T-Mobile will soon force customers to more expensive plans. Here's how you can opt out
T-Mobile will soon migrate customers on older unlimited plans to newer (and pricier) programs, as discovered by a leaked memo on Reddit and later confirmed by CNET.
Those impacted, including One, Simple Choice, Magenta, and Magenta 55 Plus users, will receive an email or SMS notice starting next week about what their legacy data plan will be converted to and how the increased price will be reflected on their November billing cycle.
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How much of an increase, you ask? The leaked internal documents suggest users paying between $5 to $10 more per line, with Simple Choice customers, for example, moving to Magenta plans, Magenta customers moving to Go5G plans, and so forth. "We're always looking for ways to give our customers more from our services so we're moving a small number who were on older rate plans to newer plans that will deliver them enhanced features," T-Mobile told CNET.
A company spokesperson also confirmed that "there will be an increase of approximately $10 per line with the migration," though users who sign up for AutoPay can qualify for up to $5 per line in savings. Note that at the time of writing, T-Mobile's AutoPay service only works when you link a debit card or bank account -- you'll want to think twice about that given the company's recent track record of data breaches.
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Most importantly, affected customers can contact T-Mobile's Customer Case support line (1-800-937-8997) to opt out of the migration as soon as they receive the notice, should they choose to remain on their existing plan.
How long and responsive the calling process will be is up in the air, but I wouldn't be surprised if things take longer than usual considering the volume of users on older plans -- even if T-Mobile says it's "a small number". What's certain is that many T-Mobile customers next week will be at a crossroads; It's pay up for newer data plans, consider switching to a new carrier, or embrace the elevator music until the next inevitable migration happens.