metro has for Existing Customers: 11" 128GB Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ 5G Tablet (Gray) on sale for Free when you add a new tablet line (plan options). Shipping is free.

Thanks to Community Member spike32 for sharing this deal.

Note: Must be an existing customer and logged in to account to be eligible for offer. One-time activation fee may be required in-store. Limit 1 tablet instant rebate per household. See tablet plans here.

How to get this offer online:
  1. Purchase a new Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ 5G and pay the applicable sales tax on the pre-credit price at time of purchase. Instant rebate of $250 will be applied.
  2. Activate a new tablet line on a qualifying $20 or higher rate plan to your existing Metro smartphone plan.

Editor's Notes

Written by Nate650 | Staff
  • Limited-time offer, subject to change. While supplies last.
  • Existing Metro smartphone plan required.
  • Please see the original post for additional details & give the wiki and additional forum comments a read for helpful discussion.

Original Post

Written by spike32
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
Metro has for Existing Customers: 11" 128GB Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ 5G Tablet (Gray) on sale for Free when you add a new tablet line (plan options). Shipping is free.

Thanks to Community Member spike32 for sharing this deal.

Note: Must be an existing customer and logged in to account to be eligible for offer. One-time activation fee may be required in-store. Limit 1 tablet instant rebate per household. See tablet plans here.

How to get this offer online:
  1. Purchase a new Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ 5G and pay the applicable sales tax on the pre-credit price at time of purchase. Instant rebate of $250 will be applied.
  2. Activate a new tablet line on a qualifying $20 or higher rate plan to your existing Metro smartphone plan.

Editor's Notes

Written by Nate650 | Staff
  • Limited-time offer, subject to change. While supplies last.
  • Existing Metro smartphone plan required.
  • Please see the original post for additional details & give the wiki and additional forum comments a read for helpful discussion.

Original Post

Written by spike32

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Community Reviews

The Galaxy Tab A11+ is a fast, solid 11-inch Android tablet that stands out for better performance than the A9+, long update support, and now fast charging. It also works well for everyday use, media, and travel, and some setups have used T-Mobile service, eSIM, or a physical SIM after activation. The main catch is that the Metro promo is not truly free, since it requires a qualifying $20 monthly tablet line, taxes, and sometimes activation or plan charges. Checkout can be finicky, and the device appears to be network locked until the unlock period runs out.

Common Questions (5)

  • The fine print says there is a limit of 1 tablet instant rebate per household, and several orders hit a cap after 2 tablets. A second tablet has been ordered successfully in some cases after the first one was received and activated, but a third often triggers a call-in requirement or payment verification failure.

    CleverKite3150CleverKite3150kunal2212CleverKite3150

  • Some units have worked with T-Mobile SIMs after flashing or CSC changes, but others remained network locked and would not recognize T-Mobile service. Wi‑Fi works regardless, so the tablet is still usable for apps and media even if cellular compatibility is limited.

    hugeisaacllou2004shahhere

  • Both have been reported: some units came with eSIM, while others were activated with a physical SIM. The tablet uses a physical SIM slot, but checkout did not always show a way to request one, so eSIM may be the easier path for some orders.

    jorgenismoMesaNuevahenry333acontrasto

  • No. The promo applies an instant $250 rebate to the $349.99 retail price, but you still pay sales tax on the pre-credit price and must activate a new tablet line on a qualifying $20+ plan. A one-time activation fee may also apply, so the out-of-pocket total is usually around the plan cost plus tax and fees.

    Afeldman1BPRO77fungameangel5000

  • The unlock clock starts only after activation, and the tablet is advertised to auto-unlock after 365 days. One month of active service is enough to start the process, but the line must be activated first; if it is not unlocked automatically later, the carrier unlock option can be requested.

