T-Mobile Is Forcibly Moving Those on Older Plans to Some of Its Newer Ones in November

T-Mobile is forcing users on its older unlimited plans to move to some of its latest options. The carrier confirmed to CNET that starting next week, notices will be sent out to T-Mobile users on its older One, Simple Choice, Magenta and Magenta 55 Plus plans alerting them that starting with their November bill cycles their respective plans will change and that their monthly pricing will go up. 

The notices will go out starting on October 17 and T-Mobile tells CNET that “there will be an increase of approximately $10 per line with the migration.” A spokesperson noted that those who sign up for AutoPay can save $5 per line (on up to eight lines per account). 

T-Mobile recently changed its automatic payment rules to require a linked bank account or debit card as opposed to a credit card, though with the company’s troubled history of data breaches consumers may be wary of linking banking information to their accounts. 

“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 said in a statement. It was not immediately clear how many people will be impacted or what a “small number” meant.  

The company adds that those who don’t want to have their plan changed will be able to reverse the move, but they will need to call T-Mobile’s Customer Care support line to make that happen. 

The carrier is giving users an undisclosed period of time to call in and reverse the forced switch, but how long that period will be was similarly not immediately known. It was also not known if those who go back will be able to stay on their older plans for good or if any reversal simply buys these users a little more time before a switch is once again forced upon them. 

News of the plan changes first leaked on Reddit, The Mobile Report and on the Tech Life Channel on YouTube. 

According to the leak on Reddit, those on Simple Choice will be moved to either Magenta or Essentials Select, those on Magenta or One will move to Go5G and those on Magenta 55 Plus will be migrated to Go5G 55 Plus. Business users on Simple Choice Business will similarly be switched over to the carrier’s Business Unlimited Advanced. 

The forced changes to legacy plans come over three years after T-Mobile completed its merger with Sprint. One of the promises to get the merger approved by regulators was that the carrier would not raise rates on plans for three years. It has since introduced a “Price Lock” promise to not raise rates on plans, but that guarantee largely only applies to its newer plans from the last two years. 

As part of its “Price Lock” page, T-Mobile does note that those who are on “eligible plans” from before April 28, 2022 and don’t want to switch to a new T-Mobile plan will be able to have the carrier cover “your final month’s recurring service charge if we were to raise prices and you choose to leave.” 

Those looking to take advantage of that offer will simply need to give the carrier notice “within 60 days.”