T-Mobile bungled forced plan migration, canceling some users’ free lines

T-Mobile 强制迁移套餐搞砸了，导致部分用户的免费线路被取消

T-Mobile canceled some longtime subscribers’ free-line promotions as part of a forced migration to new rate plans, spurring complaints from customers yesterday. T-Mobile admitted the problem and blamed it on technical errors that it is trying to fix. 作为强制迁移至新套餐计划的一部分，T-Mobile 取消了部分长期订阅用户的免费线路优惠，这在昨天引发了客户的强烈不满。T-Mobile 承认了这一问题，并将其归咎于公司正在努力修复的技术错误。

The forced plan changes were controversial to begin with, particularly as many longtime users are being hit with price hikes of $6 per line. The unexpected loss of free lines for some of those users could raise prices by a much higher amount if the change isn’t reversed. 此次强制性的套餐变更从一开始就备受争议，尤其是许多长期用户面临每条线路 6 美元的涨价。对于部分用户而言，如果这种变更无法撤销，免费线路的意外丢失可能会导致账单金额大幅上涨。

There is good news, though. T-Mobile told Ars today that it was a mistake and that the company is working to fix the problem. Of course, it’s not always easy for telecom customers to get the proper resolution even after a company admits to an error publicly. But given T-Mobile’s statement today, we hope the firm will fix the problem for all impacted customers with as little hassle as possible. 不过也有好消息。T-Mobile 今天向 Ars 表示，这是一个失误，公司正在努力解决该问题。当然，即便公司公开承认错误，电信客户想要获得妥善的解决方案也并非易事。但鉴于 T-Mobile 今天发表的声明，我们希望该公司能尽可能减少麻烦，为所有受影响的客户解决这一问题。

“Our priority is to ensure customers keep the promotions, credits and benefits of their current plan,” T-Mobile told Ars today. “We’ve identified technical issues affecting a very small number of customers and are working quickly to correct them. For some of those customers, free line promotions were not reflected correctly following migration due to a delay in applying promotional discounts. Those free lines remain free, and we’re restoring the discounts, backdating them where needed, and reprocessing accounts to ensure customers receive the benefits they were promised.” “我们的首要任务是确保客户保留其当前套餐的促销、抵扣和福利，”T-Mobile 今天告诉 Ars。“我们已经确定了影响极少数客户的技术问题，并正在迅速进行修复。对于其中一些客户，由于应用促销折扣的延迟，迁移后免费线路的优惠未能正确显示。这些免费线路依然有效，我们正在恢复这些折扣，并在必要时进行追溯，同时重新处理账户，以确保客户获得他们被承诺的福利。”

T-Mobile acknowledged that this isn’t the only billing problem related to its mass migration of plans. “We’re also investigating reports that some people were incorrectly billed for Hulu following migration and are actively working to identify the cause. We apologize for the confusion and will make it right for our customers,” T-Mobile said. T-Mobile 承认，这并非其大规模套餐迁移中出现的唯一计费问题。“我们还在调查有关一些人在迁移后被错误收取 Hulu 费用的报告，并正在积极查明原因。我们对造成的困扰表示歉意，并将为我们的客户纠正错误，”T-Mobile 表示。

T-Mobile recently announced it would eliminate its older plans and automatically move customers to different rate plans that are more or less equivalent in price and features. “Some customers will see no change to their monthly bill, while some will see a modest adjustment,” T-Mobile told media outlets in late June. “Every customer moved to a new plan will keep their current benefits while gaining improvements in network and service experiences.” T-Mobile 最近宣布将取消旧套餐，并自动将客户迁移到价格和功能大致相当的新套餐中。“一些客户的月账单不会有变化，而另一些客户则会看到小幅调整，”T-Mobile 在 6 月下旬告诉媒体。“每一位迁移到新套餐的客户都将保留其当前的福利，同时获得网络和服务体验的提升。”

Free lines lost in transition

迁移过程中丢失的免费线路

The promise that customers would “keep their current benefits” was broken, according to people who say free lines were removed from their accounts. In addition to complaints on Reddit, the Mobile Report news site wrote today that it heard directly from a few users who said their free lines were not migrated to the new plans. Besides the elimination of free lines, another problem “that some customers are seeing is a mysterious extra hotspot data add-on on their new plans,” adding as much as $15 to monthly bills, The Mobile Report wrote. 根据一些声称免费线路从账户中消失的用户反馈，公司关于“保留当前福利”的承诺被打破了。除了 Reddit 上的投诉外，新闻网站 The Mobile Report 今天也写道，他们直接收到了一些用户的反馈，称他们的免费线路没有被迁移到新套餐中。The Mobile Report 还写道，除了免费线路消失外，另一个“一些客户遇到的问题是，他们的新套餐中莫名其妙地多出了一个热点数据附加包”，这导致月账单增加了多达 15 美元。

