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T-Mobile switches users to pricier plans

arstechnica.com

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Re: T-Mobile switches users to pricier plans

#91

Post by afavour »

1-6 wrote: post #62
post_break wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

13 years here, what MVNO did you pick? I'm looking at visible and US cellular.

I went to Verizon (but they're not an MVNO), T-Mobile is cheap but Verizon is one of those legacy carriers that won't pull quick tricks on you. From time to time, Verizon will try to compete with T-Mobile and offer low priced tiers. Once you get into those, you can grandfather in and wait while the dust settles so you can decide who to move to for the next-generation network. AT&T and Verizon had really sweet deals a…

> Verizon is one of those legacy carriers that won't pull quick tricks on you

As a Verizon customer, we will have to agree to disagree on this.

Re: T-Mobile switches users to pricier plans

#92

Post by afavour »

jihadjihad wrote: post #48

Slightly OT: Has anybody had any luck with an MVNO, like Visible or Mint Mobile? I want to ditch Verizon because $98/mo for spouse and me to use 2GB between us both is just the height of insanity in 2023.

The annoying thing about this is that it really depends on your location. I heard wonderful things about Mint so I tried it out a while back. It was awful. But I live in NYC and (my working theory is) data prioritization matters somewhere this dense. Mint traffic gets lower priority than T-Mobile proper so I was getting an awful experience.

But if you live elsewhere your experience might be totally different. If you live in a different NYC borough to me your experience might be totally different!

A lot of MVNOs offer eSIMs at least. An easy way to do a test drive.

Re: T-Mobile switches users to pricier plans

#93

Post by ThatPlayer »

bobbylarrybobby wrote: post #74
theogravity wrote: post #65

If you're on T-Mobile, you might want to consider Google Fi. According to this data prioritization guide, Google Fi gets the same quality of service as standard-tier T-Mobile plans (lower QCI values are better, and both are on QCI 6): https://www.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/oaophe/data_pri... > QCI 6 is applied to all of T-Mobile's postpaid and prepaid plans (except for Essentials) and Google Fi which also has Q…

Trusting something as important as my phone number to an organization as fickle as Google seems insane.

Now that I think about it, my phone number has been on Google for more than 10 years with Google Voice.

Re: T-Mobile switches users to pricier plans

#94

Post by cmeacham98 »

arcticbull wrote: post #82
cmeacham98 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"No contract" in the telco world means no minimum length clauses (as opposed to something like a "12 month contract" plan, where you legally agree to stay on the plan for at least one year), it doesn't literally mean there isn't a contract.

Right but in the same way I can end the contract and walk away at any time, I would imagine it's totally kosher for T-Mobile to do the same. It's not like either party is locked in.

Sure, but "end the contract" doesn't mean "upgrade to a higher paying plan without consent".

Re: T-Mobile switches users to pricier plans

#95

Post by afruitpie »

post_break wrote: post #47
adwi wrote: post #41

Final straw for me. Just called and canceled after 15+ years—shockingly, they were loath to actually provide the unlock code to port my number out. Switched to an MVNO on the same network that’s >50% cheaper.

13 years here, what MVNO did you pick? I'm looking at visible and US cellular.

Anecdote incoming so take it with a grain of salt.

Visible is great, but struggles with moving service between phones. I was told it would take at least a week to move from iPhone to iPhone (both eSIM!).

In my experience, US Mobile (not to be confused with US Cellular) is every bit as good as Visible, but has better customer support.

Re: T-Mobile switches users to pricier plans

#96

Post by Mountain_Skies »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #30
paulpan wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Older plans (pre-2022) should be under the "Un-Contract": https://www.t-mobile.com/news/press/uncontract-carrier-freed... Notably "By contrast, the Un-contract is all give, no take. You can keep your existing Simple Choice plan and we won’t raise your rates. As part of this commitment, customers on existing Simple Choice promotional plans − like the Un-carrier’s ultra-popular 4 lines for $100 with up to 10 GB of 4G L…

