Verizon and AT&T customers are suing T-Mobile for raising their prices (yes, really)
Like pretty much all large tech companies and household names in competitive consumer-facing industries, T-Mobile, owner Deutsche Telekom, and former Sprint parent SoftBank have undoubtedly faced their fair share of lawsuits over the years.
T-Mo, for one, found itself under some arguably well-deserved legal scrutiny relatively recently after failing to keep millions of customers safe from an unprecedented cyberattack less than a year ago, and now the "Un-carrier" is in (a bit of) hot water again... for the weirdest reason.
Although it's currently unclear if this will actually amount to anything, a "group" of Verizon and AT&T subscribers is demanding a jury trial to settle the impact T-Mobile's 2020 Sprint acquisition has had on the US wireless industry as a whole and the two "traditional" carriers' prices in particular.
Rehashing an old argument used by fourteen state attorneys general and the District of Columbia AG to try to stop the merger from happening (which obviously failed), said "group" is seeking "declaratory relief" and financial compensation for a "precipitous" decline in competition since the big four US carrier club switched to an even bigger three arrangement.
Basically, these Verizon and AT&T customers consider T-Mobile responsible for a recent inflation of "quality-adjusted prices", as the nation's top three wireless service providers no longer have much reason to "compete as vigorously" as before for subscribers.
As if that didn't sound ridiculous enough, the class action lawsuit filed in Illinois federal court aims to represent "all persons or entities who paid for a Verizon or AT&T mobile wireless plan on or after April 1, 2020", which is a lot of people.
While the plaintiffs are not citing any third-party research in support of their accusations or mentioning any specific action taken by Verizon or AT&T after April 2020 to increase "quality-adjusted prices", it's hard not to link this lawsuit with the two carriers' recent rate hikes and "economic adjustment charges."
Of course, it's pretty silly to blame T-Mobile for that when the "Un-carrier's" customers haven't received a similar treatment, getting instead a bunch of new perks and benefits at the same old prices, as well as stronger and stronger incentives to ditch Verizon and AT&T.
If wireless industry competition is indeed declining, perhaps Verizon and AT&T's subscribers should direct their frustration at Dish in addition to their actual service providers, which are arguably the first to blame for, well, not competing as "vigorously" as they probably should to stop T-Mobile's ascent.
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