“T‑Mobile will never change the price you pay for your T‑Mobile ONE plan.” That was the promise. The Un-contract. The whole reason millions of customers picked the magenta team over Verizon and AT&T in the first place. Now T-Mobile is retiring legacy 3G and 4G-era plans — Magenta, ONE, Simple Choice — and automatically moving customers onto “modern” 5G plans at higher monthly costs. Billing changes hit mid-July for the current wave. The company that swore it would never surprise you with a rate hike just sent the notification.
145 Comments
spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works · 131 pts · 35d
T-Mobile raised our rate last year which is bad enough by itself after promising not to, but they also seriously reduced the quality and availability of their customer service. Why stick around for that? We switched to a much cheaper prepaid company (~1/3rd T-Mobile's current price) and couldn't be happier.
Edit: Was thinking about the other problems we had with T-Mobile and forgot to mention one big problem... Incoming calls routinely would not ring and voicemails left just vanished. This happened for months. Multiple friends (and a couple of doctor's offices) mentioned it often enough that we realized we had a problem. T-Mobile's great customer service could find nothing wrong and refused to look at the lost calls that originated from other TMO customers.
linkinkampf19@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 35d
We have been grandfathered into a Simple Choice Plan for ~13 years and just switched over to whatever their comparable current plan is, and only saved $10 (woohoo). What'd you go with? I was looking into prepaid with Tmo but they've been in quite the steady decline for a while now.
dudleyflippendoodle@lemmy.zip · 23 pts · 35d
I’ve been very happy with Visible. They’re owned by Verizon and in the long term, it’s the best value I’ve been able to find. They have a 2 week free trial period and frequently have awesome deals during Black Friday and in the Spring. Even without a discount though, plans start at $25/month with a plan that is probably enough for most people. Their highest tier (of 3) is $45.
Moved off T-Mobile for Visible after getting sick of their constant data breaches and haven’t been this happy with a cell carrier since Jump On-Demand was a thing.
The only real catches are:
Support is basically a chatbot and social media teams. However, human support reps do exist if you’re insistent enough, and I’ve only needed them maybe once in the past 3 years or so
Plans are for smartphones (and smartwatches with an existing smartphone line) only. No tablets or other devices.
Zidane@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 35d
Been on Visible for quite a while as well. I have never needed to contact support so can't speak on that. The only complaint I have is the app will force you to log in and authenticate every month (or used to idk I haven't been on it in a while)
Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 35d
I've loved visible ever since I joined like 7 years ago. Unlimited 5G, $25 a month. Works great international when I need it, but it's an extra $5/day with my plan when I use it
linkinkampf19@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 34d
Oh neat! Can't say I've heard of it, and for a while there I was very much leaning towards Mint, until they were bought by Tmo. Ryan should have fought for it, Deadpool style 😆
Really liking what I'm seeing. I'd def rather spend $70/mo than the ~$110 I am now. I personally just can't justify it for how little I use my phone, literally Lemmy, Newpipe and Fennec, with a side of fin account apps.
dudleyflippendoodle@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 34d
Check them out again around Black Friday! If you’re ok paying annually they usually have some pretty deep discounts then.
My first year was on a Black Friday discount and I got their high end plan (usually $45 a month) for $225 for the whole year (made it cheaper than the low end plan)! It renews at like $450 but that’s still so much cheaper than other carriers in the long term.
Sounds like you have multiple lines on TMo. Visible is a 1 line per account setup but with inner circle you can pay them all together and get another $5 a month off.
The ATT reps at Costco HATE me because they can’t offer a good enough deal to switch 😂
GalacticRobot@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 34d
Mint works pretty darn well. It's still using t-mobile towers, but is a whole lot cheaper.
scytale@piefed.zip · 6 pts · 34d
We have a Mint plan and yeah it’s been fine. Only issue we have is it gets deprioritized in large, crowded events like concerts.
PunnyName@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 34d
If you have any government assistance programs ) Medicaid, SNAP, etc.), look into the Lifeline program for potentially free cell service:
https://www.fcc.gov/lifeline-consumers#rules
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 34d
I switched to Mint a couple years back. It's fine.
