T-Mobile legacy plan retirement and Price Lock revocation (2026)

On June 29, 2026, T-Mobile began notifying customers that it was retiring more than 1,100 legacy billing codes and automatically moving the affected subscribers onto its current, higher-priced Experience plans, with no option to keep the old plan. Independent T-Mobile coverage put the number of affected customers at roughly 8 million. Many of the retired plans had been sold under an Un-contract and Price Lock promise that T-Mobile would never raise the price for as long as the customer kept the plan. T-Mobile framed the 2026 change as retiring those plans rather than raising prices, and moved the affected customers onto new rates that increase phone and home internet lines by up to $6 per line per month.

Background

T-Mobile built much of its 2010s growth on a promise that its prices would not rise. The carrier marketed an Un-contract guarantee under which it said it would never raise the price of a qualifying plan for as long as the customer stayed on it. A 2017 promotion for the T-Mobile One plan told customers that "T-Mobile will never change the price you pay for your T-Mobile One plan" and that customers alone could change it. After the 2020 Sprint merger, T-Mobile replaced the Un-contract language with a Price Lock guarantee in 2022.

The carrier's own Price Lock documentation later split the promise into narrower tiers. The Original Price Lock, for accounts activated between April 28, 2022 and January 17, 2024, said the base monthly recurring service charge would not increase, but excluded taxes, fees, promotions, per-use charges, third-party services, and network management. For accounts from January 18, 2024 to April 22, 2025, the Last Month Price Lock promised only that if T-Mobile raised the price and the customer left within 60 days, it would cover the final month's recurring charges. A separate 5-Year Price Guarantee, which fixes the base price for talk, text, & 5G data for five years from activation, began on April 23, 2025.

T-Mobile also used the Price Lock label to sell 5G Home Internet. A customer's screenshot of t-mobile.com taken on August 14, 2023 shows the $30-per-month plan carrying a "PRICE LOCK GUARANTEE" badge with the fine print "EXCLUSIONS LIKE TAXES & FEES APPLY."

A customer's screenshot of t-mobile.com taken August 14, 2023 shows the $30-per-month 5G Home Internet plan carrying a "PRICE LOCK GUARANTEE" badge with the disclaimer "EXCLUSIONS LIKE TAXES & FEES APPLY."

The June 2026 plan retirement

On June 29, 2026, T-Mobile confirmed to CNET that it was automatically migrating customers off legacy plans, with notices going out by text & through the T-Life app. A company representative told CNET that some of the retired plans were 10 to 15 years old and included Simple Choice, T-Mobile ONE, and grandfathered Sprint plans from the 2020 merger; later coverage added the ONE Plus and Magenta families and legacy T-Mobile for Business accounts. Affected customers were moved to T-Mobile's current Experience lineup, including Essentials, Experience More, and Experience Beyond.

In a statement to Mashable, a T-Mobile spokesperson described the change this way:

We're retiring our oldest plans, some of which were built nearly 15 years ago, in the 3G and 4G eras, and well before our 5G network was fully deployed. Customers will transition to modern plans that provide access to America's best wireless technology, enhanced features and a 5-year price guarantee for peace of mind. Some customers will see no change to their monthly bill, while some will see a modest adjustment. Every customer moved to a new plan will keep their current benefits while gaining improvements in network and service experiences.

The migration was automatic and offered no way to stay on the old plan. Mashable reported that a customer who ended up on a plan they did not want could only switch to a different T-Mobile plan or change carriers. Chief marketing officer Allan Samson told CNET that migrated customers would typically still pay less than a new customer would for the same plan today.

Mashable reported the average increase at around $4 per line. The text notices customers received put the increase at up to $6 per line per month for phone and home internet lines, while The Desk reported tablet lines rising by $3 per line per month and documented that customers moved off the legacy T-Mobile ONE plan lost the KickBack credit, which had refunded $10 a month for each line using under 2 GB of data.

The text message itself set a hard date:

Starting 7/13/26, your current phone and home internet plans are being retired, and you will transition to modern plans with enhanced features. Phone and home internet lines increase up to $6 per line per month. ... Moving forward, you also get our 5-Year Price Guarantee.

