T-Mobile 'Phone Freedom' brings back two-year contracts & more hotspot data

AppleInsider

T-Mobile has announced an initiative called "Phone Freedom" that offers a new upgrade plan and ways to make switching from other carriers easier.

Phone Freedom by T-Mobile

As Verizon and AT&T have shifted from two-year plans to contacts that last three years, T-Mobile bills its update as another "Uncarrier" move that it says will free people from carrier lock-in and hidden contract changes. The Phone Freedom program includes three measures to support new and existing customers.

First, the new Go5G Plus rate plan promises customers the ability to upgrade to a new phone every two years. As a version of the company's Magenta MAX plan, it provides 50GB of high-speed hotspot data and 15GB of high-speed data in Mexico and Canada monthly.

If customers choose the autopay payment method for the Go5G Plus plan, they can save approximately $120 yearly for two lines. Customers can also receive free Go5G Plus with a third line for a limited time.

Next, Easy Unlock lets people turn in their carrier-locked smartphone to T-Mobile and receive a new device. The carrier will still pay off the phone up to $650 via a prepaid card from Mastercard.

For example, new and existing customers can receive an iPhone 14 when they trade in an eligible device on the Go5G Plus plan via 24 monthly bill credits.

For customers who switch to T-Mobile but aren't satisfied with the service, the carrier's Go Back Guarantee will help people change to a different company by offering $50 back per voice to help cover the cost of bills if people decide to leave within 30 days.

Finally, alongside Phone Freedom, which is available starting April 23, T-Mobile is dropping prices on its Essentials plan. It will soon cost $25 monthly for a family of four or $50 monthly for a single line.

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twolf2919

I love T-Mobile, but their coverage outside of urban settings is spotty - and doesn't seem to be getting any better.  3 years ago, I had to move from T-Mobile to Verizon because I moved 10 minutes outside of town (Research Triangle in NC) and there wasn't even a single bar :-(  Three years later, I tried T-Mobile's test drive - which is actually pretty neat as it uses an eSIM so it shows you exactly what you'd experience on your phone - to see if it had gotten any better....not one iota better :-(

We love to travel internationally and T-Mobile is, by far, the best carrier to do that with since they don't charge extra, unlike greedy Verizon and AT&T.  But if I can't use the service at my home, what can I do?

payeco

twolf2919 said:

I love T-Mobile, but their coverage outside of urban settings is spotty - and doesn't seem to be getting any better.  3 years ago, I had to move from T-Mobile to Verizon because I moved 10 minutes outside of town (Research Triangle in NC) and there wasn't even a single bar :-(  Three years later, I tried T-Mobile's test drive - which is actually pretty neat as it uses an eSIM so it shows you exactly what you'd experience on your phone - to see if it had gotten any better....not one iota better :-(

We love to travel internationally and T-Mobile is, by far, the best carrier to do that with since they don't charge extra, unlike greedy Verizon and AT&T.  But if I can't use the service at my home, what can I do?

Sounds like you just have bad luck in a T-Mobile dead zone. I’d contact them about it. T-Mobile’s non-urban coverage has increased substantially in the last three years. 

jamnap

twolf2919 said:

I love T-Mobile, but their coverage outside of urban settings is spotty - and doesn't seem to be getting any better.  3 years ago, I had to move from T-Mobile to Verizon because I moved 10 minutes outside of town (Research Triangle in NC) and there wasn't even a single bar :-(  Three years later, I tried T-Mobile's test drive - which is actually pretty neat as it uses an eSIM so it shows you exactly what you'd experience on your phone - to see if it had gotten any better....not one iota better :-(

We love to travel internationally and T-Mobile is, by far, the best carrier to do that with since they don't charge extra, unlike greedy Verizon and AT&T.  But if I can't use the service at my home, what can I do?

