Jamie Feldman
T-Mobile hinted of coming price hikes in its latest quarterly earnings report, which was posted on the heels of news that AT&T and Verizon intend to raise rates on certain plans in March.
Customers and businesses are in an “unprecedented era” of value, with more data and faster speeds than ever before, G. Michael Sievert, head of T-Mobile US, said when asked during the company’s Q4 2023 conference call whether there were any plans for price increases.
“There's tremendous value being given to customers in this category, and if there are ways for us to find optimizations in terms of how we deliver that enormous value so that we can be more competitive and more efficient at how we operate — including looking in our rate card and looking at our rate plans and looking at our policies and procedures — we'll find those opportunities,” he said.
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In October, T-Mobile walked back a plan to switch users to pricer plans after facing customer backlash.
Earlier this month, the company raised its monthly promotional price for fixed wireless access for new home internet customers by $10, to $60, which includes a $5 monthly discount for automatic payments, according to a January 16 CNET. report.
Meanwhile, wireless rivals AT&T and Verizon recently began to notify certain unlimited and 5G plan customers that their monthly rates would rise in March, according to media reports.
AT&T price rise
In an email to Kiplinger, an AT&T spokesperson said the cost of its Unlimited plans would increase by 99 cents a month starting March 5. She said that AT&T is adding benefits and value to its best unlimited plans, including increased hotspot data and increased roaming in the Dominican Republic on its Unlimited Premium PL.
“We are also taking our Value Plus plan, now Value Plus VL, from 1 to 10 lines, including connected devices,” the AT&T spokesperson said. “Customers on our current Unlimited Starter, Extra, Premium and Value Plus plans will receive the additional benefits starting in March.”
Verizon rate increase
A Verizon spokesperson told Kiplinger in an email that monthly prices would rise by $4 per line for several older Unlimited plans beginning March 1, effective in the customer's next billing cycle. Prices for its newer myPlan platform will remain the same, he added.
“Customers on older plans can easily move to myPlan and take advantage of the network option that works best for them, plus exclusive savings on the entertainment, shopping and experiences that matter to them, including Disney+, AppleOne, Netflix, Max, Walmart and many others,” the Verizon spokesperson said.
As Kiplinger has previously reported, researching deals or switching to smaller carriers are ways to save on your cell phone plan.
In addition, Consumer Reports offers a buying guide with key factors to consider when shopping for a plan. The nonprofit consumer organization also provides the results of recently tested cell phone services.
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