T-Mobile decides it's a bad idea to anger its most loyal customers

News
By Nicholas Sutrich
published

The company will not automatically migrate customers to newer, more expensive plans.

The T-Mobile Logo on a Google Pixel 8 Pro
(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)

What you need to know

  • T-Mobile has scrapped plans to automatically migrate its oldest customers to newer, more expensive plans.
  • CEO Mike Sievert confirmed in an October 25, 2023 earnings call that its most loyal customers will still be offered the option to migrate, if they want.
  • Newer T-Mobile plans bundle Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+, Apple Music, and other services for a higher price.

Over the years, T-Mobile went from a budget-minded carrier to a "value-minded" one, often bundling in streaming content services with its latest plans to entice users to spend a bit more each month. To give itself a boost, the company was planning to automatically migrate customers on legacy plans to these newer, more expensive plans.

For folks who are looking to keep their existing plans at a low cost, CEO Mike Sievert confirmed in an October 25, 2023 earnings call (per Ars Tecnica) that the company would no longer pursue this aggressive upgrade program. Sievert said the leaked plan was just a test and the data generated from that test showed the migration plan "isn't something that our customers are going to love."

Sievert described the migration plan as a way for legacy customers to migrate "off old legacy rate plans to something that's higher value for them and for us." That's certainly true in an age where both Netflix and Disney+ are raising prices every year, as bundling these services with mobile plans could save people money.

A T-Mobile SIM card with a Google Pixel 8 Pro

(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)

T-Mobile's latest Go5G Plus plans offer better value and lower prices than AT&T or Verizon, especially as you add more lines, but it's hard to argue with legacy plans that continue to offer family plans at $120 per month regardless of included services.

Despite the setback, T-Mobile still reported a 4% year-over-year revenue increase totaling $15.9 billion. T-Mobile recently laid off 5,000 employees as it continues to finalize all the pieces of the Sprint merger and said it has no further plans to lay off additional employees.

T-Mobile is also looking to expand its home internet offerings over the next year with additional fixed wireless access and a new line of fiber deployment. 5G deployment has helped T-Mobile expand into wireless home internet offerings. It's possible that these two new areas of service offering will help the company make up the difference in revenue it would have seen from pushing customers onto more expensive wireless phone plans, but the CEO says he's not "drawing any conclusions" just yet.

Nicholas Sutrich
Nicholas Sutrich
Senior Content Producer — Smartphones & VR
Nick started with DOS and NES and uses those fond memories of floppy disks and cartridges to fuel his opinions on modern tech. Whether it's VR, smart home gadgets, or something else that beeps and boops, he's been writing about it since 2011. Reach him on Twitter or Instagram @Gwanatu
12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jelp2
    That's good news. I didn't even know they were planning on doing that. I would have been pissed if so, that's for sure!
    Reply
  • mustang7757
    With all the Data breaches they Lucky we are loyal
    Reply
  • iamhe02
    I'm flabbergasted they ever considered this. I have never heard of any service provider terminating customers' legacy plans and forcing them onto more expensive ones. I'm sure there's good reason for this -- reasons that, unfathomably, T-Mobile had to learn for themselves.

    I recently moved to a new town where T-Mobile coverage is poor. The ONLY THING keeping me from switching providers is my legacy plan. If it weren't for that, I'd have been long gone and hard to find by now.
    Reply
  • iamhe02
    mustang7757 said:
    With all the Data breaches they Lucky we are loyal
    Good point! That's no trivial matter.

    Other providers in my area have better coverage; my legacy plan is the only thing keeping me with T-Mobile.
    Reply
  • mustang7757
    iamhe02 said:
    Good point! That's no trivial matter.

    Other providers in my area have better coverage; my legacy plan is the only thing keeping me with T-Mobile.
    Agree 👍
    Welcome to the Forums
    Reply
  • BerryBubbles
    I've been following this on Reddit for a while now. People were coming unglued.

    If you were notified by T-Mobile that they were going to migrate you to a different plan, you had the opportunity to opt-out of the change & retain your plan.

    However, once T-Mobile's migration plans leaked, customers got out the torches & pitchforks.

    I'd say it's become a P.R. nightmare for T-Mobile....
    Reply
  • BerryBubbles
    iamhe02 said:
    I'm flabbergasted they ever considered this. I have never heard of any service provider terminating customers' legacy plans and forcing them onto more expensive ones. I'm sure there's good reason for this -- reasons that, unfathomably, T-Mobile had to learn for themselves.
    Technically, they were not forcing anyone into a new plan. You were to be notified 'if' you were on the planned migration. You would then need to contact T-Mobile & opt-out of the change if you did not want to move to that plan.

    Don't get me wrong, I wasn't thrilled with the whole scenario. I was waiting to see if I was contacted & if so, I planned on opting-out.

    I have a love/hate relationship with T-Mobile.
    😀
    Reply
  • Bkdodger1
    I was one of the people that actually called them ahead of the rumor date to have them opt me out.. lol I'm not giving up my two lines for $70 all in..
    Reply
  • Royce Edwards
    Unfortunately this is only the latest of their "piss off the customer" moves. The first one was when they insisted that you supply a debit card or bank account information to receive auto pay, instead of linking to your credit card. Given their security reputation, or should I say their insecurity reputation, I immediately called them to find out if there was an alternative for a long time customer. Long story short, no alternative. I dropped two mobile lines and transferred them to Mint which uses their network. I kept wireless home internet with them and changed it to an unused checking account. Now every month I pay for my T-Mobile bill with a credit card before auto pay hits.

    The only thing they accomplished was losing two lines of service from a long time customer. Trust me they keep doing things like this and they'll find a way to make me jettison their home internet as well. It's such a shame because I used to be such a strong advocate for them. Unfortunately with most companies, they don't appreciate the customers they have only the ones they can win from a competitor. They're certainly not going to win me back anytime soon.
    Reply
  • davidnc
    I would have opted out but then saw they changed their minds on going though with forcing people off their old plans.

    But even if they had not changed their minds, and I opted out . I still would have started looking at other plans on other carriers .
    Reply