T-Mobile handed out free lines at various times through promotions that let paying customers add another phone line to their accounts at no additional charge. During a March 2025 promotion, for example, customers who had kept their accounts active for at least 10 years could obtain a free line if they already had at least two paid lines. Some users apparently accumulated a bunch of the free lines during their long tenures as T-Mobile customers. T-Mobile 曾多次通过促销活动发放免费线路，允许付费客户在不增加额外费用的情况下为其账户添加另一条电话线路。例如，在 2025 年 3 月的一次促销活动中，如果客户已经拥有至少两条付费线路，且账户活跃时间至少达到 10 年，就可以获得一条免费线路。显然，一些用户在作为 T-Mobile 客户的漫长岁月里积累了多条免费线路。

In a Reddit post yesterday, one said they previously had three paid lines and six free ones for about $50 a month. “Just received my first bill today after being migrated to Experience Signature and bill is >$300. The bill breakdown did not include any free lines carried over,” the post said. Experience Signature is one of the plans that T-Mobile is automatically applying to the accounts of customers on retired plans. 在昨天的一篇 Reddit 帖子中，一位用户表示他们之前拥有三条付费线路和六条免费线路，每月费用约为 50 美元。“今天刚收到迁移到 Experience Signature 套餐后的第一张账单，金额超过了 300 美元。账单明细中没有包含任何延续下来的免费线路，”帖子写道。Experience Signature 是 T-Mobile 自动为使用已停用套餐的客户账户应用的新套餐之一。

Another person who reported losing free line promotions said it resulted in a $200 increase in the bill. One person said they contacted T-Mobile support about the loss of a free line, and the support rep was unable to restore it. “One free line was invalidated because it was apparently ‘ineligible’ with the current plan. They gave me a year’s worth of credit for that one line and said sorry they couldn’t do anything else,” the person wrote. 另一位报告丢失免费线路优惠的用户表示，这导致账单增加了 200 美元。还有人表示，他们曾就免费线路丢失问题联系过 T-Mobile 客服，但客服代表无法恢复该线路。“其中一条免费线路失效了，因为显然它与当前套餐‘不兼容’。他们给了我那条线路一年的抵扣额度，并表示很抱歉，他们无能为力，”该用户写道。

T-Mobile ended lifetime price guarantee in 2024

T-Mobile 于 2024 年终止了终身价格保证

Given the 10-year condition on last year’s free-line promotion, it seemed to be a way to reward T-Mobile’s most loyal customers, those who stuck with the company since its days as the smaller “Un-carrier” fighting the AT&T and Verizon duopoly. But since T-Mobile completed an acquisition of Sprint in 2020, the US has had three major nationwide wireless carriers of roughly equal size. 考虑到去年免费线路促销活动中 10 年的条件，这似乎是奖励 T-Mobile 最忠实客户的一种方式——即那些从公司作为挑战 AT&T 和 Verizon 双头垄断的小型“反运营商”（Un-carrier）时期就一直追随至今的客户。但自 T-Mobile 于 2020 年完成对 Sprint 的收购以来，美国已经形成了三家规模大致相当的主要全国性无线运营商。

While T-Mobile says the loss of free lines is unintentional and will be fixed, the carrier refused to reverse another change that unexpectedly raised customer bills two years ago. Specifically, T-Mobile abandoned one of its key Un-carrier promises in 2024 when it announced price hikes for customers who signed up for plans during promotions that passed with promises that their price would never change. Customers were irate and expressed outrage by filing complaints with the Federal Communications Commission and a class action lawsuit. The class action is still pending, and T-Mobile is trying to force the plaintiffs into arbitration. 虽然 T-Mobile 表示免费线路的丢失是无意的，并将得到修复，但该公司拒绝撤销两年前另一项意外导致客户账单上涨的变更。具体来说，T-Mobile 在 2024 年放弃了其核心的“反运营商”承诺之一，当时它宣布对那些在促销期间注册、且被承诺价格永不变更的客户进行涨价。客户对此感到愤怒，并通过向联邦通信委员会（FCC）投诉和提起集体诉讼来表达不满。该集体诉讼目前仍在审理中，而 T-Mobile 正试图强迫原告进行仲裁。

This year’s price hike for longtime customers is bound to impact some of the same customers who felt betrayed by the 2024 end of the lifetime price lock. Kathleen Odean, a T-Mobile customer who we interviewed in 2024, told us this week that she received a text message from T-Mobile stating that her plan is being retired and that prices would rise “up to $6 per line per month.” Odean and her husband switched from Verizon to get the lifetime T-Mobile price lock in 2017, signing up for a two-line plan specifically marketed to people ages 55 and over. They are now set to receive their second price increase since 2024. 今年针对长期客户的涨价，注定会影响到部分在 2024 年因终身价格锁定被取消而感到被背叛的客户。我们在 2024 年采访过的 T-Mobile 客户 Kathleen Odean 本周告诉我们，她收到了一条来自 T-Mobile 的短信，称她的套餐即将停用，价格将“每条线路每月上涨最多 6 美元”。Odean 和她的丈夫在 2017 年为了获得 T-Mobile 的终身价格锁定而从 Verizon 转网过来，当时注册的是专门针对 55 岁及以上人群的两条线路套餐。现在，他们即将迎来自 2024 年以来的第二次涨价。