    roberthhidtxdfgzrecoilporksmugglers

AI-generated summary based on comments from the community. Updated ago

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269 Comments

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Sep 5, 2026 2:17 PM
7.5K Comments
Joined Jul 2007
lou2004Sep 5, 2026 2:17 PM
7.5K Comments
Quote from ScottoDono View quoted comment :
Yeah, they are giving me a tough time, they want me to make a payment for the 2nd month of service to activate the line. Not sure what happens if I do not activate it, will they try to charge me, will the device never unlock?
Just use it as wifi device or use T-Mobile sim.
1
Sep 5, 2026 2:42 PM
14.9K Comments
Joined Dec 2005
ScottoDonoSep 5, 2026 2:42 PM
14.9K Comments
Quote from isaacl View quoted comment :
Got my tablet last night and was able to play with it a bit.I have the A9+ as well, definitely seems faster and hasn't locked up the A9+ did yet, though I haven't tested it enough.For anyone interested in the technical info and what worked for me:For the A9+, at least from what I saw on samfw.com and other firmware sites, there was no U1 firmware builds, only the U builds, which are generally carrier branded.On those, after I put a SIM card in and got past the initial setup, I used the SamFW tool to switch the CSC to USC (US Cellular), based on what I did on a S10+ 5G tablet as well, because that seems to remove the carrier branding. I didn't really use those afterwards with service, so putting a SIM card back in may switch the CSC and switch the carrier branding back as well.I do know that on my S10+ 5G, I have a T-Mobile SIM card in there, and it's on the USC CSC, and I don't see any carrier branding - the software info shows USC/TMB, so the SIM card doesn't seem to switch it back fully.On the A11+, I put a T-Mobile (deactivated) SIM card in initially, I didn't test to see if it would set up properly without the SIM card, though it's possible it may not need something, unlike the A9+.I allowed it to download the Metro eSIM, and later removed the T-Mobile SIM card, which made it switch to Metro carrier branding, and seems pretty intrusive. Once I confirmed it was active, I removed the eSIM, and I was able to switch it back to the T-Mobile branding by putting in the T-Mobile SIM card, which was much better than the Metro branding.I found that samfw.com had U1 builds (https://samfw.com/firmware/SM-X238U1), which are unbranded and the builds you get when you buy an unlocked phone from Samsung, and that shouldn't allow the carrier branding to take over.I downloaded the latest USC build, and used the patched version of Odin to flash that to the tablet.Once that was done, I put a T-Mobile in initially to set it up and to test (still have to reset and see if it actually needs a SIM card at all), and then used the SamFW tool to switch the CSC to USC.Both the A9+ and S10+ only appear to have U versions of the firmware, and no U1 versions, so that's not an option.I do see now that it does appear that there are U1 XAA builds for the A11+, so that probably would work as well, going to try switching the CSC to XAA when I have a chance, but not sure if there will be much difference, as long as Samsung does release updates for that CSC, the OTA updates should work.Also, one important thing I found with the A9+ - in order to eventually unlock the tablet, I believe you have to have a SIM card and it has to be on the carrier firmware to go through properly, not sure if it would have to have a Metro card, or if T-Mobile would be fine, though I won't be able to test that for another year or so until the tablet actually is ready to be unlocked from the carrier.Hope that helps someone, happy to try to help if anyone has any more questions.Enjoy!
You need to use adb to disable a process called cidmanager. If you don't do this, by putting in a sim it reboots phone and changes the csc back. I successfully changed to xaa on my first a11, used patched Odin, used regular csc file not home csc . So it does wipe data but don't to save data. Just backup data first.

I used Frija to download firmware and I am on U1 unbranded firmware so it does exist
Last edited by ScottoDono September 5, 2026 at 08:45 AM.
Sep 5, 2026 4:39 PM
2.6K Comments
Joined Dec 2010
coachclassSep 5, 2026 4:39 PM
2.6K Comments
Quote from huge View quoted comment :
FP.
Great deal. It's totally fine if you remove the bloat. And it's unlocked for tmobile
Lots of people posting info about the lock status in this thread and I don't think it's accurate. I just got mine.

It came with an esim, so you need to enable wifi to auto-activate the esim. Can't even get to the main Android screen without doing that first - they force you to as part of the setup.

The cellular network lock is in place. Unlock previous generations of Metro provided tablets that come unlocked, this one is network locked.

Since it's a Metro phone, I'm not sure if it's unlocked for t-mobile. Yes metro is a MVNO for t-mobile, but that doesn't mean it'll work on a pure T-mobile sim. I don't know where people are so confidently getting their info from.
Sep 5, 2026 4:43 PM
141 Comments
Joined Aug 2011
showelliangSep 5, 2026 4:43 PM
141 Comments
I don't have metro line and I don't have a number to port in for A37 deal (and I don't need another phone).
Can I just pay $30 basic prepaid phone plan today, in order to get this deal?

