T-Mobile is moving roughly 8 million customers off older wireless plans and onto its current lineup, according to CNET, a change the carrier describes as an average increase of $4 per line. For people who kept legacy plans because they were cheaper or had better terms, that is the part of the bill where marketing slogans go to die.
CNET reported that T-Mobile is automatically migrating subscribers on many legacy plans to newer offerings. The practical mechanism is blunt: a customer who stayed on an older plan gets assigned to a current one, and the monthly charge rises. T-Mobile’s framing, as reported by CNET, is that the adjustment averages $4 per line. A family plan with several lines can feel that differently than a single-line spreadsheet example.
The new migration follows other increases. According to the account cited by Techdirt, many legacy smartphone plans already saw a $5-per-line increase in April 2025. PhoneArena reported that some customers on older grandfathered plans could face total increases approaching 60% compared with their original rates.
Fees have moved too. Tmo.report reported that T-Mobile’s administrative fee for voice lines rose from $3.99 to $4.49 per month, with mobile internet line fees increasing from $1.60 to $2.10. That fee bucket is where carriers often make a advertised plan price look cleaner than the bill customers actually pay, a trick the wireless industry did not need T-Mobile to invent.
The price-lock problem
The latest changes land on top of a dispute over T-Mobile’s older “price lock” promise. Techdirt reported that the company has faced lawsuits and consumer backlash from customers who believed a seven-year-old promotion meant their wireless rates would not change.
The fight is partly about the difference between a promise customers heard and the contract language T-Mobile later relied on. The supplied reports do not establish the outcome of those lawsuits, but they do show the basic consumer problem: people bought service under a stability pitch, then saw bills rise through plan changes, per-line increases and added fees.
The merger context
The price increases also revive criticism of the Sprint and T-Mobile merger. Deal opponents warned that reducing the number of national wireless carriers would weaken price competition. Techdirt has argued that carriers stopped competing as aggressively on price after the merger, matching what those critics predicted.
Labor was part of the merger debate as well. GeekWire reported in 2023 that, three years after the Sprint deal closed, T-Mobile employed more than 9,000 fewer people, while the company maintained that it had honored its jobs pledge.
T-Mobile built its “uncarrier” brand by positioning itself as the customer-friendly alternative to AT&T and Verizon. The newer pattern described by CNET, PhoneArena, tmo.report and Techdirt looks much more ordinary: migrate customers, raise per-line charges, lift administrative fees and argue over what an old guarantee meant.
Techdirt also pointed to political episodes surrounding the company, including ABC News reporting that T-Mobile spent money at then-President Donald Trump’s Washington hotel while the Sprint merger was under federal review. Free Press later said T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon removed diversity, equity and inclusion requirements under pressure from the Trump administration. Fast Company reported in 2018 that T-Mobile hired Corey Lewandowski as a consultant days after he mocked a child with Down syndrome on cable television.
None of that changes the arithmetic on a wireless bill. It does help explain why customers who bought the old T-Mobile pitch may see the current one as just another carrier invoice with better magenta paint.
This story draws on original reporting from Techdirt.