Syndication@lemmy.today · 14 pts · 35d
What's the new carrier? I want to ditch T-Mobile they are ripping us off. I was thinking about switching to Mint mobile.
Edit: Thanks for the heads up and suggestions. I'll avoid Mint and take a look into US Mobile.
spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works · 21 pts · 35d
US Mobile. No significant complaints after 10 months.
Generica@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 35d
We switched to US Mobile last October and I've kind of been a bit shocked at how good and responsive their customer service is to be a MVNO prepaid utilizing Indian call centers.
Also, US Mobile partners with all three major carriers, so you can pick your network! They have to use different names because of copyrights but here is the translation: AT&T = Dark Star, Verizon = Warp, T-Mobile= Light Speed
Their unlimited plans all come with hotspot and start at $25 monthly regular price but they always have promos for new customers and you can prepay for a year of service and get unlimited for as little as around $16 a month. They ALSO always seem to have fantastic prices on the current model Google Pixel base phone and Pro XL, if you're an Android person like me.
halcyoncmdr@piefed.social · 13 pts · 35d
Dark Star... Hmm...
It was even blown up once before with the breakup of Ma Bell.
Generica@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 27d
Btw, even though I've been happy with my service through US Mobile I began the process to port my three numbers to Mint Mobile today. This is because they're offering three months of unlimited for $15 per line, per month. US Mobile has a promo for $16 a line for four months BUT two of my lines had already received that promo so their system would not let them reapply the discount. Also, this may seem trite but US Mobile is now partnering with (f)Elon Musk's Starlink and, even though I'm sure it's a losing battle, I do not wish to willingly float that turd of a human being a dime of my money. But, anyway, I had to pull the plug on Mint Mobile because they stuck a bullshit 'recovery' fee ($23.25) and a few bucks sales tax ($3.93) of $27.18 total onto the last payment screen when I was trying to set up three new lines. So fuck Mint Mobile!!! I cannot abide shifty mother fuckers. I'll pay their goddamn recovery fee when Ryan Reynolds knocks on my door and offers to blow me.
CaptDust@sh.itjust.works · 12 pts · 35d
adarza@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 35d
we keep looking in their direction but the boss doesn't really wanna change. got some small concession from vzn a little while ago but still more than double what usm would cost.
what would get her to switch would be finding a carrier that actually worked at her house. vzn doesn't, tm doesn't, need to find someone around here with at&t to try but there really isn't anyone around here that does use them.
plenipotentprotogod@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 35d
Doesn't US Mobile offer all the of the major networks? I've also been looking at them recently, and my understanding is that the three networks they offer are (despite their silly codenames) in reality just verizon, t-mobile, and at&t. You can pick which one you want to use and even switch between them without too much hassle.
GalacticRobot@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 34d
Yep, they do charge you to switch between networks though, and charge you a fixed fee for each additional line on top of your service, so it works well if you have just one phone or device.
GalacticRobot@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 34d
I have been ok with US Mobile, but they kind of get pricing when you add devices or need more data. Mint has been pretty solid for me though, and I have heard Visible is pretty awesome.
amgine@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 34d
I added my iPad to them about a year ago because they were a super carrier and didn’t expect my to have my main line on them just for a data plan. They worked so well I moved my main phone from att to them. Love the service
DevDave@piefed.social · 10 pts · 35d
I thought TMobile bought Mint?
halcyoncmdr@piefed.social · 11 pts · 35d
They did, but even beyond that, the other alternatives mentioned in this thread are MVNOs that still use T-Mobile's network (usually with a lower priority compared to direct customers, not usually an issue unless there's congestion). You're still paying T-Mobile, just indirectly. MVNOs buy in bulk and try to offer options that split that bulk usage up in ways different to the big carriers to target smaller more specific demographics.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 34d
Isn't this really hard to avoid in the US because of the existing infrastructure? All of the towers are owned by one or two companies, and the rest have to rent them out.
halcyoncmdr@piefed.social · 4 pts · 33d
Actually, many towers (maybe even most now with how dense small cells need to be) are not actually owned by the carriers. They are owned by independent companies and leased to the carriers, or the carriers lease space on an existing pole or building to mount their panels. If you've ever looked at a cell tower and seem multiple levels of panels... that's almost surely not owned by a carrier. It's most likely owned by something like American Tower Corporation, Crown Castle, or SBA Communications, and they lease physical space on that site to various carriers and other users. Line-of-site microwave connections also make use of towers quite heavily to relay direct wireless connections.
