T-Mobile doesn’t get enough credit for all the things it’s STILL doing right
Do you know those old people who constantly complain about "kids these days", insisting the world was a better place in all aspects "back in the day"? Many longtime T-Mobile customers are starting to sound like that everywhere from Reddit to Twitter X to PhoneArena's comments section.
This has actually been going on for at least a good couple of years now, during which time I'm happy (not!) to report I've also personally received many emails from T-Mo subscribers disgruntled with the "Un-carrier's" continuously rising taxes and fees, weaker promotions, sub-par customer support, frequent security mishaps, etc., etc.
But while I'm not here to invalidate any of those individual user complaints or the larger issues surrounding the US wireless industry as a whole, I do plan to argue in T-Mobile's favor and ask you to cut the operator some slack precisely due to the state of the entire market.
The "Un-carrier" is dead, get used to it!
Look, I'm not really convinced that Magenta's reputation as a maverick and anarchist among the top wireless service providers stateside five, seven, or even ten years ago was fully warranted and "organic" rather than the result of a very smart, efficient, and massively expensive marketing campaign (or 100).
But even if it was, you can't be a subversive underdog forever. Not in such a cutthroat industry, and certainly not when you start surpassing your biggest competitors in terms of total customer numbers in addition to things like net account gains, churn, and profits.
Simply put, T-Mobile has become too big in recent years (especially after that Sprint mega-acquisition) for its "Un-carrier" shoes, justly earning a new label among some of its most vocal online haters: the "Re-carrier." But instead of rejecting or ignoring that unofficial nickname, I believe T-Mo should wear it as a badge of honor.
They might be getting more and more expensive, but T-Mobile's plans are still cheaper than the alternatives. | Image Credit -- T-Mobile
That's because the "Re-carrier" is still offering the best deals out there, including a rival-crushing new $5 monthly option unveiled just yesterday. That allows you to add a smartwatch, tablet, or laptop to a (costly) current plan for only 5 bucks, which is unsurprisingly a lot cheaper than similar services offered by Verizon and AT&T.
Is that a groundbreaking "Un-carrier" move? Far from it. But it's just the latest in a long line of little "Re-carrier" tweaks and improvements that comfortably keep T-Mobile one step ahead of the competition in terms of affordability and convenience.
Simply the best major US carrier
Before shaking your fist at your screen in anger or calling me a T-Mobile "shill" for that statement, let me point you in the direction of the latest J.D. Power "US Wireless Customer Care Study." For the 14th (!!!) consecutive time, T-Mo dominates the overall customer satisfaction chart, holding a massive advantage over AT&T and Verizon that the two are unlikely to cancel out anytime soon.
Or what do you say we talk about the most recent global Opensignal study, which named T-Mobile the carrier with the best 5G availability in the world? I could go on and on, listing network reports and tests where Magenta ranks first in the US for everything from download speeds to wireless service availability and reliability, but if you are truly honest with yourself and look around, you probably don't need a research firm to tell you what's obvious.
You can't argue with statistics. | Image Credit -- J.D. Power
On average, T-Mobile customers are happier with their carrier than Verizon and AT&T subscribers, and there are many little reasons for that. This newly introduced $5 option is merely the cherry on top of a cake whose layers include frequent gifts and perks (as silly as they often are), better-than-average customer support (with the occasional slip-up and blunder), the best streaming benefits around, and too many free line deals to keep count of.
Was T-Mobile better "back in the day"? Probably. Is it fair to be angry with the operator's price hikes earlier this year, slightly too frequent data breaches, and occasional network outages? Absolutely. But it's also important to look at the big picture, and for instance, appreciate that Magenta is still handing out free lines to certain subscribers like candy bars on Halloween rather than get mad that not all customers are eligible for these types of deals.
After all, when's the last time Verizon ran a similar promotion? Exactly.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: