• fpslem@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I had one of these plans for over a decade. It was fun while it lasted—I won’t be staying with the company after this.

    • perviouslyiner@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Had a “pay as you go” contract since 1997 (not with T) - they told everyone that you need a new SIM for a network upgrade which required deactivating the original SIM. New SIM didn’t work in normal (Nokia 1110) phones. Then they sent SMS saying that they weren’t going to honour the original PAYG phone contracts.

    • easydnesto@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      At least they will pay your last month of service when you leave 👍. I agree that they should not have changed the terms later and then rolled back the pr and everything after they terminated the program.

    • Gingerlegs@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      We had the “framily” plan from way back. They did the same to us in 2020. Eventually, you could not update your device without upgrading your plan.

      We all bailed, lol

      Edit: Almost forgot! I had call them 3 (three!!!) times to finally get the service cancelled. By no accident, I’m sure. And they still left me with the 3 month bill.

      • wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Why not just buy the device from the manufacturer, swap the sim, and boom you’re “upgraded”.

        It blows my mind how people think ‘carrier store’ = ‘cell phone store’ and it’s the only place to get them. Friends and family were baffled by this new information when I had this discussion with them. Imagine thinking that the only place you can buy a vehicle is at [your insurance company’s local office]. All the carrier is doing is offering the service, and they sell phones too for convenience (and to lock in customers but shhh).

        • catloaf@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          Yup, T-Mobile lets you bring your own device. I buy all of mine used on eBay for significantly less than retail. I just have to make sure it’s unlocked or locked to Sprint or T-Mobile.

          Which is probably why most people get the phones from their carriers. Some of them do have special models, because they do something weird with their spectra.

        • Serinus@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Well, for many years carriers would give you ~$400 credit towards buying a phone when you signed a contract. There would be “free” phones or the $500 Motorola Razr would be $100 with contract.

        • w3dd1e@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          I still get charged an activation fee for putting my sim in a new phone. It’s bullshit. I bought my phone outright from Apple. AT&T still charged the $30 activation fee.

          • wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            Both those are for line activation, not switching devices. My main line currently is with AT&T small biz and I’ve moved from Pixel 6 Pro > 7 Pro > 8 Pro by just popping the sim in. No charges. When tmo postpaid was my main provider, same thing, charged once initially and that was it. For tmo prepaid, I currently have family on lines and again nothing beyond the initial sim charge. And as I recall, esim is free (as it should be).

            If you don’t go to a store for assistance or do something weird (try and move from a phone to a tablet or something; and that limit is only for postpaid lines afaik), there should be no fee. It’s only when you involve a staff member do they charge you for assistance. Unless tmo changed the policy for postpaid lines in the last 2y, my experience doesn’t match yours o.O

        • Gingerlegs@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Not everyone has the luxury of spending $1200 cash on a phone outright. Unfortunately, the payment plan is a big factor for a lot of people (in a “family” plan.)

          • capital@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            How long you been buying phones? How do you not know there are far cheaper phones?

          • ShepherdPie
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            5 months ago

            You’re still paying the money either way. Buying from the manufacturer typically means paying a much lower price.

          • bobs_monkey@lemm.ee
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            5 months ago

            Yeah if you want a flagship, that’s how they get you. You can also get pretty decent phones for a few hundred on eBay. Like a couple year old flagship for less than half the original price. But if you’re adamant about having the latest and greatest, you have no one to blame but yourself.

              • wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                Or you can buy the newest at sticker initially, and when the next model drops, sell it to family for half price as lightly used. Rinse and repeat. They get bargains phones, you get the latest tech.

          • wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            Miss me with that, I’m disabled and get less than a grand a month for all my expenses. All of the major cell phone brands offer their own financing (and all I’ve seen is 0% interest for 24 or 36 months), and have for 10+ years. And because you’re not buying from a carrier, you aren’t locked in, so you can hop to prepaid plans or even MVNOs and enjoy actually massive savings. If you actually needed to, you can get by with service at $10 or less a month, and assuming you are paying $65 a month currently (the going rate for an “unlimited” tmo plan, I don’t know the math for groups) you’d save $55 a month, or $1,320 over 2 years. Enough to make your flagship phone “free”.

          • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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            5 months ago

            Today’s $1,200 handset can be had 24 months from now for 1/4th of that. To forestall the “I broke my phone and need something NOW!” argument I’d point out that phones like the Samsung Galaxy A15 exist, are COMPLETELY usable, and cost less than $200 brand new.

            Anyone forking out $1,000+ for a new phone either has some very specific needs or is stuck in a FOMO trap.

  • LordCrom@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Happened to us using cricket also. Forever family plan of 5 lines for $100 so long as the plan is never adjusted.