The customer who received the notice reported that the actual new bill amount would not appear until the August 2026 billing cycle, weeks after a mid-July deadline to decide whether to switch plans or change carriers.

A T-Mobile text message from short code 2541, received June 29, 2026, told the customer that "Starting 7/13/26, your current phone and home internet plans are being retired" and that phone and home internet lines would increase up to $6 per line per month.

T-Mobile's rationale

T-Mobile's public and internal messaging drew a line between retiring a plan and raising its price. The distinction surfaced publicly in October 2023, when leaked internal training materials showed how the carrier instructed customer service representatives to describe forced migrations. As reported by MacRumors & Techdirt, the script told representatives:

We are not raising the price of any of your plans; we are moving you to a newer plan with more benefits at a different cost.

In the 2026 retirement, T-Mobile described the move as retiring plans rather than raising prices. On the older promise, Techdirt wrote that T-Mobile's position was that the Price Lock obligated it only to pay a departing customer's final monthly bill if the carrier raised the price, not to keep the price itself unchanged.

Prior price increases & regulatory backlash

The 2026 retirement followed two earlier rounds of increases on the same legacy plans. In May 2024, T-Mobile raised prices on plans it had previously said would stay the same for life, with customers reporting increases of about $5 per line. Mashable reported a further round of legacy-plan price increases in 2025.

PhoneArena reported that the Federal Communications Commission had received more than 2,000 complaints over the price increase, of which 900 were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, alongside 60 complaints sent to the Federal Trade Commission; the FCC did not say whether it was investigating. One complaint asked how an increase of $5 per line could square with a "lifetime price lock." Another called the change "fraudulent and a direct breach of contract." PhoneArena also described one customer, John Bradshaw, who said he called T-Mobile each billing cycle and had his bill credited from $232 down to $215.

T-Mobile's Price Lock advertising drew a separate, formal challenge. AT&T challenged the 5G Home Internet Price Lock claims before the BBB National Programs' National Advertising Division (NAD). On July 31, 2024, Digital Trends reported that the NAD found the advertised Price Lock did not fix the price, because the fine print offered only one free final month of service if a customer left after an increase, and recommended that T-Mobile discontinue or modify the claim. T-Mobile said it would comply but maintained that its advertising "appropriately communicates the generous terms of its Price Lock policy."

Litigation

Oddo v. T-Mobile

In July 2024, four T-Mobile customers filed a proposed class action over the broken price guarantees. The complaint, Oddo et al. v. T-Mobile USA Inc., was filed on July 12, 2024 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey as Civil Action No. 2:24-cv-07719. The named plaintiffs are Christopher Oddo of New Jersey, Harry Hyaduck Sr. of Georgia, Larry Kahhan of Nevada, and Gerald Dwyer of Pennsylvania. The case was transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on August 28, 2025, where it was docketed as No. 2:25-cv-01651. It brings claims under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act and other states' deceptive-trade-practices laws, along with common-law fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and common-law false advertising, and seeks damages, restitution, injunctive relief, & disgorgement of profits.

The first page of the Oddo v. T-Mobile USA Inc. complaint, filed July 12, 2024 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, shows the caption and docket number 2:24-cv-07719.

The plaintiffs allege that they signed up in reliance on T-Mobile's representation that their rates were guaranteed for life or for as long as they kept the plan, and that the carrier then reversed course. The complaint alleges:

in May 2024, T-Mobile, unilaterally did away with these legacy phone plans and switched Plaintiffs and the Class to more expensive plans without their consent.

Arbitration and class-action waiver

T-Mobile has moved to keep the dispute out of court, arguing that customers gave up the right to sue. As PhoneArena reported in October 2024, T-Mobile's filing contends that customers who kept using its service after a Terms and Conditions update dated May 15, 2023 agreed to resolve disputes through individual binding arbitration. The cited clause reads:

By accepting these T&Cs, you are agreeing to resolve any dispute with us through individual binding arbitration or small claims dispute procedures (unless you opt out), and to waive your rights to a jury trial and to participate in any class action suit.

T-Mobile described the provision as a "prominent, easy-to-understand arbitration agreement." The plaintiffs say they never received the updated terms and found the arbitration clause only after their counsel searched for it.