Metro by T-Mobile Military: Deployment Unlock, but No Number Hold

Metro by T-Mobile is a prepaid brand that runs on T-Mobile’s network, but the military benefits T-Mobile publishes for postpaid customers do not appear on Metro’s pages. No military discount, no military plan, and no way to park a line during a deployment showed up on the Metro pages read for this guide. What Metro does publish is a military exception to its phone unlock rule, and terms that make the federal number-retention rule the only free way to keep your number through a long absence. Every Metro fact below was read on metrobyt-mobile.com on October 9, 2026.

Metro’s terms beside § 3956

Metro’s published terms, checked October 9, 2026:

The statute applies to a mobile service contract you had before receiving orders that relocate you for 90 days or more to a place the contract does not support. You end it with a written notice, a copy of the orders, and the date service should stop. Metro being prepaid and month to month does not take it outside the statute; it only means the money at stake is the number and any prepaid months. The phone and internet cancellation guide covers the federal rule in depth.

What it costs to hold a Metro number through a deployment

Take the $40 Period plan, $40 a month with taxes and fees included, and a 9-month deployment.

• Keep paying: 9 × $40 = $360 for a line you cannot use from the ship or the desert.
• Suspend it: not available. Metro’s suspend page offers a lost or stolen suspension, and if service “is not restored by the next cycle it is automatically canceled.”
• Terminate under § 3956: $0 after the month you are in. Metro’s terms already end a cancellation at the end of the current month, which matches the statute’s billing-period rule. The number then rests on § 3956(c). Metro publishes no process for it, so your notice and orders are the whole record.

One more factor: Metro’s 5-year price guarantee runs from account activation and holds “while you are on an eligible plan,” so expect to lose it if you cancel. Metro does not say whether a returning customer gets the old rate back. If your rate is old and low, weigh that before you decide.

A 6-month plan cut short

Metro sells a 6-Month Unlimited plan to new customers who bring their own phone: $120 today, which Metro calls “equivalent to $20/month.” The offer says prepaid service fees are not refundable, and that changing plans or accounts forfeits the remaining months.

Say orders arrive and you terminate during month two. Under § 3956(f), Metro may keep “the remainder of the monthly or similar billing period in which the termination occurs,” so months one and two, $40, are gone. Months three through six were paid for service after the termination: 4 × $20 = $80 to claim, due within 60 days on this reading. That figure is an illustration of the claim you can make, not an amount Metro has agreed to pay. It treats each month as the “billing period” in § 3956(f), which the statute does not define, and uses Metro’s own monthly equivalent. Metro has two counter-readings. If the six months are one billing period, all of it is the period you terminated in and nothing comes back. And its plan card sells the same $120 as “Buy 3 months, get 3 months ON US” on the $40 plan, which reads as $40 paid for each of months one to three and nothing for four to six; on that reading the claim here is $40. Ask in writing, and do not change plans first, since Metro’s offer terms make that forfeit the rest of the block. The plan has to predate the orders under § 3956(b)(2).

Before you go: the unlock and the T-Mobile route

Metro unlocks a phone it sold you, usually automatically, once 365 days have passed since activation. Its military exception skips the wait: deployed military personnel who are customers in good standing are eligible “upon provision of deployment papers.” Call 888-863-8768. That matters most for the free-phone deals on Metro’s deals page, which require a port-in; a phone bought from Metro falls under the 365-day rule.

If your orders are more than a year out, there is a second path. Metro’s Smartphone Equality program moves a customer who has paid on time for 12 consecutive months to T-Mobile postpaid with no credit check, by calling 1-833-796-6246 or visiting a store. T-Mobile postpaid publishes a military suspension of up to 39 months with no monthly charges, taxes, or suspension fees for verified active-duty customers who are deploying; the T-Mobile page covers it. Metro warns that unused prepaid service does not transfer and is not refunded, so time the move for the end of a paid month.

How to leave Metro on orders

End Metro service under 50 U.S.C. § 3956

1. Confirm the orders qualify: 90 days or more, to a place your plan does not support, received after you started service. The eligibility rules and the Guard and Reserve guide explain who counts.
2. Get the phone unlocked first: call 888-863-8768 with your deployment papers while the account is in good standing.
3. Write the notice: orders attached, the termination date, a request to keep the number under § 3956(c), and, on a 6-month plan, a refund request under § 3956(f). The letter generator drafts it.
4. Send it to T-Mobile Customer Relations, P.O. Box 37380, Albuquerque, NM 87176-7380, the address Metro’s terms give for questions and disputes about charges, and call 888-863-8768 or 611 to log the request.
5. Do not change plans or accounts while a refund request on a 6-month plan is pending.
6. Calendar day 60 after termination for the refund and day 90 after your relocation ends for the number in the deadline checker. Metro’s terms ask for billing disputes in writing within 60 days.

If Metro refuses, start with the free options on the legal help page. The PCS money moves list covers the rest of the move, and the statute’s full text is on the § 3956 page.

The law behind this: 50 U.S.C. § 3956

Termination of certain consumer contracts: mobile, landline, internet, TV, gym, and home security: read the statute , or read § 3956 in plain English, with its enforcement record .