T-Mobile is hanging up on a popular perk, and customers are calling foul.
This month, the phone giant announced it’s “retiring” over 1,100 older legacy payment plans — specifically, many from its 3G and 4G eras — and automatically switching customers to its higher-tier offerings in the T-Mobile Experience lineup beginning on July 13.
That includes T-Mobile users who switched over from Magenta, Simple Choice, ONE, and Sprint plans that carried over when T-Mobile and Sprint merged in 2020.
The company’s beloved KickBack discount — $10 off per line for low data usage — will also be discontinued, adding $6 per month to some plans, along with an extra $3 per month on some tablets and even smart watches.
Why the change?
Company executive Joe Freier said, “There’s a group of customers still on plans built nearly 15 years ago, in the 3G and 4G era, long before our 5G network was fully deployed.”
Freier added that the older plans have restrictions like limited data, lower-quality video, reduced hotspot data, and, in some cases, no international roaming.
But while T-Mobile says the user experience will improve with these upgrades, many customers are raging mad about their new phone costs.
“I hope everyone affected moves to Verizon’s new plan. This move shows T-Mobile literally doesn’t give a s–t about their loyal customers at all, presumably because some might pay less,” one Redditor said this week.
“T-Mobile, y’all got some nerve,” said one irate customer on Threads. “Raising prices? In these tariff times? Thank you, cause you’re about to save me $200 a month.” The post has over 300 comments, with many users suggesting alternative phone companies like Consumer Cellular and Boost Mobile.
Even old T-Mobile employees weighed in, adding, “I used to work for T-Mobile and when they got rid of the price lock guarantee a year and a half ago, I knew this was coming. This company is just greedy and throwing away everything that made them T-Mobile.”
But Allan Samson, chief marketing officer at T-Mobile, explained during a briefing that the new T-Mobile price tiers are “still going to be below what that exact plan sells for today. We’re not moving you all the way up to the rack rate.”
“If customers are moved to a new plan and aren’t happy with it, they should look for a new T-Mobile plan or look for a new provider.”
Affected subscribers will receive the news via text or through the T-Life app on the rate plan migration page, to check new plan details.
For those who stay on the line, T-Mobile insists it will be worth it. Users will gain unlimited high-speed 5G and 4G LTE data, 60GB of mobile hotspot data, and a smooth experience when streaming video like Netflix and YouTube.
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