As part of its transition to only offering service and handsets without a contract, T-Mobile is set to stop offering Classic plans via its retail partners. Back in March when the carrier introduced its new and improved "Simple Choice" plans, it immediately stopped offering its traditional two-year contract "Classic" plans at all of its first-party stores. At the time, third-party retailers such as Costco, Walmart and Best Buy were allowed to continue selling handsets with the old Classic plans and subsidies.
Based on documentation provided to TmoNews, those Classic plans are shutting down for these third-party retailers starting today and completing on November 1st. T-Mobile has requested that retailers begin returning all postpaid phone inventory back to the carrier, and only provide 30 day return support for customers on Classic plans.
What isn't entirely clear at this point is what will be replacing the Classic plan offerings for these third-party retail partners. One would hope that T-Mobile would extend its full line (or at least a subset) of Simple Choice plans and phone financing options to them, but nothing is known at this moment.
Whether it is a move to offering just Simple Choice plans across the board or some new invention for these retailers, it will likely be a move away from the status quo of two-year contracts and phone subsidies — which we think everyone can agree is a step in the right direction.
Source: TmoNews
