This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
Because T-Mobile tends to be in the news a lot these days (both for good and bad reasons), I'm not going to blame you if you missed one of my most important pieces of recent reporting on the industry-leading "Un-carrier."
No, I'm actually not talking about any of Magenta's (official or unofficial) price hikes... this time around or even the many aggressively advertised deals offered to millions of new and existing subscribers to reduce the impact of said hikes and other controversial profit-hungry moves.
Obviously not. That's a measly 6 percent of the aforementioned S25 Edge's retail value, for instance, and it doesn't even cover a month of service on T-Mo's new Experience Beyond plan. But the context in which you can get said $70 discount matters a lot more than its intrinsic value or the fact that you need to wait six months to reach that modest grand total.
Basically, what you have to do to score a one-time $10 credit and an extra $10 a month for half a year is threaten T-Mobile with a good time departure to a different operator. Will that trick work for everyone all the time? Probably not.
This is what some T-Mobile users are being offered right now... and it could get better soon. | Image Credit -- T-Mobile insider
But I've seen enough evidence over the last week or so to suggest that this is a pretty widespread phenomenon. You can even get the retention deal if you only ask to cancel one or several of your lines rather than closing your whole account, and some long-time T-Mo subscribers claim they've been offered as much as $20 a month for six months just to keep all their lines active and the carrier's customer numbers nice and chunky.
Of course, that's what this is all about, and with T-Mobile reporting its "best ever and best in industry" Q1 postpaid net customer additions of 1.3 million last month, you could say the strategy is working. Furthermore, there are social media rumblings that the Q2 2025 figures might look even better, but under no circumstances should you feel discouraged by that news if you're thinking of bluffing your way to a $70 or $120 total credit spread out over six months.
My very trustworthy inside source tells me these retention offers are unprecedented (at least in their value and duration), improving on similar promotions from the past that were typically capped off at three months. That makes T-Mo's desperation to not lose anyone's business crystal clear, and it would obviously be a shame if you didn't try to take advantage of that.
Can you expect even stronger retention deals to roll out soon?
Probably. How do I know that? Well, I don't... for sure, but that reliable insider I keep telling you about (who also sensed a price hike was coming before anyone else back in March, by the way) claims that T-Mobile's "loyalty department is getting a massive pay raise."
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Because the "Un-carrier" is never generous without reason, that strongly suggests the employees who have to deal with unhappy customers and try their best to prevent them from jumping ship to Verizon or AT&T (or smaller carriers) are facing... unusual challenges and higher volumes of complaints.
T-Mobile has been expanding the loyalty department since late 2023. In hindsight, this was all preparation for the rate increases etc that was going to prove necessary for all the pissed off customers.
T-Mobile insider, May 14, 2025
That's definitely bad news for employees, but if T-Mo can afford "massive" pay raises, it's probably safe to assume some extra expenses will also be made to keep customers happy... or at least make them happier than right now. That's what logic and common sense would seem to dictate, but then again, if Magenta used those arguments to build its consumer-facing strategy of late, tax-inclusive plans wouldn't have gone away.
At the end of the day, there are clearly better ways to fight with a rising user exodus wave (like locking prices for more than five years), but if the "Un-carrier" is dead, you might as well earn a few bucks on its grave. Too dark? Too close to home?
Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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