It's PCS no more. T-Mobile's prepaid arm, MetroPCS, is rebranding as "Metro by T-Mobile" because, apparently, a lot of people didn't know MetroPCS was just T-Mobile prepaid.

As part of the move, the carrier will offer bonuses from Google and Amazon. It's also trying to get onto the new iPhones' eSIMs.

MetroPCS currently has 18 million customers and "has been growing like a weed," but it had a tough second quarter, according to BayStreet Research founding partner Cliff Maldonado.

We talked to MetroPCS president Tom Keys about how the new name and a new set of plans, could shake things up and move things forward with a venerable brand.

MetroPCS has a long but confusing history, Keys said. The brand started in 2002 as an independent carrier that only operated in a few cities and relied on roaming agreements in the rest of the country. After it was bought by T-Mobile in 2013, MetroPCS switched to the T-Mobile nationwide network, where Metro customers have the same coverage and service as regular T-Mobile customers. But some people didn't understand that, Keys said.

"Prepaid has a bad connotation historically," he said. "There's always a compromise, there's always a network problem, there's always less.

"Time and time again, that was the view of the people around our stores who weren't going to come to us."

The "Metro by T-Mobile" rebranding makes it clear that "if you tally up the 322 million covered POPs that T-Mobile sells on, we sell on exactly the same thing," Keys said.

Metro will keep its own stores and device lineup, Keys said, and won't move to an online-only sales model or more of a focus on bringing your own device. Metro's network of stores is an advantage over more online-focused virtual carriers, he said.

"My belief in the wireless space is that customers really like human interaction. Customers like to understand what devices do, and they want a place to go if there's a service interruption," he said.

The eSIM, the virtual SIM card in the new iPhones, will make it extra easy for iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max customers to switch to any covered carrier by just picking a plan from a menu. T-Mobile will be on the eSIM first, but Metro will follow, Keys said. The same thing goes for 5G; Metro will pick that up later than mainline T-Mobile, which intends to debut 5G early next year.

"There are times that being a smaller brand in a bigger company, fast following is okay," he said.

Plans Include Google One, Amazon Prime

Here's Metro's new plan grid.

Its two higher-end plans include 100GB of Google Drive storage, about a $1.50/month benefit, and its highest-tier plan includes Amazon Prime, an $8.25/month benefit. All plans throttle video to 480p and deprioritize data after 35GB is used per month.

Metro undercuts AT&T's Cricket plans, which are 5GB for $40 and unlimited for $60, with a 22GB throttling point. It also undercuts Sprint's Virgin brand, at 5GB for $45 and unlimited for $60. Sprint's Boost brand has a $50 unlimited plan with 8GB of hotspot. None of them bundle in Amazon Prime.

None of the Big Four's prepaid arms really play in the shallow end of the pool with super-low-cost carriers like Ting and US Mobile, which specialize in even less expensive plans for lighter data users and don't have physical stores.

Physical stores and a better awareness of Metro's network quality might even help MetroPCS steal customers from T-Mobile's big competitors.

"There are people that are on AT&T and Verizon postpaid contracts that are just paying way more," he said.