A lot of churches also lease space on or even inside their steeples/stowers.
And then there's also the small cells that can get installed basically anywhere... and often get installed on things like light posts which are owned by local governments.
Syndication@lemmy.today · 7 pts · 35d
Damn everything is a monopoly here..
DevDave@piefed.social · 7 pts · 35d
Anti-Trust is some bullshit invented by damn socialist commies to keep the money from trickling down. \s
NaibofTabr@infosec.pub · 10 pts · 35d
Phreeli https://www.phreeli.com/
Fishnoodle@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 35d
Mint Mobile. Uses the t mobile network. 20 bucks a month unlimited text/talk 15gb data
muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 35d
There’s also https://www.phreeli.com/
Fishnoodle@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 34d
I'll have to keep them in mind!
GalacticRobot@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 34d
They just upped it to 17gb a month as well. Been pretty happy with them, even though I think T-Mobile bought them out.
FoxtrotDeltaTango@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 23d
Which company was that? Mint moblie?
spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 23d
US Mobile. Switch was somewhat complicated (for instance you can't upgrade from one plan to another, unlike most postpaid plans) but once through the startup difficulties they've been great. Chat support is especially good.
TrippyHippyDan@lemmy.world · 93 pts · 35d
Its almost like everyone saw this coming once Sprint was allowed to merge with them, and then US Cellular
adarza@lemmy.ca · 24 pts · 35d
they all pull this shit.. three different providers besides tm here, just in the last 2-3 years.
and they get away with it, so it continues..
halcyoncmdr@piefed.social · 13 pts · 35d
Don't forget that part of the merger was Dish buying Boost Mobile with the supposed intent to build their own network. Which anyone actually paying attention knew would never actually happen. Dish Network says a lot of shit, and follows through with basically none of it.
T-Mobile followed the timeframe they agreed to for the merger to be approved, which was very public.
Hmm... 2020 plus 5 years is... 2025... would you look at the calendar.
CannedYeet@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 35d
Even The Verge hasn't mentioned Project Gene5is in forever.
PunnyName@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 34d
Mergers of larger corporations shouldn't be permitted. In fact, any attempt at initiating a merger should instead initiate a breakup.
VAK@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 34d
Ooh, imagine if Spirit was broken up..
PunnyName@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 34d
Or Delta or American or United.
LogicalDrivel@sopuli.xyz · 59 pts · 34d
Got the text this morning. God damn scammers.
cecinestpasunecommunication@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 30 pts · 34d
Yes, they're a company.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today · 51 pts · 34d
Class-action lawsuit time.
WizardofFrobozz@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 33d
Americans really will do anything to avoid actually doing something, won’t you
mriormro@lemmy.zip · -2 pts · 33d
Canadian really will just talk out their ass, won’t you stop?
FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world · 46 pts · 34d
This is some straight up MBA enshittificarion. I’m on the military plan with all unlimited yada yada, even then data is throttled down after a certain amount. Waiting for an email that says they’re supporting the troops by increasing the amount we can contribute to the economy or some shit.
ITGuyLevi@programming.dev · 7 pts · 34d
Yeah, I'm a bit pissed that the military plan is changing. Bill for me is going up around $20.
AbidanYre@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 34d
Is it? I'm being moved to some new plan that doesn't seem to actually exist.
ITGuyLevi@programming.dev · 1 pts · 33d
They didn't say in the message what they are moving me to, just that it's $6 more per line so another $18 per month... This after they ended the autopay discount unless you gave them direct access to your bank account (and for me that would mean losing the phone insurance provided by MC world).
