Joe Maring / Android Authority
TL; DR
- A small number of T-Mobile customers with very old plans are starting to see some mandatory plan changes.
- Affected plans did not see a change or price increase last year, and actual price increases and changes vary.
- These changes appear to target plans that existed long before Price Lock, such as certain Simple Choice plans.
For years, T-Mobile and other major carriers have mostly left their legacy plans alone, allowing customers to switch when they’re ready. This made sense when new plans often offered real improvements over older offerings, but over the past few years most new plans have been treated as downgrades or side-tiers at best.
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That changed in 2023, when T-Mobile attempted to automatically move customers on Price Lock plans to newer offers. This is the plan was met with serious criticismand finally, T-Mobile has focused on slowly increasing the fees associated with many of its older plans.
Since then, T-Mobile has slowly re-introduced its auto-changing plans. starting last year. The difference, however, is that these are older plans that aren’t protected by Price Lock like the Simple Choice plans are now. Looks like T-Mobile isn’t done yet.
according to Redditor Sfkn123, As a certified T-Mobile employee and brand expert, the carrier once again automatically switches to very old plans.
For example, Sfkn123 recently saw a plan change from an extremely old Preferred FT 600 NW to Legacy Rate Plan C26ML4999, which raised the total for a 5-line plan by about $100. Several other Redditors chimed in with their own hikes, ranging from just $15 to $100 or more.
In addition to forced plan changes, some older customers are also seeing the removal of old discounts and other changes designed to sway them to newer plans.
The good news is that if your previous plan increased last year, you’re probably safe here. Likewise, newer legacy plans with price guarantees are unlikely to make an impact here.
While price hikes and plan changes are few and far between, some of these really old plans have real limitations, including poor data speeds, limited data bundles, and other downsides. Newer plans can often provide a better experience, but for tons of linear ones, the increases can add up significantly.
Not happy with T-Mobile’s latest rates? If you’re looking for a high-priority alternative that works on T-Mobile’s network, we highly recommend Visible if you don’t want to switch to Google Fi or Verizon’s network.
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