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submitted 1 year ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

T-Mobile switches users to pricier plans and tells them it’s not a price hike::T-Mobile: "We are not raising the price... we are moving you to a newer plan."

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[-] sepiroth154@feddit.nl 116 points 1 year ago

I'm altering the deal, pray I don't alter it further.

[-] Overzeetop@sopuli.xyz 9 points 1 year ago

No, no - that guy is (was, literally) the Verizon spokesman.

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[-] darganon@lemmy.world 88 points 1 year ago

I'm on mint, and just waiting for T-Mobile to come after us. Nothing this beautiful can last.

[-] Dressedlikeapenguin@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago
[-] triptrapper@lemmy.world 44 points 1 year ago
[-] Dressedlikeapenguin@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago

Thanks for not saying "look it up". We can't seem to keep anything nice. We were just about to leave for Mint. Do you like it?

[-] _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 18 points 1 year ago

I have mint: The connection sucks, you get deprioritized against other traffic so bandwidth is usually garbage. It's fine if you just need text and phone calls though.

[-] maccentric@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 year ago

Is that what’s going on? So often since I switched to Mint I’ll have full bars and can’t do anything online.

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[-] Fuck_u_spez_@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 year ago

I think this experience might be region-dependant. I'm in a major city on Mint and I routinely see 900Mbps+ down and never have any issues with streaming. I think the lowest speed test I ever saw was around 200Mbps.

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[-] IamtheMorgz@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

I have mint too and haven't had much trouble with bandwidth. But to be fair I don't use my phone for very much while not on wifi, mostly just streaming music and Google maps.

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[-] extant@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

I switched from T-Mobile to mint not long ago and only two things changed, how much and who I pay, but like he said they'll come for us soon enough now that they bought mint.

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[-] Cort@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Mint got sold when Ryan Reynolds needed more money to buy that soccer team

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[-] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 78 points 1 year ago

T-mobile: hello sir we are calling about your plan and a way you can save money

Me: that isn't true

T-mobile: umm we can save you money by changing your plan

Me: that statement is false. No company in the history of humanity has spent money to tell their customers how to do less business with them. They are paying you to call me and you expect me to believe that they are paying you money so they can get less money from me in the future? Makes no sense.

[-] nul9o9@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago

When I worked for ATT, I saw a customer with a legacy unlimited data account. This was after they brought back unlimited data after years of overcharging people for data "overages".

I absolutely could not convince this person to change to the new plan that was a third of the price.

[-] xthexder@l.sw0.com 32 points 1 year ago

They probably had true unlimited, not the 10gb then throttling "unlimited" that's offered now. AT&T has like 3 different levels of unlimited plan...

[-] ZeroCool@feddit.ch 24 points 1 year ago

AT&T has like 3 different levels of unlimited plan

"Unlimited doesn't mean unlimited. Unlimited has limits. As a matter of fact, there are unlimited limits!" - Telecoms

[-] pup_atlas@pawb.social 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I had a call last week where T Mobile SWORE to me up and down that I ran out of data on my 5 GB of LTE, then unlimited 3G speed plan. Which went down like this:

“right, and I’m out of LTE speed data, that’s fine, but you’ve throttled me to UNDER 10 Kbps, that’s emphatically not 3G speeds, I can’t even complete a speedtest”

“Sir it’s showing me that you’re out of data”

“Out of LTE data, but I still have unlimited 3G, thats the plan I bought”

“Sir you’ve hit the limit on your unlimited plan”

“If you are ceasing usable service at a certain limit, what part of this plan is unlimited?”

“Your data is unlimited sir, but you’ve hit your data limit for the month”

This kinda shit is straight up fraud, and clearly designed to con people who don’t know any better out of their money. I read the fine print, all of it, and their full corporate policy. I’m also technical, and I can see I have an RSSI to the tower of higher than -40, my signal is great. They advertised, and I paid for far more. That’s beside the fact that “unlimited” data literally doesn’t exist, there is a line speed to every uplink, you can’t physically download more than that a month. The government needs to get off their ass and prosecute these motherfuckers.

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[-] LiveLM@lemmy.zip 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

To be fair, I would likely behave just like that customer out of pure fear of losing a plan I like and never being able to get it back because it's deprecated.

[-] Buck@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

My previous ISP once called me to tell me that i couldn't reach the speed of my current plan from my house, and offered me to take a cheaper package without reducing my speed.

My current ISP sent me a mail at the beginning of this year informing me they were quadrupling my speed at no extra charge. And they did, I went from 50 up/down to 200.

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[-] LufyCZ@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

My ISP lowered their (already very competitive) prices for no good reason, so some do exist

[-] Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago

The reason is retention. For a company that sells a service where they pay a single overhead (like maintaining a structure) it always makes more sense to lose a little money and retain a customer if prices are going down elsewhere.