AbidanYre@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 33d
My message says up to $6/line and following the link says I'm being moved to "experience signature" which doesn't seem to exist anywhere on their website.
And direct access to my bank account isn't happening, so I never had the auto pay discount.
CascadianGiraffe@lemmy.world · 37 pts · 34d
The same company that told me they would give me a $300 prepaid visa to switch. Then told me I had to stay a customer for 30 days before I would get it. And at 30 days told me I was outside the 30 day window to claim it?
I'm so surprised.
spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works · 12 pts · 34d
A few years ago I tried to buy a couple of phones at a T-Mobile store and they flatly refused to sell to me unless I purchased their monthly phone insurance. The manager openly admitted he knew the practice was illegal but didn't care.
The company is also famous for refusing to pay customers trade in value by fraudulently claiming phones have cracked screens and significant damage.
T-Mobile's been a shit company for years.
Tiral@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 33d
I guess YMMV. I have 6 lines and I've traded in phones worth $200 on eBay for $1200 credit which is insane. I've never had them say they were damaged and do any bullshit. In fact I traded in my mom's barely functional iPhone 13 like 5 months ago for a 17 pro which ended up being kike $2 a month for 2 years.
Which I get that's their plan, keep you on their network with credits over 2 years. But I've never had a problem over a decade so I've never cared. I'm in a magenta plus plan so maybe I'll call to see tomorrow.
But I'm just saying, I had nothing but good things with them. Not saying others haven't, or they e never tried pulling some bullshit, just that I personally haven't experienced it over a decade.
spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works · 28 pts · 34d
In 2025 T-Mobile reported a net income (net profit) of $11.0 billion. Think of the poor shareholders!
FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 35d
For what it's worth, y'all, Mint Mobile is pretty great. I actually got an email in December when renewal time came telling me I should downgrade my plan and save money, based on my data usage for 2025.
HeartyOfGlass@piefed.social · 23 pts · 35d
I also am a fan of Mint Mobile, but IIRC they were bought up by T-Mobile a few years back. I'm waiting for their inevitable enshittification, but riding the wave until it crashes.
PunnyName@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 35d
If you get government assistance, look into free mobile options, like TAG Mobile.
PunnyName@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 35d
I stopped using T-Mobile a few months ago. Used to need the Internet while living in a shelter, until I moved into a government funded apartment. I now have TAG Mobile for my phone (free each month w/ 10 gigs of data), and $30/month AT&T 100mb up/down fiber Internet.
Being poor sometimes has advantages.
If you have ANY government assistance program (like SNAP), you qualify for free mobile and reduced cost home Internet.
ITGuyLevi@programming.dev · 2 pts · 34d
I thought they ended the reduced home internet program.
PunnyName@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 34d
I got it from AT&T just a couple months ago. Your mileage may vary, but better to try.
Alexstarfire@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 34d
Again? Didn't they do this a couple years ago too?
KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 12 pts · 34d
Rinse and repeat
melsaskca@lemmy.ca · 14 pts · 34d
You know all the corporations are now thinking..."The prez lies with immunity. The precedent has been set. Let's go boys...SELL SELL SELL !!".
CaptDust@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 35d
I dunno anyone still using the big 3 telcos, not much value over the MVNOs unless you're really the type that wants to bundle Disney+ or something.
scoobydoo27@lemmy.zip · 15 pts · 35d
Every time I’ve tried one of MVNOs I’ve got shit service at my work. I’m affected by this new price hike from T-Mobile so I’m going to try one again but not expecting great results.
doodlebob@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 35d
Check out US mobile... If you get their top plan, you can change to any of the 3 mobile providers for free
chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 34d
This. US Mobile has been great to me. I have no intention of going anywhere else in the foreseeable future.
zewm@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 34d
The big companies give line prio over mvno clients.
MisterFrog@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 34d
Are we Australians rubbing off on the international English lexicon? I don't know how to feel about this haha
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 34d
That's definitely not new slang. In the US at least.