    Well 2 months ago, bill showed for 130. I called and they said they are doing away with that plan. When I pointed out the ‘forever’ part, they actually pulled a Darth Vader and said they were altering the plan and that I had enjoyed the low cost for much longer than new clients.

    Fuck off

  • PoopMonster@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Yeah… I switched to an mvno less than a week after I got the text. I’m now paying half of what I used to for the same service (even the same network)

    • wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Do note that, depending on what plan you were on before, and what you’re on now, it might be the same network but not the same service. Almost all MVNOs are at a lower data priority (sometimes by several levels), most don’t offer roaming service, most don’t offer international service, and things like (first-party) call/text blocking through an app isn’t available.

      I have a second line on tello for $6 and it’s everything I need for that line, but during the day data is basically useless on that line. The tower near me is massively over capacity - but if you have a tmo line with their top priority (most plans sold directly thru tmo), you’d never know it. Everyone else gets screwed.

  • dirthawker0@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Honestly, these “promises” never last. I had ATT at $50/mo for home internet service and was promised it would never go up. Last year it went to $60 and this year $65. I just switched to Xfinity. More Mbps than ATT, promotional price of $20/mo for a year, it goes up to 35 for year 2, then after that the promotion is over and it’s $57. After the 3rd year ends it will probably go up, but they’ve basically given me 1 free year of internet.

    • sploosh@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      They didn’t give you shit. You paid them for a service. Corps are not your friends.

        • dirthawker0@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Thanks, yes they did misunderstand. If 57 is the “real” price I’m effectively paying for 1 year of service and getting 2. Also there are no penalties for cancellation after the first year, so if i wanted to go through the trouble of finding another ISP, I could walk away then.

    • Veraxus@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Same. We got a super limited deal well over a decade ago that they ran for a single Christmas. While our bill has gone up ever so slightly in that time, the extra cost is all due to misc “fees” rather than the base rate, according to the bills.

  • PsyDoctah9Jah@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    T-Mobile is trying to retrofit this bs, gaslighting people, well trying to based purely on greed. This " pay your last months bill " is something new.

    It was both implied and understood when I selected that plan that the price would not change as long as we kept the plan. There was no promise or guarantee. This was an agreement.

    Because my rate would not change this directly influenced how I did business with T-Mobile AND their competitors by deciding to upgrade, accept a promotion, decline a competitors offer, remain a customer, remain on my plan versus newer ones, etcetera.

    Are people being wilfully obtuse or just dense. If the Price Lock / UN- Contract always had a 60 day “promise” this would have been brought up years ago. In fact, it states (ed) the opposite and the rates should not be changing. The way T-Mobile is handling this is disgusting. I could respect them more had they said " we are breaking the terms we proctored to you and will pay all penalities and fines associated both civil and arbitration, we also recognize how this violates consumer trust, we are officially the company we keep " - The Re-Carrier

  • Sam_Bass@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Yeah mine is holding steady so far. If it goes up too much i might have to go back to mvno

  • DrowningInteger@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    After how fucking god awful the Sprint merger was handled I don’t think I can trust t-mobile to do anything right

  • PsyDoctah9Jah@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I’m surprised I havent read from the comments how funny it is: Of course I know it wasn’t a true restriction, after all its a man made program; however, isn’t it convenient for years T-Mobile told customers those plans had restrictions, line caps that could not be changed, saying they couldn’t make changes to the plan and you would have to switch plans to add more lines…

    Yet, they are able to raise price as it fits them… Comical and pathetic.

    Self imposed limitations…

  • spujb@lemmy.cafe
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    5 months ago

    fiduciary duty requires that directors of corporations protect the interests of shareholders’ investments—including maximizing profits where reasonable and within the bounds of the law.

    even if technically illegal on paper (which i’m not sure it is), so long as there is no enforcement or accountability, t-mobile and similar entities have literally no reason do do better. they are literally just holding up their end of the law.

    in other words, this unfair treatment isn’t just one of many unfortunate flukes. it is literally baked into the system as a requirement.

  • shortwavesurfer@monero.town
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    5 months ago

    So they had a price lock guarantee that would stop your phone lines from increasing in price. And as far as I am aware, they stuck to that. Some people thought they had that when they actually had signed up before that point. If they had ended up signing up before that point, then they were on Uncontract, which says that they will pay your last month’s bill if you decide to leave.

    • tyler@programming.dev
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      5 months ago

      No, the contract and ToS for the uncontract says it’s the same price guarantee as the price-lock. It says so in the article.

      • shortwavesurfer@monero.town
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        5 months ago

        Yeah, I guess I should have read the specific article before really commenting on it. However, I generally follow the carriers and several YouTube channels about them, so sometimes information can get a little bit scrambled.