That is to say if your internet plan is $80 and they have intel that a local competitor has started selling a similar plan for $60, it makes more sense to spend 3 minutes talking to an existing customer about lowering their bill to $60 rather than let that customer discover a cheaper plan and switch to someone else. If they let that customer switch they lose the whole $80 whereas if they just lower that customer's price they only lose $20.

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[-] Kethal@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

T-Mobile has lowered my prices while increasing my service in the past. The fact that they don't dick me around is one of the reasons I've stayed. If they're going to start this shit, then I'm going to leave.

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[-] piranhaphish@lemmy.world 48 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You can tell that this is just a cash grab, as opposed to a technical or administrative motivation, by the mere fact that Simple/Select Choice plans will be migrated to Magenta, while Magenta plans will be migrated to Go5G. So Magenta isn't going anywhere for the foreseeable future.

Also, of course, by the fact that you can opt out of the "upgrade."

I switched to T-Mobile a few years ago and, coming from AT&T, it had been hands-down a positive experience. More features, unlimited data, better customer service, better speeds, all for less than what I was paying AT&T. I even have a line or two that was added for free, no strings attached.

But then there were the many data breaches and the announcement they would add a surcharge for credit card payment. And now this.

Looks like I came on board just in time to witness the enshitification

[-] CO_Chewie@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 year ago

To be honest, I'm surprised they kept the 'uncarrier' image for so long. This was bound to happen, especially after the sprint merger was approved. I really feel T-Mobile pushed the big two to make changes to compete and now all I fear all three will go back to the old ways.

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[-] ButtDrugs@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago

They were awesome, but as it common at these compnaies when the CEO driving a lot of these changes left, they brought in some grey-hair bean counter who has been slowly rolling shitty-change onto shitty change. I really loved them when I switched form Verizon around ~2015 but I'm now starting to look at other optoins. Google Fi is currently the top of my list but we'll see.

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[-] hawt@lemmy.world 44 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

So dumb, they claim they are moving you to a new plan with more features. Here are the “features” of the new plan ONE Plus to Go5g:

*$5 more per line x 5 lines = $25 more each month

*Lose Kickback which I use on 2 lines = $20 more each month

*10GB Hotspot instead of 5GB in Canada/Mexico, something I’ve used once since I’ve been on T-Mobile

*720p HD streaming video, down from my 4K unlimited streaming passes

Fortunately, I was easily able to opt out thanks to the heads up from these posts.

[-] jballs@sh.itjust.works 41 points 1 year ago
[-] Fisk400@feddit.nu 37 points 1 year ago

Literally pissing on the customer and telling them it's raining.

[-] Emma_Gold_Man@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 1 year ago

~~Literally~~ Figuratively pissing on the customer and telling them it's raining.

FTFY

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[-] LSNLDN@slrpnk.net 26 points 1 year ago

Got to love a good bit of a corporate gaslighting

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[-] Numberone@startrek.website 24 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I genuinely don't understand why so many people go with the network brand. AFAIK all of the US networks have MVNO's that operate on their networks at much lower cost. Some of those virtual operators are even owned by the big guys, e.g. Cricket on ATT. My coworkers pay literally hundreds of dollars more per month than is necessary, and what, they get a few Mbps faster data rates? Is that really worth it?

Edit: TIL a lot of people have had a hard time with MVNO's. My experience has been excellent and consistent, but that apparently doesn't generalize.

[-] Ennon@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

In more populated areas it makes sense since Brand customers have prioritized traffic over MVNOs. So if you want any service at all, then…

[-] raptir@lemdro.id 9 points 1 year ago

I have both T-Mobile and Visible on my phone and I've had to switch to Visible in more congested areas because T-Mobile will crawl.

[-] zettajon@lemdro.id 7 points 1 year ago

I've never had any issues with the Tmobile prepaid plan in either NYC nor north NJ, although I'm not sure if the prepaid plans have the same lowered priority as Mint, for example.

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[-] Jimmycakes@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

Because those are way lower down the priority list when it comes to network congestion. If you are in a populated area your service will suffer.

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[-] autotldr@lemmings.world 22 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


T-Mobile is moving people to newer, more expensive plans starting with the November bill cycle unless customers call the company to opt out, according to multiple reports.

The forced migration surfaced on Reddit two days ago and was confirmed by The Mobile Report, which published portions of leaked documents indicating how the plan changes will be implemented.

T-Mobile also confirmed the change to CNET, telling the news site that "there will be an increase of approximately $10 per line with the migration."

T-Mobile's current plans range from $60 to $100 a month for a single line or $5 more if you don't enroll in the AutoPay discount.

T-Mobile recently started requiring a debit card or linked bank account to get the AutoPay discount, which may be concerning to users because of the company's history of data breaches and leaks.

T-Mobile was once a smaller wireless company fighting behemoths AT&T and Verizon but is now one of three major national carriers after acquiring Sprint in 2020.