MisterFrog@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 34d
TIL then I guess. If I imagine someone saying this in a US accent, I just can't picture it haha
WindyRebel@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 34d
I’ve never heard of ”telco” as a US citizen in my 40s. I’ve heard “telecom” but not “telco”.
greatwhitebuffalo41@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 34d
I only have in the utility industry and even then it's not often telcom
MisterFrog@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 33d
Thank you for somewhat restoring my head cannon haha
EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com · 1 pts · 33d
Switched to an MVNO and have been quite happy with it. Cut bill by almost 2/3.
MVNOs do have a lower data priority than the parent network, but IME this hasn't made much difference. I don't tend to stream a lot of video on my phone though, so it might be a concern if you need fast data.
OldQWERTYbastard@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 13 pts · 34d
Well, fuck. These companies move in step with one another and I've been paying the same 60-something per month since January 2007 before AT&T gobbled up Cingular.
Guess I'm probably next.
spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 34d
US Mobile is still in the "good prices, good service, be nice" phase of their existence. Buy out or enshittification should still be a few years off. It's a fraction of the price of TMO's new rates too.
fusionsaint@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 33d
Came here to say this. I know the enshitification will come. It always will come but for now US mobile is fantastic.
P13@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 34d
Damn dude that’s rough.
I pay €15/m for 35GB EU-wide data and unlimited talk/text. Sim only and not an introductory rate. In fact, I’ve been paying the same for years and the only thing that’s changed is my data limit slowly increasing.
I think unlimited plans are roughly double but I don’t use that much.
1 Gbps fiber at home for €50/m but unfortunately they do jack that up slowly over time so you either need to switch providers or lock in again for a promotional rate.
I don’t miss living in the US and getting fucked in the ass by Comcast and the like…
OldQWERTYbastard@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 25d
Comcast fucked so many people that they had to rebrand.
Lucius_Sweet@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 33d
I have a deal in Ireland, 7.99 month for life, unlimited calls and data EU wide. Currently paying €30 pm for 1gbps fiber. Still remember being amazed at the cost of mobile phones in the USA when I was there on a summer visa as a student back in 2005, sounds like things haven't changed a bit.
SalamiDommie@lemmus.org · 12 pts · 34d
Old TMobile user... Haven't gotten the messages. Going to look into this.
The anti-consumer practices going on in business right now are becoming insane.
OldQWERTYbastard@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 14 pts · 34d
They don't even hide it any more. Rug pulls left and right because fuck you.
"What are you going to do about it? Absolutely nothing."
That's their thought process.
TrippingBalls@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 33d
You know why they do it?
Because they can
fishy@lemmy.today · -2 pts · 34d
The modern consumer has a spine made from jello. They've had company after company fuck them over but rather than slightly inconvenience themselves to find an alternative or do without, they'll just bend over and get fucked.
People have forgotten that they're the power and companies can be told to go eat shit.
velma@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 34d
SalamiDommie@lemmus.org · -4 pts · 34d
velma@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 34d
SalamiDommie@lemmus.org · -2 pts · 34d
velma@sh.itjust.works · -2 pts · 34d
SalamiDommie@lemmus.org · -1 pts · 34d
velma@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 34d
vane@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 34d
That's the price for Germany World Cup failure.
dadarobot@lemmy.ml · 8 pts · 35d
im on tello and i like it. $25 for an unlimited data plan, and $10 for a 2g sim for my backup phone (in case i break or lose my main phone)
wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 35d
I've been on and off tello for like 10 years now, currently they hold my second line, and they are good... assuming you don't need cs beyond 'turn it off and back on', and the towers you frequent aren't overloaded. If I try and use my data on the tello sim at any time except in the dead of night (1a-4a), everything is timing out. This local tower is way oversubscribed.
Also, their unlimited isn't true unlimited, as are all mvnos. After... 50gb (surprising, they doubled it in the last few months apparently) it's like 64kb/s. Which is quite a lot of data, and technically it's not a hard cap so it's not outright lying, but it's not really unlimited. I've always hated this 'well technically' bullshit, so I call it out every time I see it, for the people who don't know.
brbposting@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 35d
Good warning here to watch MVNOs (anyone besides the largest largest carriers). Save tons of money, but deprioritized traffic.