T-Mobile forces customers into arbitration unless you've opted out. Probably straightforward to arbitrate based on terms, but I recommend filing an FCC complaint. Regulators light a fire. https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us Go to Phone > Billing (or go directly from here) https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us/articles/3600012... Phone Issues: Advertised Rate Text box content: T-Mobile is forcing me to u…

Arbitration is turning into a horror movie for many of these large companies. They thought it was a way to cut the cost of consumer litigation and get disputes settled in an environment that tends to be more corporate friendly. But that only worked when there were just a few claims against the company at a time. Once they started engaging in behavior that caused larger numbers of customers to want to sue, the arbitration fees, which are paid by the corporation, started adding up rapidly and made the entire thing far less attractive than a class action lawsuit and whatever small number of customers that opt out of the class.

Re: T-Mobile switches users to pricier plans

#97

Post by Mountain_Skies »

Scoundreller wrote: post #17
swatcoder wrote: post #5

Almost 25 years ago, Fucked Company did such a beautiful job of aggregating countless parallel stories as the dot-com bubble started to burst. It made it so easy to see what was going on in aggregate. There’s an opportunity for the same sort of thing now, but tracking all the desperate scrambling for revenue as the “we’ll make money after the next 10x users, promise” loses its ground as a business model.

And when they started getting filtered out, they created a "luckedcompany" clone with a slightly different logo and string replaced any "fuck" into" luck" before presenting to the user.

When PBS did a story on the site, they kept calling it something like "The Dot Com Deadpool" and would blur out "fucked" on the screen shots in the report. It was a source of sensible chuckles.

Re: T-Mobile switches users to pricier plans

#98

Post by 404mm »

MandieD wrote: post #28

I continue to be amazed at how much abuse my fellow Americans take from their telcos. I pay 13 EUR/4 wks (yes, German mobile operators are a bit slippery, too) for 3 GB + unlimited domestic talk and text. If I wanted to waste more time on my mobile, 20 GB would run around 30/4 wks. Of course, this is with a paid-for handset. I’ve never had a contract over here. What is the most economical, yet reliable way to receive…

I wish there was some other way. It’s all one huge monopoly and nowhere else to go. So people have no choice other than bending over and getting f’d.

Some say to go with MVNO but I haven’t found one that would check all the boxes for me. The main networks tend to keep the “premium” features to 1st party customers and MVNO get either lower speed, less data or something.

I wish there was one MVNO that is 1. No BS, 2. Merges 2 or 3 major carriers under one. It could even be the same price..

Re: T-Mobile switches users to pricier plans

#99

Post by sdossick »

runako wrote: post #12
crazygringo wrote: post #6

How is this even remotely legal? I'm genuinely asking. They must have consulted with lawyers and believe it is legal. But even if their TOS say they reserve the right to change anyone's plan at any time... that seems like one of those clauses that judges always strike down. This is just flat-out providing a different service than you contracted for. This is like if I order a $200 SSD from Amazon and instead they ship…

> I don't understand how this is legal. It's presumably laid out in the contract that their users sign. IANAL but I understand contract law gives wide latitude for parties to make agreements to do things which are generally legal. One could imagine a legal regime that prohibited price or service changes in otherwise-legal contracts. Of course, that also might not be ideal. For example: a vendor used by the provider s…

If the user has changed phones (even keeping the same number) or has for instance begun using 5G (which wasn't available 5 years ago...tmo started rolling it out at the tail end of 2019), they're using a materially different product than they were originally contracted for, and have likely agreed to new terms. Not saying that isn't scammy or scummy, but just like you've changed the product you're using, they can change the product they're selling.

Re: T-Mobile switches users to pricier plans

#100

Post by yieldcrv »

dkjaudyeqooe wrote: post #43
MandieD wrote: post #28

I continue to be amazed at how much abuse my fellow Americans take from their telcos. I pay 13 EUR/4 wks (yes, German mobile operators are a bit slippery, too) for 3 GB + unlimited domestic talk and text. If I wanted to waste more time on my mobile, 20 GB would run around 30/4 wks. Of course, this is with a paid-for handset. I’ve never had a contract over here. What is the most economical, yet reliable way to receive…

Google Voice, which is free.

my brand relies on being able to use imessage

my brand being me

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