On several occasions, T-Mobile (TMUS) has made it clear that it is not afraid to pull a lever customers hate.
As the phone carrier welcomes new customers, some of its phone services have become more expensive over the past few months.
Since last year, T-Mobile has been increasing monthly bills for customers with its older phone plans by $2 to $5. In April, it also increased its monthly Regulatory Programs & Telco Recovery fee from $3.49 to $3.99 for voice lines and $1.40 to $1.60 for data-only lines.
These price increases appeared to have recently had unintended consequences. In its latest earnings report, T-Mobile revealed that while it welcomed 830,000 new postpaid phone customers during the second quarter of this year, its postpaid phone churn (the number of customers who disconnected their phone service) increased by 10 basis points year over year.
During an earnings call on July 23, T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert emphasized that the company operates in a “highly competitive environment” where rivals are rolling out “unprecedented device promotions.”
T-Mobile has another fee increase up its sleeve
As T-Mobile loses loyal phone customers, it has again decided to hike a major fee, and this time, it impacts all of its customers.
According to a new update on its website, T-Mobile warns customers who don’t pay their bills on time that, starting Nov. 1, its late fee will increase from $7 to $10 (or 5% of the past due balance; T-Mobile will pick whichever is higher).
Due to state law, customers in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and New York have their late fees capped, meaning they will pay less than other customers.
“Late fees can be avoided by paying your bill by the payment due date or setting up AutoPay, which can be through your account online or in T-Life,” said T-Mobile on its website.
The last time T-Mobile increased its late fee was in 2022. At the time, the fee spiked from $5 to $7 (or 5% of the monthly charges).
Related: T-Mobile angers customers with tactic to stop service disconnects
In response to the change, some T-Mobile customers took to social media platform Reddit to express frustration with the fee increase.
“Obviously this isn’t an issue if you pay your bill on time. But now with how everything has gone up, this feels like it’s feeding upon those who might have trouble paying their bill one month or they lose their job and have a hard time paying, etc….,” wrote one customer.
“I canceled and switched to Verizon today. Been waiting for an excuse. This is pure nonsense targeting poor people from a nearly Trillion Dollar company,” wrote another.
It is no surprise that customers are frustrated; phone bills across the telecom industry have drastically increased.
A recent survey from WhistleOut found that 42% of Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T customers have seen their phone bills increase in the past year, which is 7% higher than the average. Also, 58% of these customers are considering switching to a different phone carrier as prices go up.
T-Mobile will soon be under new leadership
The latest fee increase from T-Mobile comes after it revealed last month that current Chief Operating Officer Srini Gopalan will take over as CEO of the company starting Nov. 1. Sievert will instead move on to the newly created position of vice chair.
“I am so thankful for Mike’s partnership and mentorship and am committed to building on his legacy of putting the customer first — while disrupting the industry — as we continue to scale our winning Un-carrier strategy,” said Gopalan in a press release.
More Telecom News:
- DirecTV customers threaten to leave after latest warning
- T-Mobile suffers massive boycott from customers
- Verizon quietly backtracks on harsh change that angered customers
Shortly after this announcement, leaked documents revealed that T-Mobile plans to implement significant changes that customers will soon notice.
T-Mobile reportedly plans to make customers 100% dependent on its T-Life app to handle upgrades, new lines, account activations, etc., by January 2026.
The documents also showed it plans to start accepting damaged or broken devices as trade-ins, but for reduced value compared to undamaged ones, starting sometime this month.
Related: Verizon discontinues free customer perk from phone plans
