T-Mobile Customers: Here Comes a $2 or $5 Per Line Price Increase

If you’re an iPhone or Apple Watch user on one of T-Mobile’s older plans (like I am) prepare for a rate increase. The Magenta carrier is planning a rate increase of $2 or $5 per line increase this week.

CNET shared a memo from Jon Freier, president of T-Mobile’s consumer group, stating that the company will begin notifying affected customers this week (I received my notice yesterday, via text message).

The note doesn’t list which plans are affected, but Freier specifically says that those on the carrier’s latest assortment of Go5G plans will not see their prices increase. The same goes for the “millions of customers” who are covered by T-Mobile’s Price Lock guarantee, which he says will continue to be in effect for those people. 

Freier says in the memo that T-Mobile is raising prices on older plans “for the first time in nearly a decade” and that the increases are designed to “keep up with rising inflation and costs.”

The memo says that the rate increase will affect only a “small portion” of T-Mobile’s customers. Users with free lines from the carrier will not see rate increases on those lines, T-Mobile told CNET.

The Mobile Report confirmed the increase from an internal presentation deck.

T-Mobile has confirmed that customers on Simple Choice and ONE plans will be seeing a price increase, as well as potentially older/other plans, including possibly Sprint plans

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The increases are set to take effect on the June 5th billing cycle. Customers impacted by the increase will receive texts beginning at 9am Eastern, and will arrive by 7pm Pacific time. These texts will likely be staggered throughout the day to lower volume of customers calling and visiting stores.

Meanwhile, I confirmed the price increase via a text message received on Wednesday afternoon:

T-Mobile: For the first time in nearly a decade, we’re changing the price of some of our plans. Starting on your June or July bill, your voice plan will increase by $2/line per mo. and your other connected devices by $2/line per mo.  You’ll remain on the same plan with the same benefits and bill due date. For more information visit…

The company ran into trouble in 2023 when it was leaked that the carrier was planning to move customers with older plans to more expensive, newly created plans. Once the plans leaked, T-Mobile claimed that it was merely a small-scale test and did not go through with the plan.

While that planned price increase offered people the option to call T-Mobile’s customer support department and push back against the rate hike, a source told CNET that option won’t be available with the new rate hike.

While T-Mobile customers affected by the price hike can call customer support to change their plans to newer T-Mobile offerings, they cannot opt out of this rate increase.

When T-Mobile completed its merger with number four carrier Sprint in 2020, the carrier was legally required not to raise prices for three years. That grace period ended in 2023, and the Magenta carrier has since introduced an assortment of “Go5G” plans, including Go5G, Go5G Plus, and Go5G Next.