T-Mobile's failure to read the room correctly could cost them postpaid customers
Earlier this month T-Mobile hiked its rates by $5 per line starting on April 2nd. That can work out to a huge increase in the monthly bill paid by subscribers each month. While the carrier did send out texts to its subscribers informing them of the rate hike when it was first announced, some subscribers claim that they didn't get the text and went ballistic when they received their next bill showing their higher monthly balances.
One subscriber said that perks keep him from switching from his grandfathered Sprint plan to a cheaper Go5G plan. If he switched, he would lose the unlimited hotspot and would have to settle for free Netflix instead of the free Hulu he currently receives.
Interestingly, the suggestions made to this T-Mobile customer from the Reddit peanut gallery were mostly all the same. Several responses suggested that the T-Mobile subscriber take his business to an MVNO. These are Mobile Virtual Network Operators or companies that don't own their own network assets. Instead, they purchase wireless service from a larger carrier with a mobile network and sell it at a higher price to consumers. Most prepaid providers operate in this fashion.
T-Mobile alerts subscribers of their higher bill coming due in a few days. | Image credit-Reddit
Among the prepaid providers recommended by Reddit users were a couple that are owned by Verizon: Total Wireless and Visible. I had the opportunity to test the latter and it is a reliable and completely digital service. There are no stores, no reps trying to hit certain metrics at your expense, and you can control all aspects of your account via the Visible app. Since it uses Verizon's 5G and Ultra Wideband 5G airwaves (depending on the plan you choose) the service is dependable and fast. One Visible subscriber posted that he pays $35 a month for unlimited data and had a 5G download data speed of 1Gbps.
By hiking its rates now, T-Mobile might not have read the room properly. With all of the uncertainty that the global economy faces because of the on-again, off-again, and on-again tariffs, economists have been discussing the possibility that we face a global recession or even a worldwide depression. This is not the right time for T-Mobile to hike its plans by $5 per line and we can expect some repercussions as some consumers start shopping for lower-cost wireless plans.
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