I can't even believe I'm typing this up so soon after T-Mobile's latest price hike, but the "Un-carrier" (or what's left of it) is preparing to increase its monthly charges again. Technically, your plan's "base" rate will not go up this time around, with Magenta instead taking advantage of the oldest trick in Verizon and AT&T's book to make you pay more money.
That's right, T-Mo is increasing a fee you might remember from a 2024 class action lawsuit. The "Regulatory Programs & Telco Recovery Fee" (now that's a mouthful) will jump from $3.49 to $3.99 for voice lines and from $1.40 to $1.60 for data-only lines on April 24, and if that doesn't sound like a lot to you, it's probably because you haven't taken a small detail into consideration.
This is a fee that applies to every individual line (including free lines) on your account every month, so the $0.50 and $0.20 hikes per line can definitely add up to an uncomfortable sum after a while. Perhaps more importantly, this price fee increase will impact a lot of T-Mobile customers equally, regardless of how long you've been with the operator and what plan you're on. The obvious exception are taxes and fees-including plans, although I wouldn't be shocked to hear some of those now no longer include this particular fee.
If you haven't received this text yet... you probably will soon enough. | Image Credit -- UCF_Knight12 on Reddit
As explained on T-Mobile's official website, the Regulatory Programs & Telco Recovery Fee is "not a government tax or imposed by the government." That obviously doesn't tell you exactly what this tax is, and Magenta doesn't offer a lot of clarity by further "explaining" that the "fee is collected and retained" to "help recover certain costs" the carrier has "already incurred and continues to incur."
For a not-insignificant number of customers, the fee represents a "pure and simple money grab", and with Verizon recently rolling out a price lock program (designed at least in part to troll T-Mobile), you have to wonder how many people will follow my colleague Johanna Romero's example and ditch the once-ambitious-and-rarely-sneaky "Un-carrier" in favor of a smaller or bigger competitor. Of course, Verizon is not promising to keep its subscribers' taxes and fees unchanged either, but somehow, Big Red is starting to look like the more honest and fair option in this increasingly predatory US wireless landscape.
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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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