At a World Cup match, for example, if anyone gets connected it’s probably those with higher phone bills.
Wonderful/necessary deal for many, still!
dadarobot@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 34d
yeah i know about the data cap. its not really a problem for me, but i should probably have specified when recommending.
NateNate60@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 34d
On the backup line you can subscribe to the cheapest data-only plan for like $5 a month and then just add $20 worth of pay-as-you-go credit, which never expires and will be used for calls, at 1 cent per minute.
It will save you $5 a month on the backup phone plan, making it even cheaper.
dadarobot@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 34d
good thinking! still though, $35 all day for 2 lines aint bad
Denalduh@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 34d
I got the text today... Our bill will go up an extra $18/month. Great.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 34d
per line, so if you have family its so much higher.
Denalduh@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 34d
It's a $6 increase per line
elucubra@sopuli.xyz · 7 pts · 33d
Airtel did that to me when I got the first Smartphone. They argued that the forever was for 3G, not 4G, although there was no mention of such a thing in the contract. They lost 4 mobile lines, a landline, and ADSL forever.
nullspace@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 33d
They do shit like this and get away with it because it's slim pickings for a plan that has phone, internet, and most importantly no data cap. All carriers suck at one of those three.
schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 33d
I'm using Cricket wireless. $45/mo gets me unlimited internet on my phone with a 15gig hotspot.
I'm all physical media, but if I need to download something, I do it on my phone (sorry, seeders) and transfer it over to my PC to watch on my TV.
BrickEater@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 33d
Lmao I'm amazed cricket still exists. I remember using their shitty USB internet sticks 15 years ago.
schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 33d
There's a small profit to be made administering a plan on a common carrier while the bigger operators. rake in the big money from idiots permanently leasing a fucking cell phone.
WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 32d
that sounds like a lot of hassle. why are you downloading on the phone?
schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 32d
The only hassle is the tranfer, and that's set & forget.
And I don't spend $50-100/mo (wifi + streaming)to waste time channel surfin.
WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 31d
you can share your phones internet connection (including wifi) with a computer over USB. you need to enable it on the phone. its cool I think. this way you could also be seeding.
on linux, with some distros you need to load a kernel module by hand. for some reason it does not load automatically on some of them. if you are interested I can look up my notes about it
schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 31d
Two things:
Sadly, my USB port completely borked, so that's off the table. I use KDE-something-or-other to txfr files over my internetless wifi.
Second, I did look into it, and even on my Graphene OS phone, the USB tether is treated identically to the hot spot; that is to say, the carrier can detect you're connecting a device and there is no workaround other than paying the cellular provider for the privilege of using your connection as they see fit.
WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 30d
there must be a workaround. I have been seeing solutions for this in the past, but I don't remember because I haven't had such a shitty provider.
probably it's the TTL value in the packets. if you can move the sim card or a clone of it into a portable openwrt router, that's an easy fix, otherwise it would probably need patching android which you probably can't do because graphene is too hostile to that.
mechoman444@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 33d
T-Mobile has always been like this.
Every time I upgrade my phone they charge me an upgrade fee.
I'm like how are you charging me for spending money with you?
Unfortunately, compared to Verizon and AT&t they're better in many regards and that's saying a lot since they're crap.
I suppose this is what we get for letting monopolies exist within our country.
spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 33d
"Of the people, by the people, and for the people" died long ago. The people don't have much say in a government run by oligarchs and corporations.
mechoman444@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 33d
Exploiting the people by corporations for profits.
Zen_Shinobi@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 35d
I'm still on tracfone (cheap plan) and feel it's also going to get axed
wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 35d
fyi TF got acquired by Verizon a few years ago, and thus is now a wholly-owned subsidiary, like Visible and Total Wireless
Zen_Shinobi@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 34d
I knew that, but I have a feeling Verizon will push TF users to Visible and shut down TF. There has been issues with other prepaid users who can't get airtime or minutes without issues.
bluGill@fedia.io · 4 pts · 35d
Inflation. You can be confident that these guarantees won't last unless not only are they in writing but they are backed by independent financial insurance. Same with any life membership. It is very unlikely that they are actually charging enough to continue the service for life and so they are likely going to be forced to do something about it at some point. Often that something is bankruptcy.