The original article contains 838 words, the summary contains 165 words. Saved 80%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[-] June@lemm.ee 19 points 1 year ago

There was a minute where TMo was the good guy in wireless.

Now, for me at least, Xfinity is the one to have.

[-] Yawnder@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 year ago

Anything that sounds like T Mo is evil. Case and point: Teemo

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[-] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 year ago

I seriously don't understand why it's legal for companies to just, tell you that you need to pay more for things. Aren't cellphone plans a contract? How can one party change a contract without the consent of the other party?

[-] elrik@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

If you are signing a contract authored exclusively by one party you can assume it is designed solely to expand and protect the rights of that one party to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law. This can include their rights to modify the terms (usually with some form of notice).

Anything less would be a failing on the part of their attorneys. As a consumer you can agree to their terms or.. take your business to a competitor who will offer similar terms.

If you want some specifics, here they are (emphasis mine):

CAN T-MOBILE CHANGE, SUSPEND OR TERMINATE MY SERVICES OR THIS AGREEMENT? Yes. Except as described below for Rate Plans with the price-lock guarantee (including the “Un-Contract Promise”), we may change, limit, suspend or terminate your Service or this Agreement at any time, including if you engage in any of the prohibited uses described in these T&Cs, no longer reside in a T-Mobile-owned network coverage area, or engage in harassing, threatening, abusive or offensive behavior. If your Service, Product, or account is limited, suspended, or terminated and then reinstated, you may be charged a reconnection fee. Your account may still accrue charges even if the Service is suspended. You are responsible for any charges that are incurred while your Service or account is suspended.

Under certain limited circumstances, we may also block your Device from working on our network. If the change to your Service, Product, or Rate Plan will have a material adverse effect on you, we will provide 14 days’ notice of the change. You’ll agree to any change by using your Service or Product after the effective date of the change. We may exclude certain types of calls, messages or sessions (e.g. conference and chat lines, broadcast, international, 900 or 976 calls, etc.), in our sole discretion, without further notice...

If you are on a price-lock guaranteed Rate Plan, we will not increase your monthly recurring Service charge (“Recurring Charge”) for the period that applies to your Rate Plan, or if no specific period applies, for as long as you continuously remain a customer in good standing on a qualifying Rate Plan. If you switch plans, the price-lock guarantee for your new Rate Plan will apply (if there is one). The price-lock guarantee is limited to your Recurring Charge and does not include, for example, add-on features, taxes, surcharges, fees, or charges for extra Features or Devices.

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[-] Bongles@lemm.ee 12 points 1 year ago

I remember they had a plan for around $55 where they promised no price increases ever. So instead what they do is create a "new" plan periodically. I went up to "magenta Max" because I wanted some of the features and now they're doing "Go 5G". They try to advertise "upgrade every year" but they've BEEN doing that since the "jump" program when I first signed up for them years ago.

Basically they create a new plan with minor changes to the specific details and claim it's not a price change. They hadn't been automatically changing people until this though.

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[-] prole@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 year ago

Rent seeking bullshit.

[-] Grass@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm still on a no longer available plan with unlimited everything in can and us for less than what my friends are paying for literally nothing. I don't have voicemail because I hate it and adding it would force me onto a shittier plan anyways last I checked.

[-] JigglySackles@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

They aren't raising the price, they are just charging you more money. Your plan is being removed, so they can put you on a different plan that costs more. And, at least in my case, is actually inferior to my current plan. Fucking assholes are actually making me consider AT&T which I swore I'd never do.

[-] mesamunefire@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Our bill went from 80 to 110. We are looking at the bigger networks....and it looks like it's significantly less than what we are paying.

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[-] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.de 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I saw what they did to my family members and immediately complained. They let me keep my old prepaid contract, which lets me use 1 MiB of data per day for free at no monthly cost due to what I assume is a billing system oversight. It works well with Opera Mini on a feature phone, the battery also lasts a week because I mostly use my smartphone for entertainment. The new contract would bill me $0.50 for every day I went online (capped at 150 MiB).

I don't really have a choice, all providers in this country are greedy AF

[-] beetus@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

How could you keep data use below 1 MiB? That's a significantly small amount of data in the modern era of anything Internet connected.

Were you mostly on wifi? You said you used your mobile primarily for entertainment, that usually takes data.

I believe you I'm just drawing a blank at how you were using your phone and its data plan!

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[-] oxjox@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago

Looking forward to seeing how this plays out. I’m on the Magenta plan. It’s already more than enough for my needs so it’ll be interesting to see what they have to offer and how they receive my opt-out.

This is bonkers. Why not just send a notification about new pricing plans and allow customers to opt-in? That’s rhetorical.

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[-] altima_neo@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 year ago

They better not fuck with my plan. It's bad enough I had to get the boot from Sprint.

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this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2023
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