Aurich Lawson
In 2017, Kathleen Odean thought she had found the last cell phone plan she would ever need. T-Mobile was offering a mobile service for people age 55 and over, with an “Un-contract” guarantee that it would never raise prices.
“I thought, wow, I can live out my days with this fixed plan,” Odean, a Rhode Island resident who is now 70 years old, told Ars last week. Odean and her husband switched from Verizon to get the T-Mobile deal, which cost $60 a month for two lines.
Despite its Un-contract promise, T-Mobile in May 2024 announced a price hike for customers like Odean who thought they had a lifetime price guarantee on plans such as T-Mobile One, Magenta, and Simple Choice. The $5-per-line price hike will raise her and her husband’s monthly bill from $60 to $70, Odean said.
As we’ve reported, T-Mobile’s January 2017 announcement of its “Un-contract” for T-Mobile One plans said that “T-Mobile One customers keep their price until THEY decide to change it. T-Mobile will never change the price you pay for your T-Mobile One plan. When you sign up for T-Mobile One, only YOU have the power to change the price you pay.”
T-Mobile contradicted that clear promise on a separate FAQ page, which said the only real guarantee was that T-Mobile would pay your final month’s bill if the company raised the price and you decided to cancel. Customers like Odean bitterly point to the press release that made the price guarantee without including the major caveat that essentially nullifies the promise.
“I gotta tell you, it really annoys me”
T-Mobile’s 2017 press release even blasted other carriers for allegedly being dishonest, saying that “customers are subjected to a steady barrage of ads for wireless deals—only to face bill shock and wonder what the hell happened when their Verizon or AT&T bill arrives.”
T-Mobile made the promise under the brash leadership of CEO John Legere, who called the company the “Un-carrier” and frequently insulted its larger rivals while pledging that T-Mobile would treat customers more fairly. Legere left T-Mobile in 2020 after the company completed a merger with Sprint in a deal that made T-Mobile one of three major nationwide carriers alongside AT&T and Verizon.
Getty Images | Bloomberg
After being notified of the price hike, Odean filed complaints with the Federal Communications Commission and the Rhode Island attorney general’s office. “I can afford it, but I gotta tell you, it really annoys me because the promise was so absolutely clear… It’s right there in writing: ‘T-Mobile will never change the price you pay for your T-Mobile One plan.’ It couldn’t be more clear,” she said.
Now, T-Mobile is “acting like, ‘Oh, well, we gave ourselves a way out,'” Odean said. But the caveat that lets T-Mobile raise prices whenever it wants, “as far as I can tell, was never mentioned to the customers… I don’t care what they say in the FAQ,” she said.