Agree, but not only urban areas. We have been with TMO for 7 years but see little progress in coverage even after calling tech support and getting assurance some thing would be done.  There are many dead spots in/around FLL airport, yet TMO has made no attemot to correct.  People sitting next to me with Verizon have full bars and data.  So last month I took advantage of a trial promo from VZW MVNO Visible e-sim to add on iPhone 14 pro and noticed a big difference in service between TMO (no data) and VIS (3 bars).  So will be leaving TMO for VIS, and at a cost savings.

chasm

Canada used to have three-year contracts, and everyone hated the Canadian carriers because the US had two-year contracts.

Don't screw this up for us, America.

chadbag

What is this talk about contracts?   None of the carriers have contracts for their service.  

What they do have are installment payment contracts at 0% interest on the phone.  If you decide to move, which you can at any time, you merely have to pay off the phone in total.  The installment contract is dependent on service being purchased but your service is not under contract.  If you have your own phone or pay it off early you can cancel service at any time. 

This is different than it used to be where the service itself was under for 2 years or whatever and you couldn’t just cancel service or had to pay severe penalties to do so.  And they sold you a phone under the service contract at a subsidized price which hid the real price. 

ITGUYINSD

chadbag said:

What is this talk about contracts?   None of the carriers have contracts for their service.  

What they do have are installment payment contracts at 0% interest on the phone.  If you decide to move, which you can at any time, you merely have to pay off the phone in total.  The installment contract is dependent on service being purchased but your service is not under contract.  If you have your own phone or pay it off early you can cancel service at any time. 

This is different than it used to be where the service itself was under for 2 years or whatever and you couldn’t just cancel service or had to pay severe penalties to do so.  And they sold you a phone under the service contract at a subsidized price which hid the real price. 

The article is clearly talking about the installment payment contracts, not a contract to stay with the carrier.  Re-payment contracts went from 2 years to 30 months and now is 36 months with AT&T.  Not sure about Verizon.

Apple_Bar

ITGUYINSD said:

chadbag said:

What is this talk about contracts?   None of the carriers have contracts for their service.  

What they do have are installment payment contracts at 0% interest on the phone.  If you decide to move, which you can at any time, you merely have to pay off the phone in total.  The installment contract is dependent on service being purchased but your service is not under contract.  If you have your own phone or pay it off early you can cancel service at any time. 

This is different than it used to be where the service itself was under for 2 years or whatever and you couldn’t just cancel service or had to pay severe penalties to do so.  And they sold you a phone under the service contract at a subsidized price which hid the real price. 

The article is clearly talking about the installment payment contracts, not a contract to stay with the carrier.  Re-payment contracts went from 2 years to 30 months and now is 36 months with AT&T.  Not sure about Verizon.

LOL “clearly”? No where in the article say about device payments. it is referencing CLEARLY 2 year service contracts. Like the title reads “bring backs 2 years contracts”. The title should have say: T-Mobile resurrects the Sprint iPhone Forever plan because that’s pretty much what it is and probably won’t include the taxes either. 

chadbag

ITGUYINSD said:

chadbag said:

What is this talk about contracts?   None of the carriers have contracts for their service.  

What they do have are installment payment contracts at 0% interest on the phone.  If you decide to move, which you can at any time, you merely have to pay off the phone in total.  The installment contract is dependent on service being purchased but your service is not under contract.  If you have your own phone or pay it off early you can cancel service at any time. 

This is different than it used to be where the service itself was under for 2 years or whatever and you couldn’t just cancel service or had to pay severe penalties to do so.  And they sold you a phone under the service contract at a subsidized price which hid the real price. 

The article is clearly talking about the installment payment contracts, not a contract to stay with the carrier.  Re-payment contracts went from 2 years to 30 months and now is 36 months with AT&T.  Not sure about Verizon.

Really?  Clearly?  No where is that made obvious. In fact it starts talking about “back to 2 years” (T-Mobile never left two years) and then goes into new service plans.  So it is tying talks of contracts with talks of new types of service plans.  It is far from obvious and it is not clearly talking about installment payment contracts.   I suggest you re-read the article.  Especially the first few paragraphs.