T-Mobile switches users to pricier plans and tells them it’s not a price hike

L4sBot@lemmy.worldmod to Technology@lemmy.world – 659 points – T-Mobile switches users to pricier plans and tells them it’s not a price hike
arstechnica.com

T-Mobile switches users to pricier plans and tells them it’s not a price hike::T-Mobile: "We are not raising the price... we are moving you to a newer plan."

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How could you keep data use below 1 MiB? That's a significantly small amount of data in the modern era of anything Internet connected.

Were you mostly on wifi? You said you used your mobile primarily for entertainment, that usually takes data.

I believe you I'm just drawing a blank at how you were using your phone and its data plan!

Two phones:

  1. feature phone with GSM/2G (EDGE) only - no shutdown of this network on the horizon (Nokia 220 is my trusty old pal even if better (Symbian) phones are very cheap right now)
    • calls, texts (free among family due to shared plan unrelated to my data contract, otherwise $0.20/min, $0.10/text)
    • basic internet use (Opera Mini, mostly without images), max 16 kiB/s
      • looking up timetables (shortcuts, tactile keys and small form factor allow doing this while running for a train at full speed) (<30 kiB per lookup, <5 kiB if regional only on another website)
      • built-in RSS feed reader for news and such (I used to also browse Reddit this way) (<10 kiB per feed)
      • some webcomics for entertainment (xkcd, Oglaf) (cca 200 kiB per image)
      • basic Google search (opening hours of shops etc.), even Google Images
      • no email or similar services because Opera Mini backend handles plaintext passwords and they're probably not well encrypted in transit
      • the phone allows no automatic daily limit so I’d need to reset the counters daily, but it’s easier to just play it safe and estimate the sum of how many kiB the loading bar showed
      • there are no background apps that use 2G so it’s safe to just leave data on: even if my smartphone is rooted, managing data access on it would be too much of a nuisance
    • alarm clock
    • FM radio with an 8-year library of recorded songs in low quality (4-bit 16kHz) but make for a fun shuffle playlist
    • a few downloaded videos reencoded to 320×240@15 from when I had no other phone - gems like Citation Needed, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Bad Apple!!, The Llama Song
    • Snake!
    • long battery life, reliable
  2. smartphone (rooted Samsung Galaxy J5 2017, Android 10) - no SIM card
    • productivity: e-mail, notes, web browsing, train tickets, banking...
    • offline mapy.cz maps including route finding
    • Lemmy! (Eternity or Jerboa)
    • NewPipe: download YouTube videos on Wi-Fi for listening on the go
    • library of “high-quality” music (mostly YouTube rips)
    • apps I need to use for some services (lunch orders, package tracking etc.)
    • PDF reader: ebooks and documents
    • F-Droid games

Awesome, thanks for the details. Bummer that your plan changed you really had it worked out :(

It didn't. I complained on time and they let me keep my plan.

The prepaid plan has the following daily cost of data:

  • 1st MiB free (oversight?)

  • pay CZK 0.25 ($0.01) per every 256 kiB after that

  • once you pay CZK 10 ($0.40) for 10 MiB, the next 90 MiB is free for the day

This is obviously a godsend to feature phone users, and every early mobile internet adopter would have taken this plan in 2003 when WAP websites were usually no more than 4 kB. A 1¢ or 2¢ overpayment if you somehow manage to go over is not too much, either.

The new plan:

  • if you transfer any data, you pay CZK 12 ($0.50) straight away and can use 150 MiB that day

They touted it as an upgrade (150 MB/12 CZK is a better rate than 100/10) but it obviously isn’t, as many users will use less than the first MiB. But as opposed to in-your-face ads they ran for the original plan, this one was only mentioned in their monthly bulletin nobody subscribes to. To quote Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:

“But Mr Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months.”

“Oh yes, well as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn’t exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them, had you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything.”

“But the plans were on display …”

“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”

“That’s the display department.”

“With a flashlight.”

“Ah, well the lights had probably gone.”

“So had the stairs.”

“But look, you found the notice didn’t you?”

“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard’.”

There was no “we'll upgrade your plan unless you opt out” prompt – people just started getting switched. I was lucky that my grandpa alerted me about his plan getting changed before mine was. I called the hotline and opted out just in time. The plan shows up as `` in my billing app but it still functions as normal. No new customers are admitted to the plan now so I really feel I dodged a bullet.

The service providers here cater to complaints so that they don't escalate into an anti-trust lawsuit that could break up their cartel. They will bill you obscenely but keep you “happy” with cheap gift giveaways, good customer service and excellent coverage. There is no option on the market for cheap data even if you're willing to give up some speed, reliability, free sunglasses or smiling customer reps.

Damn you have this planned out down to the kibibytes. I am impressed!