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T-Mobile users woke up this morning to an unwanted surprise: a text from the carrier with news about a $5-per-month rate hike.
"For the first time in nearly a decade, we're making an update to the price of some of our older monthly service plans," the message says.
(Credit: PCMag/T-Mobile)In May 2024, the carrier rolled out a similar rate hike for older plans like Simply Choice, One Plan, Magenta, and Magenta Max. Today's message, which uses almost the same language as last year's notice, says increases will roll out to other legacy plans that escaped 2024's rate increase.
That said, it's possible a consumer could face a double whammy. T-Mobile told PCMag: "No one line that received a prior increase will receive an additional adjustment. Some customers who previously had a price adjustment on products other than smartphones may have an adjustment on an older phone plan."
This time, the rate hike will start on April 2. But in some good news, T-Mobile says, “Customers with our Price Lock guarantee won't be impacted.” The company also notes, "Any free line promotions you have will not be impacted.”
Still, the price hike may hit customers who were led to believe the carrier could never increase rates. In 2017, T-Mobile introduced an "Un-contract" deal for certain plans that said, "Customers keep their price until THEY decide to change it." But in a letter to consumers last year, the carrier said the Un-contract promise actually just means that T-Mobile will cover the final monthly bill if the customer decides to leave following a price increase — something that was only briefly mentioned in an earlier support page back in 2018.
As a result, if your T-Mobile plan only featured the Un-contract promise but not a specifically worded "price lock" guarantee, you can expect a rate change.
To justify the latest price increase, T-Mobile published a web page that claims: “Even with these updates, T-Mobile customers still save an average of 20% compared to AT&T and Verizon on comparable wireless and streaming services."
But don’t expect a big explanation for the price hike itself. “We are updating the prices on some of our older phone plans in response to rising costs,” the carrier says in an FAQ.
The same FAQ says the carrier targets older T-Mobile plans but doesn't specify which ones are affected. Users on Reddit report the price hike covers the Magenta Max, T-Mobile One, and legacy Sprint plans. Inevitably, the price hike is causing some consumers to look for alternatives. “I have 12 lines, and this will push me out,” wrote one user on Reddit.
The other big carriers, however, have also increased prices. A month ago, Verizon raised the price of its Mobile Protect Multi-Device plans from $60 to $68. That came after Unlimited and 5G plans got a $4-per-month per-line increase in January 2024. In December, an administrative fee went up 20 cents per month for each voice and data line. AT&T saw similar increases in 2024.