EDIT: I just tried, yeah it works
Last edited by showelliang September 5, 2026 at 02:29 PM.
1
Sep 5, 2026 9:39 PM
326 Comments
Joined Dec 2008
kunal2212Sep 5, 2026 9:39 PM
326 Comments
I was also able to get a second tablet by calling in and using a different credit card than the first order. Now let's see if it actually ships.
Sep 7, 2026 2:03 PM
83 Comments
Joined Sep 2013
withnoeSep 7, 2026 2:03 PM
83 Comments
Quote from chris112784 View quoted comment :
Easy deal! Just make a new account online, 30 bucks for the first month. After checkout log back in, add the tablet with a $20 monthly plan, tablet becomes free. $50 all in for one, then cancel after you receive it.
I tried this but how do I log back in when I have to wait for the sim to come to activate?
Sep 7, 2026 2:17 PM
354 Comments
Joined Jan 2015
chris112784Sep 7, 2026 2:17 PM
354 Comments
Quote from withnoe View quoted comment :
I tried this but how do I log back in when I have to wait for the sim to come to activate?
I did an esim

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Sep 7, 2026 3:55 PM
456 Comments
Joined Nov 2009
isaaclSep 7, 2026 3:55 PM
456 Comments
Quote from ScottoDono View quoted comment :
You need to use adb to disable a process called cidmanager. If you don't do this, by putting in a sim it reboots phone and changes the csc back. I successfully changed to xaa on my first a11, used patched Odin, used regular csc file not home csc . So it does wipe data but don't to save data. Just backup data first.

I used Frija to download firmware and I am on U1 unbranded firmware so it does exist
Thanks for the info, curious to see if cidmanager matters when using the U1 firmware, have to test later.
Sep 7, 2026 8:51 PM
7K Comments
Joined Jul 2015
Quality-LearingSep 7, 2026 8:51 PM
7K Comments
You can activate the tablet before you receive it by using the Order Number you get in the confirmation email

https://www.metrobyt-mobile.com/r...s/activate
Sep 7, 2026 11:25 PM
14.9K Comments
Joined Dec 2005
ScottoDonoSep 7, 2026 11:25 PM
14.9K Comments
Quote from isaacl View quoted comment :
Thanks for the info, curious to see if cidmanager matters when using the U1 firmware, have to test later.
It absolutely does. It won't change the firmware but it forces reboot and configures carrier settings and it is an obstacle to csc change
Sep 8, 2026 5:41 PM
456 Comments
Joined Nov 2009
isaaclSep 8, 2026 5:41 PM
456 Comments
Quote from ScottoDono View quoted comment :

It absolutely does. It won't change the firmware but it forces reboot and configures carrier settings and it is an obstacle to csc change
Interesting, though if you do want to eventually unlock the tablet after a year, you might still want that available, and not sure I mind the carrier settings change as long as the branding and bloat isn't there...
Sep 8, 2026 6:28 PM
24 Comments
Joined Nov 2025
CleverKite3150Sep 8, 2026 6:28 PM
24 Comments
Activated 2nd tablet. Tried to order a 3rd and got the you must call in to order message. Anyone successfully order a 3rd?
Sep 8, 2026 8:02 PM
14.9K Comments
Joined Dec 2005
ScottoDonoSep 8, 2026 8:02 PM
14.9K Comments
Quote from isaacl View quoted comment :
Interesting, though if you do want to eventually unlock the tablet after a year, you might still want that available, and not sure I mind the carrier settings change as long as the branding and bloat isn't there...
I have no idea how the unlock will work if not on Metro firmware. Since I have two, I'm leaving one on and with U1 firmware. Guess I'll be able to test in a year. Can always reenable the process
Sep 8, 2026 8:03 PM
14.9K Comments
Joined Dec 2005
ScottoDonoSep 8, 2026 8:03 PM
14.9K Comments
Quote from lou2004 View quoted comment :
Just use it as wifi device or use T-Mobile sim.
The second agent was able to do the 3 day extension

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Sep 8, 2026 9:07 PM
138 Comments
Joined Jul 2013
Afeldman1Sep 8, 2026 9:07 PM
138 Comments
Quote from ScottoDono View quoted comment :
I have no idea how the unlock will work if not on Metro firmware. Since I have two, I'm leaving one on and with U1 firmware. Guess I'll be able to test in a year. Can always reenable the process
With the Metro A9+ 5G, activated with just WiFi, and not flashed with anything the tablet did not unlock after a year

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