pinniped

I'm sure they have data about how price hikes affect churn and the numbers are probably way, way lower than we think. The simple fact that we pay enough attention to our cell phone bill to be in an online forum talking about it means we aren't the typical audience.

The vast majority won't even know the change has happened.
A subset will notice the price hike but think there's nothing they can do about it.
A subset is locked in because they took a "free" phone deal via 24-month credit and would get hit with a big penalty to churn.
A subset will notice the change, be pissed about it, but not find it worth their time to call and argue.
A smaller subset will notice the change, call T-Mobile to try to negotiate back to their old rate, and be told to provide a debit card.
A small subset will do that step, but find it all online and provide a debit card.
A really small subset will churn. This rate is low in part because T-Mobile, even with a price hike, is still the cheapest alternative of the major players.
A very, very small subset will find this to be the nudge that pushes them off of a major player to an MVNO like Google Fi or Mint.

So yeah, on net T-Mo will make a bunch of money, especially because Verizon and AT&T still can't really attack them on price and therefore won't run mass media about the change.

scubadu

I'm not sure why we are wasting our breath debating this; T-Mobile is making the change. That is what matters to most posters in this forum and what most our discussing.

If you want to obsess about legal minutia knock yourself out, but barring some last minute stay, the change is happening.

Regards

LIH Prem

I wasn't attempting to question if it's going to happen, just saying it's not happening until they send out official notice of the change to customers affected by the change in terms.

-David

StuckInYYZ

Don't these companies send out a paper bill as a backup to notifying? I have a few accounts where I normally get an ebill. But when they make material changes (like this would be), I always get a physical followup, usually within a week.

draver

When all cellular customers had contracts due to accepting free equipment, a feature of that system was any material change to the contract would give the user the ability to cancel the deal within a time period of the change of terms. Generally that was 30 days as I recall. T-Mobile has no service contracts and therefore seemingly need not officially notify their customers of the change since there is no escape clause required. That may or may not be in play here, but they still have over 60 days remaining until the middle of May when they suggest the change will occur.

NYC Flyer

This change will definitely push me back to a MVNO. Probably USMobile with its $45 unlimited premium (i.e. not deprioritized) data plan on the Verizon network. I have kept T-Mobile since a Costco promo for $630 off two iphones last year...the Netflix and and Apple TV credits helped, as did the abillity to get credit card insurance coverage on a post-paid account and convenience/cost of international data. Losing the auto-pay discount means no more credit card insurance coverage. With this change, I will pay for Netflix out of pocket and deal with the data-only coverage US Mobile offers for free when traveling internationally for $50 less per month for my two lines.

KRSW

T-Mobile will still be accepting credit cards after this... it's just that they're not offering the discount. They'd be foolish to not take credit cards at all.

NYC Flyer

Of course they will...but removing the discount will push a number of customers to reconsider the overall value proposition of their offering.

KRSW

Given what inflation has done to costs of goods and services over the past two years, I doubt many people will even notice the extra $5/mo. The number of people who would switch carriers because of it is truly minimal.

lsquare

If AT&T does it too, then I think it'll normalize the situation amongst the big 3.

LIH Prem

I thought about the value proposition.

My bill is $90 a month including a $10 autopay discount. I charge it to a card that gives 5x UR on wireless, so I'm getting 5x UR x 90 = 450 UR per month. If we use Frequent Miler's RRV of 1.5 cents each, that's $6.75 per month current value using autopay with that credit card.

Hopefully a hybrid payment approach will work whenever this rolls out.

-David

NYC Flyer

I guess I’ve justified staying for the ease of international roaming, free Netflix and Apple TV+ and the insurance benefit from my credit card for a post-paid account. But with my bill already at $140 for two lines, US Mobile starts to look a lot better at $60 $70 less, particularly when international data is included.

What hybrid payments are you thinking might be applicable?

LIH Prem

People are hoping that we will be able to make a manual cc payment for most of the bill before the auto-payment date and then the auto-payment for the rest will still give us the credit. We'll need to see if that works.

Why is your bill so high? Check if there's a better deal now.

-David

NYC Flyer

I like it!

Looks like $140 is still the going "discounted" rate for two MagentaMAX lines...but open to learning another trick.

draver

One possible way to lower your bill is for the second person on the current billing to open a new account that receives the "Insider" discount. It gives a 20% discount and should reduce your current charges by $28. You may even get a third line free if you time it right. I did this when new accounts were offering good deals in 2017. I used my wife's SSN to open a ONE account with a port in from a Google Voice number. Once it was open we did a Change Of Responsibility (COR) and brought 10 lines over from my Simple Choice account. We have had 12 lines ever since, and my bill is less than yours is now. I have several promotions and features no longer available for new accounts, but the originals remain.