Many T-Mobile customers will soon lose discounts but carrier doesn't want to leave anyone high and dry
In February, the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) aimed at bringing internet to households that couldn't afford it stopped accepting new enrollments. The program is expected to run out of money by the beginning of May and funding is unlikely to be renewed. This means that many eligible households may soon lose connectivity. T-Mobile has outlined some solutions for those who want to stay online.
The FCC's ACP program provided a discount of up to $30 per month for eligible households and a price cut of up to $75 per month for tribal residents. People also got a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a computer or tablet.
The benefit program was a lifeline for people who needed an affordable internet connection for school, work, or healthcare.
AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon previously shared measures they came up with to keep subscribers connected and T-Mobile has done something similar now.
The carrier says that customers using ACP discounts have the following options:
- Customers using the ACP benefit with Assurance Wireless will keep enjoying the same prices and plan through August 2024. After that, they will either have to qualify for the free federal assistance program Lifeline or shift to an affordable T-Mobile or Metro by T-Mobile plan.
- Those who are already Metro by T-Mobile users with ACP will get to keep the discount through the June bill date. After that, they will be given a discount of $15 every month on the ACP line through August 2024. They can then either stay on the same plan or choose any of Metro's plans that have a starting price of $35 in the first month and cost $30 per month thereafter with AutoPay. Metro also has other affordable options for customers who already have a phone.
- Another affordable option is Connect by T-Mobile, a prepaid service that gets you unlimited talk and texts and 5GB of data for $15 a month.
- T-Mobile also offers tablet and 5G mobile internet data plans that start at $10 per month for 2GB of data.
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