T-Mobile has gotten worse, but I'm still not switching

It’s been a little over four years since John Legere stepped down as the CEO of T-Mobile. Under Legere, the nation’s then-fourth-largest wireless carrier grew exponentially. It swallowed up Sprint to become the second-largest United States carrier in terms of both revenue and subscriber count. It also has significantly trimmed the gap between it and the number one player, Verizon. In brief, times have been good for Team Magenta.

Despite this success, since Legere’s departure, T-Mobile has gone awry from a consumer standpoint. Most of the significant “Un-carrier” moves initiated during his tenure have either been weakened or, in some cases, simply eliminated. Prices have increased, too, and there have been a few controversial changes that didn’t sit well with subscribers like me. It all feels a bit like a bait-and-switch, with T-Mobile enticing customers with consumer-friendly features and promises and then slowly dismantling them over time.

However, despite this, I remain a loyal T-Mobile customer — and I probably will never switch.

The current problems with T-Mobile

Where do I even begin to discuss all the problems T-Mobile has these days? Prices have gone up, which is probably the most frustrating issue. Five years ago, you could get a single line on the T-Mobile ONE plan for $70 with autopay turned on, but now you’d need to pay $75 for Go5G, which is the evolution of that plan. Five dollars might not seem like much, but it’s still an increase and adds up to an extra $60 yearly. Things get worse when you add more lines, as doing so doesn’t get you the same levels of discounts, either. For example, an auto-paying family of four on T-Mobile ONE would pay $160 per month or $40 per line, assuming no limited promotions. Today, a family of four under those same circumstances on Go5G would pay $180, adding up to a comparative excess of $240 annually.

To make matters worse, the perks offered with T-Mobile’s plans have been significantly watered down. For example, you used to get ad-free Netflix paid off by T-Mobile with the standard ONE plan. With a single Go5G line, though, you don’t get Netflix for free anymore. You need to get two Go5G lines or upgrade your single line to a higher tier plan to get the Netflix on Us promo — and even then, you’ll get the ad-supported version of the service. Granted, this likely has a lot to do with Netflix raising its prices and changing its plans, but it still doesn’t change the fact that you’re paying more for T-Mobile service now and getting less in return.

Another watered-down perk is in-flight internet service. On T-Mobile ONE, you would receive unlimited texting and one hour of Wi-Fi internet on all supported flights. Now, you don’t get Wi-Fi access at all on Go5G. Instead, you get unlimited texting, one hour of streaming on all flights (through specific supported apps), and then four credits each year to use towards full-flight streaming. This means doing something as simple as checking your email on a flight requires you to pay extra.

However, one of the most controversial T-Mobile changes happened quite recently. Before October 2024, everyone with a premium tier plan received the same promotional discounts on new devices. In other words, if T-Mobile offered $800 off a new Google Pixel 9 to anyone with a Go5G plan, everyone with that plan got that discount, regardless of whether or not your Go5G plan’s price was reduced due to you being over the age of 55, an active member of the military or veteran, or a first responder. Today, though, that’s not the case. If you have a “normal” Go5G plan, you get that full $800 discount, but the 55+/military/first responder versions of the Go5G plan receive a lowered discount. Many folks, particularly on Reddit, consider this a slap in the face to our nation’s senior citizens, military members, and first responders.

T-Mobile Tuesdays — once filled with awesome weekly freebies and discounts that added a lot of value to your subscription — have also weakened over the years. I actually wrote a whole article about the recent problems with T-Mobile Tuesdays, which include limited offers that only apply to some regions of the country, an over-reliance on T-Mobile swag, and too much of a focus on offers that require you to hand over your email address or credit card info.

Finally, the Un-carrier moves have become less frequent and less impactful for customers. If you go to T-Mobile’s official page and review the history of Un-carrier events, you’ll see that every single one happened under John Legere. In other words, since 2020, there haven’t been any Un-carrier events that the company even feels the need to highlight.

There’s still a lot to love about T-Mobile

I realize I just spent a lot of time reviewing all the problems I’ve seen with T-Mobile over the past five years or so. However, despite these issues, T-Mobile still has a lot going for it. It’s important not to let the few bad things overshadow all the good things.