Still, it sucks.
just_another_person@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 35d
Class Action Lawsuit is going to some lucky lawyers rich.
dubyakay@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 34d
Was this "promise" in the contract?
timewarp@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 35d
You may be right but pretty much everyone who was on this likely just never read the contract they signed, so if they really want to fight it the lawsuit likely wouldn't be successful.
MintyFresh@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 35d
I use a prepaid at&t plan. Pay for the year at once. Decent service, I think like a 16g data cap. Comes to 25 a month. I'm happy with it
HiTekRedNek@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 33d
Guess I'm switching to C-Spire.
I've been a T-Mobile customer for over 10 years, but this isn't acceptable.
Zephyr@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 34d
When I'm back stateside I just grab one of those monthly unlimited sims for like $35 and forget about it. Dang, you could probably get away with that $10 Xfinity wifi if you have a voip number although coverage probably isn't amazing.
chewypoops@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 34d
Buddy, I live here and I have no idea what you're talking about. If you're telling the truth, I send me a link, because $35 for unlimited mobile data is a steal.
greatwhitebuffalo41@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 34d
US mobile is $25 for unlimited everything. I don't remember the cap before throttle though
Zephyr@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 34d
You can buy sim cards from Walmart. Last time I was around I was using ultra mobile, although Walmart had their own brand (can't remember the name). It was $40 no subscription for unlimited talk, text, and data although I think mint now has a similar plan for $30 Link there's like a ton of these companies, just go to Walmart in the electronics area near the laptops and whatnot there's a bunch of sum cards and esims you can get with different deals, I'm pretty sure they also sell mint mobile sim cards
monotremata@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 34d
The catch is that it's "unlimited" in that sense that the mobile companies have made people accept now, i.e., deprioritized. I'm on Visible, which is Verizon's MVNO; my plan has unlimited deprioritized everything, and it's $25/mo, with $5/mo discount for the first two years so I'm actually paying $20/mo for now. It's mostly good enough for my purposes; I'm usually on Wifi anyway. When I was leaving a protest and turned my phone back on, I couldn't get enough access to check the bus schedule or text my family, so that was frustrating; dense crowds are a problem. But I was previously paying like $130/mo for Verizon, so it's more than worth putting up with. I got some mesh radios for emergency comms.
Ithral@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 34d
I think Mint offers that, similar deal with Xfininity mobile but you need to have an Xfinity cable subscription
Zephyr@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 34d
I used their wifi for my place without a Xfinity cable subscription but you could only connect two devices so I used my old phone as a hotspot and that worked for like up to four devices. It was like $10 per month.
uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 34d
In the aughts, I had accumulated about
$30$30K in debt, but managed it through consolidation programs, and got it down to about 3%.Then the subprime mortgage crisis happened, and my creditors said sorry, but we're fucking you over no matter what the contract says. Your interest rate is 12% and feel lucky we don't raise it again.
Apparently companies will do that. I didn't pay them at all and just waited seven years to wait out statute of limitations.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 34d
Dude, how did you make it through?
uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 33d
Ah, I see the confusion and misplaced a decimal point. Corrected.
anon_8675309@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 33d
I had a fixed rate loan through BoA to do similar (handle some debt) and they tried that shit with a bunch of us. Everyone made a stink and wouldn’t stop emailing the CEO until he said they’d honor the original agreement.
datavoid@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 34d
Parents suck!
rockandsock@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 33d
Anyone upset about this should consider prepaid service. I've been on prepaid service (a couple of different companies over the years) for almost 15 years and haven't had any serious issues.
I have, however saved serious money.
TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 33d
people won't go on pre-paid service because of the social stigma of it being for 'poor people'
I've been on a 20-25$ cell plan my entire adult life... but it's Boost, and people think it is 'ghetto' due to the fact Boost was originaly marketed as 'urban' cell phone company. It's insane. I even got my mom to switch over to it when she retired to save money. but my sister found out and was RIPSHIT i put my mom on a 'phone plan for black people'... because she's racist AF, and she took my mom off the plan and put her back on a $100 Verizon plan again... and bought her a fancy iphone she had no clue how to use, because 'successful people use iPhones, poor losers use Android phones'.
my plan on Verizon would be like 80 bucks a month. a lot of people take pride in throwing away money because it makes them feel they are 'not poor'. and marketing loves them.
In other news, my nephew turned 18, wanted to get off the family plan and get his own phone and plan, and wanted Boost w/android because it's cheap and he can easily afford it. She was furious with him and basically told him he can't do it, because she'd lose the ability to track him via his iphone, which is precisely why he wants to get rid of being on the family plan... but she tells him he can't do it because 'people won't respect him' if he has an android and not using Verizon.
Buddahriffic@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 33d
Lol like the respect of die hard apple users is worth anything. Something about people being snobby about the shittier option (though Google is doing what it can to catch up in that regard) is hilarious.
rockandsock@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 32d
Any adult who cares what kind of phone another adult has needs to grow up and get a life.
Glad your nephew thinks for himself.
TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 32d
thinking for yourself isn't very advantageous when everyone hates you for it.
rockandsock@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 31d
Is it really everyone in your family or just a few busybodies who bully everyone else into conformity?
In my family it's the latter but I've accepted being the odd one out and being happy instead of being approved of by people who don't respect my autonomy.
TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 28d
no it's everyone. my family is small and hyper-conformist. they basically abused their children into conformity. anytime their kids ever wanted to do something 'weird' like, not play baseball, they basically abused them back into conformity.
it's typical american suburbanite 'normal'. they think i'm a libertine degenerate because I am single and living in a city and drive a small car and eat vegetables.
rockandsock@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 28d
I'm from small town Oklahoma. I understand the type of people that you describe.
Some of my family is the same way. I, like you decided to live my own life and never had a close relationship with more than a couple of family members.
Hope your nephew is strong enough to withstand the pressure and live his own life when he's an adult like you have.
shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 34d
I am using Cloaked wireless which allows me to pay my bill in Monero. I get unlimited talk, text, and data, with 500 megabytes of that data being 5G speed, and the rest of it being at 256kbps, with a possible raise to 512kbps coming in the future.
Joelk111@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 34d
500MB of 5G is crazy, I use double or quadruple that in a day. Great way to be forced to use your phone less I guess. One of my favorite features of recent mobile plans is truly unlimited data with deprioritization once you hit a certain limit, as I'm almost never in a location where I get deprioritized.
shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 34d
I am almost always on wifi so its not a problem. Up until I switched to them in March, I have never had unlimited cellular data.
256k is surprisingly usable if you're not on the corporate hellscape internet. On Lemmy, nostr, in privacy respecting websites, since they don't have all kind of bloat and crap like that, things actually load pretty well.
I am hoping to get the increase to 512 kbps though, because it would be helpful. I am fully aware though, that higher and higher speeds incur diminishing returns, so 256 kbps is much better than 128 kbps would be, and 512 kbps is much better than 256 kbps will be, but once you get up to a certain level, speed increases stop mattering nearly as much. I would peg that level at probably something like 10 Mbps. Once you get over that speed, things just don't matter quite as much.
chloroken@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 33d
I pay like $6 a month to Tello.
Flagstaff@programming.dev · 3 pts · 33d
I pay about 3x that to US Mobile so I can use mobile data for all my devices. I hotspot or Bluetooth-tether for everything and intentionally have no ISP-provided home Internet so I can save money and also avoid those crooks.
KoalaUnknown@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 34d
NakedNateRollerSkate@lemmy.dbzer0.com · -10 pts · 34d
spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 34d
I thought Lemmy was ad-free. Guess not.
NakedNateRollerSkate@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 34d
Rekorse@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 34d
Sounds slightly pyramid shaped.
NakedNateRollerSkate@lemmy.dbzer0.com · -2 pts · 34d