For example, although T-Mobile has raised its prices, it still undercuts postpaid plans from both AT&T and Verizon. A single line on Go5G will set you back $75 each month with all taxes and fees included. Meanwhile, the most comparable plan from AT&T — Unlimited Extra EL — costs one dollar more. AT&T’s plans also don’t include taxes and other fees in the list price, so you could end up paying a lot more than $76, depending on your location. Likewise, the Verizon plan that’s most like Go5G is myPlan Unlimited Plus, and it costs $80 monthly — once again, without taxes and fees included. So yeah, T-Mobile has raised its prices, but you’re still paying less than you would on Ma Bell or Big Red.

Not only are you paying less for T-Mobile, but you’re still getting more. Verizon makes you pay extra to bundle in streaming services like Apple Music, Disney Plus, and others, while AT&T offers no streaming services — not even MAX (formerly HBO Max), which is confusing, considering it owns that property. Although T-Mobile has watered down the Netflix on Us promo, it still is there, along with other similar freebies such as Apple TV Plus and Hulu subscriptions for specific plans.

Additionally, while T-Mobile Tuesdays has weakened overall when compared to the early glory days, there are still some real gems. I recently used a promo code to get a free Shack Burger from Shake Shack (a $7.99 value), and only a few days ago got a free chocolate chip cookie from Crumbl. These aren’t life-changing offers, but who doesn’t love a free burger and a free cookie?

Another perk is T-Mobile’s customer service. I realize not everyone has the same experience with customer service reps, but my interactions in this realm have been consistently excellent over the years. It’s easy to get a human on the line quickly, and once I do, my problems are usually resolved in that one call. I don’t have any experience with AT&T and Verizon customer service, so I can’t fully compare, but from what I’ve seen online, both companies have plenty of work to do in this regard.

Finally, T-Mobile’s company values align with my own. T-Mobile goes big every year for Pride Month to support the LGBTQ+ community, invests a considerable amount of money and resources into closing the digital divide, and makes reasonable efforts toward increasing sustainability and reducing its environmental impact. Granted, there’s a lot of room for the company to be even better in these areas — and it’s still a for-profit organization that will put making money over anything else — but at least it’s trying to do the right thing most of the time. The same can’t be said about Verizon or AT&T. Both companies have across-the-board “F” scores from the American Democracy Scorecard, for example, putting them on the same level as Comcast and Boeing.

I’m not leaving T-Mobile now and likely never will

I will readily concede that T-Mobile has lost some of its shine over the past few years. Mike Siefert, who took over as CEO when John Legere departed, hasn’t been as popular or as effective as his predecessor. The company’s pricing has crept upwards, and it is slowly trimming down on promotions and perks. However, it still has me as a loyal customer, and I’ll continue to encourage friends and family to switch to T-Mobile if they haven’t already done so. In my opinion, it’s the best US carrier, offering good value at relatively low prices.

Besides, even if I wasn’t satisfied with T-Mobile, where would I go? I certainly don’t want to pay more and get less from AT&T or Verizon. My only other option would be to switch to a prepaid plan, but that doesn’t really work for my lifestyle. I fly a lot, so T-Mobile’s free in-flight Wi-Fi on the Go5G Next plan is a perk I don’t know if I could live without, and the 50GB of high-speed hotspot data each month allows me to do my job from pretty much anywhere. As far as I know, there isn’t a prepaid plan out there with both of these perks — there aren’t even postpaid plans from AT&T or Verizon with both of those perks!

T-Mobile will need to get a lot worse for me to jump ship. On the flip side, I would switch to a company that offers more than T-Mobile at the same or better pricing. However, the likelihood of this is incredibly small given the logistical hurdles a new carrier would need to navigate to even remotely compete with the Big Three US carriers. And if anyone reading this thinks Verizon or AT&T could turn around and become better than T-Mobile, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

I’m no T-Mobile fanboy — I would happily leave if there were good reasons to — but I’ve been on Team Magenta for over ten years because it’s objectively the best team to be on for my needs. Until that changes, there will be a T-Mobile SIM in any phone I own.